Pause perfect: Satyam Computer employees, or associates as they are known internally, take a break at the company's technology centre in Hyderabad

In early September this year, Keshab Panda, Satyam Computer's head of Europe, decided that he needed a development centre in Budapest to better service customers in the region. By the first of November, a 10-employee centre put together with an initial investment of Rs 3 crore, was up and running. How did Panda, who manages business worth $100 million, pull off a corporate miracle? Because "there were no steering committee approvals and ceo involvement". He only had to get hr and finance in on the act, that too because people and money were involved.

Panda's example illustrates a new kind of organisation that the 17-year-old Satyam Computer is trying to be: one where business heads are not just responsible for results, but free to commandeer resources and make decisions like true leaders. Says B. Ramalinga Raju, the company's Chairman who emails to each one of his 18,500 employees once a quarter: "We are now promoting a type of leadership that is distributed (across levels), real time (quick decision making) and virtual (across the globe)."

If it seems odd coming from the mouth of an owner-manager, it's because Satyam believes that no other style of management will do. With its industry changing every day, the company finds that its "associates" (Satyam-speak for employees) don't just have to keep learning, but need the freedom and power to make decisions faster. Despite its roll-call of 18,500 employees, Satyam has a three-tier management structure. There are the top 50 who are responsible for a significant part of the business or hold independent functions. The next 150 are key team leaders who report into the top 50. The last tier comprises 300 associates such as solution architects, key account managers and programme managers. Bulk of these people across the three levels are involved in providing long-term direction to the organisation, and are not expected to get bogged down by the day-to-day operations. In fact, the tier-one executives are encouraged to look at issues from a 90-day to one-year time perspective. "We want to move our leaders from the treadmill to the easy chair," says A.S. Murty, Director and Senior VP (HR). "Everybody needs to whiteboard (company jargon for strategic thinking), but most of all the senior leaders."

However, it doesn't mean that leadership is not required at lower levels. On the contrary, says Murty, with so many employees, there is bound to be, say, a visa problem in some case or on-site problems in some others. "So we need leaders at various levels to handle such issues and back them up with efficient processes," he says. The answer, as Satyam discovered, was "not to throw more manpower, but mind power" at the problems. There's a "6 PS process" that it employs to that end, where the ps stand for people, processes, products, proliferation, promotion and patent. Each of these, says Murty, needs to be looked at for best results. But what happens when the processes are in place, but the results are not coming through? There is Satyam's version of the five Olympian rings, with the top three representing "faster, better and cheaper", while the bottom two stand for "larger and consistent". So a process is not considered improved if it isn't faster, better and cheaper than before, besides being larger (in terms of coverage of people) and consistent.

Despite its emphasis on hr systems and processes, Satyam has a long way to go. It's way behind TCS, Infosys and Wipro in terms of revenues, profits and market cap. Says Raju, "We have not yet arrived there (leadership position), but are serious in our efforts and desire to get there."