AZIM PREMJI - WIPRO

zim

Premji,

an

Indian

businessman, born on July 24, 1945, in Bombay. Professionally designated as the Chairman of Wipro, one of the largest software companies in India running across a wide global network. At the age of 21 he took over the family business after the sudden death of his father in 1966, leaving his studies in computer science from Stanford University. The family run company which was started by his father, made oils and fats which later became Wipro. He took the cooking oil company of USD 2million to USD 5.7 billion IT Services organization serving customers across the globe. According to Forbes, he is currently the third wealthiest Indian, and the 41st richest in the world, with a personal wealth of $15.9 billion in 2012. (source:Wikipedia.org) Net Worth: USD 5.7 billion (approx) Personal traits: Premji is a man known for his modesty, frugality and helping mentality, in spite of his hig profile designation. He is a person with humble character and always believes in doing rather than saying. He drives a Toyota Corolla and flies economy class, prefers to stay in a company guest house rather than luxury hotels and even does his best in caring for the people in need by his companys CSR activities. As a leader: His mantra of successful and prominent life is clearly shown by his determination and perseverance, coupled with knowledge, planning and clear vision, the perfect mixture of all these things enabled him to reach the peak of success and leadership. A straight spoken person, he doesnt believe in resorting to bribery or corruption to get things done and associates quality with integrity. He is a workaholic person and according to him work is the only way to success and survival in a competitive environment. A tough employer, he expects his employees to be

competent and will not tolerate lies or deception from anyone. Premji equates Quality with Integrity - both being non-negotiable under his personal and company norms.

Leadership style of Azim Premji

Azim Premji was the person who made Wipros shift from soap to a software company. It was his vision to bring companies within 100 technology companies in the world. His leadership is a paradoxical blend of quiet dynamism with an understand drive for excellence. If there's one mantra for success given by Mr Premji's, it's: keep striving for excellence.
And he has been very true to his own belief. A recipient of numerous awards, including the coveted Padma Bhushan award, his leadership style is lauded by entrepreneurs not just in India, but across the world.

Wipro began in 1947 as a small vegetable oil company founded by azim premjis father. Azim premji is a graduate in electrical engineering from Stanford university, USA. He took over the leadership of Wipro at the age of 21 only in 1996, after the sudden demise of his father and later with in no time he converted a small vegetable oil company into the top most selling computer maker in the world with his professional skills and his leadership quality. Under his leadership WIPRO has not only spread in India but also globally because of his humanity and commitment towards his work. As a result, the $1.5 million company in hydrogenated cooking fats grew within a few years to a $662 million diversified, integrated corporation in services, medical systems, technology products and consumer items with offices worldwide.

WIPROS GROWTH UNDER AZIM PREMJIVISION To place the WIPRO among the top IT companies in The world. It becomes Indias leading seller of computers, scanners and printers. BPO, a strategic initiative for WIPRO was expected to be a key growth driver. It became the first software service company in the world to achieve SEI-CMM level 5 certification. Premji want his company more customer-centric.

According to Premji a successful leaders must be able to articulate a clear, stated , committed vision for the company they represent and the vision must always be centered around the customers and the employees. Values were always very important to premji as according to him success has to be built on a foundation of values and successful leaders must have self confidence which comes from positive attitude and they need extraordinary physical, mental and some way spiritual energy to remain on the top of the demands made to them.

PREMJIS LEVEL 5 LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK BY AZIM PREMJI

Lifecycle leadership program ELP, HLP, WLP , SLP

Objective setting Competency based performance

WIPRO LEADER Early opportunities

WQL 360 degree

HR review and planning Meet your people program

CSS customer inputs

Wipro works as a team and all employees are treated as family members rather than just employees. Premjis standing in business circle speaks of his determination and perseverance which coupled of clarity of knowledge and vision has enabled him to achieve amidst all odds. As a tough employer he expects his employees also to be competent and does not tolerate deception. He is known for his humility and helping attitude. His simplicity and charm are natural qualities of an efficient leader. He is a true blue Indian who has made his mark globally. Under Premjis leadership the company adopted ethical practices that includes neither giving nor taking bribe. Premji leads a simple life and works quietly behind every small success of Wipro which is a typical of a level 5 leader. Employee feedback and communication was a transparent policy considered crucial for Wipros growth. To be able to predict the future and rightly predict it is what differentiates smart managers from managers.

Beliefs of Azim Premji Believe in Team building. Believe in a process driven culture. Always adhere to core values of the organization. Work is the only way to success and survival

KEY CHALLENGES WIPRO is now the best IT Company due to the hard work and dedication of Azim Premji and now the company is the world class player at the global level. He single handedly is responsible for making this transition from soap to software. He had and still has only one mantra for success and that is keep starving for excellences and he has been very true to his belief which focuses more on self-integrity rather than competitive strategy. His external environment may not support him for his deeds as to some maybe less profitable but that hasnt stopped this person. He faces all challenges and works towards achieving a new height of success.

Some of the issues and challenges faced by him were: The principal challenged faced by Premji according to him was to go up the value and domain skill chain and build a strong consultancy front end and also to globalize our leadership much more. They have already done an excellent job in globalizing the population which works overseas (they work force they have in different countries of the world) and now their next challenge is to globalize their leadership much more. The other challenge he faced was the stability of the top management. The competition in the market is so tough in IT industry that the top management employees are tough to retain with numerous competitive openings and offerings. So retaining the employees was a tough task for Premji. IT industry was getting fragmented.

STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY AZIM PREMJI He came up with few changes in the organization Matrix Organization Structure of Wipro This organizational structure at Wipro groups employees by both function and product. It uses teams of employees to accomplish work, in order to take advantage of the strengths, as well as make up the weaknesses, of functional and decentralized forms. Thus it enables the Wipro Engineers to share information more readily across task boundaries by working in different cross functional teams and sharing and enhancing their knowledge and skills.

Two core principles 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 as a normal stakeholder. 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 and is encouraged throughout.

Defining Leadership Qualities 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. Wipro decided to be more pragmatic. It has 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

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 practice.

LEADERSHIP QUALITY EARLIER AND 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( AZIM PREMJIs change) Focus on Global Game Changes and Players Focus on Virtual Teams that work asynchronously across date and time zones.

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

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. 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. 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.

CONCLUSION