The first significant management change introduced by Tata for Air India occurred when N. Chandrasekaran took over as the airline’s chairman earlier this year. Now, the Tata Group has influenced another, reconstituting its board to be a fine blend of old Maharaja hands and brand-new expertise.
People working in other Tata companies have replaced some of the Air India board members, who will move on to other senior management positions within the airline. Some Air India employees will continue to be on the board.
The resig is well thought out. It is a smart move to bring stalwarts from other Tata group companies on the reconstituted board of Air India, while keeping some employees on it, valuing their special expertise.
With this clever move, the Tata Group has ensured that no wrong message is sent to the airline’s 10,800 employees, including 7,000 permanent employees, who will continue to work for it under the new management. Board members who were in senior positions overseeing the accumulation of huge losses for Air India were being removed. The message being sent is that they are being offered a new opportunity to contribute to the turnaround of the airline.
Nipun Agarwal, who represented Tata during the privatization process, has been appointed as the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) and Accountable Manager of Air India. He will oversee critical decisions on routes and, with the Director-Operations, select the most appropriate aircraft to deploy on each route. This becomes even more important for Air India as it is in dire need of new planes, a costly proposition that involves working closely with foreign and Indian banks to secure the best prices for the planes. Agarwal, who has worked with several international banks, including Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and Standard Chartered Bank, is well placed to work on financial deals for new aircraft acquisitions.
He will work closely with Vinod Hejmadi, one of the Air India employees retained and reappointed as Chief Financial Officer. Hejmadi has years of experience in the Finance Department of Air India. Captain RS Sandhu has been retained as the Chief of Operations, another crucial post that decides on deploying the best aircraft on the route for maximum profit.
Suresh Dutt Tripathi has been appointed as the Chief Human Resource Officer of Air India. He hails from Tata Steel, where he headed human resources, overseeing its over 65,000 workforce. Satya Ramaswamy, Head of Strategic Initiatives at Tata Digital, is now the airline’s Chief Digital and Technology Officer. Tata Consultancy Services veteran Rajesh Dogra has been appointed as Head of Customer Experience.
Meenakshi Malik, who was looking after the commercial aspects at Air India, and Amrita Sharan, who was in charge of HR, will be Chandrasekaran’s advisors on commercial, technology and human resource matters.
The appointments are a sure way of ensuring that any HR issues that may arise on the implementation of the pending recommendations of the Dharmadhikari Report will be dealt with by drawing from the experience of individuals within the airline. The Justice DM Dharmadhikari committee was constituted to suggest ways and means of harmonization and rationalization of the vast workforce of Indian Airlines and Air India, which were merged into a single entity in 2007. The merger had created a lot of bad blood over seniority. and wages between the personnel of the two airlines.
By mixing old management members with new employees, Tata has given Air India a shot at striving for both continuity and change, as well as a mix of private and public sector cultures. With these win-win combinations, Air India now has a remarkable opportunity to be successful.