Case Study: SAP SE: Autism at Work
1. Every organization has particular values and behaviors embedded into its culture; some 
refer to these particular cultural markers as the organization's "DNA." What about the 
history of SAP, and the decision makers of SAP, contributed to SAP's desire to pursue 
employees with ASD? In what ways was this a business decision (economic decision)? In
what ways was it a values-driven decision? Are the two mutually exclusive?
V.R. Ferose and his assistant Sridhar Sundaram from Bangalore read about the successes of 
employees with ASD who worked at Specialisterne, and IT consultancy in Denmark that focused
on software testing and believed that a similar business model could work in India. Because 
Ferose’s son had been diagnosed with ASD, he was interested in starting an advocacy campaign 
for people with ASD in India and wanted to explore how technology could improve the lives of 
people with Autism. Ferose and Sundaram initiated Project Prayas in which SAP employees 
taught kids with ASD about technology, and this project gained recognition by Anka Wittenberg, 
the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at SAP (Graham, 2013). The decision makers at SAP 
recognized that people with ASD could add value to the organization when Wittenberg reported 
what was happening in Bangalore with the kids who had participated in Project Prayas. Because 
people who were in leadership roles at SAP like V.R. Ferose had family members that were 
affected by Autism, the company leaders decided that pursuing a diversity and inclusion 
initiative to bring in more recruits with ASD was in alignment with their objective to “make the 
world run better and improve peoples’ lives,” (Pisano & Austin, 2016). This was a business 
decision because candidates with ASD have been identified as people who have strong affinity 
with software development, an ability to see patterns and spot deviations in systems and data, 
and have high diligence and low tolerance for mistakes (Pisano & Austin, 2016) and these 
characteristics are strongly desired of employees at SAP. This was also a values-driven decision 
because SAP prides itself on being a place where “we are dedicated to eliminating bias in the 
workplace and want to enable every individual to be recognized for what they have to contribute 
– and have the freedom to be their authentic selves” (Diversity and Inclusion, 2016). Initiating 
this hiring campaign advanced SAP’s diversity and inclusion strategy and portrays the 
company’s commitment to diversity values. They are not mutually exclusive because the 
company had both an economic interest and values-driven interest in implementing this program