In May 1996, K.V. Kamath (Kamath) replaced Narayan Vaghul (Vaghul), CEO of India's leading financial services company Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI). Immediately after taking charge, Kamath introduced massive changes in the organizational structure and the emphasis of the organization changed - from a development bank mode to that of a market-driven financial conglomerate.
Kamath's moves were prompted by his decision to create new divisions to tap new markets and to introduce flexibility in the organization to increase its ability to respond to market changes.
Necessitated because of the organization's new-found aim of becoming a financial powerhouse, the large-scale changes caused enormous tension within the organization.
The systems within the company soon were in a state of stress.
Employees were finding the changes unacceptable as learning new skills and adapting to the process orientation was proving difficult.
The changes also brought in a lot of confusion among the employees, with media reports frequently carrying quotes from disgruntled ICICI employees. According to analysts, a large section of employees began feeling alienated. The discontentment among employees further increased, when Kamath formed specialist groups within ICICI like the 'structured projects' and 'infrastructure' group.
Doubts were soon raised regarding whether Kamath had gone 'too fast too soon,' and more importantly, whether he would be able to steer the employees and the organization through the changes he had initiated.
