Tata’s image as an employer won’t get affected over Mistry’s removal

Brand specialists, academicians and HR executives believe that Tata as an employer brand won’t get affected over ouster of Cyrus Mistry as Chairman of Tata Sons. The clouds of insecurities are going to be there but the company’s image as an employer will be what it was. Earlier too, it has never been affected by the departure of any of the many executives at various levels.

Mistry’s uncertain departure is being seen as an aberration at a group that doesn’t just lives by hire and fire and where employee’s trust is built on 'Once a Tata employee, forever a Tata employee'.

"The current ouster of the chairman, Cyrus Mistry, is in total contrast to the Tata employee ethos. To that extent, it is quite a shocker and for this very reason, that this is an aberration ... rather than the norm, the brand will not take a hit at all,” Harish Bijoor, brand expert and founder of Harish Bijoor Consults, told ET.

“The removal of Mistry, would be seen as part of a corporate management action at the board level, rather than a philosophy that percolates across levels,” he further added.

Experts believe that trust is built in a long time and people believe a strong brand and its promises. Couple of developments won’t change that. This is not the first time when such incident has happened. Russi Mody, Ajit Kerkar and Darbari Seth had been ousted or had to exit too. That didn’t dent the image of Tata brand.

"Big decisions at the leadership level are not uncommon. However, people do want to know reasons for them and evaluate whether the reasons have long-term consequences for the company. Depending upon the reasons, the brand could get impacted. For example, if the reasons relate to unethical practices, then the brand can be impacted,” Siddharth Singh, associate professor of marketing at the Indian School of Business told ET.

While employer brand will not get impacted, the development will create anxiety across levels.