Transition Management in India

by | May 13, 2020 | Uncategorized

Having access to management bandwidth on tap provides flexibility to organizations, and this flexibilty is especially required during times of uncertainty, rapid change and discontinuity.  The concept of Transition Management as pioneered by X-PM India enables organizations to be more nimble in dealing with challenges and taking advantage of opportunities. Transition Management includes Project Management, Crisis Management and Interim Management:

Project Management: This includes any kind of business transformation that is not part of an urgent crisis situation, such as operational performance improvement, post merger integration, supply chain restructuring, digital transformation, market entry, product launch, shutting down a production facility or an ERP implementation. Projects usually involve a structured approach, with phases for each step in the planning and execution of the project. Very often, a project will start with a diagnostic phase to review the strategy that is driving the project. A project will usually be handled by a senior executive from X-PM’s talent pool and who is embedded in the client organization and thus becomes an insider who has authority to take decisions. The executive reports to someone within the client organization and carries that client’s business card, but also reports to an X-PM Partner who monitors the progress of the project to ensure that it stays on track.

Crisis Management: The management of a crisis is also a kind of project, but it is a highly time sensitive and stressful situation. It could be the turnaround of a company that is about to run out of cash to fund operations, or dealing with a disaster (natural or man-made) or handling a conflict between workers and management. X-PM India plays a unique role here that very few other organizations can handle. A crisis management assignment typically begins with a three-person team comprising a member of the client organization, an X-PM Partner and a member of X-PM’s talent pool. After a short diagnostic to assess the situation, the three-person team prepares an action plan for approval by senior management or the client’s board of directors. X-PM then deploys a member of our talent pool, usually the same person who participated in the diagnostic phase, to execute the action plan. In addition, an X-PM Partner monitors the execution of the action plan to ensure that it stays on track.

Interim ManagementX-PM has a talent pool of thousands of executives in India and around the world that are available to be parachuted into companies in situations of discontinuity. Over the years we have deployed a range of CXO’s, including CEO’s, CFO’s, CTO’s, CMO’s and CHRO’s. The typical duration of these temporary assignments is around nine months, though it can range from one month to 12 months. Our longest assignment lasted several years, but was based on a three-month contract that was renewed more than ten times.

X-PM’s definition of transition management also includes the concept that is often used by business process outsourcing companies (BPOs) to describe the transfer of customers’ in-house processes from their environment to that of the BPO company. The relocation of specific operations from the outsourcing company (or the donor) to an offshore development center is a project, and would be included in our Project Management service offering.