Working in Teams/Organisation

One has to suppress oneself to other’s temperament or working style to do work in teams and get along with people. At times, one feels very strongly about certain things, or wants things to be done in a particular way, however, in the interest of overall output one must allow people to experiment and come with new ways of working.

The oe thing that one should avoid is receding ground to a bully or tolerating arrogance and sloppy work. A bully should be handled as a bully. And arrogance should be squarely dealt with at the first instance.

This is no doubt an normal case scenario, crisis scenario definitely needs situational leadership and people are required to implement strategy as directed.

Another connected point that I have been thinking about is the dress code and other formalities companies use while interacting with each other. Reflexively and Objectively, I think that dress codes are not required. One should be smartly turned out but wearing formals every day to work is important. The culture is reinforced by the quality of interaction of people in the company and not by the superficial dress code. However, I think having a dress code is a least painful position to ensure people are turnedout smartly in the office. But still dont like wearing neckties on shirts..

Project Management and Delegation

It is always fascinating to see the ability of some organisations/people to execute things in a perfect manner. The skill to execute strategy is by far the most important skill that has to be acquired. At a personal level, it requires Discipline, Dedication and Determination. In teams the goal has to be achieved by taking the team along on all these parameters along with ensuring that it remains motivated and the individual members grow- i.e. quiet acute personnel management.

Delegation is the basic current that runs the team and probably is the most important aspect that a project managers should look at.

Usually, delegation is seen as a tool to either offload tedious work or something that the person delegating the assignment is not interested in doing. The assumption is that it will help the individual gain productive time. However, while working in teams, it is never the goal.The goal is to finish the project in budget with a motivated and happy team.

Actually, delegation should be to offer interesting stretch goals to the team members. The most tedious work needs to be kept for oneself along with project management. This is the best way to finish tasks fast and as desired, because it is highly likely that the work you offload and are not interested in doing, your team member does not like to do it as well. This makes it really tough to get the tasks finished as desired.

The Pyramid – Contd

Concerns

The disillusionment with century old management practices is resulting in a change in the socio-spiritual behaviour. Mutual trust is in short supply. No longer, people stick to a single job. The individualistic behaviour is superseding the collective behaviour- the feeling of brotherhood. The bogey of competition is used to justify unfair and unethical practices.

It must be realised that increasingly offices are replacing society and friends as support system. Individuals nowadays, spend close to 14 hours in office on average. These long and stressful hours in office hardly allow scope for engaging in social causes or give time to discover self. (Did Mumbai stop even for a second after the blasts?). Office and company are now the social prism in which individuals now earn their credibility. The work and the office culture give meaning to people. The organisations must realise this fact and make it sure that they change and trust individuals. They must allow them to grow and realise themselves. They must allow equality of opinion and pay them equitably.

Otherwise they stand to lose the battle for talent.

The Pyramid

I came across an interesting book on organisation behaviour which was trying to prove that although we have advanced in technology and in social and political behaviour, our management practices have not changed much over the last 100 years or so.

Perspective

We still work in a pyramid type hierarchial organisations. No matter how much the world is going flat, our organisational hierarchies aren’t. The advance of technology has allowed the world to come close to each other, but the gap between the top executive and the workers hasn’t reduced. It doesn’t even matter that the world has rejected dictatorship and authoritative regimes enmasse, democracy is still seen as a threat in ‘modern’ organisations.

The orders still flow from top to bottom and everyone has to comply. All decisions regarding strategy and management are percolated down the ladder, without involving people who will execute the strategy. Moreover, there is hardly any reverse feedback. The workers still work in assembly line mode and perform specific task mechanically without trying to understanding the ‘why’. This is probably from the time of Henry Ford. An important aspect of the pyramid structure is that the employees are not considered worthy of trust and are treated as resources – dispensable after use.

The system holds on
Although, most of us do not work in a manufacturing unit, still, we can relate to it. We the ‘knowledge workers’ are working under similar if not the same managerial controls. We are required to do only a certain kind of task repeatedly. It doesn’t matter whether we have engineering and management degrees with us. We are still not treated as responsible adults – the bags are frisked before you leave office.

You are expected to do only a specific kind of task mechanically without questioning the company policy. You need to take permissions for every additional thing you intend to do. You are to file a report for the time you spend in the office. You are expected to come at a certain time and cannot modify your schedule as per your convenience or the way you think it would be best to execute the project. The results are a second priority control is the first.

I believe bureaucracy and dictatorship are hallmarks of the pyramid system where someone else decides for you. I think, in such a system, employees often work under fear and intimidation of the bosses rather than out of a sense of fulfillment of the job.

To cite an instance, at my earlier job, there was an internal academy to train the workforce to meet project requirements. Every aspect of the academy was micro-managed by the corporate executive and every program was decided on behalf of employees. I, being a fresher, found the atmosphere repulsing as I saw the managers treating all the employees as small kids rather than adults. It was like going back from college to kindergarten again. You even needed to ask permissions to drink water! and had all these security cameras all over your head to monitor your mischievous activities.

At one of the town hall meetings (large meetings where employees talk to bosses) I had the naivety of questioning the Vice President of the multi billion dollar company on why don’t we give more freedom to employees, allow them to at least learn whatever they want in an academy, and take up roles that is based on their interest in the organisation. I got that you-prove-it-you-are-a-kiddie look and an answer that the money company spends on employees is to achieve its end goal (read profit) and everyone has to work in a mission mode. In other words, company has a lease on your soul since it employs you. I disagreed and resigned soon after as i didn’t find the job fulfilling. I realised that the same behaviour transcends most organisations.

To be continued………

What is Entrepreneurship?

Its above leadership and creation of jobs. Its about a state of mind rather its about a choice.

Choice of thinking in a particular way, asking why not instead of why and then following it to completion.

When to Jump?

What we witness today is a mad rush of companies from all over the world setting up organised formats- retail, health care, cars etal-in India. The action so far has been concentrated in areas where there are large gaps in the infrastructure or areas where there has been lots of wastage in the supply chain. Investments required to plug the gaps and to reduce wastage has been high but the returns have been equally rewarding.

These formats have been able to provide an assurance of better quality, at a cheaper rate along with a pleasurable experience. The result: Consumers have welcomed it with open wallets creating a win win situation for everyone- the producer, the marketer, the consumer, and the government.

The unorganised sector because of its nature is unable to match the service and assurance of the organised format. Its competitive capabilities are further stunted by the presence of a large number of subsidiaries between the consumer and the producer.

Looking around-from the shops where you buy groceries and vegetables to the shops where you buy books and computers-every sector in India is deliciously unorganized. Thus, in every sector that we look around, there can be a chance to bypass the bypass the inefficient system and create a single tier system in the market- i.e. there is a single entity between the consumer and the producer.

But, the fact that runs against our assertions is that the unorganised sector is still very strong in most of the pockets of India. The the two biggest reasons that come to my mind for the strong hold of the sector are:
Its ability to serve the needs of different stratas of consumers (big, medium and small)
Its accessibility at the last mile
Another reason that is equally important is the ability of the format to provide a human touch- a sort of customised personal experience.
Another very important reason for the thriving unorganised sector is the tax saving, and pirac that is possible in such formats.

The question is it whether it is really possible to jump from unorganised to the organised sector in all cases? If not, when does it make sense?