Management opinions of Ajay

World has changed

2012-01-04T19:24:00.004+05:30

We always talk about gender bias.We talk about woman getting no opportunities to advance .Women protagonist talk about females being supressed.But the situation as on date is contrarily opposite. Take a look at the culture when our forefathers never wanted our female family members to venture out and do job.Ours was a paternalistic society wherein male members were the sole bread earners.But our culture has evolved over a period of time. Today’s woman is a lot different than yesterday’s woman.Today’s woman is more literate,confident,outgoing,career oriented. Advertising reflects what happens in the society.Advertising is a mirror of the society.Advertising shows off woman as contemperory,outgoing and career oriented.If one analyses the composition of workfore of today’s corporate world ,one can make out that participation of females in the size of overall workforce has gone up. We as a paternalistic society envisioned only certain job profiles for females in the corporate world.We always thought that females can not do manly jobs. But today ‘s woman has broken glass celieng set by the paternalistic society and evolved to take up major jobs . But at the same time we have started witnessing that portion of woman community which is not competent.Such woman workforce got either dumped or being given inferior job profiles. What matters today is that whether you are competent.India’s 3/4 th GDP is controlled by private sector today.Private sector promotes merit.It is not concerned about caste,gender.It is only concerned about people who can take economy forward.

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Cyrus Mistry is a new king at TATA

2011-12-29T19:52:00.001+05:30

Agricultural Predicament

2011-12-21T18:43:00.005+05:30

Mahatma Gandhi once said “Real India lives in rural villages”.Almost 70 percent of Indian population lives in rural areas.But today’s irony is that those who feed the nation go to bed without food.My understanding of rural India is a less developed countryside where the infrastructure is primitive, houses are of mud or brick but rarely painted well, the primary source of livelihood is agriculture, employment opportunities in the organized sector are negligible, eating choices are restricted to home-cooked simple food, schools are far away, health facilities are rudimentary and -- importantly -- the youth, while energetic and ambitious, are to be seen playing cards the whole day.Average income level is low.Penetration of consumer goods is low as compared to urban areas.Our rural folks have negligible access to banking services.Teledensity in rural area is far less than that in urban areas.

Indian GDP is growing consistently at the rate of 7 percent since 1991.Still our rural areas are underdeveloped.This indicates that fruits of higher economic growth are being enjoyed by people living in urban areas only.Rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer. Indian marketeers define today’s consumer as a person with higher disposal income aspiring for better lifestyle and convenience.But such consumer can be located only in urban area.If this is the fact, higher GDP numbers are meaningless. What has gone wrong with the rural conusmer?

Primary source of income of rural consumer is agriculture.Major agricultural land is not irrigated.So there is no option but to place bets on the arrival of good monsoon.Given the ecological imbalance ,lately monsoon has become irratic.With the irregular monsoon,agricultural production has gone down. Also under the name of development ,agricultural land is being procured at throw away prices.Once agriculture was 50 percent of our GDP.Now it is less than 25 percent.As a consequence,agriculture has become less lucrative option to pursue as a profession. Urban migration has picked up momentum.Cities are getting more crowded which is resulting into regional imbalances.

Only government can correct the situation.Minimum support price paid by government for all kinds of crops is very low.Major beneficiaries are the middlemen who pocket major chunk of the retail price.Also infrastructure needed to store and transport agriculture produce is not in place.Major losses occur at this stage.Some schemes have been floated by government for the welfare of farmers.But major chunk of money leaks through a funnel called as beurocracy.

Correction in all the aspects stated above will improve the income levels and life of people living in the rural area.Then we can say that Indian GDP growth is all inclusive and Indian marketeers will stop discriminating between urban and rural consumers.

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Recipe for success

2011-12-02T16:55:00.006+05:30

This is an inspirational story for all those who want to become big in life.

My father was a son of a farmer.My Grandfather wanted him to become a farmer.He wanted to learn.He ran away and came to Nagpur.He started working in a paan shop and simultaneusly worked on his education.He didn’t have money to pay for his educational fees and lodging.He would work in a paan shop and pay for his expenses.Thats how he completed his MA.Then he joined as a teacher in a small school at Nagbhir.But he was ambitious.He started working on MPSC.He succeeded and became education officer.He was the only education officer of Nagpur district to remain in office for 11 years.

This is the story of a man who had nothing,But created a big thing out of nothing.

Next story is of a man who is a God of Bhandara district.I have seen Nana Patole since childhood.As a family we didn’t have any political background.But I could see Nana relentelessly working for the welfare of people in our Bhandara district.He has a good understanding of people’s problems.He worked on those problems.He is representating Bhandara district as an MLA since last 15 years.

Morale of the story is that very few people take birth with a silver spoon in mouth.Most of the people have to work their way up.But many of the people do not have required knowledge,skills and attitude framework.Such people loose out on life.

As per my observation,what is required is the right attitude.I have seen many people in my life with wrong attitude.These are the people who do not have any substance but want to succeed in life.Unfortunately such people havent succeeded in life.

What is required is the right combination of knowledge,skills and attitude framework.Unfortunately most of the people lack this.

Capitalism at risk

2011-10-26T12:18:00.003+05:30

Lessons from Japan

2011-09-14T12:28:00.001+05:30

Japan is a great story for all of us right from the era of world war II.All of us know what happened at pearl harbour and then at Hiroshima.Japan as a nation is third largest economy today after USA and Euro zone.Sony, Toyota,Honda are well known brands across the globe.Toyota is the largest carmaker of the world.Management practices of these Japanese companies are taught as case studies in management institutes across the world.

Then it happened again.We all saw how Japan was hit by severe earthquake and tsunami.Nuclear power plants exploded.Infrastructure like airports,shipping ports, roads and bridges were swept away.Many Japanese lost lives and also got displaced.Operations of Japanese companies were halted .This affected the entire supply chain of global Japanese companies across the world.Domestic consumption is a small part of Japan GDP as Japanese economy is led by exportss .Already Japanese economy was in trouble.There was no growth.Business confidence levels were at all time low.Consumers were focused on savings rather than consumption.Entire nation was facing a catastrophe that could have swept away any weak nation.

Now we know how Japan as a nation faced crisis.Today Japan as a nation is back on her feet raring to go and face the global challenges.What can world learn from Japan from this entire episode?

Japanese were calm .There was not a single incidence shown on television network of Japanese beating their chests in grief.Japanese showed a great sense of dignity and discipline.There were disciplined ques for water and groceries.Not a single gesture of rough word.Most of the civil infrastructure was hit by earthquake and tsunami,but it didn’t collapse because of great architecture.People behaved with grace and bought only what was essential so that every could get something.People followed order.There wasn’t a single incidence of looting or disorder.There was a sense of sacrifice.Around 50 people stayed back at nuclear power plants to pump water back into reactors without any concern for their lives or how they will be paid back.There was a sense of tenderness as restaurants cut prices and ATM’s were left alone.Old people as well as children didn’t show any sense of panic.Everyone did exactly what they were supposed to do.Media showed great restraint.There were no silly reports.It only focused on helping people out.Hotels offered rooms at one fifth of the usual prices to the displaced.Local universities stepped in to provide statistics,information to reduce anxieties of people.Last but not the least Japanese showed conscience.When the power went off in store ,people put back things on the shelves and left quietly.

Resilience is in the DNA of Japanese people.Entire crisis has brought them in the attention of the world as a lesson in strength.Japan has emerged stronger from the crisis.Now unbelievable pictures of Japan before and after the earthquake are doing rounds as inspirational stories.

We could have seen exactly opposite if any other country had been struck by same kind of a crisis.

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How dynamics of global power structure is changing.

2011-08-28T20:30:00.006+05:30

Based on stage of economic development, countries are classified as developed, developing and underdeveloped.

There is no comparison between size of GDP of developed countries and others.Per capita income of citizens is far ahead of that of citizens of other countries.Higher per capita income resulted in lifestyle which is far superior.Share of global trade of other countries is negligible.Developed economies are major source of aid for underdeveloped countries.Infrastructure in developed countries is par excellence.This economic power resulted in dominance of global financial institutions like World bank and IMF by developed countries.Till date no person from developing or underdeveloped countries has the honour of heading these global financial institutions.

Some major corporations from developed countries have revenues more than GDP of many underdeveloped countries .Majority of top 100 global brands are from such corporations only.Some brands like Coke,McDonald,Nike,Mercedes,Sony have iconic status across the world.Global operations of these corporations from developed countries are major source of employment in other countries.Management practices of these companies are part of management study books.Domestic corporations from developing and underdeveloped countries were no match for these multi national corporations.

Economic strength of developed countries helped them in higher allocation of resources to defence.Superior defence technology coupled with economic strength resulted in political dominance of entire world by developed economies.No developing or underdeveloped countries could disobey dictates of these nations.Afganistan,Iraq,Yugoslavia ,Libya are excellent examples of demonstration of economic,political and defence strengths of developed countries.

Now entire world is witnessing current happenings in developed countries.US was on the verge of default on repayment of sovereign debt.Credit rating of US treasury bonds has been downgraded classifying them as more risky investment than before.Unemployement rate is at all time high.President of USA is seeking help of emerging economies to generate more jobs back home.Fiscal deficit position is getting out of control.Inflation is creeping up.Major US corporations had to be bailed out by government out of financial mess.Dollar is losing value day by day.Central bank across world are seriously thinking of reducing dependance on dollar as major reserve currency.

Euro zone is in even more bad shape.Greece has technically defaulted on sovereign debt.Portugal and Spain are going same way.Bonds issued by these governments have a junk status.Italy,third largest economy of euro zone has somehow avoided default.Credit ratng agencies are seriously thinking of downgrading AAA rating of France,the second largest economy of euro zone.Germany,the largest economy of euro zone has slowed down.Bad state of these economies has resulted in higher unemployement.Recent riots in London are result of high rate of unemployment.

Whereas emerging economies “BRICS” are growing rapidly.Unemployment rates are low.Consumption is growing rapidly.Higher economic growth has resulted in higher per capita income of citizens of these emerging economies.Lifestyles are improving.Growing emerging economies are creating opportunities which are being tapped by citizens of these countries.Investment cycle is peaking up.Better infrastructure is being put in place to support high growth rates.Major corporations from developed economies are banking on these emerging markets for survival and growth.Corporations from emerging economies are spreading their footprints across the globe.Jaguar is no more a British brand.It is one of the brands owned by Tata Motors.

What do these developments indicate?Engine of global economy can no more be propelled forward solely by developed economies in the current situation.Evergrowing strength of emerging economies will have to push forward global economy.Ultimately dominance of global economy by emerging economies can be taken as “future shock” by developed countries.

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Perils of classroom training

2011-08-14T20:06:00.005+05:30

Classroom training has been an integral part of Indian education system.But everchanging environmental factors are putting pressure onto this method of training.

Schools offering education in local languages are left without students.Parents want their kids to be educated in english language right from the beginning.Expensive private schools are mushrooming all across Tier I and Tier II cities.These schools are getting support from parents with higher purchasing power.Ultimately resulting in increased class room size.It’s testing the skills of trainers in terms of class room and behavior management.It doesn’t offer teacher a scope to provide personalized attention.Today’s classrooms are just like massive production facilities trying to produce standardized products on massive scale.

In simple terms class room management involves management of classroom with all available resources.In the beginning of 21^st century,we are witnessing emergence of virtual economy.Technology is getting used across sectors except education sector.Indian teachers hardly have any help of adequate resources including latest technology.It’s difficult to meet workforce demands of 21^st century with these kind of classroom inputs where our students spend major time of their academic life.

Our class room teaching is reward and punitive based.In management language this way of management is called as carrot and stick approach.But this approach creates donkeys who are motivated by carrots and pushed around by sticks. Use of this approach on a continuous basis reinforces inappropriate behavior.

Teachers are important resources of any educational institution. But the percentage of total institutional budget spent on development of such an important resource is negligible.So our teachers keep using same old outdated teaching methodologies.Most of them keep delivering lectures based on outdated knowledge.How many adults can recall what they learnt in the school days.I doubt if majority can recall anything substantial.

Our classroom model of teaching heavily relies on test scores.But our tests are designed to gauge academic performance rather than ability of student to meet the challenges of 21^st century.Our tests are not designed to measure life skills.

In designing a classroom of tomorrow, we must consider all the above mentioned shortcomings.Underlying principles of new design should consider principles keeping in mind changed and dynamic realities of today.Traditional method of classroom teaching must be seamlessly connected with other modes of learning.

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Practical aspects of management study

2011-07-22T20:36:00.002+05:30

Management education is in vogue today.Student generaly pursue those courses which promise them better returns on investment.Management course is one of such courses.Not only it offers better returns,but also opens up wide range of industrial sectors to make career.

This course is considered as professional course.One aspect of qualifying for being called as professional course is that one needs to practice it after completion.

Big question is how many management graduates who pass out every year are in a position to apply their learnings in practical field.Industry values management students at higher levels as compared to plain graduates.This additional value is being paid for broad perspective that management graduates gain during their course which they are supposed to translate into more revenues or less cost in practical field.But the fact of the matter is that most of the management graduates are not in this position.

We can not blame students solely for this situation.Real culprit is design of management course .Most of the institutes rely more on theoretical inputs coupled with minor practical assignments.Minor practical assignments include live projects,case studies and 2 to 3 months of summer internship.Summer internship programmes of 2 to 3 months offer just a trailer of a long movie called as “Corporate Jungle”. Corporate world also looks at this kind of internship as more of a formality.This approach doesn’t offer students enough opportunities to prepare for real life corporate battles.This approach does not bridge the gap between manpower requirements of the industry and available resources.

Need of the hour for students is to spend more time in the industry in the chosen fields.As the duration of on the job training is long in such cases,students will be given specific responsibility.They will be accountable to perform more efficiently and effectively.During the course of on the job training, students will face real life situations.They will be compelled to use their classroom inputs to do job in a better manner.Students will be in a better position to relate management course to practical world.

Any job requires proper framework of knowledge,skills and attitude.This long duration of training will not only enhance knowledge,but also develop skill sets which are badly required by the industry.

Also after taking admission in management course, students tend to develop unrealistic expectations.After completion of traditional course, they find that there is a wide gap between expectations and reality which results into disillusion.Long duration of on the job training as a part of curriculum will bring down these expectations to realistic levels which will help improve job satisfaction.

On the job training of long duration as a part of course curriculum will add tremendous value for which corporates are ready to pay higher amounts.One cannot expect a soldier who gets only theoretical inputs about use of weapons to actually fight real life war.No patient will go to any doctor who refers to books during treatment.That’s why management institute should be chosen keeping in mind requirements of industry in terms of knowledge,skills and attitude.

Integration of body,mind and soul

2011-07-02T22:08:00.002+05:30

1991 was a liberation year for Indian economy when shackles of licence raj, permits, controls and regulations were removed.Thereafter Indian economy witnessed hectic activities across sectors .Prior to 1991 Indian consumers were at the mercy of Indian corporates selling substandard products and services.But liberalization of economy put them at the center of attention.Competition intensified across sectors.Brands like Coke, Chevrolet, Reebok, RayBan became household names.

Indian companies had to adapt to these changed ground realities.Changed situation made them take a re look at business models, operations, product portfolios, cost structures.Exponential growth in top line and bottom line became a dream which every company was aspiring for.

Entire pressure trickled down to corporate executives.They were witnessing changeover from complacent to performance oriented work culture.Scaling corporate ladder upwards was no more an easy task.Managers became task masters in order to achieve tough goals.

This pressure cooker situation disturbed work-life balance.Burnout rates peaked up.Gaps between aspirations and realities widened which resulted in frustrations.Health care took a backseat.

Tough mind and body are needed to face tough challenges.Many good corporates offered gym facilities to corporate executives.But just proper care of physical body is not enough.Any imbalance between body and mind will result in poor performance.Mind has to be nourished through exercises to clear it of all the cobwebs so as to keep it focused on the goals .

Also with the increased pressures,we have seen degradation of values in order to get ahead or survive in rat race.Some people with no values,but only aspirations are resorting to all kinds of unfair means.These people with no values are poisoning work culture of companies.Corporate world can’t move ahead on the back of such people.This points to the need of having soul in proper shape.

Swami Ramdevbaba is trying to teach Indian masses the same thing.He not only talks about physical exercises ,but also yogic breathing exercises to keep body , mind and soul perfectly aligned.Great response to his meetings nationally and internationally shows off that what he teaches is working for millions of people.Lately some Indian companies have also embraced this concept.

Keeping in mind today’s business environment,need of the hour is achievement of this balance so as to keep oneself focused on goals.

Lessons from Dhoni's leadership

2011-05-03T20:17:00.001+05:30

He has just made all the Indians proud. His track record shows that he is the best leader that Indian cricket ever had. All of us wonder what makes him stand out from rest of the captains.

He is nicknamed as ‘captain cool’. A very important feature of good leadership. We have seen him maintaining his composure even through high voltage situations. It’s easier said than done given the passion that we Indians have for a game of cricket. Our passion for this game blindfolds us towards realities of the game which puts excessive pressure on entire team, especially captain.

He takes risks. We have seen him taking decisions on the field that were totally unexpected. These risks have paid off may times. There is direct correlation between risk and returns. His risk taking ability has been awarded with good returns, which are there for all of us to see.

His risk taking ability is complemented by his readiness to accept mistakes and take corrective actions. Not all of his risky moves pay off. But that doesn’t stop Dhoni from taking risks in future games.

When we saw Dhoni for the first time as a player,he was rough and tough boy with aggressive cricketing style and long hair. As soon as he was made captain, we saw him moulding himself in that position. Not only was it evident from his appearance but also behavior on the field. Successful player may not always be a successful captain as we have seen in Sachin’s case. But Dhoni adapted to both the job profiles exceptionally well.

Best thing about Dhoni is his interpersonal skills. Earlier entire team was dependant on the performances of one or two players. But under the leadership of Dhoni, entire team is working as one solid unit sharing equal pressure. It’s unusual thing. Usually team is a mix of achievers and mediocres.But in this case all the team members are coming out with superlative performances. Credit goes to captain.

He is a public personality. Such people are always at the center of media attention. But so far he has managed to keep his personal life separate from professional life. It’s not an easy task in a country where cricket is a religion.

He leads by examples. We have seen so many times ,Dhoni taking charge of a bad situation and making way through it with his calm and composed attitude. This motivates other team members to have confidence in captain and meet his expectations.

It’s a lesson for every young Indian that you don’t need to be living in metros or minimetros to make it big in life. If one has substance, even a boy from a small town like Ranchi can go places and set examples for others to follow.

We have a long way to go

2011-03-30T11:06:00.002+05:30

Great things are being talked about Indian growth story. International leaders are coming down here and lavishing lots of praises. But the question is do we really deserve this praise.

If we look at the real picture on the ground, the story is different. Since the economic reforms of 1991,Indian economy’s growth has picked up momentum. But this growth is not all inclusive growth. Income disparities have increased. Rich people have got richer whereas poor people haven’t benefitted at all. Even today 60 percent of population lives in rural areas. Primary source of their income is agriculture. In most of the rural areas, basic infrastructure is missing. Most of them do not have access to power, communication facilities, modern transportation,healthcare.As per one estimate India needs $500 billion to plug these gaps which is a big challenge for Indian government given the state of our fiscal deficit.If,these gaps are not plugged in time, urban migration will gain momentum which will put additional load on already stretched urban infrastructure.

Then we talk about largest pool of skilled manpower as our strength.Yes,we do have a very large pool of qualified manpower. But the question is about quality of manpower. It is quite evident from outsourcing revolution. Majority of jobs that are being outsourced to India are low skilled jobs. Education has become a big business in India wherein the focus is more on commercial aspects rather than real development of students.

Majority of sectors have been opened up for foreign direct investment. But our share of global foreign direct investment is not remarkable. Corruption and redtepism are the biggest hurdles. We are one of the most corrupt developing countries. Now a days media is playing a vigilant role in this field. Let’s hope that ,It will put pressure on such corrupt tendencies.

We are the largest democracy in the world. This aspect should have been our strength. But unfortunately because of democracy, first class nation of our has been successively governed by third class political parties. In democracy, people get what they deserve. Certainly we all Indians do not deserve such a bad governance. Ultimately all of us will have to wake up to the fact that through democracy, we have to shape our future. And our future has to be a superpower India where our per capita income is higher, very less number of people living below poverty and access to world class infrastructure.

Management education needs a facelift

2011-02-23T17:19:00.001+05:30

Today management education is in vogue. Time and again ,it is proved that students pursue those courses which promise higher returns. Management education does promise students’ better growth and money. But the question is whether today’s’ management education is adequate enough to help students face changed business environment .

Right now more focus is on classroom inputs coupled with minor practical assignments. Need of the hour is to make learning more experiential. Minor assignments will not help students understand gravity of corporate problems and the process of finding right solutions. Industry should help institutes by offering students such hands on experience. It will be a win win situation for industry as well as students. Industry will get a fresh outside perspective and students will get to handle real life situations.

Today globalization is fact of life. Indian companies are rapidly expanding their operations globally. How many management graduates today are confident of handling global operations of Indian companies? In the name of the global exposure, institutes teach one or two subjects related to international operations. Why can’t institutes tie up with institutes in other countries to undertake student exchange programme for limited period so that students get real life feel of the global markets. Today many Indian institutes have tie ups with foreign universities. But these tie ups are more of academic nature.

Today Indian economy is growing at a very fast pace. Confidence levels are high. More investments are happening. Companies need people with entrepreneurial skills to manage these investments. Institutes don’t teach these skills. Skill sets required for managing company’s operations as a manager and managing investments of company as an intrapreneur are totally different. No body can teach these skills better than an entrepreneur.

Also today’s business environment is very very dynamic. Changes are happening rapidly. Opportunities or problems in certain part of the world have impact on other parts of the world. Add to that factors responsible for changes at domestic level. We need change agents today who can manage operations in such a volatile environment.

Academicians need to think about these issues seriously in the interest of students so that we can proudly say that not only we have largest pool but world class manpower.

Does Office politics pay off?

2010-10-21T13:24:00.001+05:30

The word ‘Politics’ has negative connotation. Majority of the working population does not like office politics. However, it is the fact of today’s organizational life. When two or more than two people are working together, political activities are bound to happen.

Office politics is all about hypocrisy, rumours, self-promotion and destructive behavior .Agenda of self-promotion is good. However, people who play office politics try to promote themselves at the cost of interest of other employees and organization. They try to misuse the power. Organization is collection of people who try to achieve common goal through collective efforts. But people who are engaged in office politics are more bothered about individual rather than collective goals. They engage into destructive activities like rumours, hypocrisy.They try to take credit of somebody else’s achievements. They build groups who work hand in gloves in the pursuit of self-promotion. Because of such politicians, entire work culture takes a negative turn. No constructive activity can happen in such a negative work environment. Teamwork takes a back seat. Common goals are forgotten. Mediocrity is preferred over merit.

If we analyze profile of workplace politicians, some common characteristics are observed. In simple language, workplace politicians are mediocre people with inferiority complex who constantly feel unsafe and insecure. As these people cannot progress or retain their positions based on merit, they resort to politics.

It is the responsibility of a leader to make sure that such destructive behavior is not encouraged .Leader can ensure through actions such as pay for performance, transparent communication, bias towards merit, open door policy,

If bad practices like workplace politics are not checked in time, organization will eventually take place of also rans.

Mediocrity in education sector

2010-07-02T13:43:00.001+05:30

Education sector is considered as noble profession. Professionals working in this sector spread the knowledge and mould students to build modern India .India is considered as country with large pool of qualified professionals.

But the question is how many students with valid qualifications are really employable. We are seeing lot of institutions coming up every year, offering courses in various fields. There is explosion in terms of quantity of qualified students .But quality of these students is questionable.

Who is responsible for this mess? Ofcourse, professionals working in this field are responsible. Education sector is the last priority for talented students .It doesn’t offer them enough monetary incentives. Neither it offers a fast track career .Only those students opt for education field who can not compete in the industry .How can one expect such average professionals to build above average students. There are people in this profession who cannot communicate properly. Some people do not have adequate knowledge of the subject. Some institutions are only interested in generating admissions. But when it comes to delivery of quality education, they fail. In some of the institutions classes are also not conducted .I have come across students doing post graduation in management who cannot speak English .

I think the root cause of this problem is that education sector is highly regulated. It is still governed by antique norms .It should be deregulated. Institutions should have free hand in deciding how they run organization. Let them compete on the basis of merit. When level playing field is provided, only those institutions will survive who are fit to be present in this sector. Such institutions will have to bring in good professionals. They will have to provide better infrastructure. They will have to engage in the activities that really add value to students. When industry was highly regulated, customers were the losers who got bad products and services .As soon as deregulation was undertaken across sectors, markets started growing rapidly and customers got delighted. Due to deregulation, old players had to rethink about ways they were doing business. Today we have Indian business houses dominating the global business scene.

Similar kind of an initiative should be undertaken in education sector also, so that we have world class institutions which mould students to compete on global level. Only then we will be able to say with great pride that we have large pool of quality students.

Practicality of management education

2010-06-01T12:39:00.000+05:30

It’s a dream for any student to do post graduation in management. Lots of management institutes have come up in last two to three years. Student has lot many choices today. But students should be careful about the institute they choose. It’s as important as choosing your career path.

Just getting a degree of management course is not enough. Ultimately student has to make career in corporate world. Today’s corporate world is lot different than what it was 10 years ago. Today Global economy is much more interlinked .Problems in one part of the world spreads like wild fire to other parts of the world. As we know western economies are in trouble. Greece is facing crisis. This crisis has put a question mark on the existence of eurozone. If no solution is found for this problem quickly, again the entire world will have bad time. Also economies are much more open today. We can make it out from our own economy. Almost all sectors have been opened up. Earlier a few business families used to dominate Indian markets. There was a license raj. It was easy for these business houses to manage competition and customers. Customers were the ultimate losers who got bad products and services.

Now the scene is totally different .Sectors have been opened up. Competition has intensified across sectors. Customer has ample choices. Getting good growth has become difficult. Corporate executives are under tremendous pressure to deliver.

Today’s management graduates are supposed to work in such a scenario. Not only are they supposed to work but also deliver. Just classroom inputs are not going to help students to survive and grow in their careers .Many of the institutes are just doing that. They are just offering classroom inputs supplemented by some minor practical assignments. Students get certificate at the end of two years. But this certificate doesn’t mean that they are ready to deliver in practical world. Because ultimately what matters is how student applies concepts in the real life situation to get results. Just because a student is management graduate doesn’t help him in having fast track career.

That is why when student chooses management institute he should be careful .He should look at the contents of course apart from other things .Course should have practical perspective. Syllabus should be integrated with the industry so that during two years not only he learns concepts in the classroom but also gets a chance to apply them in the real life situation. When syllabus provides this opportunity, he gets ready to perform in the corporate world. Today so many management graduates pass out every year. If one tracks their career, not everybody makes it to the top. Only a few management graduates reach the top. All those lose out had only degree .But they were not ready to fulfill the requirements of corporate world. Blame goes to institutes which didn’t mould students in two years as per the requirements of industry. That is why students should choose only those institutes that really prepare and mould them to take on the big bad corporate world.

Culture shock

2009-11-23T10:11:00.000+05:30

Culture can be defined in simple terms as shared values , beliefs and customs..It can be also defined as shared behavior. This shared behavior is ensured by system of rewards and punishment. Beliefs are something accepted as truth about someobject or situation.Values are independent of object or situation .Values are generally shared by entire section of the society belonging to particular culture or subculture. Customs are accepted ways of behavior in specific situation.

Culture has an impact on all aspects of life. It has an impact on everyday life also. Culture acts as a guide. Components of culture are learnt formally as well as informally. But culture is dynamic. It keeps on evolving with time.Many variables are responsible for this change. To name a few,they can be demographic changes, economic policies of the government, globalization, migration, exposure to changing media.

Earlier our country was isolated. Agriculture was the major sector of economy.There was no migration for the jobs. We had joint families wherein earnings was the responsibility of males and household was taken care of by housewives. Then it was a male dominated society. Most of the decisions were taken by male members of the family. Female members were traditional housewives. Literacy levels were low.At that point of time our corevalues were honesty,integrity,spirituality,socialization,patriotism,discipline,loyalty.Marriages lasted till dissolution. Families lived with team spirit providing emotional support and economic security. Socialization kept society bonded together.Capital available at that point of time was scarce.So families concentrated on savings.Practice of taking loan was strictly not acceptable.Love,respect mattered more than money and worldy possessions.Whatever possessions family had, were preserved for long duration rather than using them for short time and throwing.
Slowly environmental changes started creeping into our culture.Agriculture was no more dominant sector of the economy.Indian economy started getting industrialized. Government set the ball rolling in the form of PSU’s.Private sector picked up the cues and sped up the process.Investments started happening.More and more jobs were created.Social sector spending was accelerated by government.Results were visible.Literacy rate started inching up.With improved educational levels people started migrating to areas where jobs were available.Urbanization picked up.Joint families gave way to nuclear families.Initially workforce was dominated by males.Government took necessary initiatives ,females took to education in big away.This change gave rise to today’s career oriented woman who is confident,bold,aggressive.Now composition of workforce has changed drastically.It is very common to see both husband and wife working now a days.Per capita income has gone up substantially.With increasing income coupled with other changes,our core values have changed.Nowwe are more materialistic,individualistic,disloyal,egoistic,moneyminded,careless.Earlier we had oriental culture .Now we have culture which is mix of eastern and western values.Divorces rate has gone up.Many couples don’t prefer to have child in pursuit of careeer.This has given birth to new family structures namely single parent ,divorcees,couple with no child.Team spirit has made way for individualism.Rat race has made person think only about oneself.Extent of socialization has come down.Television set,internet are our best friends.We can call them surrogate friends.We have started chasing material possessions.In the pursuit ,we don’t mind taking huge loans which was taboo once upon a time.

It’s nice to pick up good things from other cultures.But mindless copying of values will lead to disintegration of our families and societies.

Disastrous development

2009-11-20T12:25:00.001+05:30

When India became independent, our economy was largely dependant upon agriculture. We were relatively underdeveloped. Then came the drive of transforming underdeveloped Indian economy into developed one like that of western countries. Government took the initiative and started investing massively into development project like transportation, water supply, mining and energy. This resulted into forced migration of millions of people .

Every year millions of people get displaced in the name of development. Developmental project bring benefits .But they impose cost on society also. This cost of displacement is mostly borne by poor section of the society.

Such forced migration causes socioeconomic distraction. People are deprived of their means of livelihood. Their social networks get disturbed. They may loose their cultural identity. They lose basic human rights. Among those displaced, children, women,old adults and disabled are the most vulnerable lot. Trauma associated with displacement can put this section of society at risk of suffering physical and mental problems. Especially children lose opportunities to have better education. As families lose source of income, breadwinner or young adults may have to move away from their families in search of source of income which may result in disintegration of families. Even if family stays together, stress attached to displacement may result in domestic violence. Chances of these people returning to similar living standards are very rare. While displacement because of natural disaster may be viewed more sympathetically than that caused by development, consequences are equally disastrous in both the situations.

To minimize these negative impacts on society, implementers of development projects must explore all the alternatives to avoid displacement. In case displacement is unavoidable, they must seek consent of those who are getting displaced. In exchange of consent, affected people should be adequately compensated and their relocation should be taken care of. This entire exercise of compensation and relocation should be supervised by state authorities as welfare of citizens is a prime responsibility of government. State authorities must strengthen vital services like healthcare, access to education, water and sanitation in the areas where affected people are being relocated. Compensation provided to affected for loss of land should reflect market reality, State authorities in order to lure investments offer petty compensations to indigenous people. For a peasant, land is everything. Landlessness coupled with poor compensation and no provision of relocation will result in social tensions. Deaths and destruction at Singur and Nandigram are results of such social tensions.

Cost of development should be borne not only by those who are affected but also by the implementers. Active participation of displaced people in the process of rehabilitation will help prevent conflicts before they arise.

Decision making-An art or science?

2009-11-20T12:23:00.000+05:30

In business environment ,success is measured by tangible results .Results are achieved after performing certain actions. Actions are results of decisions made. Hence success in the corporate world depends upon quality of decision making process. Today Indian economy is more integrated with world economy. Competition is intense across sectors. In such a situation quality of decisions taken at different levels matters more than ever before.

Decision making is self dominated action. Some people may try to democratize the process. But ultimately it’s the individual who takes a decision. That decision becomes property of an individual. This particular individual experiences pain or gain based on results achieved. As decision making is self dominated action, organization must tolerate failures. This world is full of uncertainties .Every decision has some amount of risk element. Process of trial and error will help individuals hone skills of decision making.

Some say that decision making skill is inherent and cannot be taught. Others say that decision making skill can be sharpened through practice, training and experience. I feel that latter theory sounds good. Decision making process is structured. It involves certain steps.

First step is identification of problem. It is absolutely necessary to identify correct problem. Identification of correct problem is as good as half the problem solved. What is necessary at this stage is to separate problem from symptoms.

Next step is gathering information. There are various sources of information. One can gather information from publications, customers, competitors and employees. Process of gathering information must be organized scientifically because quality and accuracy of information will lead to right knowledge and wisdom.

Then comes generation and evaluation of alternatives. Generation of alternatives can be done through brainstorming. Evaluation of generated alternatives can be supported by various qualitative and quantitative techniques which leads to proper choice of alternative.

Some managers base their decisions on intuition. Intuition is personal wit applied in real life situation. But sound decisions can not be made solely on the basis of intuition. Decision making process is situation specific. And every situation is different. What worked in the past in specific situation may not work in another kind of situation. So intuition can be used only as a complimentary tool.

Failure of big corporations in recent times proves the importance of decision making skills. No decision is good or bad. Quality of decision making process can be judged only on the basis of results. Accuracy of decision making process to get better results can be ensured only by making it more systematic and scientific.

Do we have a gender bias?

2009-11-20T12:22:00.000+05:30

In the last few decades,the workforce demographics have changed drastically.While the participation of women has gone up,they are still lagging behind their male counterparts not only in numbers,but also in job content and rewards.

Gender bias is reflected in placement of women in non strategic position which are essntialy low status and low income occupations.Men still feel that women need to be given jobs which suit her personality rather than knowledge,expertise.In such occupations like typist,telephone operators ,receptionist they have to work long hours with minimum perks and benefits.Confinement to peripheral jobs failed to bring out hidden talent in women.

Certain preconceived notions rooted strongly in the minds of managerial class made them perceive talent of women as inferior to that of men.The assumption that a women’s nature doesn’t permit any risk influenced underutilization of women talent.Men cannot visualize women issuing instructions .He doesn’t associate her with firm determination or ability to manage crisis.

Films and TV soaps are the mirror of society.Even today majority of the films portray woman as housewife to please predominantly male audience.Mass media in developed world still portrays sensual image of women and violent image of a men.

If we break management role into several subroles,function of management will be perceived as more masculine than feminine.This perception spills over into the workplace also and it becomes the barrier to career advancement of women.Organization can not assume that just by hiring and promoting women ,they can address the issue of gender diversity.Its necessary to correct gender stereotypic bias .Unless this bias is eradicated ,women managers will always be undermined irrespective of their abilities and efforts.

Strengths associated with women are harmony,balance,teamwork,collaboration.They emphasize on building relationships.Their workstyle is more democratic.They are good at multitasking as they have handled variety of tasks since time immemorable.They are good at handling stressful situations.They resort to positive ways of tackling stress.Whereas reaction of men is ‘fight or flight’ in stressful situation.Inherent traits of men compel them to suppress feelings and internalize stress.

In today’s competitive era, companies are resorting to delayering of the organization structure.Today’s requirement is that of lean and mean organizations.Traditional masculine approach of top down task oriented management is not going to work in today’s flatter organizations.Relationship based democratic style of management used by women is more suitable for today’s organization.Companies must encourage gender diversity so that they have access to strengths which are inherent to women.They must develop strategies to retain existing women.
Accepting gender diversity will help companies in realizing unrealized assets.Women constitute half of the population.If talent of half of the population is not realized,no company or nation can think of progressing at a faster pace.

Do you have it in you?

2009-11-20T12:21:00.001+05:30

Entrepreneurship is a process that involves activities associated with the perceiving of opportunities and creation of organization to pursue them.Entrepreneurship begins with action,the creation of new organization.This organization may or may not become self-sustaining and in fact ,may never earn significant revenues.But,when individuals create a new organization,they have entered the entrepreneurship paradigm.

Entrepreneurs are different from other people .Entrepreneurs see change as norm and as healthy.Entrepreneur always searches for change,responds to it and exploits it as opportunity.They discover or create innovation to exploit opportunity.They put together and manage capital,people and material resources to bring their innovation to market.They help imrove quality of life through their innovations.They create wealth and add to economic growth.

Quite often,entrepreneurial creativity challenges the existing status quo.People do not like to change the way they presently do things.Customers are used to products,which have been functioning well and don’t see reason to shift.The world is more comfortable with the tried and tested.Changing the way things are done, calls for will and passion.It calls for perseverance to see through the resistance offered.All behavior ,which looks to change the existing way of doing things,entails riskRisk perception of entrepreneur is lesser than that of most people.

The entrepreneur doesn’t need to own resources.He is happy with the ability to use them and own only those,which are absolutely needed.

The entrepreneur knows deep inside,what has caused him to take this step towards risky independence and self reliance.Starting own business will challenge in ways one can never imagine.Along with independence and self reliance ,it will also bring accountability to customers,long hours on the job and lots of time away from family and friends.

The entrepreneur has a clear vision about what business needs to accomplish.It takes energy and resources to build business,but it takes passion for a cause to sustain it.Vision and purpose of future business is the source of passion.

The entrepreneur sustains success by preparing for anything.One important characterstics of enduring companies is that ,while they are clear about their fundamental purpose,they are always refining and revising how this purpose is expressed through the business.Companies that outlive their founders do so because they are always scanning the world around them,listening to customers,monitoring trends,observing the competition,and then adjusting their own path into the future.The entrepreneurs are perpetual learners.They learn from customers,employees,regulators,competition.

They are not satisfied until they make a lasting impact on their surroundings.When things don’t go their way they get very upset as they are very high on self esteem and self confidence.

The social,cultural,financial and regulatory environment in a country affects the nature and growth of entrepreneurship.Access to capital is vital whether an entrepreneur is starting a business from scratch or operating within an established organization.The right regulatory and tax environment is also key.High personal and corporate tax rates can significantly reduce an entrepreneur’s potential reward,discouraging the risk taking that is vital component of entrepreneurial behavior.The most important prerequisite of entrepreneurship is social and cultural environment in which achievement and wealth creation are held in high regard.

India has changed a lot in last 17 years after liberalization.Economic activity is now driven largely by private sector.Government has realized that it has to act as a facilitator.Tax rates are coming down.Small and medium enterprises are major contributors to Indian economic growth thereby creating large scale employment.Today achievers are portrayed as heroes by Indian families.Environment is right.If you have it in you ,get ready to travel on a road of entrepreneurship.

Is creativity cultivable?

2009-11-20T12:20:00.001+05:30

Creativity simply means creating something.Creativity is generally associated with flashy ideas with added touch of imagination. .Creativity is all about thinking differently,
dreaming of making impossible things happen.It is an attitude.

To be creative one needs to cultivate ability.One needs to look at world in different light.Person needs to have curiosity of a child..Young people are more creative than older ones as they haven’t conditioned their thinking.

Entire process of creativity can be broken down into several steps.Process of creativity starts with collection of information by keeping ears and eyes open. Second step is contemplation. Severe scrutiny of the information. Dissecting the assembled information by asking questions.This needs intellectual curiosity. .This is followed by ideation.For ideation what is needed is shaking off preconceived notions, emotions. At this stage what is needed is a triggering mechanism. To create something new all you need is to take a subject and manipulate it in some fashion. One way of manipulation is to find substitution. To check whether existing place, object, process can be replaced with alternatives.. It is a trial and error method. Similarly synthesis is another source of ideation. Synthesis is combining unrelated ideas to create something new .Another very common practice of ideation is adaptation. One needs to be original in adapting ideas from other domain to given problem at hand. An easy way of ideation is to look out for ways and means to magnify. Identify sources of value addition to the existing solution.Look out for the gaps and ways and means to fill up those gaps.
Similarly one can look out for possibilities of modification .Just about any aspect of anything can be modified.
Once the idea is generated, it should be seriously evaluated. Evaluation can be done simply by comparing superiority of new idea with existing alternatives. Idea generated through the process of creativity is likely to invite criticism. Creative person should take such criticism constructively. Person should look at such criticism objectively instead of brushing it aside with prejudiced mind. Listening to constructive criticism helps innovator in identifying problems in idea and finding out ways and means to overcome them.Coming up with creative idea is just the beginning.Next big step is selling that idea.People are generally reluctant to accept radically new idea.So idea must be translated into simple and familiar concept.
Human brain is superior to computers.While computers work in linear fashion,human brain can work laterally as well as in a linear fashion.It has tremendous capacity to store and retrieve information.There are almost one million cells in human brain.This brain of ours has the potential to unleash thousands of ideas .This huge potential can also be tapped by cultivating creativity systematically.

Is a leader born or made?

2009-11-20T12:18:00.000+05:30

Leadership has always been a hotly debated topic and continues to be a prime business issue for several organizations.Can leadership be taught?Is the leadership skill portable?What makes a leader?Is a leader born or made?Can we teach our followers to become leaders?

In modern times,taking control of one’s life has become extremely important skill.This skill is often referred to as personal leadership.Key components of personal leadership are Self awareness,self regulation,motivation,social competence and empathy.The first three components relate to private victory.Next two components relate to public victory.Public victory follows private victory.Can these skills be taught and mastered or are they related to genes of a person?I think these skills can be mastered through education and experience.

There are three basic ways to explain how people become leaders.Some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles.Secondly a crisis or important event may cause a person to rise to the occasion,which brings extraordinary leadership qualities in an ordinary person.Lastly people can choose to become leaders.People can learn leadership skills.Leadership is a prerogative of every individual.Every person by nature wants to make things happen.

In today’s era change is the only constant thing.Companies need real change leaders.These change leaders share some common skills.They are always committed to find a better way.They have courage to challenge existing norms.They take initiative to break through established boundries.They are highly motivated themselves and create excitement,energy and momentum in the people around them.Real change leaders are fair-minded and help each person achieve their full performance potential.A critical mass of such real change leaders is vital to any institution pursuing major change.Demand for such change leaders far exceeds supply.What is the solution?A rigorous,high priority development and support effort to build these skills by top management can make the difference between being in short supply and attaining critical mass.

Effective leadership starts with the individual,working from inside out. To lead successfully a person must demonstrate various essential traits.These traits can be systematically developed.Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self study,education,training and experience.

Work place is changing

2009-11-20T11:55:00.000+05:30

In this era of globalization ,new workplace practices are becoming hallmark of world class companies.These new workplace practices have far reaching impact on survival and progress of prospective and existing employees.

First of all companies are resorting to reduction of hierarchical levels besides total number of employees.With the result more and more responsibilities are being pushed down to the floor level.

Working hours have undergone a sea change.With the result ,the stress on full time employees has gone up in terms of unsocial hours of work,too much travel,frequent changes in tasks and ultimately adverse impact on private,social and public lives of individual employees.

More knowledge driven students,particularly coming from high ranking institutions are found not being able to tackle business problems competently.The employers today are harboring a feeling that students with exposure to tougher living standards are found faring better at decision making and risk taking.The need for employees with enabling emotional intelligence has thus become the demand of the current market.

Demand of the employees for privacy is posing a great challenge to businesses.Sophisticated technology that is available today is helping employers in monitoring employees.Employers say that they need to constantly monitor employees to prevent theft,fraud and other illegal conduct.This is what is making employees today restless about loss of privacy.Both have to appreciate each other’s requirements and strike a balance in their demands.

In knowledge based workplace ,it has become important for managers to share information and talent across business units to enable the organization to grow with a portfolio of products and services.The days of ‘lone ranger manager’ are over.This puts team work among managers and business units at center place.

At one time the decisive factor of production was the land,and later capital ,today the decisive factor is increasingly man himself,that is,his knowledge.The fact that some firm’s worth being more than their book value,is more due to the intellectual capital that is intangible.

To stay focused on the core business ,outsourcing has become order of the global market thereby realigning core talent to sustain profitable growth.

Workplace is getting more diversified.Demographic composition of Indian society is fast changing and is likely to undergo many more changes.Share of women employees in the
workforce is likely to rise further,while employment of semiskilled and unskilled labor in manufacturing segment will drastically come down.Diversity in the teams is found highly correlated with high performance.

In the knowledge economy ,it has become easy for a competent individual to secure a job of his choice.Simmilarly employees have become highly conscious of ‘job satisfaction’ and are not hesitating to move from organization to organization in its search.Simmilarly ,organizations are also poaching smart employees from other oganizations .The net result is increased employee turnover.It is inflicting heavy cost on organizations both in terms of recruitment and inductions cost and indirect cost in terms of loss of organizational knowledge and skills.

These changes provide certain opportunities as well as threats.Prospective and existing employees must evaluate and adapt to everchanging workplace.