INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT INDORE

PGP1 - Term 3 - AY 2012-13

Written analysis and communication

Report on: Ramesh Patel at Aragon Entertainment Limited

Submitted to Prof. Madhusri Shrivastava

In partial fulfilment of requirement

of

the Written Analysis & Communication course

Submitted By:

Loveesh Jaiswal

M. Ajay Kumar

Mihika Yadav

Mrinal Thakur

Nitesh Kumar

Pradyoth C John

On 4th March 2013

Prof. Madhusri ShrivastavaFaculty for Written communication and Analysis,Indian Institute of Management Indore (Mumbai),Navi Mumbai – 400614

Date : 4th March 2013

Dear Madam,

In compliance with the requirement for the WAC course, a student group was formed to submit a report on “Ramesh Patel at Aragon Entertainment Limited”. The members of the group have been listed on the cover page. The following pages contain our analysis of the case.

We hope that this report will meet your approval.

Sincerely,

Group -6 WAC coursePGP 2012-2014IIM Indore (Mumbai)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

With a feeling of great pleasure, we express our sincere gratitude to Prof. Madhusri Shrivastava for her superb guidance and support which led to the completion of this report.

Group -6 WAC coursePGP 2012-2014IIM Indore (Mumbai

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Contents

Introduction ………………. ….……………………………………….……………………….01

Problem ………………………………………..………………………………………………….01

Analysis ………………….. ..…………....…………………………………………………………01

Conclusion …………….. ………………………………………………………….……………..04

Recommendation ……………………………… …………………………………………….04

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Executive Summary

Ramesh Patel, Maria Hernadez and Jeremey Gibson were part of a project under NHB, a group of high potential leaders. Gibson hasn’t been contributing to the project, citing work pressures. Ramesh was extremely ambitions, and he felt that his ambitions were being threatened by Gibson’s inaction. Gibson, on the other hand, expected his friend to cover for him.Solution: Ramesh should meet Gibson outside office and talk things through. Incentivize Gibson to complete his work. Contingency plan: Seek help from colleagues; complete the project as best as they can.

Introduction:

Ramesh Patel was inducted into the New Horizon Board (NHB) which consisted of a group of high potential leaders of Aragon Entertainment. Patel considered it a huge opportunity to make a positive impression on his seniors. Patel, Gibson and Maria Hernandez were assigned a new project under NHB. Although Patel knew Gibson well, he had never worked with him on any project before.

Patel and Maria worked on the project and were prepared with their share of work before the weekly two hour meetings. Gibson on the other hand was always unprepared, and even said he that he might not come for the next meeting, citing pressing deadlines on other projects.

Problem:

The friendship between Gibson and Patel is causing a mismatch in expectations, thus acting as an impediment to the team’s functioning. This is coming in the way of Patel’s ambition to perform well and gain recognition.

Analysis:

Patel’s point of view -

Patel desperately wanted to make his mark in the organization with the NHB project and wanted to get recognition from seniors. Patel’s expectations from Gibson were high, and assumed that Gibson would be as motivated as him to perform well. Initially, Patel accommodated Gibson’s lack of contribution. Patel and Maria had other full-time work as well but they took time out to work on the NHB project and expected the same from Gibson.

Gibson’s point of view –

Gibson was happy to be on the NHB but had other full-time projects with stringent deadlines. Gibson knew Patel personally and assumed that Patel would understand his situation and cover for him. Gibson felt that he would be able to provide some important contribution in the final meeting and that Patel’s hardwork would see the project through.

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He could not see the conflict that his attitude was creating between him and Patel. The following SWOT analysis provides further insights and analysis of the situation:

Strengths:

Friendship – Patel was comfortable working with Gibson and had confidence in his abilities

Expertise in their fields High performers

Weakness :

Friendship – increased expectation & difficulty in confrontation

No prior experience of working together thus were not aware of each other working style

Lack of proper communication Patel’s desperation to perform

well in NHB and impress seniors

Opportunities :

Gain recognition Develop good working

relationship and an effective team for future projects

Successful product

Threats :

Project failure Relationship failure Gibson could overshadow

Patel during presentation

Patel has the following alternatives for solving the problem:

Alternative 1: Talk it out with Gibson in a polite yet firm manner

This would ensure that their personal relationship is not spoilt. Gibson can openly communicate why he is unable to contribute to the project. On the other hand, a polite approach might fail to impress upon Gibson the criticality of the situation. Gibson might still ignore Patel’s suggestions and end up not contributing to the team.

Alternative 2: Confrontation2

Gibson might immediately take the appropriate action and put more efforts on his task. But this approach has the risk of spoiling their personal relationship.Gibson might become defensive during the discussion and the communication gap might be widened further. A situation might arise in which Gibson out rightly refuses to work for the team.

Alternative 3: Involve Maria

A. Patel and Maria both approaching Gibson

This alternative will bring in the opinion of a neutral person i.e. Maria, which would impress upon Gibson the seriousness of the situation. This would minimise the chances of destroying Patel and Gibson’s Friendship. On the other hand, Gibson might feel that his team mates are ganging up against him. Also, Maria may not share Patel’s point of view at all and it might be difficult to convince Maria to approach Gibson.

B. Maria should separately talk to Gibson

A possible advantage of this approach would be that Gibson is more responsive to Maria and they might come up with a solution. But involving a third person in this case might portray Patel as a manipulative figure.

Alternative 4: Meet Gibson outside office casually and talk it out

The unofficial nature of this meeting would result in the two individuals shedding their inhibitions and having an open communication. Both would openly express their expectations from each other and come up with a solution without hampering their friendship. On the flip side Gibson may not like to discuss this issue unofficially and hence refuse to go for the meeting. Taking things to a personal level could result in things getting out of hand as well. Time constraints might be another problem.

Conclusion: 3

Alternative 4 : Meet Gibson outside office casually and talk things through.

A relaxed environment would allow Patel & Gibson to talk freely. This will also make Gibson feel that Patel values him as friend, thus motivating him to put in more effort. In such an informal setting, Patel can ask Gibson for a more realistic promise which Gibson would definitely be able to fulfil. Also, in case Gibson is facing some other difficulty in keeping his commitments to the team, he’s more likely to tell Patel in such a setting.

Recommendation:Patel should start the conversation by acknowledging that Gibson is under a lot of work pressure. Gibson will either feel that Patel understands him, or he’ll feel guilty about not putting in as much effort as he should. Patel should explain how important this project is for him. Patel should tell Gibson that it would be impossible to complete the project without Gibson’s expertise. Finally, Patel should tell Gibson how much Gibson stands to gain if the project succeeds. This will incentivize him to do his part of the work.

Contingency plan:Patel and Maria should ask Gibson to at least give guidelines on how to do his part of the work. They can ask other colleagues for help, and complete the project to the best of their abilities.

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