Ankur Sarkar

POM Gyan

2012-08-24T10:27:00.003-07:00

Are you a boss or a leader ?

2012-08-21T02:51:00.001-07:00

Douglas McGregor (1957) developed a philosophical view of humankind with his Theory X and Theory Y — two opposing perceptions about how people view human behaviour at work and organizational life. McGregor felt that organizations and the managers within them followed either one or the other approach

Brief video describing Theory X and Y

Category	Type	Reality	Manager perception
X	I	Employees lazy	Manager thinks employees are lazy
X	II	Great employees	Manager thinks employees are lazy
Y	III	Lazy employees	Manager thinks employees are great
Y	IV	Great employees	Manager thinks employees are lazy

Theory X

People have an inherent dislike for work and will avoid it whenever possible.
People must be coerced, controlled, directed, or threatened with punishment in order to get them to achieve the organizational objectives.
People prefer to be directed, do not want responsibility, and have little or no ambition.
People seek security above all else.

In an organization with Theory X assumptions, management's role is to coerce and control employees.

An example is the time clock. You have to clock in partly because the management thinks you'll arrive late and leave early if you don't.

Theory Y

Work is as natural as play and rest.
People will exercise self-direction if they are committed to the objectives (they are NOT lazy).
Commitment to objectives is a function of the rewards associated with their achievement.
People learn to accept and seek responsibility.
Creativity, ingenuity, and imagination are widely distributed among the population. People are capable of using these abilities to solve an organizational problem.
People have potential.

An example is an artist on contract to produce art. You tell the artist what you want done but you leave it to him/her when and how to do it as long as they produce what you want within your timeline. She can paint at 2AM for all you care - as long as you get art by the deadline.

There are many examples wherein such a team has delivered outstanding results. Luckily the company where I used to work earlier the leader had few outstanding qualities. Our sales head used to show complete faith on us in form of the freedom to take decision and better accountability, the only thing he expected in return was result under deadline dates. I felt such an environment did boast me to work freely and in pursuit of better exposure I used to engage myself in other activities too. Also I have worked in environment where my boss was sceptical to share better responsiblity.

We also learnt to evaluate managerial abilities in compairing potential and performance. Expectation out of a manager is always that the actual performance to exceed the potential. For this to happen manager must identify the strength of his employees. Proper evaluation and improvement action plan must be rolled out by the manager during employee’s appraisal. A goal must be set after identifying the potential of an employee and he must be driven in ways that he can maximize his performance.

How to apply theory Y to your own leadership style

This work was groundbreaking when it was first published in the 1960's, and probably sounds more obvious now. Management and the culture within organizations have progressed so much since then. However, it is always good to take a look at ourselves and the way we deal with our co-workers and 'sub-ordinates' ( as the management texts refer to those we manage).

Are you a boss or a leader ?

Are you a policeman or a mentor ?

Create an environment in which sub-ordinates can develop and use their abilities. Promote further education, and ongoing professional development, both formally and informally. Encourage open communication within the team. Share decision making, where sub-ordinates have a say in decisions that affect them. Have team meetings, and listen. Create opportunities for others, and encourage growth. Lead by example- through your enthusiasm for your work, by making decisions when needed, and taking responsibility for the outcome.

Think positively, act positively, Inspire.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) - Celebrates 50 years

2012-08-12T06:29:00.003-07:00

Company Profile

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL), India's largest commercial ISO-9002 certified enterprise and as a leading public sector enterprise of India, is the highest ranked Indian company in the prestigious Fortune 'Global 500' listing. IOCL is the 20th largest petroleum company in the world. Established in 1959 as Indian Oil Company Ltd., Indian Oil Corporation Ltd was formed in 1964 with the merger of Indian Refineries Ltd. (Estd. 1958). It was originally incorporated as IOCL in the year 1964. IndianOil and its subsidiaries account for 48.84% industry market share, 47% petroleum products market share, 40.4% refining capacity and 67% downstream sector pipelines capacity in India. IOCL a traditional manufacturer of refined petroleum products, the new building blocks for global ambition of the corporation are the Petrochemicals, Natural Gas, Exploration & Production, Overseas Business, Consultancy, Biofuels and Hydrogen, etc.

IOCL journey last 50 years

Mission and Vision

A major, diversified, trans-national, integrated energy company, with national leadership and a strong environment conscience, playing a national role in oil security & public distribution

Global Compact Principles addressed in our MISSION statement:

To foster a culture of participation and innovation for employee growth and contribution.
To cultivate high standards of business ethics and Total Quality Management for a strong corporate identity and brand equity.
To help enrich quality of life of the community and preserve ecological balance and heritage through a strong environment conscience.

Products

Indian Oil's product range covers petrol, diesel, LPG, auto LPG, aviation turbine fuel, lubricants, naphtha, bitumen, paraffin, kerosene etc. Xtra Premium petrol, Xtra Mile diesel, Servo lubricants, Indane LPG, Autogas LPG, Indian Oil Aviation are some of its prominent brands. Recently Indian Oil has also introduced a new business line of supplying LNG(Liquefied natural gas) by the cryogenic transportation. The branding called "LNG at Doorstep". LNG headquarters are located in scope complex, Lodhi Road Delhi.

Refineries

Digboi Refinery, in Upper Assam, is India's oldest refinery and was commissioned in 1901. Originally a part of Assam Oil Company, it became part of IndianOil in 1981. Its original refining capacity had been 0.5 MMTPA since 1901. Modernisation project of this refinery has been completed and the refinery now has an increased capacity of 0.65 MMTPA.

Guwahati Refinery, the first public sector refinery of the country, was built with Romanian collaboration and was inaugurated by Late Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, on 1 January 1962.

Barauni Refinery, in Bihar, was built in collaboration with Russia and Romania. It was commissioned in 1964 with a capacity of 1 MMTPA. Its capacity today is 6 MMTPA.

Gujarat Refinery, at Koyali in Gujarat in Western India, is IndianOil’s largest refinery. The refinery was commissioned in 1965. It also houses the first hydrocracking unit of the country. Its present capacity is 13.70 MMTPA.

Haldia Refinery is the only coastal refinery of the Corporation, situated 136 km downstream of Kolkata in the Purba Medinipur (East Midnapore) district. It was commissioned in 1975 with a capacity of 2.5 MMTPA, which has since been increased to 5.8 MMTPA

Mathura Refinery was commissioned in 1982 as the sixth refinery in the fold of IndianOil and with an original capacity of 6.0 MMTPA. Located strategically between the historic cities of Delhi and Agra, the capacity of Mathura refinery was increased to 7.5 MMTPA.

Panipat Refinery is the seventh refinery of IndianOil. The original refinery with 6 MMTPA capacity was built and commissioned in 1998. Panipat Refinery has doubled its refining capacity from 6 MMT/yr to 12 MMTPA with the commissioning of its Expansion Project.

Subsidiary refineries — Bongaigaon Refinery (2.95 MMTPA), Chennai Petroleum (9.5 MMTPA)

Globalisation

Sri Lanka

· Lanka IOC Ltd. began retailing operations in February 2003.

· Largest private sector company in Sri Lanka, with 11.4% market share.

· Sales grew by over 8%.

· Launched bunkering business.

· 18 TMTPA lube blending plant commissioned at Trincomalee; 8 new lube distributors commissioned.

Mauritius

· IndianOil Mauritius Ltd. incorporated in October 2001.

· Overall sales rose by 19.5%.

· Market leader in aviation business with market share of 35%.

· Market share rose to 19.8%.

Dubai

Wholly-owned subsidiary IOC Middle East FZE incorporated in April FZE, 2006, actively pursuing lubricant business in Middle East and Africa.
Servo distributors appointed for Oman, Qatar and Bahrain.

Key Financials

Sales for the quarter ended March 2009 were at Rs 59938 crore down by 16.8 % in the corresponding period in the previous year. PBIDT was at Rs 9620.2 crore up by 1782.4 % in the same quarter of the previous year. PAT was at Rs 6623 crore up by 1698.7 % from the quarter ended on March 2008.

Investment Opportunities

Projects: Indian Oil is implementing projects of over Rs. 60,000 crore currently.

Major ones among them are:

A 15 MMTPA refinery at Paradip (Rs. 29,777 crore
Capacity augmentation of Panipat Refinery (from 12 to 15 MMTPA, Rs. 1007.83 crore)
MS quality improvement projects at Panipat (Rs. 1,131 crore)
Barauni (Rs. 1,492 crore)
Guwahati (Rs. 372 crore)
Digboi (Rs. 356 crore)
Mathura (Rs. 348 crore) refineries
Residue upgradation and MS/HSD quality improvement project at Gujarat Refinery (Rs. 5,882 crore)
Diesel quality improvement & capacity expansion at Haldia Refinery (from 6 to 7.5 MMTPA, Rs. 2,869 crore)
Naphtha Cracker and Polymer complex at Panipat (Rs. 14,439 crore)
New product pipelines from Chennai to Bangalore (290 km, Rs. 273 crore), from Dadri to Panipat (130 km, Rs. 298 crore), branch pipeline from KSPL, Viramgam to Kandla (217 km, Rs. 349 crore).

Brighter future with loss contributors vanishing

Under-realization may become a thing of past with steep fall in crude oil prices Indian basket of crude oil prices from a peak of US$ 142.04 per barrel on 3rd jul 08 has come down to US$ 68 per barrel on 1st June 2009.
With the sanction of oil bonds by the Government (Rs.32,595 crore or US$ 6.8 Bn), the borrowings to fall sharply leading to significant reduction in interest cost – Indian Oil received oil bonds of Rs.11,975.51 crore ( US$ 2.5 Bn) on 10th Nov’08.
Indian Oil, a major supplier to core sector
Supplier of fuel (more than 80% of requirement) to Government organizations i.e. army, railways, state road transports, air force & navy Key sectors fertilizer, power & aviation are largely dependent upon Indian Oil.

Bottom Line

In marketing, IndianOil is set to leverage the combined strength of over 32,000 marketing touch points, with focus on hitherto untapped rural markets, non-fuel revenues and pure retailing business. IndianOil aspires to be Asia’s leading commercial R&D organisation in the downstream hydrocarbon sector by building on its capabilities in developing innovative technologies, products and processes, and nodal research in alternative fuels.

Beyond core businesses, IndianOil is working to emerge as a major player in the petrochemicals business by the year 2011-12, with two petrochemical hubs shaping up at Panipat and Paradip. In natural gas business, it is attempting quantum growth in LNG imports, infrastructure and marketing, besides city gas distribution. In the high-risk business of oil exploration & production, IndianOil’s consortium approach with established players is paying off well in terms of exceptional Government support and successful forays in India and abroad. Its current interests are focussed on oil equity and sourcing of natural gas, predominantly from African and CIS countries, by leveraging its downstream capabilities to form joint venture partnerships with reputed enterprises overseas.

With India’s energy needs projected to grow by 40% in the next five years, the future is indeed full of promise for IndianOil; a future the 31,700 strong IndianOil team shall build as they fuel the dreams of over a billion of their countrymen.

Three monk – Chinese animation

2012-07-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

The film is based on the ancient Chinese proverb "One monk will shoulder two buckets of water, two monks will share the load, but add a third and no one will want to fetch water."

There was a small temple on a mountain and a little monk in the temple. His daily routine was shouldering water, chanting sutras, knocking the wooden fish, adding water to the holy water bottle on the table honoring the Goddess of Mercy, and watching over the mice from stealing food at night. His life was smooth and comfortable. Soon after, a tall monk came. He drank half of the jar’s water as soon as he arrived at the temple, so the little monk asked him to fetch water. The tall one thought it was unfair for him to fetch water alone, so he asked the young one to do it together. They could only carry one bucket a time, and they would only feel content when the bucket was placed in the middle of the shoulder pole. Anyway, they still had water to drink in this way. Then, a fat monk came. He wanted to drink, but there was no water in the jar. The short monk and the tall one asked him to fetch water by himself. He carried a bucket of water, and drank it up immediately. From then on, nobody would fetch water, so they had no water. Everyone chanted his own sutras and knocked his own wooden fish. As nobody would add water to the holy water bottle, the plant in the bottle withered soon. At night, a mouse came out stealing, but everyone pretended not to see it.

Different situation in the temple

1 Monk in temple

The first devotee arrives at the temple at the hilltop and sees a vase with dried flowers.

He quickly brings 2 buckets of water from the sea nearby. He fills the vase and the remaining water is poured in a container.

2 Monks in Temple

The second devotee arrives and feels thirsty, the first devotee provides him water from the stored container. But his thirst was still not quenched. The second devotee fetches 2 bucket of water from the sea.

Fig : Two bucket carried by one person using support

Next time when water in the container finished, both the devotees go to collect the water in one bucket. While bringing the filled bucket with a support each one of them tries to push the bucket toward the other person. So to avoid the conflict they mutually decided to keep the filled bucket mid way the support using a scale.

Fig : One bucket carried by 2 person using support

3 Monks in temple

The third devotee arrives. He comes and immediately consumes water in the stored container. The remaining two devotees were shocked to see him alone emptying the container.

Although he goes to fill 2 buckets of water but consumes the same immediately.

LESSON - TEAMWORK

As a result, the mouse was so rampant that it knocked over the candleholder and caused a fire During accident they realised the importance of team work where they positioned themselves at different locations in the path to bring quick water to put off the fire.

Fig : Use of rope-pulley to lift water

Only thus did the three monks make a concerted effort to put out the fire, and finally awaken. After that, they started hanging together and the temple never lacked water again.

The film tells a simplest story with simplest lines and a simplest form. There is no dubbed voice. Even the background music is reduced to the occasional sound of wooden fish. But it is this simplicity that makes people unwilling to miss a single scene. When we review the Three Monks after seeing numerous Japanese, Korean, European and American cartoons, we will be shocked. We will even smugly say, look at our Chinese “silent movie”. Maybe, only Chinese water-and-ink painting has such a magic to depict a figure with distinct personality with just a few strokes. The film is based on a folk proverb. It has national features, a complete scene of mountain, water and temple drawn with traditional painting skills, and figures with strong characters. Although it is meant to reason things out, the film is humorous and void of rigid sermon.

A Simple act but immense learning

2012-07-11T12:16:00.005-07:00

Today, in lecture we carried out an exercise whereby 3 people crossed a valley using a pole. Although the act looked simple but it had many deep learnings. We even carried out the act practically in the class.

Some of the basic ideas which need to be implemented while performing this exercise can be:

a) Speed of the 3 valley crossers should be synchronized.

b) Real Time Communication should be there among them - where they could communicate to each other how and what steps to be taken while crossing the valley. Also this would help them be on the same platform of thoughts which is of utmost importance in this task.

c) Gap Size between any pair should be same/uniform/equal.

d) Closed Feedback Loop must be present (more or less the same as point b) of Real Time Communication).

We learnt the following management lesson out of the activity.

1) Develop a Shared Vision and Unity of Purpose

• Team building comes from a clear vision of what the group is striving to achieve and is tied to

commitment, collaboration, teamwork, individual and mutual accountability

• A shared vision that has meaning and purpose creates synergistic empowerment

2) Develop Pride in Group Membership and an Identity as a Team

• Point out sources and consequences of taking pride in group membership

• Get team to think about the “legacy” they would like to be remembered by this season

3) Develop a Meaningful and Inspiring Mission for the Team

• Mission statement: solemn unconditional agreement among group members that spells out meaning

and purpose behind groups existence affirming “This is who we are, this is what we are all about”

• “what do you want to accomplish this season, what will it take to get there?”

4) Develop Complementary Roles and Synergistic Teamwork

• Everyone working together with a collective desire/passion to succeed

• Understanding and appreciation of each others roles (role clarity, role acceptance, role importance)

• Create weekly reward system to recognize athletes who excel within their roles (effort awards)

5) Individual and Mutual Accountability

• Everyone must be on the same page, working together to achieve goals that are deemed important

6) Positive Team Culture and Cohesive Group Atmosphere

• Psychosocial factors that influence team chemistry both on and off the field

• Note distinction b/w task cohesion and social cohesion

• Do things socially together, build a real sense of camaraderie

7) Strong Internal Leadership from Within the Group

• Genuine sense of peer helping and social support, stepping up for what is right, moving team along

in the right direction

8) Ongoing Communication about How Things are Progressing

• Talk openly about the commitment and discipline required to reach team goals

• Monitor, evaluate, and adjust goals as needed (goal boards)

9) Open and Honest Communication Processes and Trust at All Levels

• Many communication problems on teams arise from miscommunication and/or misunderstanding

• Effective communication involves mutual sharing and mutual understanding

• Athletes respect coaches that are open, honest, genuine, sincere, and direct

• Listen to others, they will listen to you (demonstrates that you care)

• Non-verbal communication just as important as what you have to say

• Encouragement and support: Find things people are doing correctly and acknowledge it!

• Remember, just because you have communicated does not mean you’ll always get what you want

Khan Academy – Future of Education

2012-07-04T01:52:00.003-07:00

Sal Khan is a math, science, and history teacher to millions of students, yet none have ever seen his face. Khan is the voice and brains behind Khan Academy, a free online tutoring site that may have gotten your kid out of an algebra bind with its educational how-to videos. Now Khan Academy is going global. Backed by Google, Gates, and other Internet powerhouses, Sal Khan wants to change education worldwide, and his approach is already being tested in some American schools. Sanjay Gupta reports.

Vision & Mission

With its digital lessons and simple exercises, he's determined to transform how we learn at every level. One of his most famous pupils, Bill Gates, says Khan -- this "teacher to the world," is giving us all a glimpse of the future of education. Mission is to have every precocious 13-year-old in the world have access to every bit of information they could ever want.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxJgPHM5NYI

Problem and inspiration

Among student there is lots of frustration with how information is conveyed in textbooks and lectures. As per Khan there would be connections in the subject matter that standard curricula would ignore despite the fact that they make the content easier to understand, enjoy, and RETAIN. Fascinating and INTUITIVE concepts are almost intentionally being butchered into pages and pages of sleep-inducing text and monotonic, scripted lectures. Intelligent peers memorizing steps and formulas for the next exam without any sense of the intuition or big picture, only to forget everything within a matter of weeks. The videos posted are his expression of how the concepts should have been expressed in the first place, all while not compromising rigor or comprehensiveness.

Innovative solution

In the process, Khan has fueled the debate over tech's growing influence on education while garnering the support of powerful friends.

"At 3,000 lessons online, Sal's personal ability as a teacher is remarkable," says Bill Gates, whose mention of Khan Academy put the website on the map. "Bringing this kind of creativity and new assessment tools for teachers could make a profoundly positive difference in education."

Where he once was an army of one, the staff has been ramped up to 32, including the recent high-profile addition of Google's first hired employee, programming ace Craig Silverstein. The staff's immediate mission is to further broaden the site's content and improve assessment and feedback features so the Khan Academy experience becomes more interactive.

Strategy and future goals

Khan's plans are no less ambitious on the ground. This summer, he'll launch the first Khan Academy Discovery Lab in Palo Alto, Calif., a small, project-based summer camp "that's like a lab for us, so we can learn more about how kids learn," he says. If it's a hit, the labs will expand nationwide next year.

And after, perhaps a bricks-and-mortar Khan Academy. "I wouldn't want to be the headmaster of such a place per se, because I want to work on stuff that scales," he says. "But it's a cool idea. A place where teachers make what an engineer would make, where the ideas we have can be on display."

Those ideas have caused friction in the education community. Though critiques vary, most hinge on the inference that classroom-based teachers aren't as important as we thought.

Khan's timing is perfect, because students and parents are living in the age of YouTube, where video watching is routine. Certainly schools need to evaluate what's best for their kids and curriculum. That said, technology is here, and doing the same old thing just won't work.

"We have 6 million visitors a month, so we think that students helping each other is the future," Khan says. "That community can become as popular as the videos themselves. It'll be like having free private tutors in the cloud."