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DOI: 10.1177/0972820113498926

2013 10: 163Asian Journal of Management CasesS. Senthil Ganesh and Niraj Kumar

Sensing Application Centre, Indiarnaround Challenges of a State-owned Enterprise: A Case Study of Orissa Remo

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Editors Introduction 163

Turnaround Challenges of aState-owned Enterprise: A CaseStudy of Orissa Remote Sensing

Application Centre, India

S. Senthil Ganesh

Niraj Kumar

Abstract

Orissa Remote Sensing Applications Centre (ORSAC), an autonomous technology organization

established by the Government of Orissa, had grown tremendously; developing competencies in thefields of remote sensing, geographic information system (GIS) and space technology. Since ORSACwas established by the Government of Orissa, ORSACs relationship with the state, Department ofScience (DoS), National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) and Space Application Centre (SAC) helpedit to secure remote sensing and GIS projects effortlessly, thereby ensuring a steady revenue stream forORSAC during the early days of its inception. Upon assuming the role ofChief Executive Officer(CEO), Amiya Kumar Mohapatra, an Indian ForestService officer, realized that he was unable to bring desired changes within the organization. Lowmotivation amongst the employees prevented the organization from growing and winning large-scaleprojects. ORSAC faced stiff competition from private players and other government agencies in the

ever-advancing remote sensing and GIS market in India.The CEO realized that dependence on the government for patronage and funding had had a detrimen-tal impact on ORSAC. The organization was unable to recognize the need for developing competenciesin marketing its products and services to users until it was too late, and it had already lost large-scaleprojects in the manufacturing industry to private players. However, an increase in the salary expensesand the salary shortfall in comparison with Department of Science and Technology funding was forcingORSAC to sustain its operational expenses by securing more projects from the open market. The organization was facing diverse challenges ranging from high operating costs, especially salaryexpenses, to low productivity of employees, which were affecting ORSACs competitiveness negatively.Additionally, the organization faced a near-permanent recruitment ban by the state governmentpreventing it from sourcing key competencies from the market to keep pace with the changingtechnologies and customer demands.

Thus, this case study aims to present diverse challenges of a state-owned enterprise by highlightinginternal factors such as structural, financial and human resource challenges, as well as externalfactors such as technological change and competition in the industry, which influences organizationalcompetitiveness and makes organizational turnaround a difficult task.

Case

Asian Journal of Management Cases10(2) 163177

2013 Lahore University ofManagement Sciences

SAGE PublicationsLos Angeles, London,

New Delhi, Singapore,Washington DC

DOI: 10.1177/0972820113498926http://ajc.sagepub.com

This case was written by Associate Professor Senthil S. Ganesh ([email protected]) and Professor Niraj Kumar([email protected]) at Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, India to serve as a basis for class discussionrather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. This material may notbe quoted, photocopied or reproduced in any form without the prior written consent of the Lahore University of

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164 S. Senthil Ganesh and Niraj Kumar

Asian Journal of Management Cases, 10, 2 (2013): 163177

Keywords

Turnaround, organizational change, HR interventions, technology organization, India

Unbelievable! This is just contrary to what I had thought about ORSAC before I joined, were the firstfew words uttered by Mr Amiya Kumar Mohapatra, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Orissa Remote

Sensing Application Centre (ORSAC), a state-owned scientific and technology organization. It had been

only six months since Mr Mohapatra, an officer of the Indian Forest Service, had joined ORSAC. He had

arranged a meeting with a few select employees to understand the factors affecting ORSACs growth and

subsequent plans to evolve an appropriate strategy to turn around this state-owned organization. The

invitees to the meeting were Mr Mishra, one of the senior-most scientists; Mr Das, a highly skilled

technical assistant; and Mrs Mohanty, an experienced administrative employee representing the scientists,

technical employees and administrative employees within the organization.

Why do you think so, Sir? asked Mr Mishra, curiously. Mr Mohapatra replied:

You know Mr Mishra, before joining ORSAC, I knew very well that it would be challenging to manage a

scientic and technology-based organization like ORSAC, which has great potential for growth. However, I am

surprised to see that our scientists are indifferent to my call for larger and new projects, and the non-scientic

staff is unenthusiastic towards my proposals. It is not a good sign for the future of ORSAC.

Mr Mishra, the scientist, who appeared to be in line with his new bosss concerns, replied politely:

Sir, we have done many projects in the past when there were not many remote sensing and GIS service provid-

ers in the market. Presently we are facing stiff competition not only from private players but also from other

state-owned organizations. We nd ourselves helpless to take on our competitors as we lack critical competen-

cies and skills to meet the new demands of our clients.

The CEO interrupted Mr Mishra, saying, I do not think skill shortage is the only issue. I guess a scientific

organization like ORSAC should have greater focus on scientific deliberations and cooperation.

Mr Das, who was till now only nodding his head, jumped into the discussion saying, You are

right. How can you expect cooperation when employees have been treated differentially, and there is

complete lack of upward mobility for them in the organization. Without waiting for Mr Das to

complete his statement, Mrs Mohanty, who was representing the administrative staff in the meeting,

expressed herself, I cannot agree more with Mr Das. How can ORSAC reach new heights when our

colleagues have been stagnant at the same position for years, and they have to go to the court for their

genuine demands?

The CEO said:

I understand your justied grievances. There is no doubt, whatsoever, in my mind that all these issues are impor-

tant and must be addressed. But above all, I am sure you would agree with me that we cannot allow the organi-

zation to crumble just because we have internal issues. I feel this is more related to our policies and decisions

related to the human resource management of our organization. And it is high time that we study these in detail

to strengthen ORSACs competitiveness in this emerging market of remote sensing and GIS so that we can be

among the leading remote sensing and satellite application centres in the country. I think we should all work

towards the turnaround of ORSAC.



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Turnaround Challenges of a State-owned Enterprise 165


Figure 1. Indicative List of Remote Sensing and GIS Applications

Source: Orissa Remote Sensing Application Centre.

In the end, he posed a question to all present there, Do I have your cooperation? Everyone appeared to

be in agreement with him.

About ORSAC

ORSAC was established as an autonomous organization in the year 1984 by the Government of Orissa

to undertake, promote, guide and coordinate and aid in the research and development and use of remote

sensing technology in the state of Orissa, India. As a state-owned technology organization, ORSAC

promoted remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) technology-based applications to

government departments, non-government agencies and corporations (Figure 1 and Table 1 provide for

various remote sensing and GIS applications).

One of the major activities of ORSAC was imparting technology training to the users and partnering

in the application of technologies. It was the nodal apex body of the state for remote sensing and

GIS applications to undertake analysis and interpretation of remote sensing data for resource andenvironmental management.



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Table 1. Indicative List of Various Remote Sensing and GIS Applications

1. Land Use and Land Cover Maps:These maps are useful for agro-climatic zone planning through multi-date satellite images which are used to identify various types of land use, land cover, wasteland, wetland,forest and agricultural land, etc.

2. Urban Land Use Maps:These maps are used by city development or town planning authorities forproper urban planning and effective land use by identifying roads, streets, blocks, boundaries, sub-divisions,structures, water bodies, etc.

3. Wasteland Maps:These maps are used for preparing land management plans by identifying differenttypes of wastelands, such as marshy land, water logged, sand dunes, sandbar, mine spoils and landslides.

4. Hydrogeomorphological Maps:These maps are used to identify drinking water sources throughgroundwater investigations for the purpose of dugwell and borewell.

5. Wetland Maps:These maps depict all types of coastal and inland wetlands, their location, inflow andoutflow of water, extent in pre and post-monsoon, water level, tidal variations, water quality, water spreadfluctuations, etc.

6. Forest Cover Maps:These maps are used to identify the forest resources of the country at state and

district level and are immensely useful for forest management, wildlife conservation and environmentalconservation. 7. Flood Zone Maps:The maps are used to identify the flood-affected areas by assessing the extent of

flood, intensity, affected and marooned villages, submerged areas, etc. 8. Watershed Maps:These maps are used in water conservation, flood control, soil erosion control, river

valley projects, irrigation projects, hydropower projects, etc. 9. Route Alignment and Communication Planning Maps:These maps are used in construction of

new roads, highways and expressways by providing for land use/land cover pattern, topography, etc.10. Coastal Zone Management Maps:These maps are used to assess the impact of industrialization,

trade, commerce, tourism and various other anthropogenic activities on highly productive coastalecosystems such as coral reefs, mangrove forests and sand dunes.

11. Industrial Pollution and Environmental Impact Assessment Maps:These maps are used toassess the environmental impact due to industrial activities (for example, identifying fly ash-affected areas inthe neighbourhood of steel manufacturing organizations) so as to plan for compensation, rehabilitation andresettlement activities.

12. Satellite-based Development Communication Network:This is used to assist thegovernment and various government agencies in development efforts in the area of interactive training,development communication and interactive information flow through one-way or two-way videoconnecting the state, district and block headquarters.

ORSAC had been registered as a society with its headquarters in Bhubaneswar (the capital city of

Orissa) and was managed by the governing body, which was headed by the chairman. The general

superintendence, direction and control of the affairs of the centre were vested in the governing body. Itwas important to note that the governing body was bound to carry out the directives issued by the state.

The organizational structure of ORSAC, which is given in Figure 2, was approved by the governing body

of ORSAC on 19 July 1984.

Although ORSAC had a governing body which could take major decisions related to administration

and management of the centre affairs, the Chief Executive Officer managed the centre on a day-to-day

basis. The CEO was responsible for convening the meeting of the governing body and the society. He

was responsible for the coordination and supervision of all the projects of the centre to ensure their

successful completion and implementation.



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Figure 2. Organizational Structure of ORSAC

Source: Minutes of Governing Body of ORSAC Dated 19th July 1984.

The importance of ORSAC as a key technology organization was realized by the Orissa state

administration and various government departments when the coastal districts of Orissa were hit by the

super cyclone on 29 October 1999. Need of remote sensing geographic information data for crucial

decision making activities and planning for the relief operations by the state increased the importance of

ORSAC. The centre, along with the help of the Department of Space, prepared maps that showed

marooned villages, submerged roads and railway networks, submerged crop fields and other areas. These

maps were used by the Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Special Relief Commissioner and other state

government officials to plan and execute relief operations.After the super cyclone, the Prime Minister of India visited Orissa to oversee the cyclone-affected

areas. During his visit, he held a review meeting with various officials of the government where the need

for a long-term plan for coastal areas through a Disaster Management System (DMS) was emphasized.

Subsequently, with the assistance from Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), ORSAC generated

the DMS database for 10 coastal districts of Orissa, namely, Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Ganjam,

Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Khurda, Puri and Nayagarh. Through this project, ORSAC was able

to provide help to Orissa state to make decisions about disaster relief operations using scientific data

generated through remote sensing and GIS.

Governing Body

Chief Executive

Photo Library and Data Bank

Nodal Officers

(Departmental)

PhotographicLaboratory

Photo

IntegrationLaboratory

Ground

Truthing

Scientific Staff

(Core Personnel)

Administration and Accounts

Project Staff

CartographicLaboratory



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Further, ORSAC had undertaken many significant projects which enabled various state agencies to

use technology effectively in their planning and operation. The Watershed Atlas Preparation and Priority

Fixation Project enabled the Government of Orissa to introduce a scientific approach in the development

planning process by seeking ORSACs service in selecting the actual site/location/micro-watershed for

development planning. This project was a huge success in Orissa which led the Government of Orissa toissue a Government Order (GO) for the use of ORSAC maps for Watershed Development Programme.

This GO enabled ORSAC to provide services to various local-level users, including non-governmental

and private organizations at district level and block level.

In the year 2005, ORSAC carried out the Block Geo Information System Project to use information

technology for natural resource management, environmental monitoring and development planning in

the state of Orissa. This project created awareness among the decision makers in the Orissa state

administration about ORSACs capabilities in creating large datasets of diverse nature which had the

flexibility to provide a particular dataset to the user through query search. Subsequently, using the

experience gained in this project, ORSAC was able to win a national-level bid for Groundwater Geo

Information System Project in the state of Uttarakhand.

In the following years, the cadastral-level dataset developed by ORSAC gained greater acceptanceamong users like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur and other professional agencies

involved in town planning. As a result, the Government of India recognized ORSAC as one of the

advanced centres in India for capacity building and for generating and utilizing the cadastral-level

information for the end users involved in urban planning and management.

ORSAC successfully demonstrated the utilization of remote sensing technologies and GIS for

generation of up-to-date, location-specific data relating to land, water, forests, soil, ocean and mineral

resources. It generated a natural resource database for reconnaissance, operational, monitoring and

management purposes at various hierarchies of planning and administration such as state, district, block,

village, watershed, agro-climate zones and site-specific development purposes. The inexplicable role

and contribution of ORSAC in various projects from disaster mitigation to crop forecasting earned aname for ORSAC as a partner in development planning by the Government of Orissa and its departments.

Market and Competition

Mr Mohapatra realized that most of the projects that had been completed in the last 10 years were the

first of their kind in the state of Orissa. Moreover, he discovered that barring a very small number, almost

all the projects were government sponsored and most were collaborative in nature since they came from

nodal agencies like Department of Space (DoS), National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) and Space

Application Centre (SAC). These agencies provided the technology orientation and executionmethodology to ORSAC which gave its scientists and technical staff confidence and experience. These

projects enhanced the learning curve of ORSAC as an organization. ORSAC could source many of these

projects from various government agencies without much effort since it was an autonomous body

established by the Government of Orissa and a partner organization of NRSA. The latter usually passed

on the remote sensing work related to a particular state to agencies like ORSAC.

However, from inception, ORSAC had focused on developing simple GIS databases, on-screen

interpretation of reconnaissance-level remote sensing data, incorporation of simple reconnaissance-level

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attribute data into GIS, simple and preliminary operations of GIS and submission of digital database,

mainly maps, to users as an advisory for planning. Therefore, ORSACs skills and competencies were

mostly limited to developing simple GIS databases. Although ORSAC was recognized as a nodal agency

for remote sensing and GIS-related activities, it faced some formidable challenges in terms of

computerization of scientific and technical works during the initial period while executing projectsrelated to remote sensing and GIS.

The nature of remote sensing and GIS activities demanded that ORSAC employees had to learn using

computers while carrying out their routine work. These employees were provided with very little on-the-

job training at a nominal cost. The employees learnt these skills basically from each other and developed

their expertise in GIS work. The competencies of both scientific and technical employees of ORSAC were

limited and inadequate to meet the challenges of drastically changing role of remote sensing application

centres which were expected to develop complex GIS databases and perform complex GIS operations to

address spacetime dimensions by developing highly customized user-specific solutions for diverse users.

Based on his short experience in ORSAC, Mr Mohapatra learned that the market for remote sensing

and GIS was growing by leaps and bounds as more and more government departments, central and state

government agencies, private organizations and individuals were using high-resolution imagery services

in vastly different areas. These areas included:

infrastructure development (transport, power, telecommunications);

utility services (health, drinking water, sanitation and habitation);

natural resource management, food security and livelihood enhancement (agriculture, irrigation,

resource distribution);

disaster management (disaster awareness programmes, damage assessment, relief planning and

execution); and

climate change (ecosystem reservation, coastal zone conservation, industrialization, carbon

budgeting and waste management).

It was estimated that the annual budget allocated to the government agencies for GIS was around US$

200 million in 200708, and there were around 100200 companies in India fighting for a greater share

of this revenue. Although it was expected that the size of the GIS market in India would grow up to $10

billion in the next 10 years (The Economics Times2007), it was getting clearer that the entry and growth

of private players in the remote sensing and GIS market would drastically reduce the oligopoly of state

remote sensing agencies. The latter posed a serious threat to the survival of organizations like ORSAC

since reduced outsourcing activities of developed countries forced the private players to compete

vigorously for greater share in the national and state markets.

Unlike ORSAC, the private players were carrying out aggressive lobbying and marketing to promotetheir product and services to various stakeholders within the government as well as in the private sector.

Private players were actively collaborating with each other by forming consortiums to win bigger

projects. ORSAC, on the other hand, did not have a strategy and policy in place to collaborate with other

organizations and undertake turnkey projects and provide end-to-end solutions in areas of remote sensing

and GIS in which it did not have expertise. ORSAC lost the revenue map generation project to Orissa

Computer Application Centre, a nodal agency under the Department of Information Technology,

Government of Orissa.



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Missing out such large-scale projects to both private players and other government agencies

meant serious strategic and financial implications for the sustainability of ORSAC, which largely

depended on state government funding for meeting its capital as well as operational expenses. It

was important to increase revenues since the grants received from the Department of Science andTechnology were insufficient to meet the salary expenses of 109 employees of ORSAC and the shortfall

had increased significantly during the last four years. Table 2 provides information related to salary

shortfall in comparison with actual expenses and the grants received from the Department of Science and

Technology.

HR Policy and Issues: The Complex Riddle

Manpower Planning and Recruitment

When ORSAC was created in 1984, the governing body approved a total manpower of 19 employees,including the CEO, in various categories such as scientific, technical and administrative staff (see

Table 3). Human resource (HR) at ORSAC had grown nearly 450 per cent to 107 employees in just less

than 10 years from the date of its inception (see Table 4). It was interesting to note that in the neighbouring

state, the Andhra Pradesh State Remote Sensing Applications Centre (APSRSAC) employed around

thirty employees, which included the scientific, technical and administrative staff, and was considered as

one of the leading state-owned remote sensing centres.

In ORSAC, there were four different general classifications among scientific staff ranging from

Scientists A to Scientists D, 14 different categories of technical staff and eighteen different categories of

administrative staff. Many positions, even in the scientists category, did not have any clear job

descriptions and it was perceived that many job classifications in the technical and administrativecategory had become obsolete and meaningless considering the nature of work and future requirements

of ORSAC.

Of late, there was a near-permanent recruitment ban in ORSAC, partly due to the austerity measures

followed by the Government of Orissa, and largely because of lack of systematic HR planning by

Mr Mohapatras predecessors. Mr Mohapatra came to know that ORSAC was managing the absence of

these skills by outsourcing the critical components of such projects to organizations like Centre for

Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT), Town and Country Planning Organization (TCPO)

and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), Pune.

Table 2. Salary Shortfall in Comparison with Actual Salary Expenses and Grants Received from Department ofScience and Technology, Orissa

YearSalary Expenses(in million INR)

DS&T Grant(in million INR)

Shortfall(in million INR)

Shortfall(in percentage)

200506 14.88 6.32 8.56 57.5%

200607 18.26 7.82 10.44 57.1%

200708 19.39 10.26 9.13 47%

200809 28.5 13.3 15.2 53.3%

Source: ORSAC.



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Table 4. Manpower Position at ORSAC as on 1 April 2009

S. No. Group Designation No

1. Group A Scientist D 2

2. Group A Scientist C 8 3. Group B Scientist B 10 4. Group B Scientist A 7 5. Total Scientific Staff 27 6. Group B Sr. Cartographic Assistants 2 7. Group C Draftsman Grade I 2 8. Group C Technical Assistant B 4 9. Group C Engineering Assistant 510. Group C Statistical Investigator 211. Group C Photo Technician B 1

12. Group C Statistical Assistant 213. Group C Technical Assistant A 214. Group C Laboratory Assistant A 115. Group C Technician 216. Group C Data Entry Operator 217. Group C Draughtsman Grade III 1018. Group C Screen Printing Operator 119. Group C Ammonia Printing Operator 220. Total Technical Staff 38

Table 3. Manpower Approved in the First Governing Board Meeting during 1984

Category Position Number of Posts

Administration Chief Executive Officer 1

Senior Stenographer 1

Driver 1Peon 1

Scientific Staff Scientist 1

Laboratory Assistant 1

Technical Staff Technical Assistant 3

Electrician 1

Laboratory Attendant 1

Cartography Staff Draughtsman 1

Technician/Artist 1

Laboratory Attendant 1

Ministerial Staff Head Clerk (Accountant) 1Junior Clerk-cum-Typist 1

Peon/Watchman 3

Total 19

Source: ORSAC.

(Table 4 Continued)



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S. No. Group Designation No

21. Group B Section Officer (Accounts) 1

22. Group C Senior Stenographer 1

23. Group C Public Relations Assistant 124. Group C Office Clerk B 3

25. Group C Cashier 1

26. Group C Junior Stenographer 1

27. Group C Library Assistant 1

28. Group C Telephone Operator 1

29. Group C Xerox Operator 2

30. Group C Office Clerk A 3

31. Group C Driver 5

32. Group C Diarist 1

33. Group C Despatcher 134. Group C Binder Grade III 1

35. Group C Laboratory Attendant 4

36. Group C Field Man 1

37. Group D Attendant 12

38. Group D Watchman 2

Total Administrative Staff 42

Total Manpower 107

Source: ORSAC.

(Table 4 Continued)

Mr Mohapatra realized that although the overall manpower of ORSAC was very high and it was a

bottom-heavy organization because it had a higher number of administrative employees, it lacked

competencies in emerging areas like development planning (urban/regional/environmental planning)

and information technology. Professionals were required to provide significant input to ORSAC for

designing projects, formulating project proposals, evaluating technical and commercial issues, and even

help ORSAC to form a consortium with competent organizations in order to bid for bigger projects.

These employees would also serve as suitable experts who would identify and assess the outsourcing

components of project elements related to planning and software solutions and develop quality

checkpoints to evaluate the process and outcome of outsourcing service providers. Absence of such

critical skills within the organization reduced ORSACs competitiveness since it was unable to sourcemore projects from the open market. Mr Mohapatra also became aware that some of the other state-

owned organizations were utilizing the services of research fellows for managing projects by floating

junior research fellowships or senior research fellowships.

Compensation and Career Management

Out of 107 employees of ORSAC, very few employees had been recruited as per the organizational plan

(plan and non-plan category), the rest had primarily been recruited as project staff. While the plan



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category employees were paid salary from the financial assistance received from the state government,

ORSAC had to meet the salary expenses of employees who were recruited in the non-plan category

through the revenue generated from its projects.

The employees who were recruited in plan and non-plan category during 1985 and 1987 were

receiving their salaries based on the pay scale in which they had been recruited. The contingent employeesrecruited as project staff were initially receiving either daily wage or consolidated pay, before they were

regularized in a particular pay scale mostly between 1987 and 1992.

Based on the discussion with Mr Mishra, Mr Das and Mrs Mohanty, Mr Mohapatra, the CEO, could

understand that ORSACs redeployment exercise carried out in the year 1990, followed by the salary

fitment exercise in the year 1996, was deemed to be the root cause of major HR problems at ORSAC.

Mrs Mohanty narrated the history of two administrative employees as an example. According to her, two

employees were recruited for the position of Investigator during the year 1989. One employee was

receiving a daily wage of INR 15, whereas the other employee was paid INR 1,000 per month as

consolidated pay. However, both employees had different qualifications while joining ORSAC. The

employee who was recruited as a daily wage employee had a higher secondary school certificate (HSC),while the other employee had a postgraduate degree in science (MSc). On 1 June 1990, the employee

with the HSC qualification was redesignated as Gauge Reader, with a consolidated pay of INR 1,000

per month. The employee with MSc qualification was redesignated as Senior Technical Assistant, with

a pay scale of INR 1,640INR 2,900. During the fitment exercise carried out in year 1996, the Gauge

Reader was again redesignated as Attendant with a pay scale of INR 2,500INR 3,200 and the

Senior Technical Assistant was redesignated as Scientist B.

Commenting on the above anomaly, Mr Mishra, the senior scientist stated:

Although it is reasonable to expect a postgraduate candidate in science to occupy a position of a scientist, the

person holding the attendant position is not able to appreciate the difference in qualication and skills but

carries a feeling of injustice done to him/her because the designation of both employees during the recruitment

was just Investigator.

While the above-mentioned scenario was the case of comparison between an administrative employee

and a scientific employee, Mr Das was quick to point out that there were cases of perceived injustice

among technical employees too. He provided the history of two technical employees who were recruited

in 1989 as daily wage employees for the position of investigator. At the time of joining, one employee

had a postgraduate qualification (MA) in statistics and the other had postgraduate qualification (MA) in

sociology. In 1990, the services of these employees were regularized as regular full-time employees of

ORSAC in the position of Senior Investigator with the pay scale of INR 975INR 1,660. In 1988,

ORSAC also recruited another candidate with postgraduate qualification (MA) in geography as senior

research fellow with a consolidated pay of INR 950 per month. During 1990, this employee was

designated as Senior Project Assistant with the scale of pay of INR 1,6402,900. Subsequently, during

the fitment exercise, the position of senior project assistant was reclassified as Scientist B. Due to this

fitment exercise, this employee was receiving higher salary in the pay scale of INR 6,500INR 10,500

compared to the two senior investigators who were receiving INR 5,0008,000, which was lower than

the scale of Scientist B. Citing these cases, Mr Das was of the opinion that there was discrimina-

tion against the technical employees although all the three employees had postgraduate degree

qualifications at the time of recruitment.



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Figure 3. Line of Promotional Opportunities for Technical and Scientific Staff of ORSAC

Source: 16th Governing Body Proceeding of ORSAC, dated 6 March 1998.

Mr Mishra, the scientist, vehemently refuted the discrimination allegation by Mr Das. He said:

It will be unfair to neglect the crucial information related to different additional qualications acquired by these

employees and training programmes undergone if one is to make a fair assessment of perceived injustice. For

example, while the statistical investigators were sent for basic or higher statistical training at Statistical Training

Institute (STI), Bhubaneswar; the senior project assistant had an MPhil degree in geography at the time of join-ing ORSAC and later also acquired a postgraduate diploma in Human Settlement Analysis at Indian Institute of

Remote Sensing (IIRS), Dehradun. Moreover, he was also sent for training programmes related to basic photo-

grammetry and remote sensing at IIRS Dehradun and digital image analysis training at Regional Remote Sensing

Service Centre (RRSSC), Kharagpur. Therefore, the basic qualications, skills and competencies of these two

technical employees and the scientic employee are altogether different.

In reply, Mr Das pointed out that there were eight cases of Scientific Assistants B or Technical

Assistants C who had basic qualification of MSc in different science streams ranging from geology,

geography, oceanography to marine science. Citing the above cases, Mr Das argued that advancement

and change in technologies, particularly introduction of computer-based technologies, had resulted in

multi skilled technical employees. Some of these employees had also added to their qualifications andacquired additional skills through various training programmes relevant to their functions. Mr Das

lamented that highly qualified and competent employees in the technical category had been neglected by

ORSAC management. According to him, these employees were not considered for promotion even after

15 years of service, despite the decision of the ORSAC governing body which charted out the promotional

opportunity and career path for scientific and technical employees during 1998. Figure 3 depicts the line



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Table 5. Benchmarking of ORSAC Scientists Career Path and Pay Scales with Other Central and State-levelScientific and Technology Organizations

Level

ORSAC DST (GoI) ISRO (DoS) RSAC (UP) PRSC (LUDHIANA)

Pay Scale (INR) Pay Scale (INR) Pay Scale (INR) Pay Scale (INR) Pay Scale (INR)

Scientist A 5,3008,300

Scientist B 6,50010,500 8,00013,500 6,50010,500 6,50010,500

Scientist C 8,00013,500 10,00015,200 8,00013,500 8,00013,500 8,00013,500

Scientist D 9,35014,550 12,00016,500 10,00015,200 10,00015,200 10,00015,200

Senior Scientist/

Scientist E 10,65015,850 14,30018,300 12,00016,500 12,00016,500 12,00016,500Scientist F 16,40020,000 14,30018,300 14,30018,300 14,30018,300

Sceintist G 18,40022,400 16,40020,000 16,40020,000 16,40020,000

Sceintist H 18,40022,400 18,40022,400

Source: ORSAC.

Note: DST (GoI) = Department of Science and Technology (Government of India); ISRO (DoS) = Indian Space ResearchOrganization (Department of Space); RSAC (UP) = Remote Sensing Application Centre (Uttar Pradesh); and PRSC(LUDHIANA) = Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (Ludhiana).

of promotional opportunity to technical and scientific staff of ORSAC as decided in the governing body

meeting of ORSAC during 1998.

Mr Mohapatra strongly felt that the redeployment exercise in 1990 followed by the salary fitment

exercise in 1996, and again in 1998, resulted in major HR problems in ORSAC and created divisions

among different categories of employees. Also, he could sense that there was a feeling among somescientists that they were subsidizing the salary of the unproductive administrative employees,

whereas the administrative employees had the grievance that ORSACs top management was pampering

the scientists at their expense and neglecting the contribution of administrative employees in the

functioning of ORSAC. He felt that such attitudes were leading to unnecessary conflicts within

the organization.

Notwithstanding the salary constraints and internal equity issues facing ORSAC, scientific employees

were benchmarking their career path and compensation with federal and state-level scientific and technology

organizations and found them less attractive. Table 5 shows the benchmarking of the career paths of

ORSACs scientists and pay scales with other central and state-level scientific and technology organizations.

Scientists were unhappy with the limited number of promotional opportunities at ORSAC. Otherorganizations provided better career prospects and promotions up to Scientist F and Scientist G, whereas

at ORSAC, there was no level higher than Scientist E. Many senior scientists were upset about the pay

scales at ORSAC in comparison with other state-level organizations. For example, the remuneration for

Scientist D at ORSAC was much less than that offered at other organizations (Table 5). Scientists wanted

their positions to be in line with other state remote sensing application centres. The general feeling

among the scientists was that without providing better salaries and career opportunities, ORSAC would

not be able to attract bright talent from the market for scientific positions such as urban, rural and

environmental planning and information technology.



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The Turnaround Challenge: The Way Forward

Mr Mohapatra was still musing about his plan to turn around ORSAC. Things were getting clearer to him

and he was sure that he needed to first work on selected issues which were mostly HR issues. Besides

motivation, and working culture, what was affecting ORSAC was lack of scientific and technicalcompetencies in critical areas like development planning, higher operating costs and overall poor

productivity.

Further, he was not confident that ORSAC would be able to get more grants from the Department of

Science and Technology in the future to meet the increasing shortfall in salary expenditure since the state

government expected all the autonomous agencies like ORSAC to be self-reliant. Therefore, it was

crucial for ORSAC to generate more revenues to meet its operational expenses like salary and build a

corpus for long-term capital expenditure. However, generating more revenues was totally dependent on

ORSACs ability to win more projects from the open market, which in turn was dependent on ORSACs

competence and interest of both scientific and non-scientific employees. For the CEO, It was turning out

to be a chicken and egg problem.To address the above-mentioned issues, Mr Mohapatra intuitively knew that he had to develop both

short-term solutions, keeping the revenue considerations in mind, and long-term solutions which would

address the competency issues. One of the short-term solutions that he could think of was to outsource

the routine projects to small private players, and also get these projects carried out by the contingent

workforce such as junior or senior research fellows under the supervision of in-house experts as

demonstrated by a few other state-owned remote sensing organizations. He thought this would ensure a

steady flow of revenue from the regular projects and would considerably reduce the operating costs.

Mr Mohapatra realized that one of the greatest advantages of outsourcing regular projects was that it

would enable the core workforce of ORSAC to focus on complex and high-margin projects, which could

help ORSAC to explore new revenue opportunities on its own as well as through forming consortiumswith competent players. However, Mr Mohapatra was aware that his proposal to collaborate with private

players would be met with stiff resistance and non-cooperation from his employees. But he was confident

that he would be able to influence and persuade them to foresee the bright opportunities and benefits of

such a collaboration. Also, he hoped that this would help ORSAC to learn new skills from other players

as well as necessitate the recruitment of scientists and technical employees, in the areas of development

planning on a contractual basis initially and then regularize their services after 3 to 5 years, when ORSAC

would be able to win more projects from the open market.

Mr Mohapatra could also see the importance of being externally competitive by providing better

salaries and career opportunities to scientific employees in order to attract the best talent from the market.

They were, after all, the backbone of a scientific organization like ORSAC. The historical experience ofORSAC had made it clear to the CEO that he should take a cautious approach towards future recruitment

by meticulous planning and recruitment of competent professionals who would contribute towards the

development of the centre rather than become a liability. However, he was also well aware of the need to

consider delayering in the technical and administrative category to reduce the number of levels and

reclassify the jobs based on the requirements of ORSAC. Sustaining fourteen different categories of

technical staff and eighteen different categories of administrative staff was difficult. Mr Mohapatra was

sceptical as to how this restructuring would affect the morale of the technical and administrative



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employees who were longing for promotion and better compensation. The CEO knew that without

addressing these internal equity and external competitiveness issues, he could not take ORSAC to any

new heights.

Based on his deliberations with various groups of employees, the CEO understood the impact that the

earlier decisions of recruitment and career management had had on the morale and working culture ofthe organization. He also understood that the perceived injustice felt by some of the employees appeared

to be justified. He was, however, determined to address these issues as they had affected the working

culture of ORSAC, making it bureaucratic rather than innovative.

Mr Mohapatra thought that the first step towards restoring the credibility of the promotion policy was

to constitute a competent selection committee with the approval of the governing body. This committee

would comprise senior scientists from ORSAC and other reputed organizations to promote qualified and

experienced technical employees into Scientist B category as enumerated in the Governing Body

Proceeding of ORSAC, 1998. Second, he thought it was his responsibility to persuade the governing

board to create higher-level scientist positions such as Scientist F and Scientist G, and encourage

talented scientists to apply for the positions by making them qualified for these positions. Essentially, it

meant that he must provide sabbatical leaves to talented scientists and technical employees to pursue and

complete doctoral programmes in remote sensing and GIS technologies at premier technological

institutes such as the IITs, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and National Institute of Technology (NIT).

The CEO was well aware that this would change the aspirations of many stagnated employees and thus

make ORSAC competitive in the long run.

Further, the CEO was aware that Government of India was planning to implement the Sixth Pay

Commission recommendations on pay and benefits for all central government employees. One of the key

recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission was to merge 32 different pay scales into four different

pay bands. Financial upgradation to the next higher scale for employees who had not been promoted for

the last 12 years was also recommended under Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme (MACPS).

Mr Mohapatra sensed a great opportunity in implementing the recommendations of the Sixth PayCommission and thereby addressing the perceived inequities in designation, salary, promotion, etc., at

least in the most deserving cases. He felt that this could be done by grouping jobs of significant differences

or worth or value within one band and proactively communicating the rationale for the same by orienting

the employees about the restructuring exercise.

Thus, finding a solution to the core problems facing ORSAC and looking to turn around the

organization became the new priority for Mr Mohapatra. Although he was aware of the limitations of a

state-owned enterprise like ORSAC, he remained optimistic about ORSACs potentials and was

extremely hopeful of its turnaround. But the million dollar question remained: how to do it?

Reference

The Economics Times. 2007. Indian GIS Market to Touch $10 billion in 10 Year, 26 September.

turnaround challenges of a state-owned enterprise

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