The criteria for the award included all dimensions and ideals of human resource management from HR planning, HR acquisition, HR maintenance, HR development, utilization, social responsibility, change management, employee perception, safety and quality of work, and HR information systems.

Says Shrikant P Gathoo, general manager, Human Resources Development at BPCL: ``Our aim is to make BPCL a great place to work for. Amongst 15 major oil companies, our company has bagged the award.'' According to Gathoo, the criteria for this award was developed by a team of cross-functional industry representatives in collaborationwith leading management consultancy firms in the country.

BPCL's efforts in human resource development have to be seen in context of the restructuring exercise kicked off in 1997, which in turn, was sparked by a desire to offer value-added services in a competitive environment. ``After liberalisatiion, the entire oil industry was going through a rapid transformation. As a result, the marketplace became highly competitive.

That's when we began our restructuring exercise in earnest,'' explains Gathoo.

In view of the emerging global scenario and its concern for improvement, the company embarked on a programme to re-orient itself to provide maximum value to its customers. Called Cusecs-an acronym for Customer Service, Customer Satisfaction-the initiative called for a complete change in the orientation and mindset of BPCL employees. ``The whole organisation had to align itself to meet the customers' requirements and had to acquire new skills and competence,'' explains Gathoo.

As a first step, the companydetermined the strategic thrusts and concentrated on efficiency improvements. Then, began the implementation process with development options and re-engineering plans. For the restructuring process, a team of 25 company people worked closely with Arthur D Little and ICICI. ``We also conducted a number of studies in vital areas such as marketing, refining, logistics, LPG, lubricants and support services and management processes,'' says Gathoo.

The aim: to ensure that BPCL's new avtaar was a flexible, entrepreneurial and responsive company in the oil industry. ``From the beginning, we involved the employees while making major decisions. It was a team effort all the way,'' says Gathoo.

In the whole process of organisation restructuring, the company claims that HR played a vital role which resulted in the seamless transformation to the new structure. ``The intervention of HR had been both on the structural and process front. The award has been conferred to BPCL for managing change and transformationsuccessfully in the context of a changing business environment,'' adds Gathoo.

As part of its HR initiatives, the company conducted advanced programmes such as Foundations of Organisation Learning (FOL) and Visionary and Leadership Planning (VLP). It also conducted a series of communication exercises about the change initiatives to all its employees across the country.

On a regular basis, the company also discussed the changes with all the employee unions. ``We also manned about 2,500 new positions through reallocation, redeployment and transfers. More than 500 promotions were effected in the current fiscal,'' says Rajorshi Ganguli, HRD officer, BPCL.

In an effort to encourage team spirit, the company has also set up regular awards and rewards to the deserving teams. It has also set up an `employee-satisfaction enhancement cell' to hear the grievances of its employees.

As for the benefits of the programme, the company believes that it has successfully created a conducive climate for high performancein the organisation. ``Inter-personal relationships have vastly improved thanks to the team work. Above all, our manpower productivity has increased'' says Gathoo.

As for future plans, Gathoo points out that Cusecs is an on-going programme. ``To keep pace with the changing times, we will be upgrading our projects and programmes constantly,'' he says. And the depth of change will no doubt, be measured by the cusecs of commendations.