United Spirits, under the Diageo management, has carried out a rejig of its internal organisational structure, scaling down several layers of the hierarchy that existed under Vijay Mallya.

The liquor major, which commands nearly half of the India market, has made several changes in its organisation.

It has also set up an eight-member executive committee that reports directly to Managing Director and CEO Anand Kripalu.

It also has a management committee in place that consists of 20 members. While the executive committee meets every month, the managing committee meets every quarter. Several forums have also been created while breaking down functional silos.

“Ultimately, business is about connecting the dots horizontally. You have to cascade the ideas given by your employees,” Kripalu said in a recent interview with BusinessLine .

More involved employees

Under the new management, the involvement of employees at various levels is much more.

The company has started creating formal teams with an aim to drive innovation.

To solve operational glitches, processes have been put in place and at the same time, the number of layers as well as the reporting structure have been rationalised. This is reflected in the reduction in the number cabins for middle- and executive-level employees at the USL headquarters in Bengaluru. Commenting on the reorganisation at USL, Rajeev Bhardwaj, Vice-President, HR Sun Life Financial Asia Service Centre, said the redesign of the pyramid has a tremendous impact on employee morale as employees derive a lot of importance from their place in the pecking order.

“Change management and communication cascades help employees understand the organisation’s need to be nimble and agile in the marketplace. Engaging employees and giving them a voice in this changeover helps increase their involvement and commitment to the cause of change,” he pointed out.

Several processes have been put in place to ensure that glitches and problems are brought down to a minimum.

“I don’t think we should be a victim of the processes. We should be liberated by the processes. It takes away a lot of transactional failures that you encounter in business,” said Kripalu, who earlier headed chocolate major Mondelez’s India operations.

Brand growth

In the luxury segment, with brands such as Johnnie Walker, there has been an increase in volume as well as share while in the premium category, which is largely bottled in India and includes scotches such as VAT 69 and Black & White, there has been a steady increase.

“Brand volumes are three to four times our competitor even as we are growing the category itself,” said Kripalu.

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