“There are more layers of management than I imagined in a multi-national company. Between people in the Bangalore office and those running Shell in the Hague, such a complex structure was greater than I imagined. But everyone at STI knew about the aims and ethos of Shell globally. I was unaware of how wide ranging such values were within companies.”

Fellows spent two weeks with Shell in India. Below are some of their thoughts and experiences.

Kawsar

We’ve been placed with Shell Technology India (STI), an Anglo-Dutch oil and gas company with a 20 year history in India, but STI based in Bangalore only kicked off in 2006. The next two weeks will see ourselves learning about how a global company operates and more specifically, how it functions based on the same core values and principles in countries across the globe from the UK to India and how globalisation plays its part (if it does). It’s actually a really interesting time to be in Shell at the moment as the company is going through a massive restructuring process globally – a “colossal sea change in Shell’s history” - in the backdrop of the economic recession and Shell’s profits slumping with low oil prices.

We were warned before we stepped into Shell that they are absolutely crazy about health and safety – and our first morning at STI did not disappoint.  “Safety is Shell’s number one business - it’s our number one priority” was the message rammed home to us in a two hour presentation.

Although at first mention, the link between health and safety and culture in India may seem trivial, it’s a perfect example, in my opinion, in the operation of a multi-national company bringing international norms and standards into another country where health and safety is always last on the agenda. The challenge that they face with new employees at STI at all levels from new graduates to petrol station staff, is how do you take a pathological Indian into global safety standards?

As for the people they recruit, Shell only decided to set up its base in Bangalore in 2006 because “the supply of talent in existing markets is insufficient”. The number of quality of Engineers from the UK and other EU nations were not there so they chose India where there is already a large talent pool. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), which are undergraduate institutions with a huge brand name, are currently the best not only in India but in the world in terms of the amount of skilled and talented engineers they produce so Shell mainly recruit from there.  

In India there is now a massive recruitment drive for young engineers who spend 18 months ‘abording’ in the USA or UK and then return to companies such as Shell with international experience rather than leaving the country altogether. This is strengthening the Indian economy and helping India grow with talent and expertise. 

Challenges for multi-national companies placing themselves in India:

 - Growing Asians in a European

hierarchy – Indian people like promotion and the pace of promotion in the West is regarded as too slow – they constantly strive for promotion and all want to be CEO’s of the company and nothing less. There are huge cultural pressures in India to go home and show mum a new business card with a promoted position regardless of pay increase.

 - Retaining talent – but the recession is helping.

 - Requires deep understanding of all Technical, Business and Cultural interfaces!