Indian Managemantra
I have often wondered why the Indian managements are by and large opaque in their dealings with employees. Even trivial things will be hush-hushed. I realized a couple of days back thats because the average employee does not respect nor appreciate transparency. My experience tells me that we Indians worship and bow to authority (see kalaignar paaraatu vizha, JJ paaraatu vizha etc), but if the authority likes to be friendly and transparent, the folks in general back bite, talk negative and make fun of those who are trying to make things better. Sometime back we lost a very good manager because, alas, he was too open for his own good.
My wife works in a college where I think even the glass will not be transparent, and yet the organization works like a charm. The semi-literate management knows how to managecontrol a group of highly educated doctors and make them dance to their raaga. I think the maxim ‘we get what we deserve’ holds true for most of the things in life, and I think this is especially true for the management we work under.
August 30th, 2010 at 10:50 am
That point @ which you realise that the average bloke does not respond well to nice human beings, logic, rational discussions etc is a fork in the road - option A: employ ethical political techniques, use it judiciously , play mind games with people etc. This option is so rarely practised that it could be considered purely theoritical. The other option is to start out by saying that “Vera vazhiye illa, I was forced to it” and before you realise it you are doing it practically every day and you have become yet another politician. You can’t get out even if you want to. But you think you alone were justified and everyone else’s politics is wrong. And it’s not just office or IT companies, you can see this happening even with parents - they are unable to snap out of boochandi mode, or housewives unable to snap out of using hysterical huffing and puffing as a way to get things done.
August 30th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
BNB,
I can clearly see the pitfalls. I consider myself as a percentage guy, not a ‘i am very special, one in a million kinda guy’.
At least not anymore.
Read somewhere that 80% of the people think they are good drivers. Same applies for this as well.
It is precisely for these reasons i want to retire early, or go back to individual contributor role - which has very little respect in India.
September 1st, 2010 at 10:28 pm
Boss, I know, you know
Seriously though the ind. contrib role is what I like too, but our industry has reduced creative work to a thiruvizha; We have used computers to increase the number of people employed (in the IT industry). The irony is rich indeed. Perhaps the more important factor when you decide not to go the political route is to be able to withstand the consequences at work, plus at home sometimes. Giving up a job that involves doing unethical things is easier with support at home, but the latter is never forthcoming in overly pragmatic middle class homes with their “Naalu Kaasu Sambhadhikaradha vittutu periya vedantam pesaran” attitude. It really requires a strong soul, a super strong sense of humour, a heart full of love (ooh) to go down the ethical route. Raja Harichandran kadhai vayasana piragu dhaan fulla puriyudhu.