Personal Analysis: Honda Cars India Ltd.

I am that kind of a person who has always avoided conflict and confrontation and tried to resolve most of the issues amicably. But the world is not a rosy place of that I knew and you have got to stand up for yourself in time of need. The confidence to deal with such situations was imbibed in me when I used to front a metal band during my college days. I joined Honda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL) at a time when the company was expanding its product portfolio aggressively. Having shown outstanding leadership capabilities and technical prowess I was nominated, just 1.5 years after, to become the Project Leader of the “Brio Family Models” which included four upcoming models in Sedan and SUV category.
In 2015, I got the opportunity to lead a team of three for the development of the models “Amaze” and “BR-V”. The composition of the team was such that it included a member who was a year older to me, a freshman who had recently graduated from college and a third member who was completely disinterested in the project. I had to lead a team where I would not sound authoritative to senior member, mentor the freshman and also motivate the third member simultaneously bringing the results, which I successfully did and maintained just 3 % outflow of errors in Design Judgment which
I knew Honda had a flat hierarchy and it takes some time to establish oneself. I had a good rapport with my team, my seniors were valuing my efforts and I was also getting recognition from colleagues in other departments. But in the midst, there was a change in management organization and post that when I received my appraisals – I was shocked to see another average grade. I immediately contacted my Group Leader and Engineering Head for the same but was grief-stricken as they said it was because of the internal politics and they could not do anything about it as the grades were changed by the New Manager in favor of his own