After extensively going through articles and data available on the internet and in books and then analyzing the data we got from our survey, we tried to identify the areas which needed attention and development. On the basis of these we have strived to formulate an action plan that needs to be put in place for developing an Entrepreneurial culture. According to us the weak or the gray areas have to be given top most priority and the strong points should be further consolidated because the need today calls for a new kind of leadership, one that focuses on the collaborative nature of entrepreneurial behaviour (having a clear vision and then following and executing this vision.) and seeks to give staff the confidence to behave in an entrepreneurial way.
We should understand that being entrepreneurial means seeing the opportunity and sharing it, understanding that no opportunity is without risk and uncertainty, accepting that we all make mistakes and learn from them. Executives should be able to motivate people around them and encourage them to be innovative and look for alternative means of accomplishing things. The Organization should be able to stimulate and reward entrepreneurs not only financially, but also with status, power or with other means.
The top most priority of the Organization should be to motivate its people. Motivation can be by various means like recognizing the efforts made by the employees and appreciating them. From the results obtained from the survey it is clearly seen that the organization is lacking in this area. The organizational awards have lost their glitter and are considered to be bestowed on people on a turn by turn basis rather than on performance. The awards should be given only to deserving people and such people should be identified by closely monitoring their and their team’s performance. In such a large organization the role of the department / shop head is of paramount importance and he should strive to bring the real workers and achievers in his areas in the limelight.
Various steps can be taken at the department / section head level to recognize the individuals efforts and accordingly felicitate him. One of these steps can be creating an award for best performance for a year and putting the photograph or name of the winner on a plaque in ‘Hall of Fame’.
Even small steps like remembering and celebrating an employee’s birthday / anniversary go a long way in motivating the people and making them feel that they are valuable to the organization. Another way can be to also involve families of the employees in some activities like cultural programmes, competitions etc. so that even they get a feeling of belonging for the organization. Such steps are not very financially demanding and could be easily implemented by the departmental / sectional heads.
Innovative traits in a person can be brought to fore by instituting an award for best innovation. These prizes may not have high monetary value but they should be given to genuine deservers only. Having a neutral panel of judges from outside the department to select the winner can ensure this.
One of the suggestions we got for creating an Entrepreneurial Culture was to give each executive at least one project per year, apart from regular jobs, which would motivate him to make full use and also develop his innovative, technical, managerial and leadership skills.
With about 40 years of experience in steel making, we feel that the organization has sufficient experience to take up mega projects. This experience needs to be harnessed and greater opportunities given to people in this field. This will not only increase the competence of the people but also keep them further motivated and if global projects are undertaken the brand image of company will increase as well leading to better market penetration.
While talking of innovations and new projects, we should also keep in mind the risks involved with any new project / modification. In this context the organization would do well if it does not put the blame fully on an individual for the failure of the project, rather encourage him to give more thought to what went wrong and rectify the mistake. As can be seen from the survey there is no greater source of motivation than a challenging job and the ecstasy of meeting it successfully.
One important way of creating entrepreneurship and developing an entrepreneurial culture can be by systematic and judicious rotation of employees among various departments and sections. This should be done very carefully taking the strengths/weaknesses of the employee’s into account. This type of job rotation would lead in greater overall development of the employee and also enable him to get a wider picture about the working of the organization in addition to increasing his technical and managerial skills. The time period for such a rotation should be also carefully decided keeping in mind, various factors like individual’s adaptability and new working conditions. Job rotation would also break the monotonousity of having to do the same jobs in the same department everyday and the individual would find work more interesting and challenging. This will also lead him to be more flexible and receptive to new ideas and new ways of doing things.
One of the proven ways of motivating the employees and rewarding their entrepreneurial traits is by promotion. According to our survey people feel that promotion policy in this organization is not very transparent and deserving candidates often don’t get promoted. People in-fact get more de-motivated and demoralized when undeserving people get promotion ahead of them mainly because reasons other than job competence & caliber. For making promotion policy more transparent and a source of motivation, radical changes are required. One of the ways for granting promotions can be by making people appear for a written exam in addition to the interview. The individual can be promoted only if he passes both the written exam and interview. Secondly his CR, which is filled, should be transparent and the individual should know what marks are given to him and on what basis.
