Tughlaqs of Modern India !

Muhammad-Bin Tughlaq was an infamous Sultan who ruled Delhi some 700 odd years ago.

I am not a historian to make a detailed commentary about this ruler of India who made a strong impact in the lives of the Indian people, especially those from the north and central regions,  a couple of centuries before the Renaissance Movement began in Europe. [You may read a well written commentary about Tughlaq here !]

This Sultan was indeed a very learned and intelligent fellow. He was perhaps much more intelligent and ambitious for providing a better administration to his peoples than most of those surrounded him.

But yet, most of his administrative reforms failed miserably causing innumerable problems to the people of his sultanate. All this caused the later day historians calling him the ' Pagla Tughlaq' which meant mad Tughlaq. 

In modern India, the schools and colleges teach about this Sultan, in the history classes. Children of modern India keep remembering him for his so called 'madness' in administration and governance that he tried to implement in his times in India.

Modern India is a federal democratic state. There is no single Tuglaq to forcefully enforce their bright and intelligent ideas of administration on the people.

On the contrary, there are innumerable invisible Tughlaqs !

They keep making and breaking rules and laws !

Modern India is one country in the world which is governed on the 'strength' of  an infinite number of laws dating from the Mughal times onwards or even from the days of Muhammad-Bin Tughlaq.

Indians never discard anything old !

If some thing is problematic they prefer to repair it and re-use it.

So if a law is problematic they amend it, never discard it. No one in India can say for sure how many laws and amendments exist in Modern India !

The invisible Tughlaqs of Modern India are equally intelligent and ambitious, just as their Pagla Sultan who ruled centuries ago. They keep making laws with good intentions, but without proper assessments, only to realize the follies later.

They are equally zealous and they too cannot wait a moment once they conceive an idea ! 

They are equally swift in amending the laws if there is a problem, and are willing to amend it many times later if some one raises an issue.

Innumerable laws and innumerable amendments !

As such the ordinary Indian is not as literate, intelligent or wise as his innumerable 'sultans' who keep amending the laws and rules.

But he is capable of understanding simple common sense. But the sultans have never bothered about his common sense !

So he lets the sultans to act in their ways and prefers to do things the way he feels convenient.

If the sultans say that is 'lawlessness' what he can do ?

Right from those days the common Indians have learnt the simple means to vent his steam without any explosions !

His murmers of anger on the sultans have never been audible !

If any body still considers India as Tughlaq land, I think he could be right, both historically and culturally !

What do you think ?

India's New Era Corporates: Pressurized Employees and Failing Customer Care !

Ever since India's economy shifted its gears for fast forward economic growth under learned political leaders and economic advisors like Shri Man Mohan Singh and Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia, India has seen the birth and growth of hundreds of new era corporates. All these began to happen in the Nineteen Nineties. These companies began to provide employment opportunities to millions of young Indians, a thing which never happened before in India in such measures during its existence in the previous forty years after it became a republic.

One of the major shift that took place in this new economic culture was the importance of service sector over primary manufacturing or production sector.

Services like computer software development, banking, financial services, Telecom Services, Tourism Services, Medical Services, Transport Services, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services, etc which predominantly depended on Information Technology (IT) for existence and growth soon surpassed the core industries in the production sector.

The hardcore technology for initiating this growth came from the developed world where companies like Intel, Microsoft, IBM, Siemens, Motorola, etc got the opportunity to create a scenario in which their products have become inseparable items for sustaining economic growth.

Potentials for growth in education, employment and incomes for the individuals got enhanced many fold from the previous decades.

However, the unprecedented importance on services without ensuring balancing growth in other sectors of production and infrastructure is apparently causing inconsistencies in human existence and livelihood.

Human life struggles have enhanced many fold.

Job security which the previous generations enjoyed is becoming something of history the young generations cannot think of.

Growth and profitability of companies have become inconsistent and always in an unsteady state situation.

Governmental rules and regulations on businesses keep changing every now and then.

Business enterprises in the services sector get incorporated quickly and get vanished also quickly.

They are becoming to be known as dot com businesses which are in reality bursting commerce entities!

When the engine of an automobile develops some trouble, the driver loses his cool. He keeps pressing the brake and accelarator pedals erratically making the vehicle move as if gone mad.

Who is at fault, the driver or the vehicle ? It becomes difficult for the onlookers to judge.

The economies in many countries in the world in the post liberalization era are facing situations some thing like this.

Who are at fault? The corporates ? The Managements ? The governments ? The employees ? The customers?

No one is sure.

Employees get the pressure. They are a confused lot confronted with ever changing rules , systems and demands.

The more the confusion, the more the time they have to spend at their offices. It is becoming more and more difficult to satisfy the customers of their simple problems. Apparently, the employees do not have anything in their hands to provide some remedies of their own. If the systems are not provided with the remedies, they simply cannot help. Even if it appears simple if viewed with some common sense.

Then there are external experts and consultants and solution providers who promise to reduce their problems with their magic solutions.

They approach with magic words like ERP, Six Sigma, ISO and so many such jargons making every one in more complicated situations than that existed before ! These are also service provider companies who boast of knowing everything to simplify business processes for all stake holders. Regrettably, in practice their employees also seem tense under non achievable work pressures and with no confidence of overcoming the problems.

It seems every one is engaged in tying knots every where and trying to untie knots all at the same time! Without really knowing what to tie and untie !

I keep watching the young employees of the new era corporates of my country.

I am just wondering what would be the situation a few decades later if we keep going like this ?

Is it necessary that for the sake of generating 'economic activities' and generation of employment we keep doing anything which is termed as a service ? Is it necessary that we keep charging and taxing all such services?

Is it fair for the governments to leave every thing to the market forces ? Is it not the responsibility of the governments to ensure that the businesses that are run in the country are capable of running and sustaining on a long term basis? Is it not necessary for the governments to think of the welfare of employees of the companies? Are they not citizens of the country?

Is it fair on the governments to create a situation wherein the promoters of the company are forced to manage capital to start ventures and pay to the government hefty licence fees amounting to years of  expected profits that the companies are likely to make in the future? Is it fair that such companies are allowed to wind up or or face bankruptcy  if a situation of that sort arise in the future which essentially makes their employees jobless and shareholders tense of worries about the future?

If these are not the responsibilities of the governments then why do we need governments ?

The employees are the major earning citizens of the nation who supports the nation and for whom the nation exists!

We need earning citizens. But not pressurized citizens !
I was just thinking.

Time for every one to think !

[Other blogs related to corporate governance :

1. The Poor Indian Bosses !  

2. How to Kill a Successful Organization ?

3. Engineering Services Department - the Trump Card

4. The More Learned You are, the More You Respect Others !  

5. Ruling or Serving : What do we Seek ?

The Poor Indian Bosses !

There are many humorous writings and case studies about bosses. Mostly the management students and those connected with the corporate work culture are familiar with such stories.

In the management education parlour, there is a study on ' how to manage your boss' ! Corporate management training institutes often give much importance in teaching their young executives about the importance of 'managing' their bosses.

Although most of the cases relating to bosses are universal in nature, there are certain things which to some extent could be specially applicable to Indian bosses. Because most of the Indian bosses are a bit different from their foreign counter parts. By foreign, I meant those belonging to the countries which have surpassed the colonial culture !

It is now a generally accepted principle of the corporate world that the ability to manage one's boss is one of the most desirable qualities needed to succeed in career. Perhaps more desirable than knowledge and competence to do his or her work !

Now, those who are not connected with the corporate culture might genuinely ask this question. If these bosses are such a difficult management issue, why at all there should be bosses ?

Poor ignorant chaps. They simply cannot understand all these complicated management systems of modern world. There cannot be any corporate systems without bosses. Bosses are inseparable necessities in corporate world. There cannot be any management without bosses!

In olden times, the bosses used to be very powerful fellows. They were capable of hiring and firing. In modern world too, there are bosses who exercise that prerogative, but not many.

In the corporate world, one interesting thing is the existence of the hierarchy of bosses. These bosses are also called the executives or officers or managers. Every one is a boss and subordinate at the same time.

Those inducted into a corporate organization soon become very conscious about their status as a boss of some standing in the society, even though their standing in their organization is of no consequence to the society at large. This is one trait which is specially applicable to the Indian bosses. After getting into a corporate work culture, perhaps for the purpose of a simple livelihood initially, the meaning of work soon transcends the barriers of the vocation and becomes much more than that for the individual, if the individual is inducted to the organization as a boss at some level.

Indians who happen to do some job in any organization in the capacity as a boss soon begin to develop a peculiar bossy culture and pseudo personality. The more they are vested with 'bossy powers' the more their likelihood of developing an artificial personality.

For example, police officers are vested with more such arbitrary powers. So those bosses of the police are likely to be a different person even at their homes !

The more bossy you are the more you are supposed to be aloof from other individuals. That is what the Indian bosses somehow have learnt from their past ! Their 'power' has to be judged from their faces and attitudes that they are likely to show to those who are their subordinates or equivalent in their assessment. I think there could be other reasons also for this. Some of the bosses who are nearer to still superior powers are some what afraid of their rather unstable position. The more 'up' you are on the ladder, the more susceptible you to a 'fall'. So they prefer to avoid any kind of such situations that could possibly cause a fall. So their anxiety of their positional situation makes them to show off a grim face always ! Yet another reason could be that they begin to look upon every one around as an 'opportunity seeker' just as they themselves ! They want to repel such persons ! Whatever be the reasons, the boss who is much up in the organizational ladder soon loses the pleasant face and becomes a tense, unapproachable person. This usually makes the subordinates secretly call this boss a moron.

The junior bosses will aspire to become senior bosses by promotions, which is the usual corporate gimmick to keep these fellows motivated to cling to their corporate work zone. Promotions means a different designation of their job title, some rise in the pay package and more importantly other things which in the corporate culture are known by the term 'perks'. These perks could be a company car, a different type of chair to sit, some cosmetic changes in the cabin to sit, etc, etc. Though they are not of much consequence to the life of the individual in general, the cultural transformation has made the individual 'die' for these small things if denied at the 'desired' time.

The ambition of all persons who happen to be a part of this corporate culture is to 'rise' to the higher levels of bossism in the organization and if most importantly to the highest boss post during the career span of the individual.

With every rise in the boss ladder, the individual assumes more 'gravity' of bossism and most likely get himself or herself aloof from the rest of the world. The chief boss becoming the least accessible to others! Especially the Indian chief boss soon becomes some thing like the Indian idol of the Deity in the temples. They become objects of worship by the lesser mortals and lesser bosses ! They 'enjoy' the power of determining the 'fate' of those below them. The fate mostly concerning the promotions and positioning of the lesser bosses !

The second line bosses who are waiting to become the chief boss keep waiting for the chief boss to retire or die anxiously. They are the ones who pamper the 'outgoing' chief with praises and hymns not only in the office but even beyond that on a 7x24 basis. Their sycophantic flattery soon transforms the boss who happen to occupy the chief boss' chair to an altogether different person, perhaps not belonging to the mortal race, but to the order of the gods.

Unlike the political scene, the corporate world has evolved a rule by which the employees are to retire after attaining some age regardless of they being a boss or not.

So the chief boss in the corporate world, if he or she has come up to that position by the so called career growth, has to retire or superannuate after some time after reaching that position. Perhaps at an age of say 60 that is applicable in India for most instances.

The date of retirement is the most 'painful' day for most Indian bosses, especially if they happen to be the chief bosses. All those lesser mortals and lesser bosses who kept singing songs of praises and ultra obedient manners for a few months previously soon would show a 'nasty' or unfriendly face henceforth.

They soon are likely to feel like 'fish out of water'. All of a sudden the friendly world around them has turned out to be either strange or hostile !

The situation at home also would not be much different. They soon would find even the family members too not showing the reverence that they used to show when they occupied the chair of the chief boss or chief executive !

I remember the pathetic situations in which some of these kind of people whom I personally had known faced post their retirements. One was a very senior officer of the organization where I joined as a junior boss. At the time when I knew him, he was in some middle management position and showed enough bossy attitudes commensurate with that position. Junior bosses like me used to be 'scared' of him ! There was no question of talking to such a person as a normal human being !

In some years time this person rose to the chief boss position and I rose to a position that he held years before when I joined the organization. He was the chief of nearly 3000 odd lesser order bosses all scared of the chief.

Later this chief retired and settled in his own home which was near to the our residences. He used to go for evening and morning walks in the streets. Now, all those who used to bow to him with reverence earlier showed no regard to him and behaved as if they were total strangers. Since he was a super boss he never took the efforts of having personal friendship or fellowship with any of these hundreds of others who lived around him.

Soon people forgot about him, though he was living in the same locality.

In a few years time, I became the elected head of a professional body of engineers of that city. This body used to honour one or two veterans every year and I was entrusted to nominate and invite a person to be awarded that year. Since the chief boss was a prominent engineer of yester years, I decided to nominate him and I personally went to his house to invite him formally to receive our award.

Nearly a decade had gone after he had relinquished his powerful post when I met him. He was no more the 'lion' of a person ! We both talked for quite some time in the most cordial and affectionate manner. And when I communicated our decision to award him that year, he became too emotional and began to cry loudly holding my arms! That was the tears of sorrow of being in isolation in a populated place that was his home for many decades !

This is just one such example I have narrated. But it is a typical situation many Indian bosses might face when out of power and position later in their retired life !

I keep seeing the next generations of bosses who follow the same path.

I do not know about the bosses in other countries. My readers can enlighten me and other readers through their comments.

One thing is sure. Doing the job of the boss is a difficult one. Those who are in it need to be extremely careful in not landing into a situation of painful isolation in the years ahead.

For that they have to consciously make efforts to unlearn the culture of bossism that keep building up in their nerves and brains during the long years of their work for a livelihood as a boss!

I earnestly hope the Indian Society to have a different breed of bosses in the times to come !

There are simple ways to become good bosses and effective leaders of the corporate world. Many of these things are routinely taught by the management institutes. But unfortunately, all bosses do not get the chance to get exposed to such management trainings. Some purposefully avoid such opportunities due to their bossy egos. For some others, such exposures do not make any impact again due such a mental state.

But more than these stereotyped executive development programmes there are many simple natural ways by which a boss who is 'up in the ladder' can come back to a normal state of mind.

I think I would address those in some other blogs.