Driving Change Through Internal Communication

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.

Question No. 1

How it HPCL go about building and reaching a vision to be a

world-class company? What actions and practices were most

important?

In 2003, a wave of extensive changes in the Indian oil Industry drove the

leaders of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited to launch a major

organisational transformation e!ort. It was inevitable for the Company to

build a long term strategic vision to survive and also to be World Class

Company. Instead of focusing the strengths and weaknesses of existing

and potential competitors or to channel resources towards one customer

segment or another company it decided to turn inward. Using a variety of

innovating as well as traditional methods of internal communication, the

company sought to integrate employees into the transformation project

and also to engage them personally in the goal of making it work. Most

interestingly the world class vision was not designed by an external

consultant. Company conducted various “vision workshops” to create this

vision. These workshops were conducted by the people selected from the

company and employees from all segments contributed into this vision.

Connecting the personal vision of the employees with the vision of the

company was the key.

Realisation of the fact that ‘If the corporation grows, I can meet my

personal aspirations’ has really helped the company in creating a vibrant

vision and the employees really owned the vision purely because of the

fact that it was created by them.

A problem solving process was designed by the employees itself wherein

they identi/ed the problems, diagnosed the causes, suggested the

solution and a clear plan to implement the solutions. Through regular

internal communications the top management could reach the bottom of

the pyramid and could make them aware the strategy of the top

management. Since the vision paper was made by the employees the

company could avoid the feeling of unrealistic expectation by the

management. It could also be right in saying that the company could

manage the emotions of the employees more e!ectively. It is worth

mentioning that HPCL could develop a relationship among people wherein

they develop a relationship with one another that enable them to

exchange information and wield influence. Through regular personal

interactions, the top management could convey their body language to

the people visibly. Personal interaction has helped the company to move

from a monologue mode to a dialogue mode. They could create a feeling

among employees that somebody cares for you and that made a

tremendous impact. The top management could create an internal feeling

of satisfaction among employees that they have accomplished meaningful

for the company. All the above contributed and helped HPCL in building

and reaching a vision to be a world-class company and actions taken by

the top management was purely in line with the thought process of the

employees.

Question No. 2

How did employees respond to change and communication

e”orts? Why did they react as they did?

When a monolithic organization with PSU work culture like HPCL thinks about

transformational organizational change, the challenge is not how the outside world views or

accepts the change, rather the bigger challenge is whether the change management concept

itself rises above the scrutiny of ever cynical and chronically skeptical employees of the

large organization. getting the positive buy in of cross section of employees who view such

disruptive changes as a challenge against statuesque mindset was the biggest hurdle before

the leadership of HPCL. That is why the organization turned inward in their change plan

before focusing outward on the customers.

Much against the conventional wisdom, the leadership of HPCL decided to be very

aggressive in charting a robust direct communication exercise with the employees thru

multiple routes.

How did employees respond?

Openness and broadmindedness of employees

The unionized sta)s demonstrated their broadmindedness and sense of purpose by putting

aside trivial local issues while discussing about the company’s future. When sta)s responded

with the comments that the organization should have a vision to become a “global” energy

company, it displayed the deeper desire of the employees to see a prosperous organization

that was brought thru the visioning exercise.

Unity in purpose

The collective thought process of the employees across multiple locations spanning many

cultural diversities was visible when uniform vision statements were coming out during

envisioning exercise.

Experiential change

The response of the employees to adopt a transformational change was ampli-ed when

groups of cross functional employees leaving their comfort zones went and lived in the

market place for a considerable time interacting with not so sophisticated customers to

explore their articulated and unarticulated needs.

Micro level ideation

The success of the communication and change process adopted by HPCL appears to have

been owned by the employees when they suggested some very exciting ideas that had a

bearing on the highway marketing strategy of HPCL. Similarly when the employees

enthusiastically participated in the ICS activities of the intralink application and became

party to Idea generation, it was a re/ection of the employees belief and conviction that such

inputs will be evaluated and considered by the organizations.

Informal communication and interconnectedness