Consultancy Development Organization

1. Since Rohit Sharma joined Consultancy Development Organization (CDO) as a full-time director in October 2007, he has always tried to increase the business opportunities. Sharma is a hard-working person and believes he can make CDO more successful with his visions. He was disappointed during his first week by the fact that many employees were absent because of a festival that was still five weeks away. A few months later when Sharma asked Naresh Chadha, director in charge of the National Conventional, how the progress was coming along, he was upset by his answer. Chadha let him know that he did not set any dates and that responses continue to come in until the last date. This is where Sharma could have managed the situation more effectively by letting Chadha know that a set date is mandatory so they can know beforehand how many speakers will be attending and the number of participants registered. The letters sent out to the members have to state by when they need to respond, therefore, increasing chances of a successful conference.

Sharma knew the International Consultancy Congress coming up was a great opportunity to interact with other consultancy organizations in other countries. Knowing that any foreign travel needed to be approved by the Ministry of Industrial Promotion, Sharma send his proposal two months in advanced only to be rejected. He wants to do so much but not being able to upsets him.

Sharma knows that the employees are not motivated, having government grants take care of salaries and expenses, they have no need to participate in activities because they will get paid the same either way. When he called a meeting to hear how staff felt about CDO he was let down once again. He believes so strongly in CDO he only wishes his officers and staff felt the same so they could demonstrate growth and potential.

The last straw for Sharma was on January 4, 2008 when he learned that Krish Industrial Consulting Limited (KICL) did not receive the proposal from Mahanadi Electrical Company until after the last day for bids had past. He was furious that it did not faze Mukesh Kumar, director of projects, that their founding member lost the opportunity to participate in this $2.5 million assignment.

2. At this point, Sharma has the option to continue at CDO and hope his hard work and ideas finally shine through or leave before CDO loses its’ reputation and his career is at stake. Sharma has set a five year vision for CDO and knows they can really succeed from it if changes can be made. Once employees are held accountable for their role and CDO stops functioning as a government pattern he can really generate income. He also knows that before he was the director, CDO had gone through three different directors in three years. He wonders if he has made a mistake and second guesses himself about really being able to improve the situation at CDO where everything is done by following government guidelines.

3. If I were in Sharma’s situation, after leaving Kumar’s office I would lay down ground rules that all four officers and staff need to comply with. Although they have been functioning like this for 18 years, it is time to make huge improvements before CDO loses their high status as the professional agency in India. I would let the officers know that there cannot be any more delays when it comes to getting information for our members; back-up plans need to be in place in order to reduce time. In order for this to really work, we can no longer work under government guidelines; instead only use government links for promotion. Within the next few hours I would discuss these plans with the CDO Governing Council. If these arrangements cannot happen, I would no longer be a part of CDO. Having to follow strict guidelines and needing approval for foreign activities does not result in success for CDO.

In conclusion, CDO has the ability to be a more successful organization, and Sharma is capable of directing CDO in a positive direction, but until they can be self-supporting Sharma will always be stuck in these situations.