Arth designbuild: management during COVID-19 crisis

Abstract

As the clock struck 6 in the evening on 19th March 2020, Kailash Chandola, the COO and Co-founder of Arth Designbuild had an uneasy feeling about the future. He was very unsettled about the future of Operations as COVID-19 pandemic had started knocking the Indian subcontinent. A lot of countries had already imposed COVID-19 restrictions and international travel bans were already in place. As COVID-19 scare started to increase, Kailash was having this anxious feeling that India may soon announce a lockdown. What will happen to the company if a lockdown is announced? As Kailash stared at the BIM (Building Information Modelling) engineers who were busy building virtual models of buildings on the production floor from his corner office, he wondered how the work would progress in the upcoming months. Uncertainty was the only constant. If the Government announces a complete lockdown, what strategy should he take as the COO of the company that he started six years ago? The real estate and construction industry has been struggling in recent times, but will COVID-19 be the fatal blow for the company? What tough stands he may have to take to ensure that the firms see through the tough phase? Will employees accept the changes arriving due to COVID-19?