Leadership style: wipro

A Term paper

Submitted in partial fulfillment of

The requirements for the

Post Graduate Diploma in Management

By

Group-11
Gitanjali Shukla Roll No.: 08111
Pooja Mitra Roll No.: 08135
Venkatesh.K Roll No.: 08159
Mayuri Shingala Roll No.: 08222
Seethachandana Roll No.: 08249
TO
Dr.Ch.S.Durgaprasad
Facilitator, Leadership

November - 2009

VIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

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 Bachupally, Hyderabad, A.P – 500072, India
Table of Contents
Sl.No. Content Page Number

1 Introduction 4

2 Objective of the study 4

3 Background of the company 5

4 Background of the founder leader of 5

Wipro

5 Leadership program at Wipro 6

6 Management practices at Wipro 12

7 Leadership style of Azim Premji 16

8 Contribution of leadership style and 25

management practices to Wipro

9 Challenges in leadership development 27

10 Comments and suggestion 28

11 Bibliography 29

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Completing a job has never been an easy go for a single person; often it is the result of
invaluable contributions from individuals in the surrounding in a direct or indirect manner.

I owe a great many thanks to a great many people who helped and supported us during the
writing of this paper.

We are deeply greatful to our Facilitator Dr. Ch.S.Durgaprasad for having been a constant source
of encouragement for our Term paper.

In our association with our facilitator for this purpose, we experienced not only his in-depth
knowledge but also his affection towards us.

Finally I thank Prof. Kamal Ghosh Ray, for his continued drive for better quality in everything
that happens at VJIM. This Term paper is a small contribution towards the greater goal.

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ABSTRACT

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 INTRODUCTION

A nation can not achieve leadership unless we have leadership at every level of the organization.
Ultimately it comes down to the individual. In an era of competitive change it becomes
imperative for leadership to understand the responsibility thrust upon them and adequately
address it with respect to clients and employees. Wipro Infotech creates an environment where
individuals can work in an unstructured environment and develop the self-initiative to succeed in
any situation. Strong customer orientation and strategic thinking is the key to balance short-term
and long-term goals. Significant time and effort is spent to instill this confidence among
employees through extensive leadership development programmes and the results are there for
all to see. Through this, they bring their leadership closer to the client and build that trust and
reliability in our service offerings. Their adaptability across cultures and geographies has made
them ideal partner to work with. Wipro Infotech leadership reflects the global outlook and
commitment to excellence, at the same time grooming new leaders who can make them more
agile to address new challenges. Thus we have chosen Wipro for studying the leadership style
and management practices of Wipro as a whole and Azim Premji on an individual level.

OBJECTIVE OF THE PAPER

• To understand the managerial practices of Wipro.

• To understand the leadership style of Azim premji and Wipro.

• To understand the contribution of managerial practices and leadership styles to successes

of Wipro.

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 BACKGROUND OF THE COMPANY

Wipro Limited is the first PCMM Level 5 and SEI CMM Level 5 certified global IT Services
Company. Wipro is one of the largest product engineering and support service providers
worldwide. Wipro provides comprehensive research and development services, IT solutions and
services, including systems integration, Information Systems outsourcing, package
implementation, software application development and maintenance services to corporations
globally. In the Indian market,Wipro is a leader in providing IT solutions and services for the
corporate segment in India offering system integration, network integration, software solutions
and IT services.Wipro also has profitable presence in niche market segments of consumer
products and lighting. In the Asia Pacific and Middle East markets, Wipro provides IT solutions
and services for global corporations.

BACKGROUND OF THE FOUNDER LEADER OF WIPRO

Azim Premji is Chairman of Wipro Technologies, one of the largest software companies in
India. He is an icon among Indian businessmen and his success story is a source of inspiration to
a number of budding entrepreneurs. Born on July 24, 1945, Azim Hashim Premji was studying
Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, USA when due to the sudden demise of his
father; he was called upon to handle the family business. Azim Premji took over the reins of
family business in 1966 at the age of 21.

At the first annual general meeting of the company attended by Azim Premji, a shareholder
doubted Premji's ability to handle business at such a young age and publicly advised him to sell
his shareholding and give it to a more mature management. This spurred Azim Premji and made
him all the more determined to make Wipro a success story. And the rest is history.

When Azim Premji occupied the hot seat, Wipro dealt in hydrogenated cooking fats and later
diversified to bakery fats, ethnic ingredient based toiletries, hair care soaps, baby toiletries,
lighting products and hydraulic cylinders. Thereafter Premji made a focused shift from soaps to
software. Under Azim Premji's leadership Wipro has metamorphosed from a Rs.70 million
company in hydrogenated cooking fats to a pioneer in providing integrated business, technology
and process solutions on a global delivery platform. Today, Wipro Technologies is the largest
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independent R&D service provider in the world. Azim Premji has several achievements to his
credit. In 2000, Asiaweek magazine, voted Premji among the 20 most powerful men in the
world. Azim Premji was among the 50 richest people in the world from 2001 to 2003 listed by
Forbes. In April 2004, Times Magazine rated him among the 100 most influential people in the
world by Time magazine. He is also the richest Indian for the past several years. In 2005,
Government of India honored Azim Premji with Padma Bhushan.

LEADERSHIP PROGRAM AT WIPRO

One of Premji's most important accomplishments has been creating a sinewy management
culture that thrives even under intense competitive pressure. He established two core principles
that are instrumental in building the character of his leadership team.
• The first is rare among India's family-controlled companies: The chairman is not king.
While Premji owns a controlling stake in Wipro, he shares authority and responsibility
with his subordinates.
• The second key principle: Premji believes in a zero-politics culture. At Wipro,
backstabbing, playing favorites, and kissing up to the boss -- tactics that sap much of
American executives' energy -- simply don't work. Open and honest disagreements are
not only tolerated, but also required -- of everyone.

When tracing WIPRO’s efforts into its present global status a few important issues come to
mind. The reader may like to reflect on reading as to how and why it was possible for WIPRO as
an institution to speak about its strongly subscribed values through its leadership development
processes. The process of institution building given the constraints in Indian society appears
clearly to have built on clear expectations and focussed nurturing that came from a sentient
leadership at WIPRO. Some of the salient steps WIRPO took are as follows:

1. Defining Leadership Qualities

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The biggest problem with a concept like leadership is that it can mean so many things to so
many people. There is a strong temptation to attribute all possible good qualities one can think of
and come out with hundreds of qualities. Sometimes, these include “irreconcilable opposites” in
qualities. Like a strong aggressive leader who chews competition but at the same time is an
extremely harmonious team player! At Wipro, we decided to be more pragmatic. We have
identified eight leadership qualities. Currently they are
1) Strategic Thinking - Anticipating the future through an articulated vision
2) Customer Orientation - Customer at the center of the vision.
3) Aggressive Commitment - Pursue stretched commitments with determination and focus
4) Global Thinking and Acting - Global cultural synchronization with respect to issues and
trends
5) Self Confidence - Belief in the abilities of self and team
6) Commitment to Excellence - Commitment to surpass the best with respect to global standards
7) Working in Teams - Encouraging harmony and synergy for getting multiplier effect from
team
8) Building Future Leaders - Spending time with team; coaching and pursuing developmental
needs of team
Leadership Quality: Global Thinking and Acting: Anticipates global trends impacting
relevant markets and actively develops people and processes to be globally competitive. He/she
is at ease while interacting with people from diverse national and cultural backgrounds.
1. Encourages his / her team to constantly update themselves on global issues / trends.
2. Actively attempts to understand and respect the cultural nuances of the host countries of
customers and employees.
3. Is able to build rapport and is at ease when dealing with clients, partners or colleagues across
geographic and cultural boundaries.
4. Identifies and contributes to the development of best practices to suit the team's need for
process improvements through benchmarking with world-class practices.
Competencies for the Leader Role are based on behaviours of Successful Performers.
Behaviours that relate with high performance are used to describe the competencies. Based on
demonstrated behaviours, levels of competency are defined. The levels are scaled as competency
indicators. These descriptions also help users to identify positive and negative indicators of the
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competencies. Reliable methods for this phase are used, such as Structured Interviews - as part
of Job Analyses and interviews held with stakeholders for the Leader Role. The Repertory Grid
Technique is used later as a special technique that involves stakeholders to compare and contrast
roles (e.g. boss, supplier, and customer) and formulate important ways in which the roles are
like the Leader role, and different from the rest. These efforts converge in a Competency
Dictionary, comprising level-wise descriptions of successful role behaviours. All of WIPRO
Leader Qualities are similarly created, and increasingly tend to reflect the success of WIPRO in
global geographies. These qualities are illustrated by examples of leadership behaviours that are
observable. This makes it easy to understand and institutionalise the competencies. These
qualities are regularly reviewed in keeping with the changing context.

2. Measuring Leadership Qualities in Global Competitive Context

The impact of Global Thinking and Acting runs across all of the WIPRO Leaders’ Qualities. A
few excerpts from WIPRO’s measurement criteria will help us appreciate the same. E.g. Let us
look at a few other leadership competencies and the changing emphasis based on global context.
We consider here two critical competencies that help globalization. Both are different, in that
one requires reflective thinking, and the other requires concerted actions that are experienced by
many others in one’s team(s). One of them is Strategic Thinking – required for both strategy
planning and making. Strategy making is the expressive act that follows strategic planning. The
other is of Working in Teams. Today working in teams encompasses motivation and bonding for
members with whom face-to-face interaction is minimal to say the least.

Table 2: Emerging focus of WIPRO Leadership Qualities

Leadership Quality Earlier Now
Leadership Quality
Strategic Thinking
Working in teams
Earlier
Focus on Domestic Players
and addressing local
competitive forces
Focus on face-to-face
interactions and morale in
location
Now
Focus on Global Game
Changes and Players
Focus on Virtual Teams that
work asynchronously across
date and time zones.

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Thus, WIPRO continually evaluates the business environment for cues that affect the
effectiveness of leadership strategies. E.g. One of the transitions made after the adoption of
Global Thinking and Acting as a Leadership Quality is in dropping a few qualities that seemed
more managerial in nature. One such deletion was that of Problem Solving as a Leadership
Quality.
3. Leadership Composition for a Global Organization
With the sure presence of WIPRO in diverse geographies, it became imperative to manage cross-
cultural and multinational workforces. Leaders who have the advantage of meeting up with
client needs from as close a quarter as is possible is best suited for local management. To ensure
such a impact, WIPRO has infused its top management with leaders from host nations itself.
This has been the case with the largest of geographies like USA, Japan and Europe. These
leaders are naturally capable in their own nations, and are quick in understanding the business of
customers.
4. Modifying relevant People Processes
Several ongoing processes like recruitment, training, compensation and communication itself are
affected by a global scale of operations. WIPRO has suitably modified such people processes so
that employee behaviours are seen as consistent with the leadership vision. E.g.When selecting
for foreign territories the Employment Opportunities legislations, in the host nation has
relevance to the conduct of selection processes. The Recruitment Team is required to be certified
on an Interviewing Skills programme, wherein several nuances of interviewer behaviour are
taught. Legal implications and cultural orientation of the interviewer are critical to effectiveness.
Similarly, for Training conducted overseas, Trainers are made aware of cultural implications of
instruction and employee diversity. To engage with the field force, for example, a European
(Ph.D.) with cross-cultural negotiation expertise and sales experience has been charged with the
office of Field Capability Enhancement.
5. Developing Leadership Talent From Within
The process adopted for Leadership Development follows a lifecycle pattern. The same is
described below. To develop leaders WIPRO trains its employees on a regular basis. We have
created development programs along the lifecycle pattern of leadership development. There are
five programs that focus on sharpening leadership skills of individual leaders.

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1. Entry Level Program (ELP): This is the first program a fresh recruit goes through. The
program helps the newcomer into becoming a good management employee, like how to become
an effective team member, how to participate in meetings, communications thoughts and
feelings to others. Country-specific cross-cultural training and the opportunities to work in
different nations has made our workforce adaptable and resilient.
2. New Leaders’ Program (NLP) : This is designed for the first time manager. Many people
continue to be more comfortable managing technology rather than people. This program teaches
them how to build teams, communicate, lead according to situations and coach others. In the
NLP, leaders are particularly trained on aspects of managing virtual teams.
3. Wipro Leaders’ Program (WLP) : This is addressed to the manager of managers who still
want to manage the teams directly. From here on, it is a corporation-wide program. At the WLP
leaders are sensitized on the Diversity Principle, and mingle with leaders from all parts of
the world.
4. Business Leaders’ Program (BLP) : This program is for General Managers in waiting who
need to look at business as a whole and understand bottom line implications. It covers relevant
elements of finance and environmental scanning. The BLP has focussed attention on a single
business case, which has a strong international flavor and is run over several days.
5. Strategic Leaders’ Program (SLP): This is the highest program aimed at Chief Executives.
It helps them to design and develop strategies in a global environment. From the inception the
SLP has been addressed by thought leaders from all over the world. Luminaries from Wharton,
London Business School, the Indian School of Business, and the like are invited to share recent
perspectives on leading large corporations. At this level of leadership interactions with senior
leadership of client organisations are also important. Therefore additional inputs on being one-
on-one with the Fortune 100 corporation leaders are also given. Participating effectively in each
of these programs is necessary to progress in one’s leadership career. Similarly, it is very
important to have the complete involvement of the senior and top management of the company
to participate as faculty. In Wipro, for instance, Mr. Azim Premji, Chairman, addresses
participants of all Wipro Leaders’ Programs, Business Leaders’ Programs and Strategic Leaders’
Programs. In his own words “What you will remember when you retire, is not which quarters
you exceeded your sales target or won large deals, but leaders whom you helped in developing.
Develop leaders under you, not only because it is good for the business, but because it will give
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you tremendous personal satisfaction” He invests significant time as a faculty in leadership
development programs.
Advanced Experiential Learning
Recently, WIPRO has collaborated in a Global Learning Alliance (GLA) with Learning and
Development wings of large global organisations, namely, Schneider, L’Oreal, Nissan, and
Alcan. Each organization sponsors approximately six senior leaders (at the level of Vice
Presidents in WIPRO) from within its multiple lines of business to represent learning and
development challenges in a common forum, where facilitation is done by eminent faculty from
institutions like the London Business School, and legends like Prof. Ikujiro Nonaka. These
sessions are held at different points in the year. The model on which it is based embraces
globalization in terms of cross-industry learning on ‘burning issues’ and socialization to create a
supportive climate for leadership skills development across business models and organisational
change contexts. The working model of this initiative is depicted in Fig 1, below. Similarly, for
leaders at lower levels, WIPRO has begun to engage in similar fora, with the Indian Institute of
Management, Bangalore and Henry Mintzberg as a partner facilitator. That, in brief, explains the
moving spirit and energy behind Wipro’s drive for developing leaders from within. WIPRO’s
recent emphasis on non-directive coaching, and teaming interventions at senior and middle
management levels have a deliberate design around key learning experiences. WIPRO’s
Corporate Human Resources Development team has the custodianship for Leadership
Development in the company. From a team identified with a composition of high-caliber
leadership trainers, the emerging emphasis of this group has been on facilitated interventions in
top management groups across the corporation. Their interventions have facilitated interactions
between clients and Delivery teams, Strategic Business Units and top management strategy
making in critical businesses.

The Leadership Development Framework

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 MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN WIPRO

Management is the art of making effective use of resources to achieve your goals. It concerns
planning, coordinating and implementing all aspects of an organisation’s operation in a manner
which fulfils the organisation’s aims. In other words, once an organization identifies its purpose,
well Management helps to achieve it. As different processes are needed to achieve various aims,
we tend to discuss management practices in terms of particular functions. In organizations, these
can include business management, financial management, collections management, program
management, and personnel management. Regardless of the area being considered, all good
management practices rely on four basic tools:
• policies set the framework for decisionmaking in museums. Good management ensures
that policies are developed, kept up to date, and are understood by all staff;
• plans are the blueprints for action, which set out how the aims and policies will be
achieved. Policies need plans to turn them into realities. Good management creates and
implements plans to cover relevant areas of organizational operations;
• procedures are the step-by-step instructions on how to carry out tasks they carry out
policy and implement plans. Good management develops procedures and ensures that
they are followed; and
• people are the resources who make the operations of the museum possible. Good
management provides for the needs of people.
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Business Transformation- Wipro Infotech is a pioneer in implementing Business transformation
concepts for value acceleration. Wipro Infotech Business transformation services ensure process
optimisation that lead to revenue enhancement, cost reduction, customer satisfaction and
improved quality of products or services. We are the world's first IT services company to deploy
Six Sigma and first in achieving certifications of CMMi level 5 and PCMM level 5. With this
strong background, they build or enhance the existing processes in the organisation to ensure a
faster pace of growth to power your business forward. In the Business Transformation services
they work to incorporate Six Sigma, LEAN, TRIZ, Theory of Constraint, CMMi and PCMM
models as the framework to improve the operational excellence in your organisation. The
services in this segment are spread across industry verticals as they address the core business
process improvement.
The Business transformation practice involves the following:

Business process management system (BPMS) focuses on improving the business processes
from people, process and technology point of view through simulation and process optimisation
using BPMS tools
Business process improvement involves building consistent and reliable processes with the
best quality benchmarks through Six Sigma, Lean, Triz, TOC
Integrated quality management system (IQMS) helps in building standards across the
organisation through deployment of quality management system - CMMi, PCMM, TL 9000,
ISO 9000 and proven business models - EFQM, DQA among others .

SERVICE DELIVERY QUALITY

Without the proper training and skill sets, employees would not be able to turn functional and
technical requirements into software applications. The following figure provides the relationship
of service delivery and organizational effectiveness between the customer and the services
Firm in Wipro.

Wipro’s Quality Management System

Wipro’s customers trust the strength of the quality processes that have always assured them of
timely, defect-free delivery of products and services. The Quality Management System (QMS),

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called veloci-Q, is a consolidation of experiences and best practices that are also aligned to
standard quality models and certification. This is dynamic, and also all encompassing, meeting
specific technology and domain specific requirements with ease. The fact that Wipro has
consistently been assessed and certified on critical quality models, generic and domain specific,
bears testimony to the goodness of the QMS.

Quality Perspective Of Wipro’s Services:-

Wipro’s attention to quality is evident in the end deliverable and its overall support of its client.
The following are the ways in which quality has manifested itself on Wipro’s projects:

1. Responsiveness. Wipro’s strong attention to client satisfaction results in a commitment not

only to respond quickly to client requests but to do so with suggestions for improvements.
2. Efficient problem resolution and rework reduction. Because Wipro tracks many metrics
through its robust software developmentprocesses, the capture of software bugs, and thorough
documentation, it is able to provide a detailed and fast examination of problems such as
bug fixes and the causes of delays. Wipro can see trends, identify reasons for issues, and quickly
resolve problems.
3. Adherence to project schedule. Wipro’s attention to detail and deadlines allows it to meet
tight time frames for delivery.
4. Reduced cost. While Wipro’s cost advantage as an offshore Indian firm contributes to its
ability to provide its clients with cost savings, its on-time delivery and swift problem resolution
are equally important.
5. Less employee turnover. Wipro has developed a critical mass of employees dedicated a
particular project. This continuity has diminished any rework needed, enhanced Wipro’s
intellectual capital, and provided a sense of security with its client.

Grivence Procedure followed by WIPRO:

Wipro procedure, called Ombuds process, involves the appointment of ombudsmen in the
Company’s offices. These ombudsmen are senior officials in the particular business unit of the
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organization to whom employees can address their grievances. The ombudsmen, acting
independently, will then initiate an investigation and submit a report to the compliance
committee, which will then take suitable action. Wipro actively encourages their employees to
reveal identity. In Wipro, the concern is disclosed through E-mail or telephone, fax or any other
method to the following persons each of whom has been designated as "Ombudsperson". In case
of any concern relating to a member of the BU compliance committee including the
ombudsperson the same shall be referred to the corporate ombudsperson. Similarly, any concern
relating to the corporate compliance committee including the corporate ombudsperson shall be
referred directly to the Audit committee. The Concern shall be investigated by the
Ombudsperson either by himself or through any other person as may be deemed necessary by the
Ombudsperson. A copy of the Concern disclosed shall be furnished to the Corporate
Ombudsperson for information. A decision vis-a-vis the Concern disclosed at a Business Unit
level shall be taken by the Business Unit Compliance Committee comprising of the following
persons;
Ombudsperson
Business Unit CEO
Business Unit CFO
Business Unit HR Head
Business Unit Chief Legal Officer.

LEADERSHIP STYLE OF AJIM PREMJI

According to people who know Ajim Premji, he is low-key and it’s his ability to relate to
anyone –from prime minister to gardener—that has contributed to his success. During a recent
visit to Emory University’s Goizueta Business School as part of the 2008 Leadership Speaker
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Series, Premji—named one of the “Greatest Entrepreneurs of All Time” by BusinessWeek—
shared his ideas on leadership with students and several Atlanta-area business leaders.

Setting the standard for an organization is a necessary aspect of good leadership as well, and
Premji doesn’t believe this is possible if the leader doesn’t do so with honesty and integrity. He
advised the audience never to sacrifice integrity for short-term results.

Striving for excellence is also a Premji standard, and he realizes that he, and leaders like him, set
the tone for their organizations. During his lecture at Goizueta, he touched on several things he
believes Wipro can improve upon and talked about the steps being taken to make such
improvements. According to him “Excellence is not an act, it’s a habit”.

To aid in this accomplishment, Wipro leadership must be “globalized.” “This requires a huge
adjustment,” notes Premji. With 80,000 employees—15,000 of them located outside of India—
leadership needs to be culturally sensitive. Working in teams is also an integral part of how
Wipro does business, and an employee’s ability to be a contributing member of a cross-cultural
team has become increasingly important to the company’s success.

One of Premji’s greatest talents is his ability to recognize talent. “He’s just like a good coach.
Good coaches can get more potential out of an athlete than the athlete realizes. Not surprisingly,
Premji believes self-confidence is a necessary part of good leadership. That confidence allows
leaders to take risks and learn from them, including lessons gleaned from the occasional failure
that accompanies risk taking.

According to Ajim Premji there are 10 steps to leadership which goes as below:

First, leaders must develop powerful personal credibility. This means they should not only be
consistent in what they say and do -but must deliver on their commitments. The leader has to
generate a collective enthusiasm for the team, and the team must have faith in the leader before
they commit to his or her dream. All research shows today that personal credibility-is the most
important ingredient of leadership.

Second, great leaders tell people clearly what they expect from them, whether it be in terms of
performance or values. The more that is expected from people, the more they tend to deliver. Low
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expectations can lead to low ambition and hence low performance. Winning leaders are
demanding leaders. They demand discipline, accountability and continuous increase in
performance and productivity.

Third, great leaders are great teachers and coaches. Expectations alone are not enough. Neither
are rewards and punishments. People need guidance on the path they need to follow. This does
not mean that the leader should spoon-feed his people. It only means that the leader must have
the capacity to look ahead and give the right amount of guidance at the right time. At Wipro, we
encourage our top management to address our high potential managers. I personally invest half-a-day
of my time in every leadership development program in Wipro.

Fourth, successful leaders need to have energy and be able to energise others. Leadership demands
extraordinary physical, mental and, some would say, spiritual energy to remain on top of the
demands made on them. I have found that my own job has become amazingly complex in the last
few years. There is no longer any debate on whether a person should work smart or hard.
Leaders must work both hard and smart, long and intensely. In a recent survey at the World
Economic Forum, ninety-nine per cent of the leaders attributed their success to hard work.

Fifth, leaders do not always have to be in the limelight. One has to realize that leadership is
not privilege but a responsibility. Think of birds flying in a formation. At different times,
different birds lead the formation. The leader must know where to lead and where to step back.
I remember this story which someone told me

Sixth, winning leaders face reality. They do nut dither. Leadership is about making tough yes-
no decisions. Winning leaders are willing to decide with imperfect data, if needed, because
leadership is about making judgements that others, are either unwilling or unable to make.

Seventh, leaders keep renewing themselves. They constantly learn from their own
experiences and those of others. They constantly learn from their own experiences and those
of others. They create knowledge capturing and sharing processes and methods in the
organization.

Eighth, leaders surround themselves with people who err on the side of optimism. If people are
always in the company of cynics, they will soon find themselves becoming like them. A cynic

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knows all the reasons why something cannot be done. Instead, leaders spend time with people
who have a "can-do" approach. They choose their advisors and mentors correctly. Pessimism is
contagious, but then so is enthusiasm. In fact, reasonable optimism can be an amazing force
multiplier.

Ninth, leaders play to win. Playing to win is not the same as cutting corners. When you play to
win, you stretch yourself to your maximum and use all your potential. It also helps you to
concentrate your energy on what you can influence instead of getting bogged down with the
worry of what you cannot change. Leaders do their best and leave the rest.

Tenth, leaders respect themselves. Without self-confidence, it is impossible to lead. This is

needed even more in conditions of uncertainty and change. In Wipro, one of the leadership
qualities on which we measure our leaders year after year is self-confidence.

Finally, leaders have the ability to preserve when all odds are against them. This is
especially important when the leader chooses to do something innovative or take a path not
travelled before. The first reaction to this is usually criticism, not applause. But if the leader
perserves, he may attract many others to follow.

Based on the above description we have tried to identify his leadership style based on three
models namely

• i10 model

• Blake and Mouton Leadership Grid

• Hersey and Blanchard Situational model

I10 Model
I10 model talks about 10 leadership qualities which are represented with the help of the
following pentagon
Informati
on 19
 Intelligen

Imaginati
Integrit Indepe Insig
I 10 on
y ndence ht
Leadersh
ip Model

Influenc Intensi
e ty
Impact Inspirati
on
Based on this i10 model we find the following attributes in him:
Intelligence: He is an intelligent leader and that’s the reason why he was able to take WIPRO to
such an extent and is one of the wealthiest people in the world. He is low-key and it’s his ability
to relate to anyone –from prime minister to gardener—that has contributed to his success. He
knows well how to utilize his resources.

Information: He is an informative leader and believes in having high quality information with
him before taking any decision.
Insight: He as a leader tells his team what he wants from them exactly and for that he needs to
have an insight about the matter. Moreover to utilise the resources well and to run such a large
business he needs to have a clear insight about what the goal of the organization is.
Imagination: Before taking any decision he looks at how it is going to work and this imagination
is done based on information about the environment as well as the capabilities one has.
Intensity: He is also a quick decision maker. He has a clear vision with which he intensifies the
activities where he lacks.
Inspiration: He inspires his people by sharing the information with them, by empowering them,
by giving them confidence, by explaining the vision and what they are going to achieve if they
do so.
Impact: He is an impactful leader because of his thoughts and style of approaching the things.
Integrity: He believes a leader should not only be consistent in what they say and do -but must
deliver on their commitments
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Blake and Mouton Leadership Grid

Some leaders are very task-oriented; they simply want to get things done. Others are very
people-oriented; they want people to be happy. And others are a combination of the two. If you
prefer to lead by setting and enforcing tight schedules, you tend to be more production-oriented
(or task-oriented). If you make people your priority and try to accommodate employee needs,
then you're more people-oriented.

Neither preference is right or wrong, just as no one type of leadership style is best for all
situations. However, it's useful to understand natural leadership tendencies are, so that leaders
can then start working on developing skills that they may be missing.

A popular framework for thinking about a leader's 'task versus person' orientation was developed
by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton in the early 1960s. Called the Managerial Grid, or Leadership
Grid, it plots the degree of task-centeredness versus person-centeredness and identifies five
combinations as distinct leadership styles.

Understanding the Model

The Managerial Grid is based on two behavioral dimensions:

Concern for People - This is the degree to which a leader considers the needs of team members,
their interests, and areas of personal development when deciding how best to accomplish a task
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Concern for Production / task - This is the degree to which a leader emphasizes concrete
objectives, organizational efficiency and high productivity when deciding how best to
accomplish a task.

Country Club Leadership - High People/Low Production. This style of leader is most
concerned about the needs and feelings of members of his/her team. These people operate under
the assumption that as long as team members are happy and secure then they will work hard.
What tends to result is a work environment that is very relaxed and fun but where production
suffers due to lack of direction and control. This form is not suitable for Wipro because in long
run too much concern for people and less concern for task will lead to world class results. Under
premji Wipro has become world class company, which is not possible with country club
Leadership

Produce or Perish Leadership - High Production/Low People. Also known as Authoritarian or

Compliance Leaders, people in this category believe that employees are simply a means to an
end. Employee needs are always secondary to the need for efficient and productive workplaces.
This type of leader is very autocratic, has strict work rules, policies, and procedures, and views
punishment as the most effective means to motivate employees. This type of leadership is only
prevalent in time prior to 1950’s. This style I long leads to employee dis-satisfaction. And
leadership program in Wipro talks about the Premji’s interest in people development, so he
leadership does not fall under this header.

Impoverished Leadership - Low Production/ Low People. This leader is mostly ineffective.
He/she has neither a high regard for creating systems for getting the job done, nor for creating a
work environment that is satisfying and motivating. The result is a place of disorganization,
dissatisfaction and disharmony. Azim premji is highly successful business man. He is very
effective, other wise how could he lead a company at the age of 21 yr. and made it a diversified
as-well-as world class company. Premji’s leadership is above impoverished leadership.

Middle-of-the-Road Leadership - Medium Production/Medium People. This style seems to be

a balance of the two competing concerns. It may at first appear to be an ideal compromise.
Therein lies the problem, though: When you compromise, you necessarily give away a bit of
each concern so that neither production nor people needs are fully met. Leaders who use this
style settle for average performance and often believe that this is the most anyone can expect.
Azim premji is a person who strives for continues excellence. And people of his type do not
compromise on average results.

Team style - High Production / High People. The leader pays high concern to both people and
production. Motivation is high. Characteristics of this style is based on the propositions
of Theory Y of Douglas McGregor. The manager encourages teamwork and commitment among
employees. This style emphasizes making employees feel part of the company-family, and
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involving them in understanding organizational purpose and determining production needs.
Results in team environment based on trust and respect, which leads to high satisfaction and
motivation and, as a result, high production. Azim premji style is appropriate to this style. His
encouragement through leadership programs at different levels of the organization is encourage
people to autonomous in making decisions. Without technical degree he build India’s third
largest IT company only because he believed in capabilities of people he selected. He could
succeed because he gave his employee right training necessary to fulfill the job assigned to them.
So according to our understanding of management practices at Wipro we feel Team style of
leadership is most appropriate style of leadership for Azim premji.

Situational Leadership

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S1: Telling / Directing

Follower: R1: Low competence, low commitment / Unable and unwilling or insecure

Leader: High task focus, low relationship focus

When the follower cannot do the job and is unwilling or afraid to try, then the leader takes a
highly directive role, telling them what to do but without a great deal of concern for the
relationship. The leader may also provide a working structure, both for the job and in terms of
how the person is controlled.

The leader may first find out why the person is not motivated and if there are any limitations in
ability. These two factors may be linked, for example where a person believes they are less
capable than they should be may be in some form of denial. They follower may also lack self-
confidence as a result.
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If the leader focused more on the relationship, the follower may become confused about what
must be done and what is optional. The leader thus maintains a clear 'do this' position to ensure
all required actions are clear.

S2: Selling / Coaching

Follower: R2: Some competence, variable commitment / Unable but willing or motivated

Leader: High task focus, high relationship focus

When the follower can do the job, at least to some extent, and perhaps is over-confident about
their ability in this, then 'telling' them what to do may demotivate them or lead to resistance. The
leader thus needs to 'sell' another way of working, explaining and clarifying decisions.

The leader thus spends time listening and advising and, where appropriate, helping the follower
to gain necessary skills through coaching methods.

S3: Participating / Supporting

Follower: R3: High competence, variable commitment / Able but unwilling or insecure

Leader: Low task focus, high relationship focus

When the follower can do the job, but is refusing to do it or otherwise showing insufficient
commitment, the leader need not worry about showing them what to do, and instead is concerned
with finding out why the person is refusing and thence persuading them to cooperate.

There is less excuse here for followers to be reticent about their ability, and the key is very much
around motivation. If the causes are found then they can be addressed by the leader. The leader
thus spends time listening, praising and otherwise making the follower feel good when they
show the necessary commitment.

S4: Delegating / Observing

Follower: R4: High competence, high commitment / Able and willing or motivated

Leader: Low task focus, low relationship focus

When the follower can do the job and is motivated to do it, then the leader can basically leave
them to it, largely trusting them to get on with the job although they also may need to keep a
relatively distant eye on things to ensure everything is going to plan.
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Accroding to us Azim Premji is more of a delegating leader. This was because while selecting
the people for employment he made sure he selected people who are highly motivated and as-
well-as committed, with sufficient information and skill. Since he is into diversified businesses
he is not an expert in all sectors. So person like with limited expertise will succeed by selecting
people with motivation and commitment to work. So by this Azim premji is more of delegating
leader.

CONTRIBUTION OF LEADERSHIP STYLE AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN

WIPRO
Many factors can be considered when looking at organizational effectiveness, the back-office
foundation of service delivery, and its effect on quality. Some of these factors include:
1. Commitment to quality:- A company’s commitment to quality can be truly successful only
when it starts at the top of the organization and employees and managers alike believe in the
vision of quality for the company. The objectives of quality must be ingrained within the
culture of the company, which is, in turn, passed on to customers and ties back to business
objectives.
2. Highly skilled employees. A strong attention to training employees on a company’s quality
processes, whether directly or indirectly, can result in a highly cohesive workforce. A rigorous
training program can be a catalyst for consistency throughout the company. Additionally, it
may provide a standard approach to software engineering, from requirements gathering through
release and acceptance testing. Furthermore, having a structure in place to manage skill
competencies with market demand is essential to getting the right people placed on
the right projects. Lastly, having the processes in place to acquire new competencies and stay
ahead of the learning curve will be a key asset to clients, who look to services firms to
understand the latest technology trends.
3. Responsiveness and flexibility. While it may be harder to measure the benefits of
responsiveness and flexibility and their relationship with quality, the team believes that these
attributes can largely contribute to the overall success of a services engagement. Having the tools
necessary to support employees in their daily interactions with customers can go a long way
toward empowering them to respond quickly to clients’ needs and provide workarounds to
problems in a timely manner.

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4. Strong work ethic. Although work ethic is largely a subjective criterion, it can be supported
through a company’s overall attitude toward quality and attention to customer satisfaction.
5. Lower turnover of employees. A strong attention on employees and their training can result
in a lowered rate of employee turnover. This is of significant importance to customers, who
invest a lot of time and energy in educating service providers about their businesses.
Lower turnover of employees can also contribute to faster completion of projects because many
employees will have the accumulated synergies from working together and with the client.
6. Robust project management processes. Solid project management expertise and its
supporting tools and applications are a critical success factor for the smooth completion of any
project. This has become even more important as large, enterprise-wide projects may be
composed of multiple subprojects and may involve geographically dispersed resources.
7. Strong communication flow between client and services firm. Another benefit of an
integrated quality system is the continuous monitoring of current projects. This may take the
form of customer visibility tools that allow customers to keep track of a project’s progress,
particularly when projects are done remotely from the client’s site. It may also help to keep the
communication flow open and direct, which may assist the meeting of tight project deadlines.
Advantages of using quality standards by Wipro are:-
1. The offshore Indian firms have used quality as a competitive differentiator for years.
2. Quality certifications provide a common standard that is recognizable to companies regardless
of their industry and offers a "stamp of approval" from a third party, whose role is to validate
whether a company meets certain requirements. Thus, quality certifications can provide
additional confidence and comfort to clients, particularly when the service being performed can
be thousands of miles away.
3. Furthermore, given the strong technical focus of the offshore firms, it seemed a natural
evolution to achieve a high level of competency and certification for software development.
4. While quality may sometimes take a back seat to cost when companies turn to external
services firms, the team believes that it should be a fundamental requirement in any services
engagement.

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While clients’ expectations tend to fluctuate depending on external factors as to whether quality
or cost may be more important, the team further believes that these two factors go hand in hand
and that, in the long run, cost savings cannot truly be realized without an attention to quality.

CHALLENGES IN LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Although, WIPRO’s success with leadership development is acknowledged in India today,

challenges of growth continue to represent itself through unprecedented scale and speed
dimensions. Implications for leadership in WIPRO’s current environment include:
1. Fostering a climate in which a younger workforce rises to challenges of leadership faster than
their predecessors, given the rate at which business opportunities present themselves across
diverse business sectors in multiple geographies. The younger generations in most parts of the
world stand on newer educational paradigms and are seeped in possibilities that can be accessed
faster than was once imagined. A major challenge for leadership development in a relatively
young workforce is to be able to balance the needs of novelty with a sense of responsibility for
the future.
2. Sufficient learning required to embrace the diversity of cultures, business sector models in
different markets and geographies, has to occur more comprehensively. The dominant thinking
around institution building has largely originated in India. Accommodating newer thought from
foreign cultures and workforce within its mainstream culture is an act of leadership that needs
closer attention.
3. We now have lesser time in which to help teams discover their purpose, and follow through in
performing service operations. While such teaming is more common, the complex teaming
problems arise at managerial and strategic levels as leaders grapple with rapid and complex
information flows that affect shortterm and mid-term business outlooks. This dimension is
amplified when teams work across virtual spaces from different continents.
4. Business Growth can often hide many a weakness in organisational routine. A focus and
repeated stress on creating a winning culture could potentially instill a sense of infallibility.
Leaders who are insensitive to such possibilities may project a false sense of confidence. A
square challenge for leadership at WIPRO then is to be able to manage the scale and speed of
business growth with a sense of realism and requisite humility.
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5. As service providers in IT, the variety of market sectors served is generally a source of
revenue potential. However, this potential can be realized only when leaders come to terms with
the business model dynamism in client domains. Leadership response to changes in clients’
business models is key to future enablement of business.

COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS ON WIPRO’S MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

During the course of this term paper composition I came across certain shocking facts like

• Wipro is allegedly involved in bribary and unethical practices. Wipros code of conduct
and business ethics is cleverly written to mask its unethical methods of business.
Payment of money to expedite a routine governmental action to which the giver is
otherwise entitled to, this is nothing but bribing the employee to stop attending to other
clients and do Wipros; job on last come first serve basis. It is totally unethical.

• Wipro allegedly ransacked all H1Bs earlier when there was no H1B quota restriction, just
because the H1B application saves $700 over L1 visa application. Single guy allegedly
getting billed to multiple clients at the same time. This is very common in managerial
levels in Wipro. It seems in Wipro, Supervisors and employees with more than 10-15
years in wipro only get wipro shares at IPO price. Rest of the 95% employees won’t get
any shares.

These surprising facts force us to give a second thought on the management practices of
WIPRO.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Wipro Corporate
• iloveindia.com
• Knowledge @ emory Wipro’s Azim Premji on Leadership
• Leadership Development in India-An experiential perspective
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• Case Study : Azim Hasham Premji's Value-Based Leadership
• NIPM Newsletter Vol.8
• Article: Management Practices
• Interviews with Azim Premji
• Alleged fraudulent practices by WIPRO-lay-off.org

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