The impact of changing workplace conditions and employee engagement on employee productivity in the context of Hero MotoCorp India

The study analyses the impact of changing workplace conditions and employee engagement onemployee productivity in the context of Hero MotoCorp India. Hero MotoCorp is the largestmanufacturer of two-wheelers in the world and has six manufacturing facilities, capable ofmanufacturing 11.6 million units annually. In 1984, Hero MotoCorp decided to go down the routeof a joint venture and entered into a contract with the Honda Motor Company of Japan and formedHero Honda Motor Limited. The joint venture not only led to the creation of the world’s largesttwo-wheeler manufacturer but also was a most successful joint venture, between India's HeroGroup and Japan’s Honda Motor Company. Finally, on December 16, 2010, the Hero Group andHonda Motor Co. decided to dissolve their partnership, bringing a close to one of the mostsuccessful joint ventures in the world in the automobile industry. Hero MotoCorp has entered newpartnerships; for instance, on July 1, 2013, Hero MotoCorp, bought a 49.2% stake in Erik BuellRacing, an American motorcycle sport company for $25 million. Hero MotoCorp is at the cusp ofhuge expansion, after coming out of the shackles of Honda Motors which deterred the expansionof Hero MotoCorp due to joint venture conditions. This has given a unique opportunity to analysethe impact of changing workplace conditions and employee engagement on employeeproductivity. This scenario has never been explored before, in the case of an automobile company.To analyse the impact of changing workplace conditions and employee engagement on employeeproductivity in the case of Hero MotoCorp, this study utilised the Zinger Model on EmployeeEngagement and ADKAR model. These two models have never been utilised in tandem to analyseemployee productivity and a change management proposition. The study has taken an interpretivistapproach, which gave the opportunity to explore different facets of changing workplace conditionsand employee engagement. The study took an inductive approach in conducting the research, thatis a bottom-up approach, moving from the specific scenario of Hero MotorCorp to a generalphenomenon of organisations. Twenty respondents were interviewed and were asked 14 openendedquestions; all the respondents were current employees of Hero MotoCorp, sharing their freshperspective of the company. The data generated gave rise to ten different themes, in whichproductivity was the main theme, which is in line with Hero MotoCorp’s vision. Data generatedwere analysed based on six different objectives listed at the start of the thesis, which gave rise toa set of conclusions and recommendations. One of the major recommendations is to enhance thewell-being of employees by launching initiatives based on the authenticity of relationship, thesafety of the financial component, the energy of our physical health, and the pleasure taken incontributing towards society.