Organizational Culture and Employee Motivation at Cognizant Technology Solutions

Binoy D.

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Organizational Culture and Employee Motivation at Cognizant Technology Solutions

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Abstract

During the past 15 years, a particular sector of consulting firms has been performing very well. These are
the firms that are mostly into technology consulting, whose modus operandi is to win the contract for
design, development and maintenance of information systems from large, mostly American and European corporations, and then outsource the work to a huge team of software engineers working from offshore locations, mostly India, but also to other countries like China, Mexico and Ukraine to a certain extent. These consulting firms often build plush campuses in those countries, to which local bright young people flock lured by big bucks, Western style office culture, and the opportunity to travel around the globe. In short term, this kind of business model seems to be very successful and often proves to be a win-win situation for the vendor firms and their clients.

In this paper, we chose one example from the work experience of one of our group members to reflect on the impact of organizational culture and motivation of employees at Cognizant Technology Solutions, an IT outsourcing firm. In this paper, we have also attempted to uncover where the company's real strength lies, and what might be the hidden threats to their business. Detailed analysis is carried out on the organizational culture and employee's motivation, which if not taken care of can start to erode Cognizant's competitive advantage is that it is a low cost IT services provider with the asset of a huge and talented workforce. The scope of analysis is based on the personal insights of our group member which he gained while working at Cognizant Technology Solutions.

Scope of Analysis
Brief History ? Cognizant Technology Solutions
Three Dimensional OB Analysis of Organization Culture
1. Artefacts
2. Values
3. Assumptions
Role of Leadership and Power in Culture at Cognizant
1. Senior Management
2. Middle Management
3. Grass Root Level - Employees
Power tactics prevalent at cognizant
1. Individual
2. Group/Team Level
3. Organization Level
Critical Analysis of culture at Cognizant Technology Solutions
Further Insights on Organizational Culture at Cognizant
Hofstede's cultural dimensions in light of organizational culture at Cognizant
Conflicts observed at Cognizant
1. Conflict due to outcomes
2. Conflict due to differences in Goals
Motivation in Employees at Cognizant
1. Internal Needs
2. External Incentives
Conclusion

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[...] Hence we see that as power exchanges hands among individuals and groups/teams, the entire fabric of power at Cognizant as an organization becomes more and more complex and critical Critical Analysis of culture at Cognizant Technology Solutions To further elaborate on the Organization culture at Cognizant Technology Solutions, metaphor of “SWEAT SHOP” is chosen to reflect on the company's culture. “Sweat Shop” Cognizant Technology Solutions Cognizant Technology Solutions possess competitive advantage of high scalability of its operational efficiency. As quality of IT work outsourced basically comprise of maintenance and support type hence high operational efficiency is required as compared to having intellectual property. [...]

[...] In this paper, we chose one example from work experience of one of our group member to reflect on impact of Organizational Culture and Motivation in employees at Cognizant Technology Solutions, an IT outsourcing firm. In this paper we have also attempted to uncover where company's real strength lies, and what might be the hidden threats to their business. Detailed analysis is carried out on the organizational culture and employee's motivation, which if not taken care of can start to erode Cognizant's competitive advantage of being a low cost IT services provider with asset of huge workforce. [...]

[...] Group of individuals Team Building and Conflict resolution Individual In mentorship and motivation Senior Management: Senior Management comprises of all high level management at Cognizant Technology Solutions including CEO. Cognizant has been able to retain high calibre people in leadership and senior executive roles. Most of the leadership has been with the company since its inception in 1994. In reflecting the India based sourcing model of the company, executive roles are mostly staffed with people of Indian origin with extensive experience on organizational strategy, customer relationship management, marketing and sales and new business development. [...]

[...] "Leadership Lessons from India." Harvard Business Review, 2010: Appendix Organizational Structure at Cognizant Technology Solutions Source: Harvard Business Article Cognizant Technology Solutions 2008 - ROBERT G. ECCLES DAVID LANE PRABAKAR PK KOTHANDARAMAN As seen above in the diagram above, the organizational structure at Cognizant Technology Solutions is Functional Structure. The President & CEO Francisco D'Souza is at the apex of the structure. At the second level of organizational structure are heads of all different functions at Cognizant Technology Solutions reporting to President & CEO of the company. [...]

[...] The analysis, in context of one such firm, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation was an attempt to uncover hidden issues in organizational culture and employee motivation that affect business success in longer run. As our analysis is based on industry research, course material and experience of our group member at Cognizant, we decided to reinforce the observations using questionnaires. Hence, our group member who worked at Cognizant for plus 5 years undertook two questionnaires (Refer Appendix B & to reflect on organizational culture and job satisfaction at work. [...]

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