THE INDISPENSABLE FACTOR

THE HUMAN FACTOR

August-October 2005, Volume 2 Issue 1 Rs 250 www.iipmpublications.com

TEAMS
& THEIR
LEADERS

The Human Face

of Business
Leadership and Management: So! We are at the Table. Alternate HR:
Clearing the Haze... 6 Now What?... 46 Axing the Axis... 78
A N I I P M I N T E L L I G E N C E U N I T P U B L I C A T I O N
 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Content
Letter from the Editor 5

HR Factored
Leadership and Management: Clearing the Haze 6

The Indian Crucible

Leadership, A Perspective 14
Teamwork - a dilemma! 17
Company of Your Dreams 22

Voice Vote
High Performing Teams 24

Global Outreach
W hy Organisations Don’t W ork? 28
Leadership and Team Building: W hats N ew? 34
Serious About Unlocking High Performance? 42
So! W e are at the Table. N ow W hat? 46

The Pebble and The Ripple

Media’s Man Friday 56

IIPM Speak
Leadership at the altar of the marketplace 60
The Blame Game 64
Pipelining. . . for Practical Performance 68
Leadership Across the Organisation 72

Alternate HR
Axing the Axis 78

Locus Focus
Success Redefined: Ashish Gupta 81
Effective Leadership: N iru Mehta 83

Tool Box
Leadership Ensemble 84

But, Seriously... 88

August-October 2005 3 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

THE HUMAN FACTOR

THE HUMAN FACTOR

Publisher & Founder
Dr. M.K. Chaudhuri
Editor in Chief
Arindam Chaudhuri
Group Strategy Director
A. Sandeep
Group Publisher
Abhimanyu Ghosh
Consulting Editor
Prashanto Banerji
Contributing Editor
Meghna Yadav
Assistant Editor
Mridu Singh
Assistant Editors (Management Intelligence Center)
Manohar G Lazarus, Rajlakshmi Saikia
Consulting Editors
Prasoon S. Majumdar, Subho Shekhar Bhattacharjee,
Naveen Chamoli, Rohit Manchanda, Arundhati Banerji
Design Director
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Sr. Designer
Manish Raghav, Remesh Narayan
Designer
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Chief Photographer
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Photographer
Praveen Kumar
Production Manager
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MAnAGEMEnT InTELLIGEnCE CEnTER (CORRESPOnDEnTS)
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Ratneshwar Banerjee
Mumbai
Shovick Banerjee, R. Prasad
Pune
Kulbir Chauhan
Bangalore
Sourish Ghosh
Chennai
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Hyderabad
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Kolkata
Tarun Bose
Chief Marketing Advisor
Amit Saxena
An IIPM Intelligence Unit Presentation
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An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 4 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Inciting Insights

L
eadership and teams are the two most pertinent
building blocks of a successful organisation and
they also happen to be the two most researched
topics in the field of management. There has been a
barrage of new age management mantras, books &
management techniques promising to turnaround busi-
nesses but what is surprising is the ambiguity that still
surrounds it’s effective implementation & practice in an
organisation. There are a great many reasons for the
fixation with this concept, including that organisations
are faced with challenges & an ever changing dynamic
environment like never before. As the concept of leader-
ship is relevant to any aspect of ensuring effectiveness
in organisations and in managing change it becomes a focal point of discussion in this issue.

As the real value of leadership lies in execution through people, building effective teams is the
other parallel which determines success. To the eternally successful team, some differentiators
have stood the test of time and they outline our discussion platforms in this issue.

“Distinctions between leadership and managing are ‘academic hogwash’.” is Jack Welch’s verdict.
IIPM’s Intelligence Unit Research probes further into this point to present “Leadership and Man-
agement – Clearing the Haze”. The research includes inputs from industry experts to further un-
derstand the mutually exclusive and interdependent aspects of leadership and management.

Our global outreach section showcases in depth research of world renowned HR experts which
aids a holistic understanding of the issue at hand. Recognised as a leader in moving human
resources from a staff backwater to its new place at the CEO’s right hand, Dave Ulrich talks
about HR’s role as the strategic business partner and the future path for new age HR managers
in this section.

Dynamism drives the workplace of today and any recipe for success must have the essential
ingredient of positivism towards change, which is reinforced by Alvin Toffler’s words “The
illiterates of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot
learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

Through the array of perspectives presented in this issue we hope to lend an added dimension
to our readers’ existing understanding of Leadership and Teams.

Meghna Yadav
Editor

August-October 2005 5 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

“People can’t be managed.

Inventories can be managed.
People must be led” -Ross Perot
By Ratneshwar Banerjee

E
ven today I vividly remember one and management. While John Kotter of
of my organisational behaviour Harvard Business School is basically of the
classes about leadership. Our profes- view that management is about coping with
sor, with all his allure and flair started the complexity and leadership is about coping
lecture by saying leaders train the people with change, Robert House of the Wharton
who work for them, coach them, and give School of Management feels that man-
them authority, try different motivation agement consists of implement-
techniques and keep up to date on cur- ing the vision and strategy
rent issues and developments. Even before provided by leaders.
HR FACTORED Leadership & Management

the class could absorb the whole statement While one school
we had a student with a simple question. of thought be-
He stood up and asked – so when do they lieves that
do any work? The query sounded dim-wit- leadership
ted to many including me but only later is a much
on did I realise that such an imprudent broader and
seeming query could offer so much food long term func-
for thought!!! There have been copious tion than manage-
amounts of research done on leadership ment, the other school
yet till date it remains one of the most of thought believes that
misunderstood concepts. Today, if I ask leadership is just one of
a junior employee to define leadership it the many traits required to
will be much different from the leadership be a good manager which
definition given by an employee at the stra- can be practiced in the daily
tegic level. In many cases the perception of scheme of things. The distinc-
leadership is different in the mind of the tion or similarity between the two
followers than in the mind of the leader and has been ever ambiguous and ever
it is here that the whole communication blurred. Hence, we decided to have
process breaks down. But ask about man- it straight from the horse’s mouth. We
agement and we get almost similar answers interviewed people across all sectors
across all levels. It is with this objective in and across all levels to have them shed
mind that we set out to do a research on the light on the concepts of leadership and
understanding of leadership and manage-
ment in successful organisations.
In fact, I would like to give credit to the
great Jack Welch for having provided us
a foundation for the research. In his latest
book-Winning, he said that “the difference
between leadership and management is all
only academic hogwash”. In fact during
the research process it was observed that
leadership and management are two terms
that are often confused. There have been
extreme schools of thought on leadership

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 6 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

management. The sectors we covered are

hospitality, outsourcing , audit firms, phar- In many cases, perception of leadership
maceutical companies, FMCG companies, is different in the minds of the follower than in
service sector and the telecom sector.
Leaders are people, who are able to ex-
the mind of the leader and it is here that the
press themselves fully, says Warren Ben- whole communication process breaks down
nis. ‘They also know what they want’, he
continues, ‘why they want it, and how to
communicate to others about what they ing them the resources they need to deal ties in one and all, and whether leadership
want, in order to gain their co-operation with issues you delegate to them. can actually replace management or not.
and support.’ Second, the subordinate has a responsi-
Management is about planning, bud- bility as well. He or she must take respon- Mr. B.N. Jha
geting, organising and staffing, controlling sibility for the decision, for the position of Director (People Excellence)
people by pushing them in the right direc- stakeholders inside and outside the firm, for Avaya Global Connect
tion, and problem solving. As opposed to
this, leadership is about setting a direction,
about aligning people and motivating them
taking the heat afterward. “It’s a coopera-
tive relationship of skills and responsibili-
ties,” Miller says. “George Patton used to
A ccording to Mr. B.N. Jha, in theory
there is a difference between leader-
ship and management. Leadership, accord-
by satisfying basic human needs. say, ‘Don’t tell the employee how to do it, ing to him, is a spark which is present in
Leadership, says Miller, really consists tell him what you want done.’ Leave room a few which in turn has to be identified
of four elements: for creativity.” and groomed by the organisation. Leaders
Vision: It is called by various names, Designing the organisation: Is the or- emerge from managers and from within the
but it boils down to the answer to ganisation cooperative, trusting and en- system and the system should be conducive
the questions: What do you abling? Do the right people sit next to the to enable employees to evolve and see the
want? Where do you wan t to right people? Everything from table of bigger picture.
go? Miller says he is surprised organisation to desk placement to office He defines a leader as one who:
by how many leaders have failed culture comes into play. “It’s the leader’s l Sees the bigger picture
to answer those questions for them- responsibility to create and maintain a cul- l Leads by example
selves or for their organisations. ture and an organisation that gets the job l Possesses skills to think beyond today
Environment: Once you know done well and leaves the people feeling l May or may not have authoritative
where you want to go, you have to get included as contributors.” power
all those other folks in the organisation After establishing this basic knowledge l Should have knowledge power.
to want to go along. (Miller’s favorite defi- about leadership and knowledge, lets now
nition of leadership: getting other people move on to what industry insiders have to say Mr. Jha believes that leadership and
to do what you want them to do — and on leadership and management. Presented management cannot be separated. It is only
like it.) hereon is a snapshot of some of the interac- when a person understands the nuances of
Empowerment: You cannot do ev- tions we had with some seasoned pros of management will he be able to develop the
erything yourself, so you will have to rely corporate India during the course of our re- required leadership styles and traits. But at
on others. But being empowered to make search. Each respondent has basically given the end of the day, the onus of developing
many decisions does not mean being en- their understanding of the difference between leadership qualities lies on the individual.
titled to make them all. leadership and management, the role of lead- The organisation can only create the en-
First, empowering subordinates means ership development in organisational success, vironment, facilitate the learning process,
training and coaching them, as well as giv- ways and means to cultivate leadership quali- provide training, do job rotation etc.

Leadership and Management:

Clearing the Haze! The Human Factor Team

7 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication
 THE HUMAN FACTOR

If the army is full of generals then there

will be nobody to fight the war and if it is
full of jawans, again there would be no
planning and total chaos

But when asked whether leadership can And this is what can happen if we are
replace management or not, his answer was successfully able to combine leadership
an emphatic no. He thinks that there are with management. This is the ideal situ-
certain functions where leaders are required ation. In this case the organisation will be
and other functions where the interests are able to channelise the employee thoughts
best served by an efficient manager. Hence in a synchronised fashion.
one person cannot effectively play the role
of a leader as well a manager. Taking the
example of the army, he explained how
in the army if it is full of generals then
there will be nobody to fight the war and
if it is full of jawans, again there would be
HR FACTORED Leadership & Management

no planning and therefore total chaos. An

Avaya’s company philosophy: organisation needs to have a combination
l People orientation of leadership and management which can Ms. Padmini Misra
l Understanding of employees. be explained more effectively by the fol- VP-Talent Transformation
l Appreciate, support and add value. lowing arrow model. Wipro Spectramind
l
l
l
Carry the whole team together.
Take care of their growth.
Generate trust & create transparency.

The Arrow Model
This is what will happen if we have only
M s. Padmini Misra is of the opinion
that there is not a lot of difference
between leadership and management but
leadership dominance in the organisation. than again, to say that leadership and man-
He further believes that a leader can be All the employees will be thinking, but it agement are totally same would be wrong.
effective only if he thinks long term without would be all divergent and therefore there Ms. Misra is of the view that a manager is
disturbing the short term goals. It is the would be no structure in the scheme of a ‘today man’ while a leader is a ‘tomor-
ability to have one eye on the long term things. Such a situation can achieve noth- row man’. A manager may not make the
objective that differentiates a leader from ing but chaos.
a manager. It is very important to under-
stand the difference between the urgent
and the important. Only when important
issues are ignored, do they become urgent.
Hence, employees are always encouraged
to discuss whatever they have in their mind
much before those issues end up becoming
urgent. ‘The company believes in building This is what happens if we have only
capabilities by allowing people to take management in the organisation. In this case
risks’, says Mr. Jha. there will be a particular direction in which
Another word which often crops up dur- all the employee thoughts will be heading
ing discussions about leadership is empow- but there will be a lack of synergy and align-
erment. But when is it that an employer ment. The organisation will be witnessing
makes an employee feel empowered? He growth but it could achieve much more.
states that one person’s idea of feeling em-
powered might be entirely different from
another’s. It clearly depends on reference
level. Hence, one clearly needs to analyse as
to what needs to be done in order to make
your employees feel empowered.

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 8 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

appropriate investments which a leader process. The performance monitoring is Mr. Surjya Meher
makes. Leaders give a macro perspective, done on a quarterly basis and 40% of the Head (Marketing)
a generalist kind of delegation and motiva- salary is dependent on the performance. Barista
tion to its team members while a manager’s
job is to communicate what needs to be
done and giving constant online support.
Hence, the performance angle is automati-
cally taken care of. It is not only an extra ef-
fort which counts but an extra effort which
M r. Surjya Meher believes that lead-
ership is a subset of management
and a good manager necessarily needs to
A manager’s job is micro in nature which leads to increased revenue generation. possess leadership traits to be effective.
looks into granular aspects of the job and At Wipro, there are leadership programs He feels that a lot of grey areas like ef-
therefore functions on a piecemeal kind designed for all levels starting from the ficiency, approach and thought process
of delegation system. But for an organisa- entry level leadership programs to busi-
tion to be successful, both leadership and ness leadership program. There is a special
management have an equally important talent transformation department which
role to play in the functioning of the or- specifically looks into the training needs of
ganisation. the entry level people focusing mainly on
Being a part of the growing service in- business related training and leadership as
dustry, she clarifies that in this scenario, well as behavioural training. Then there is
leadership and management cannot be the CHRD- Corporate Human Resource De-
mutually exclusive. In the manufacturing velopment, which holds week-long training
sector, leadership and management might packages across different levels. There is
be isolated functions but the core of the also the talent management and develop-
service industry being its people, one can- ment centre which provides coaching and
not separate leadership and management mentoring to high performers to help them
as it involves the handling of animate hu- emerge as future leaders. Another notable
man objects. The final consumer is a hu- feature at Wipro to foster leadership de-
man being and the raw material is also a velopment is its idea management system
human being. Even though a manager is a called Pragati or small improvement action
‘today man’, he still needs a few leadership and having an ombudsman at every level,
traits in order to do today’s work effectively every vertical, every department etc.
(action, delivery, here and now work). In According to Ms. Misra, it is very im-
order to be successful, the service industry portant to achieve standardisation of ser-
warrants that the boardroom comes to the vice in an industry where quality rules the
shop floor and the shop floor enters the roost. The BPO industry is still only about
boardroom and this can only be achieved 10 years old and at a very nascent stage.
by having a combination of leadership and Hence, the industry still needs to evolve a
management. lot before it can shift its focus from process can be taken care of more effectively by a
Ms. Misra opines that one needs to to people. The BPO industry is at a stage manager than a plain leader. Unlike many
“walk the talk” to generate trust and faith where changes happen everyday which re- others, he considers management to be a
of the employees. In Wipro , for example, quires one to have processes designed in definitely more evolved form than leader-
from the CEO to an agent, everybody flies such a way that it conforms to all standards. ship but the faulty practice of the science of
economy class. The rules remain the same According to Padmini Mishra, the people management makes a leadership oriented
for all and even the CEO has to undergo process mix needs to be different at differ- approach look rosier than a management
checking at the gate and in the absence of ent stages of the industry life cycle and the based approach.
his access card he also needs to go in for a BPO sector being at a very nascent stage in At Barista, the principle is to groom and
temporary staff card. India there needs to be a heavy emphasis empower the employees so that they are
Further, she says it is true that people at on the processes to ensure high levels of leaders in their own sense and the envi-
the entry level in BPOs are not expected to standardisation in order to maintain the ronment is the most important facilitat-
exhibit any leadership traits and just sup- level of quality. ing factor to ensure this objective because
posed to comply with the processes, but at Thus, management and leadership are all training and development workshops
the next level, leadership opportunities are not so apart that one can replace one with would be rendered futile if the employees
galore where typically a supervisor has a the other. These are all nomenclature and do not have a forum to practice the same.
team of 8-15 people under him. Leadership jargonistic expressions which overshadow The employees are given a high degree
initiatives and idea generation are a very the real essence of the basics involved in of autonomy in project planning and de-
important part of the performance appraisal managing people. velopment. The top management plays a

August-October 2005 9 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

We encourage
employees to make
errors but a new one
each time

role at the strategic level by defining and

laying down the growth objectives and
thereon, the various departmental heads
and employees enjoy complete freedom in
deciding how to do the things. The depart-
ment being responsible for their own ac-
tions ensures that the department is highly
motivated with a high sense of ownership
towards the company. The employees are
constantly motivated to come up with new
ideas for projects, products or any other
suggestion to improve the state of affairs
HR FACTORED Leadership & Management

in the company. The employees are asked

to come up with an idea for a brand new
drink; it’s pricing, promotion strategy and
all other aspects which need to be taken
care of during a new product launch. There
is no better way to empower employees
than this.
According to Mr. Meher, one reason
why we probably have fewer leaders than
managers is the accountability factor. In
case of leadership, accountability is very
high than in the case of management, and
that is the case at Barista as well. Barista
always believes in having back up plans
for everything. Mr. Meher summed up by
saying that they encourage employees to
make errors but a new one each time. Mr. Rajat Kotra and narrated the following last stanza
Mr. Meher felt that a successful or- Sr. Vice President (Business Solutions) of a Chinese poem to explain the es-
ganisation is one where the actions of the Global Vantedge sence of leadership:
employees are a result of management re-
quirement as well as personal choice.
Moreover, there are processes in place
M r. Kotra believes that leadership is the
next and the best form of manage-
ment and differentiating between the two
“Once the task is done
And the results are accomplished
The team will stand up and say
to see that the leadership initiatives of em- might only be a play of words. In manage- That we have done it ourselves.”
ployees do not go unrecognized. One of the ment, one may get work done from people The epitome of leadership is that you
biggest criterions in performance appraisal but whether the people under the manager empower people so much that they feel they
at Barista is the extent of leadership initia- work willingly or not is questionable. Man- are doing the tasks themselves. If you are
tive taken by employees which is measured agement clearly is well structured and well expecting unexpected results, then you’ve
by the number of projects initiated and the defined, and can at best give you expected got to believe in leadership. Leadership
quality of its performance. rewards but leadership will give you un- includes all aspects of management plus
And finally, Mr. Meher considers it a expected rewards. Leadership on the other what Mr. Kotra calls the surprise or the
vicious desire to replace leadership with hand, may not be structured. It may emerge ‘Wow’ factor. A leader will rarely need to
management. A successful company needs from the same management structure or it use his position or authority while a man-
to have a management approach because it may emerge on its own. ager needs to resort to it frequently.
is not unstructured as plain leadership. Mr. Kotra also touched upon literature In theory, the best form of leadership is

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 10 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

where every team becomes self managed, relate to people and generally having that tric and on a holistic level, while manage-
although that may not be practically pos- transparency about what they do. There are ment is process centric and is at a more
sible, feels Mr. Kotra. In the organisational some traits which you are born with while narrow and specific level. A leader has to
context, he does not believe in making there are others you develop over time. be the role model for his subordinates and
every team self managed. He clarified by There are very few born leaders who have he also needs to communicate effectively
saying that if the team has to make some never gone to a leadership class ever. So with his subordinates. Leadership is the
bigger decisions that have the potential of leadership programs definitely teach you guiding force in implementing things and
affecting other aspects of the organisation something but it does not necessarily teach working towards objectives.
as well, he would not like that team to be everything. Leadership is definitely an art Mr. Mitra was of the view that in
self managed completely. An example of which is unexplained and unique. There is practice, management function tends to
constraint which prevents the organisation no right or wrong in leadership only effec- dominate over the leadership function i.e.
to make a team self managed would be the tive and ineffective. A good organisation leadership qualities are not there as much
level of maturity of all the team members in will have a combination of leadership train- as desired and this could be primarily be-
a self managed team. One very important ing and experiential learning. cause of the accountability factor. It is very
way to attain the desired levels of organisa- When asked whether leadership can re- difficult to determine accountability stan-
tional maturity is perhaps to spend enough place management, he felt that it is possible dards for leadership and even if there are
time in laying down a strong foundation for but perhaps not very practical. According some standards, they are very risky where
values, as per Mr. Kotra. This is especially to him, someone starting from the scratch high stakes are involved. Sometimes, there
important for the outsourcing industry in have a better opportunity to practice this are some self managed groups which can
India. Values’ training is very important for because he does not need to break any ex- perform without the presence of a leader.
BPO as it drives behaviour and maturity. isting practices. But he said earlier, such a But this kind of a strategy is very short
Rajat Kotra believes in keeping his man- dream can only be achieved by having a term in nature as the groups lose a sense
agers and leaders separate as he believes strong process of laying the foundation. of direction once their tasks are achieved.
all managers can be leaders but not all of They only know how to do the task at hand
them will be leading and all leaders will Mr. Nilesh Mitra efficiently but they lack vision.
be always managing something. Corporate Training Manager At Radisson, there is a system of monthly
When asked about the possibility of Radisson employee contact programme wherein the
making leaders, he said that he has a di-
vided view on whether one is born as a
leader. “I would hate to say no but I know
I n simple words, leadership is about
knowing how to do and management is
about knowing what to do, say Mr. Mitra.
department heads sit with their employees
and all non-business issues are discussed
in a controlled environment. But during
I cannot say no” was how Mr. Kotra would Leadership, according to him is people cen- these seminars employees also end up giv-
put it. Leaders can be formed at any level
but not everybody can be made a leader.
It is an art which may link at some level
to some in born qualities. Leadership is a
function of behaviour as well. Mr. Kotra
generally subscribes to the situational lead-
ership model i.e. leader has to change his
behaviour based on situation. For example,
when in war, the desired leadership quali-
ties may be different than while running a
democracy. According to him, traits actu-
ally mean values like integrity, honesty,
respect for the individual, being able to

Values’ training
is very important
for BPO as it drives
behaviour and
maturity

August-October 2005 11 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

ing suggestions about business issues as Leadership Development Matrix

well which the management makes a note 1. Doomed: - If the size of the organisation is
of. Employees are motivated to discuss their low and the scope for leadership develop-
needs that further percolates into business ment is also low then it is certainly a losing
issues. There is also a system of employee proposition. That organisation is simply
suggestion box which is placed outside the doomed. Most of the respondents were of
HR department and the cafeterias. the view that the greatest chance for organi-
Radisson has five well defined business sations to successfully implement leadership
objectives namely, revenue generation, cost programs is when they start from the scratch
reduction, guest satisfaction, employee sat- or at a relatively nascent stage.
isfaction and process improvement. Em- 2. Stagnant/Predictable: When the size of the
ployees are encouraged to drop in their organisation is large but the scope for lead-
ership development is low then it is the sign
suggestions concerning any of the above
of an organisation which believes strongly
five heads in the suggestion box. But the
in management, well laid out systems and
process doesn’t stop here. The notable fea-
procedures etc. such an organisation can at best achieve predictable or expected
ture is the process which runs this system.
results. This approach will do fine for organisations who do not believe in attaining
Within 24 hours of the suggestion being unexpected goals. But as per Mr. Rajat Kotra, if an organisation expects unexpected
submitted, the employees receive an ac- results then it has got to believe in leadership development. Companies which are close
knowledgement for contributing to the to a century old and which have well established practices would never want to tinker
HR FACTORED Leadership & Management

system. After a few days all information with the idea of leadership when management is doing perfectly fine for them.
regarding the feasibility of the idea as well 3. Tom Cats: When the size of the organisation is small but the scope for leadership
as the time span for its implementation development is high then they are the ones who are striving hard to reach the alchemist
is intimated to the employee. Finally, if stage. This is the ideal path for any organisation which wants to become large and
the idea is implemented successfully the fruitful in the long run.
employee is recognized at a public forum 4. Alchemists: This ideal quadrant of leadership wherein there is a high scope for leader-
and also rewarded for the same. ship development in a large organisation. The best example of such an organisation
would be the surrogate child of the great Jack Welch, GE. Such an organisation will
succeed in whatever they do because of the presence of highly charged and moti-
Ms. R Mahalakshmi
vated workforce in the organisation. Their employees are like family members of the
Senior Manager-HR
organisation and there is a very high sense of ownership in the minds of employees
Ranbaxy
for the organisation.

M s. Mahalakshmi is of the view that

conceptually leadership and man-
agement are two very different things
but in practice they tend to overlap with Ms. Mahalakshmi believes that the fu- the organisation would reach a position
each other. Leadership is about setting the ture will be made by the steps taken by its of excellence and sustained growth only if
long term vision plan and objectives while people today. In recognition of this partner- superior job performance is accompanied
managing doesnot need inspiration. A good ship, Ranbaxy is committed to providing by a forceful display of achievement traits
leader needs to inspire his subordinates each member of the Ranbaxy family with and demonstrated company values.
and he should be followed not because of the following: The system incorporates the organisa-
his authority but because of his ability to l Vibrant & exciting work environment tion’s stand on laying equal emphasis on
motivate them. A good leader is more likely l Significant rewards both the “means” and the “end”, thereby
to be a good manager as well but a good l Opportunity to realise their potential ensuring an objective and providing an
manager may not be a good leader and increasingly transparent process of measur-
still do a fine job. HR has been taking various initiatives ing performance.
Despite an aggressive work environment which can be used to encase people at The key objective of the management
the company focuses on empowering and Ranbaxy into systems that build desired trainee program is to generate business
encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit of competencies within the organisation. Chief leaders - well qualified individuals who
the organisation with a view to develop among these initiatives is the freshly cast possess a generalist perspective to do busi-
and nurture talent in the organisation. Pro- Performance Management System (PMS) ness at Ranbaxy.
fessional development and interpersonal and the elaborate and well structured Man- Built around the theme of diversity, the
relationships are accorded a high priority agement Trainee Programme. management trainee program lasts for 14
while creating a more congenial and people The new performance management sys- months making it one of the most compre-
oriented milieu across the organisation. tem has emerged from the realisation that hensive entry level programs in India.

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 12 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

According to Ms. Mahalakshmi, lead- others feel that they are entirely different the sound of music but onscreen the raptors
ership is a much broader function than from each other. are loose in Jurassic park.
management and management is rather a All the respondents are of the view that Other factors which determine the lead-
subset of leadership. She also believes in an organisation can certainly play a role in ership and management mix is the age of
giving her employees substantial amount of leadership development but the degree and industry and the nature of its final product.
freedom and the feeling of empowerment effectiveness of that role varies across the Based on our research we have devised two
to ensure high performance. respondents. While some feel it is environ- matrices which can be used as a ready refer-
Finally, she said that leadership can ment and empowerment which gives us ence for organisations while deciding their
perhaps replace management but only the desired results, there are others who leadership and management approach.
when organisations have a small employee prophesize the use of structured training The following matrix shows the relation-
base or if an organisation is starting from programs and workshops to cultivate lead- ship between the age of the organisation and
scratch. It is not possible in organisations ership qualities in employees. the scope for leadership development. The
like Ranbaxy which have a large employee Typically, large organisations felt the various quadrants can be explained as under.
base or where the practices are already very need for management and proper systems The other very important thing which often
well established. and structures more than the presence of surfaces in all leadership discussions is the
After going through these views, one leadership. Smaller organisations on the concern for people and concern for process
thing which can definitely be inferred is other hand feel otherwise. Another im- mix. It is felt that the things like sense of
that leadership and management in most portant effectiveness determining factor is ownership, empowerment, and presence of
cases cannot be practiced mutually exclu- walking the talk. Not walking the talk, not leaders is all dependent on what sort of a mix
sively. A majority of the respondents were practicing what you preach is like showing does an organisation follow in terms of the
of the view that there is certainly a differ- a movie with the wrong sound track which people-process mix. Based on our research we
ence between leadership and management. may lead to loss of absolute vision within have come up with a matrix which suggests
Some think there is a fine difference while the organisation. The air may be filled with the ideal mix for organisations based on the
age of the industry and the degree of tangibil-
ity of the final product. The various quadrants
People Process Matrix
are explained in the adjoining figure.
Quadrant 1: When the age of the industry is low and the degree of tangibility is also low,
With our research we wish to provide
then ideally there should be a slightly high concern for process/task. An ideal example
some additional tools to organisations for
would be the BPO industry in India. Age wise this industry is still at a very nascent stage
and the degree of tangibility of the final product is also low. In such an industry it is very deciding upon their leadership approach
important to establish the initial norms of acceptance. and the people-process mix. Our objective
Quadrant 2: When the age of the industry is low but the degree of tangibility of the final is to lend a helping hand in removing the
product is high, for example in a manufacturing company, ideally there should be a haze surrounding the understanding of
higher concern for task. In such an industry, sticking to the acceptable quality standards leadership and management. At the end
is paramount to the existence and survival of the organisation in the long run. But saying we could conveniently conclude that the
this doesn’t mean that the mix has to be 90-10. At best it should be 75-25. responsibility of having effective leadership
Quadrant 3: When the age of the industry is high but the degree of tangibility is low then has to be shared by the top as well as the
ideally there should be an equal emphasis on both the people aspect as well as the pro- junior management. It cannot be either a
cess aspect. An ideal example would be the hospitality industry. The hospitality industry top down or a bottom up approach but
has preset guidelines as to what constitutes an has to be a combination of the two and
ideal customer service but in order to provide ultimately the leader should be able to have
that ideal level of customer satisfaction, the
people under him to whom he can refer to
organisation needs to ensure even higher levels
for problems and suggestions.
of employee satisfaction as is the case pointed
out by Mr. Nilesh Mitra of Radisson.
Quadrant 4: When the age of the industry is “It often happens that I wake up at night
high and the degree of tangibility of the final and begin to think about a serious problem
product is also high, in such a scenario, ideally and decide I must tell the Pope about it. Then
there should be a little more emphasis on the I wake up completely and remember that I
people aspect. Take the case of the worldwide am the Pope.” -Pope John Paul XXIII
automobile industry as an example. It is so
old now and the practices are so well estab- Wonder if leaders in the corporate world
lished that now it is in a very good position to sleep more and better than the pope because
shift its focus from task obsession to employee there is always the management to help take
consideration. care of the ‘serious problem?’ n

August-October 2005 13 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Leadership,
A Perspective
INDIAN CRUCIBLE Leadership: A Perspective

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 14 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

L Leadership abilities
eadership as a topic has more ar- have been successful in providing batches
ticles written about than perhaps any of such leaders who have, over time, risen
other. How is this one any different, to leadership positions in vastly different
displayed in school,
how does it add value? organisations. It is not the training or the college or in previous
This article is written by a Head of environment in the organisations that were employment is a sure
HR, as a tribe, not prolific writers. Heads primarily responsible for creating such a
of HR recruit leaders, develop leadership team but the ability of the recruiters who
predictor of leadership
competencies and support leaders endeav- identified the potential at the recruiting potential
ouring to lead organisations. At each stage, stage.
they need to understand the subject in its Subsequently when I read the book outrageously high goals and once achieved
entirety, failing which the organisation ‘First break all the rules’ by Marcus Buck- will keep raising the bar. They are members
suffers. ingham and Curt Coffman, I said Aha! I of the teams and not act high and mighty.
Almost three decades back, as a Man- knew it all along. They are intrinsically motivated and they
agement Trainee, I was allowed to sit in at What makes a great leader, who irre- believe in rewarding performance.
interviews. It was a fascinating experience spective of the organisation or its economic They know how to get the best produc-
then. My contribution initially was to co- condition is able to inspire its employees tivity from their teams by inspiring them
ordinate the interviews. I also designed an and raise the level of performance? There and ensure enhanced productivity. To quote
interview format which none of the inter- are certain qualities which are a given, a Jack Welch in the Wall Street Journal:
viewers filled. So I meticulously filled one bare minimum acceptable threshold: …The best companies now know
for each candidate, including the section n They generate a compelling vision without a doubt where productivity, real
on Leadership Potential. After hundreds of n They are driven strongly by values they and limitless productivity, comes from. It
recruitments over the seven years in that believe in comes from challenged, empowered, ex-
organisation, I had a data base of my re- n Institute a process to determine and cited, rewarded teams of people. It comes
flections on the leadership potential of the review long term goals and strategies from engaging every single mind in the
various candidates. During the course of my n In control of and marshalling organisa- organisation thus making everyone part of
work, I needed to look at their files and saw tional resources the action and allowing everyone to have a
my notings often, and compared the real life n Leading and directing the affairs of the voice, a role in the success of the enterprise.
performance and current potential against organisation Doing so raises productivity not incremen-
my assessment at the time of their recruit- n Representing their organisation to the tally but in multiples…
ment. As my career progressed in the or- outside world. Such leaders create high performing
ganisation, I participated in decisions about organisations in which the ability resides
their careers. Few of these ex-colleagues of The most important knowledge I gained throughout the organisation and not just
mine are still in touch with me though in in dealing with leaders is that there is no in themselves. So when they exit, the or-
different organisations. But in many cases one style of leadership which is the best ganisation continues to perform as before
the predictions stand. I remember a specific or needs to be an example and emulated provided the quality of the leadership does
case where I wrote “High potential, Chief by others. not substantially change.
Executive Material”. He not only rose rap- A great deal of differences exist, just as Weak leadership can cripple organi-
idly in his career in that organisation, but there is no one form of art or music that is sations but the right leader can add to it
has done well for himself subsequently. superior to the other. dramatically.
The realisation dawned on me that lead- Great leaders shape the organisations At this stage I would like to point out
ership abilities displayed in school, college they work for and in turn they are shaped a common misconception. Leadership is
or in previous employment is a sure predic- by it. Values are clearly articulated, well often confused with management, as also
tor of leadership potential. This potential communicated and they recruit an aligned a good leader with a good manager. It is
is easily identifiable at any time in their team. They are involved in the hiring deci- pervasive in all academic disciplines where
career. There are many examples in the sions. They usually have long association one can find the literature on leadership.
industry where the top management has with the organisation and have high levels Warren Bennis, Ph.D. “On Becoming a
decided to recruit a team of high poten- of self confidence. They build pride in the Leader” states:
tials because of a strongly felt need. Many work done and in the organisation. They set Managers are people who do things

Gopi Nambiar, Vice President-HR, Seagram India on the various hues and
flavours of leadership in corporate India.

August-October 2005 15 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

A great deal of differences exist, just as there is be a brilliant manager but a poor leader.
It is also possible to be a great leader and
no one form of art or music that is superior to the a poor manager. Of course there are very
other, there is no ‘one style of leadership’ which few brilliant managers who are also out-
can be called the best standing leaders.
I have come across many cases where
good managers are promoted to leadership
right, while leaders are people who do It casts the manager as the dependable positions. They continue to do what they
the right thing. plodder, while the leader is the sophisti- are good at: Micro managing, efficiency ex-
Great leaders have a lot of courage and cated executive scanning the horizon, strat- perts who look inward and manage instead
integrity. Courage is the ability to do what egizing. Since most of us would rather be of leading. There is little use in trying to de-
needs to be done, regardless of the cost or the latter than the former, the role of the velop leadership skills in them. While they
risk. Integrity is the ability to do the right manager is lessened. can be exposed to skills and knowledge on
thing, no matter what the doubts or tempta- I have had the opportunity to work with the subject, if they are not talented leaders
tions. A leader who can consistently do the outstanding managers. In India, manag- there will be very little difference in their
right things, when they need to be done, is ing the environment is so complex that work. While management can be taught, it
a leader with courage and integrity. the quality of our managers is outstand- is a skill that can be enhanced by coaching
Leadership is a group activity, is based ing. They are also very hard working. One in the work situation or class room. So if
INDIAN CRUCIBLE Leadership: A Perspective

on social influence and revolves around a repeatedly hears that they are among the you have recruited a candidate with the
common task. Leadership is not manage- best in the world. However, these quali- potential of a leader, it need not take much
ment. Management is a bottom line focus. ties are not necessarily needed to make an effort to make him a great manager.
How can I best accomplish certain things? outstanding leader. Working with leaders, especially for a
Leadership deals with the top line. What The most important difference between HR person is a challenge. Most of HR activi-
are the things I want to accomplish? a great manager and a great leader is one ties by definition is administrative, routine
The following excerpt from The Seven of focus. Great managers look inward. They and bound by policies. This is a must as
Habits of highly effective people by Stephen look inside the company for best manage- you cannot have policies which are intrin-
Covey will help to underscore the differ- ment of resources into styles, goals and sically flexible. Imagine a compensation/
ence. Imagine a group of people cutting needs of each individual. They manage transfer/ travel policy that permits adapta-
their way through a jungle with machetes. resources efficiently. tion to individuals. For a leader, this can
They are cutting through the undergrowth, Great leaders look outward. They look be frustrating and they will make it very
clearing it out. The managers are behind for the overall pattern, a bird’s eye view. apparent. While the leader will understand
them, sharpening their machetes, bringing They look at competition, at future, finding the need for policies, he does not like its
in improved technologies, setting up work- patterns, finding connections and cracks rigidity. On the brighter side, anything in-
ing schedules and compensation programs and press home their advantage where novative or different is easily accepted by
for machete wielders. they can succeed. They are strategists and the leader. It is really great if he is one of
The leader is the one who climbs the visionaries. those rare cases of being a great manager
tallest tree, surveys the entire situation, Both are critical roles. One compliments and a leader.
and yells “wrong Jungle!” the other. Great leaders are not young man- In conclusion, I have tried to give my
But how do these busy, efficient produc- agers developing themselves to become perspective from the stage of recruiting, to
ers and managers often respond? “Shut up! leaders. The core activities of a manager developing leadership competencies and
We are making progress.” and a leader are different. It is possible to working with leaders of organisations. n

I NDI A’ S FI R ST T R U LY GLOBA L B USI NE SS & MA R KE T I NG MAGA ZI NE

THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF PL ANNING AND MANAGEMENT FOUR Ps

4Ps
T H E N , N OW A N D F O R E V E R – A M A R K E T E R ‘ S P U L S E

INDIA’S TRULY GLOBAL BUSINESS AND MARKETING MAGAZINE

A N A LY S I S W I T H
SImpLIcITY
S U B S c R I B E N O w A N D G E T U p T O 4 0 % O F F A N D O T h E R G I F T S

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 16 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Teamwork
– a dilemma!
Does our life and work systems support
the concept of teamwork that the workplace demands?
By Mohinish Sinha & Janet Gasper-Chowdhury

INDIAN CRUCIBLE Teamwork - a dilemma!

August-October 2005 17 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

C
orporates vehemently Inherently we grow up, learn, compete
demand and propound
teamwork across their and exist in an environment that
organisations. applauds individual brilliance rather
Teamwork is a much talked about topic. than promote teamwork
In organisations it features in the values
of the company, competencies required to
be demonstrated, an essential in job speci- a school race or at the elocu- The microcosm of the workplace
fications, a key subject of assessment and tion competition? And for those is more comfortable dealing with
a favorite topic for training. For example, who have excelled, the glory that individuals
PricewatehouseCoopers & Baker Hughes accompanies the victory was sure worth The conventional workplace has job de-
have ‘Teamwork’ as one of their Core Val- basking in. Every year, as the board re- scriptions, KRAs and KPIs and work targets
ues. One of Nestlé’s organisation principles sults of Classes X and XII are declared the for individuals. Employees are rewarded
is Teamwork and Dell believes that their media goes agog while interviewing the for their individual performance, achieve-
“success lies in teamwork”. Move on to the topper in each of the schools. And each ments and accomplishments. At the end of
competencies that all employees of the or- successful candidate narrates how hard the year each employee receives a bonus
ganisation need to demonstrate regularly s/he worked, gives credit to teachers and which he has earned by himself. Promotions
on their jobs – Colgate Palmolive looks family for the feat. Where is the reward for are dished out to individuals who either
for teamwork among new recruits. A lead- teamwork here? Ironically, collaborating in deserve it because of individual high per-
INDIAN CRUCIBLE Teamwork - a dilemma!

ing diversified PSU in India has differenti- the academic world is looked down upon. formance or those who have reached the
ated “Teamwork” and “Team Building” as Students are taught to work alone, study threshold of time that deserves a leg up.
separate requirements in their Competency alone, take tests alone and succeed alone. Have we ever heard of a “team” of “task
Framework and so do job specifications Individual brilliance is strived for, highly force” getting promoted for their significant
published on the net. All performance as- commended and recognized publicly. And contribution to the organisation?
sessments among varied traits assess team so inherently we are conditioned to grow Some companies claim that their vari-
building or team working abilities of the up, learn, compete and exist in an environ- able pay is a smart combination of organi-
individual. HR Consulting companies who ment that applauds individual brilliance. sation factors, team factors and individual
specialise in designing and delivering train- Let’s enter the world of sport – team factors with weightages allotted based on
ing programmes will confirm that one of sport – Cricket and Football, the most fa- their respective position in the organisa-
the most sought after modules is that on mous globally. When we think of the World tional hierarchy. But that individual factor
developing teams within the organisation. Champions of 1986 – Argentina – the name is mandatory! Of course there is a sound
How many times have you heard that some that springs to our mind is Diego Mara- reason to the model developed but then we
friend, ex-classmate has just returned or is dona. Can a not-so-ardent fan of football are diluting the importance of teamwork…
going to Hrishikesh for river rafting along remember even 5 names on the 1986 team? once again.
with colleagues – the sole purpose being to We have made icons of individuals stars There are departments, task forces,
build “team spirit”. Obviously the concept – Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Brian committees, working teams and project
is of grave importance to organisations – or Lara, Shoaib Akhtar – and much has been teams but we always have a team leader,
so it seems – considering it repeatedly ap- said and written about their individual bril- project manager, function head etc. subtly
pears in the mission & vision statements, liance. How many teams do we talk about implying that even though the work is done
values and HR Systems, not the mention without singling out a star? in teams, the accountability still lies with
the large budgets that are kept aside to The world of cinema is not far behind. an individual. Would we ever have a task
promote teamwork. It is no doubt that a huge team effort goes force where each member receives equal
behind the success of a film. But when it bouquets and brick-bats rather than making
But our family structures, education comes to the accolades, these are comfort- one person accountable?
system, hobbies and sport empha- ably collected by the Steven Spielbergs or Academicians and HR practitioners
size winning, being ahead of others Tom Hanks or Javed Akhtars of the world widely believe that the concept of “team-
and always being the best! - those who have been in the forefront and work” is stretched. The focus is primarily
For a moment let us go beyond the work- displayed their brilliance. on the end – achievement of the task – and
place back into time when all of us were Academics, Sport, Cinema, Politics not necessarily on the means – interper-
in our respective classrooms at school or – there always should be a team effort, sonal relations. Therefore the task at hand
on the playing field or participating in a there is a team effort but the rewards are is well defined and formation of a team
competition. How often have we wanted reaped by the one or two individuals who is in most cases simply a bye-product to
to come first – either in academics, or in supposedly shine. ensure that the task is not only achieved

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 18 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

but widely accepted since it is a so called team members) being played within the A danger here is that even though this is
joint effort. team to ensure excellence. initiated most employees question whether
l Role clarity: The role of the team as their companies are really interested in
Business schools attempt to priori- well as the individuals who make up listening to them. RJ Gator’s, a Florida
tize teamwork over individual bril- the team need to be clearly defined.l restaurant chain, established a formal lis-
liance l Skills and authority: The team should tening program called the Culture Board
A huge change in learning methodology (at be equipped with all the required skills to convince employees that the company
least in India) comes when most budding as well as the authority to perform the is serious when it says it cares about what
MBAs join a business school from regular tasks / take decisions. they think. Founder and CEO Tim Timoteo
graduate college. We realize that there is l Scope of operations: Teams need to hoped his efforts would reduce employer
so much to do and so little time and so work within the boundaries of values turnover in an industry with notoriously
the best way to study a case or complete a and principles applicable to the organi- high turnover rates. The Culture Board is
project or even study for a test is to break sation. This sets the scope within which a team of 48 employees, elected by their
up into teams and share the work load. they can exercise their authority. peers, who meet every month to talk about
Most courses are based primarily on proj- l Accountability: Along with team ac- problems or concerns. No managers are al-
ects and equal grades are allotted to all countability, individuals should also lowed, making the Culture Board employee
members of the team irrespective of their be accountable for their respective re- driven. Since its inception, it has proposed
individual contribution. Of course the team sponsibilities. numerous improvements, including a way
has its problems of free riders and internal HR can play a pivotal role in enabling to retain lunch hour servers who were
conflicts but that is the inherent challenges teams – both task forces and management quitting at record rates. Board members
that all teams face whether in b-school or teams – to achieve success. knew that many of the servers were young
outside. From the b-school it is onward to To promote teamwork across the or- mothers who could not afford child care,
the corporate world and so one would think ganisation it has to be introduced in a larger so the company increased their wages to
that this is where team work takes off. How- context. Teamwork at an organisation level cover child care costs. The Culture Board
ever, all that b-school teaches you about is all about empowerment. Empowerment also urged him to work with the company’s
teamwork and team spirit gets defeated in is the process of enabling or authorizing an health care provider to lower eligibility
the rat race of placements. Even the closest individual to think, behave, take action, requirements to 30 hours a week. Timo-
of friends are putting each other down at and control work and decision making in teo credits these and other changes with
the GDs and competition is at it stiffest at autonomous ways. It is the state of feel- showing employees that the company cares
the interviews. ing self-empowered to take control of one’s about their needs.
own destiny. Contrary to the belief that em-
Building and promoting teamwork powerment is some kind of “power” which HR Processes and Systems need to
at the workplace the superior bestows on his immediate re- be conducive to the empowerment
Teams at the workplace can be broadly clas- portees. Empowerment is an individually environment.
sified into two major types – task forces driven ability. The organisation for its part Human Resources functions need to keep
and management teams. A task force is needs to create that environment that per- empowerment in mind while designing and
a temporary team formed to work on a mits each individual to be empowered. This administering their various systems and
single defined task or activity. These could enables all employees to play an equal role processes. By empowering each individual,
be both functional (e.g. functional process within and across the organisation just as they can create the culture of a large team
improvement task force) or cross functional they would in a smaller work team. and promote an environment of teamwork
(e.g. total quality management task force). not just in concept but in practice. Here are
Management teams are larger and work A key requirement in empowering ways in which Human Resources in some
together for multiple tasks for longer peri- employees is to cre- best practices companies ensure empow-
ods of time. These could also be functional ate an environment ered workplaces:
(e.g. entire HR or finance function) or cross of open communica-
functional (e.g. top management team). tion between Institutionalising a competency
Regardless of the duration, there are certain employees and based HR system
key requirements that make them effective management. Most companies emphasize a list of com-
and ensure success:
l Leadership: It is imperative to have the The best companies build their
role of a leader (need not be a single entire HR processes and systems
individual but a shared responsibility
on different areas played by different
around a competency framework

August-October 2005 19 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

petencies that need to be demonstrated Line managers directly participate in the employee’s peers, managers, subordinates
to perform jobs effectively. However, recruitment process, this involvement in- and customers.
best companies build their entire HR creases ownership and commitment, retains The web-based 360-degree reviews
processes and systems around a compe- best employees and fosters an environment generally take three weeks to complete.
tency framework. This enables recruiting in which people choose to be motivated Employees who are subjects of 360-degree
for the right competencies, assessing job and contributing. evaluations--from senior executives down
specific competencies, focused training on Emphasize feedback from peers: On to store-level managers--receive e-mails
required competency development areas, one hand companies talk of empowering asking them to submit a list of individu-
competency based career development and employees and yet when it comes to as- als who could serve as raters. Supervisors
building hierarchies that are competency sessment of performance the final call is review the lists and when they have identi-
based rather than tenure / seniority based. the evaluator and reviewer who are the fied an acceptable number of reviewers, the
Having a shared framework on which all employees’ superiors. True empowerment company sends out questionnaires. Yum
systems are based enables a greater objec- is exploiting the concept of 360 degree ap- creates a report based on collected feed-
tivity and transparency in the system which praisal to its fullest where greater weight- back, and supervisors review the results
in turn empowers individuals – since they age is given to the feedback from peers with employees they direct. Yum notes that
are aware of internal career goals, how to followed by that be subordinates and 360-degree assessments help management
reach there, what is being assessed etc. Ob- minimum weightage to the assessment by better understand the company’s workforce
jectivity and transparency also limits com- superiors. This is where the team is given strengths and weaknesses and provide a
petitiveness within the organisation where the greatest importance in providing feed- way to understand what human capital
INDIAN CRUCIBLE Teamwork - a dilemma!

one tries to get ahead of another. Instead it back to the employee. Multirater feedback capabilities the organisation has, what it
promotes people to work together so that requires that everyone in an employee’s is lacking, and where organisational devel-
collectively they can achieve their goals. immediate work environment--supervisors opment efforts are most needed.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, worldwide has and members of line management, direct
developed all its HR systems around their reports, coworkers, internal and external Self decided team based
competency framework – Global Capabili- customers, and vendors and suppliers --rate compensation system
ties Framework. This framework is univer- that employee by providing feedback about Evidence suggests that many companies
sally applied across locations is the basis for the individual’s behaviour and the impact are changing their compensation plans to
the levels of hierarchy in the organisation of that behaviour in the workplace. support team-based organisational struc-
and is used extensively in the Performance Management encourages employees at tures. The challenge which high-perform-
Assessment, Training, Compensation fit- Yum! Brands Inc., to be “customer maniacs” ing companies face is in balancing an in-
ment etc. It empowers employees to choose providing exceptional customer service. dividual employee’s behaviour with team
their careers and development prospects When the Louisville, Kentucky-based food performance. These leading companies
within the organisation. The competency franchiser broke away from Pepsico eight understand that the secret to sustainable
based hierarchy promotes superiority of years ago, the company’s senior executives success is to perform collectively, so that
knowledge and skills and enables teams decided to adopt a people-friendly approach the organisation can take advantage of the
to work more effectively. to workforce management, using technol- synergies created by the sum of its parts.
ogy-powered assessments to reinforce These companies also empower teams to
Empowering internal recruiters company values. A 360-degree assessment make their own decisions about rewards.
It is the practice to have a panel of recruit- tool helps the company promote customer- This combination of autonomy and account-
ers, comprising senior management both oriented values, such as speed, cleanliness ability allows successful teams to decide not
line and HR, deciding which prospective and hospitality, among the 850,000 work- only how to accomplish the project they
candidate to hire, based on job specifica- ers at Yum’s Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC, are assigned but also how best to reward
tions, qualifications, experience, competen- A&W, and Long John Silver’s franchises. themselves. And when teams are involved
cy based testing and so on and so forth. In a Using a web-based system in selecting rewards, the recognition will be
truly empowered environment, in addition developed especially for it, more successful in motivating employees to
to the experienced recruiters, team mem- the company gathers make an extra effort. Whether a reward is
bers need to be part of the recruiting panel job performance companywide recognition, a cash award,
to decide which prospective candidate they feedback from an or a merchandise gift, when team members
will be comfortable working with. The best
and brightest candidate whom the manage- Leading companies understand
ment believe will excel and succeed may
not perform to expectation simply because
that the secret to sustainable success
of low levels of acceptability by the team. is to perform collectively
An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 20 August-October 2005
 THE HUMAN FACTOR

decide how it is to be disbursed, they are There is clear need for an “unglorification”
more likely to be satisfied with the outcome.
A team environment pervades Unreal Mar- of the individual and a simultaneous
keting Solutions. At the end of the year, the elevation of team status
employees of this online advertising agency
near Philadelphia decide how they want expectations and l “Mistake of the Quarter” Award - Team
their team members to be rewarded for that issues of trust. leaders encourage people to try new
year’s performance. They choose between Areas to evaluate things by making mistakes acceptable;
cash bonuses and American Express points include how well team members trial-and-error learning is part of the
redeemable for merchandise or travel. Most support each other, how well team plan. And humour, through a Mistake
often the team consensus is to take the members perform tasks, and qual- of the Quarter Award, offers a positive
American Express points, as the founder ity of team leadership. and inexpensive step in this direction.
of the company makes the points worth 50 l Springboard challenge - One week
percent more than the cash payout. To guarantee maximum improvement, before each team meeting, one team
teams at telecommunications manufactur- member presents a question, problem,
Implement measurement and im- er Lucent Technologies Inc., New Jersey, or challenge to the team. The team is
provement systems to support con- analyse key indicators for a period of time required to come up with at least two
tinual team growth after implementation and before going on solutions and is awarded points for
The role of HR goes beyond designing and to the next project. Evaluating results starts viability, cost, and creativity. Every six
administering regular HR systems. When with formulating key measurements that months, rewards are given to every
a team based organisation is the ultimate accurately analyze the current problem or team member in accordance with total
goal, it is important to implement measure- task at hand. Team members ask questions points accumulated.
ment and improvement systems to support such as: What have we tried to improve?
continual team growth. Even as the en- How did we measure the problem at the Conclusion
tire organisation moves towards a more start? Will those same measurements give The environment in which we learn, grow
empowered state, mini teams will still be a true reading about the change? Teams and develop is inclined towards promot-
functioning across the organisation. set the time period needed to study the ing winners and applauding individual
In leading companies teams design improvement and set improvement goals. brilliance. Thereafter we are thrown into
their own measurement system because For example, Lucent’s “Coffee Can” team a work system that demands collaboration
teams know what measures best suit their set a target goal of reducing print cable and co-operation without any appropriate
own needs. Human resources may need to defects each quarter by 25 percent of the methods or rewards that go with it.
lend guidance to ensure that the system first-quarter rate. It measured the defect For organisations to genuinely promote
is aligned with company business goals. rate for three consecutive business quar- and support teamwork they need to go
Certain factors need to be examined pe- ters and compared that data with the first beyond the solutions of task forces and
riodically throughout the life cycle of a quarter’s “before” data. The team exceeded project teams. There clearly needs to be
project/ task – these are both quantitative its goal saving $191,000 in three quarters an “unglorification” of the individual and a
and qualitative measures. Examples of such of print defect reductions. simultaneous elevation of team status. Teams
factors are: Teams and team members need to be need to be looked at from a larger perspec-
l Concrete outcomes: Performance-based constantly rejuvenated in order to sustain tive and move into the realm of empower-
results such as adherence to schedule, high performance. Various ways in which ment of the people. It is through empower-
reduction in cycle time, use of team team improvement systems can reinforce ment all employees are able to play an equal
resources, percentage rise or drop in team motivation and sustain continuous role within and across the organisation as
quarterly profits, average time per ser- improvement in teams are: one large team. Empowerment needs to be
vice call. l Gold star idea venue - Each team member interwoven into the HR Systems to ensure
l Relationship management: Focus on is- presents one new idea per month and implementation across the organisation. And
sues that affect team’s performance and shares how they came up with the idea. finally for the success of any initiative even
help the team critique its cohesiveness. Team members vote on the idea which promoting teamwork across the organisation,
Process skills and practices to evalu- then translates into a certain number of a continual measurement process with objec-
ate include communication, problem gold stars for the idea originator. Idea tive metrics is a key requirement n
solving, decision making, goal clarity, sources which are encouraged include
meeting participation, role clarification, reading books and trade publications, Mohinish Sinha is the Assistant Director, HR,
and recognition. talking to friends at other businesses, and & Janet Gasper-Chowdhury is a Principal
l Peer support: Focus on team member attending trade shows and seminars. Consultant at PwC.

August-October 2005 21 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Company of
Your Dreams
W
hen the roots are strong, the trust, respect, accountability, teamwork,
branches would also be stron- and uncompromising integrity -the culture
ger. This is truly reflected when which draws on the full range of people’s
INDIAN CRUCIBLE Company of Your Dreams

we talk of HR practices that Agilent India skills and aspirations. Employees are en-
has used to match up with its global coun- couraged to get involved in business objec-
terparts. tives. Every employee gets an opportunity
Agilent India, the winner of the presti- to do the best work of their life. The cul-
gious award for Excellence in Innovative ture has now become the guiding force of
Human Resources (HR) Practices 2004- everything that is done at Agilent.
2005 and rated thrice in Bank Employers’ Employees are exposed to a high perfor-
List, has efficient HR systems to develop mance work environment that is guided by
its people. It continuously aims at creat- company values and unique management
ing a great place to work where employees practices. They receive best of the remuner-
believe that the work they do makes a dif- ation in the industry both in terms of pay
ference in the world. and benefits. Agilent has implemented
policies and strategies to ensure that its
The Agilent Employee Experience rich cultural diversity is leveraged for its
Developing an organisational culture that competitive advantage. Innovative HR
supports business performance and ac- practices employed throughout the or-
countability is one of the biggest challenges ganisation aim at helping people succeed
that the Human Resources division of any which in turn help Agilent succeed.
organisation faces. At Agilent, developing
such a culture was a foremost challenge in Agilent On Leadership Path
front of Human Resources when company Good organisations convey a strong vision
departed from HP. of where they will be in the future. That is
Agilent has succeeded in developing a the reason why they believe in developing
culture that offers to its employees a culture leaders at every level, it is the vision that
that is dedicated to the values of creativity, keeps then focussed and helps in devel-
oping future leaders. Agilent too feels the
Positive attitude similar way.
An employee is motivated to challenge
is the key word at himself so that he continuously strives to
Agilent technologies. prove himself better than yesterday and
If one has the attitude delivers work with outstanding efficiency.
It is this commitment towards his work
and the drive for it,
that brings his appreciation and therefore
no one can stop him makes him be considered “the best”. His
to achieve it face should beam with success and confi-

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 22 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Adding value as architects of organisational capability and

human potential Jayantika Dave, VP-HR, Agilent Technologies in conversation with Mridu Singh
dence to exhibit that he is the best. This is what Agilent leadership does to its employees. Agilent’s Way of Retaining
It is this confidence and self motivation that binds the company with its employees at the Leadership
backdrop of the excellent leadership skill. Agilent is recognized worldwide as one
No one wants to be stuck in a dead-end company that has no future...or a company of the best employers. It actively recruits
that is heading in the wrong direction. Employees want to be involved with the winner. top talent from under-represented groups
And the employees of the organisation are the ones who are responsible for the mam- around the world and works to build an
moth task of achieving the goals. The organisation cannot achieve it alone. There have inclusive environment that develops and
to be guides at each step - the leaders have to retains a diversity of leaders. It is worth
take up this responsibility. mentioning that the attrition rate of top
The leadership tools such as inspir- talent at Agilent is just 2.4%. The perfor-
ing leadership with transparent man- mance management system, relative rank-
agement motivate employees which ing method, web enabled system to track
subsequently help in retaining the top individual objectives and performance
talent. It becomes quite needful on reward and recognition are few practices
the part of leaders to instill positive implemented organisation wide that helps
attitude so that people are motivated the company to retain back the best talent.
to pursue their goals both personal The initiatives taken to establish and main-
and business. tain a good-quality relationship between
Agilent has initiated a ‘Monthly employees and management have further
Leadership in Action’ series where helped to retain leaders.
the objective is to enhance and up- Agilent emphasises on individual de-
grade the leadership capabilities velopment of employees, comprehension
of its people. The insights and of oneself and exploring the environment.
practical advice drawn assists in- A continuous inspiration to the leaders to
dividuals in their quest to become help them to become more proficient in
better leaders. their field and become successful is very im-
Development curriculums have portant. With enhanced training solutions
been implemented for leaders at all funded by business, mentor program for
levels. The practice has made the struc- high potentials, job rotation program and
ture of management more horizontal “braindancing” program it always keeps its
and transparent which has further employees motivated.
enhanced the trust and reliability of
workers. Core Management Develop- Conclusion
ment Programmes and Employee De- The excellent work culture practiced in
velopment Programmes are also con- the company is very much reflected by the
ducted on a regular basis to identify fact that around seventy one per cent of
and nurture future leaders. Agilent employees feel that Agilent cares
Practices and procedures that for them. Eighty three per cent feel that
are implemented are subject to there couldn’t be a better place to work for
regular surveys and feedbacks. Re- and eighty five per cent of the employees
cently, in one of the pulse survey on feel proud to be a part of the organisation.
employee’s perception of Leaders was (Source: As per the recent pulse survey
conducted and it was found that lead- conducted throughout the company) Thus,
ership score has moved +22% points it is quite evident that sublime work culture
to 79. The survey helps to rectify any balance maintained in the company has
inefficiency which might persist in the worked miracles for it. No doubt, it pro-
leadership quality for any leader of claims itself as one of the best employers
the company. in the software industry. n

August-October 2005 23 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

High Performing Teams

The Need of the Hour

Experts disclose the mantra behind high performing teams. - By Mridu Singh

Padmini Misra has a cutting edge in the core products and statement, and all communications that cel-
Vice President - Talent Transformation services it offers. It is no longer the days ebrates victory. To set aside any humility
Wipro Spectramind Services LTD. of a single horse carriage but one wherein and social doubts and stay very focused on
THE VOICE VOTE High Performing Teams

I couldn’t but agree that prima facie given

the stakes in the corporate world, i.e.
high cost of failures, companies have close
the driver manages to ensure that all the
horses pull in the same direction with equal
energy and passion.
winning. At every level preach and practice
winning. Make it a contagious habit.
Quite often, I find people in a company,
to zero percent opportunity to work in an So, what are some of the things a com- view winning, in many different ways and
environment wherein all processes and sys- pany may like to do in order to work in a that is only so because of an inherent shy-
tems do not drive a synergistic Win-Win participative manner through high perform- ness. Teams are really groups of individuals
approach versus an individual mind set. ing teams? with common goals. So why not simply
The global economy is very dynamic and In my view, one of the most important make winning the common goal?
fast paced and the only way to achieve ex- things is to create an environment/ culture Passion can be made the energy in the
cellence is by ensuring that an organisation through the core values, vision, mission body of the organisation by adopting a
pro- active approach to build teams. What I
mean is to promote all goal setting endea-
vours in a positive and collective manner.
Share the basic company goals and then let
the team weave it into their vision and com-
mitment. This will ensure that they have
a clear set of goals and are more prone to

“.. the only way to

achieve excellence is
by ensuring that an
organisation has a
cutting edge in the core
products”
planning on a long term resolution seeking
mode, setting aside petty differences way of
life. They tend to interact with lesser feeling
of outwardly control and accept differences
amongst themselves. This is because as a
leader it is equally important that she/he
in parallel, identifies the right issues, ad-

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 24 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

dresses them, removes the inhibitors and of the organisation. When such a shared
enables the team to achieve its goals. dream gets aligned across functions and Bharti’s “Plus One” System
A team has high likelihood of staying individuals, the synergy created by this Bharti has instituted the “Plus One” sys-
committed to its goals which are aligned alignment significantly boosts up the perfor- tem, which highlights extraordinary efforts
with the company’ s goals if the leader mance levels in the team as a whole. Thus, made by Bharti employees to reach out to
customers and society. One of the most
works with a collaborative approach, is when the dream is to achieve a milestone
memorable actions was the heroic way in
selective in forming teams of people who in subscriber base for a unit, everyone in
which a Bharti employee re-established
have complementary skill sets, rewards and the business works towards achieving that
connections after Tsunami hit Tamil Nadu.
recognizes that little extra, and provides milestone. As the short-term goals provide
After being washed away by the wave, this
clear operating norms, quality standards, an impetus to reach out and achieve, it is employee went back to work on restoring
and evaluation criteria. the larger than life goal of the organisation connectivity for the struck region. Word of
At the end of the day, Promote Winning, that creates an emotional connect with the his dedication spread within Bharti and he
make it a way of life, collaborate, commu- people’s inner self in exemplifying a truly received tremendous response from his fel-
nicate, compliment..team players ! high performance team. low Bhartians. Over 80 e-mails addressed
Demanding the best happens by de- to him were compiled and presented to
Vinit Taneja fining the best. This involves develop- him in recognition.
Sr. Vice President, Corporate HR ing robust measurement mechanisms to
Bhartiteleventure measure the journey towards these goals, best, and thus creating an innate desire
and cascading these goals through Perfor- for people to demand the attainment of

B uilding high performance teams across

the organisation depends a lot on the
leaders’ beliefs about the people dimen-
mance Management System (PMS) – so
that each individual is not only is able to
work towards delivering what is best for
these goals.
Empowerment in a high performance
team is not about formal delegation of
sion in the business. While most businesses him/ her, but is also able to see objectively authority but about creating an environ-
are technology based, the technology is where the organisation as a whole stands ment where people take decisions and are
common and available to every organi- vis-à-vis the goal that it has set for itself. willing to be accountable for these deci-
sation in the race; it is the people who When Call Centers were new to the coun- sions. However, there is a need to set the
make these technologies tick. Building exceptions clear on those few points that
high performance teams would involve, High performance are required to be decided beyond the
(1) having a shared dream, (2) aligning operating teams. These aspects primarily
the individual goals to the organisational
teams have a culture cater to preservation of the core identity of
goals, (3) enabling a climate where people of empowerment the business/functional entity (like brand,
demand nothing other than the best, (4) rather than systems for investments etc). High performance teams
empowering by default with clearly defined have a culture of empowerment rather than
exceptions, (5) robust reviews and regular
empowerment systems and processes for empowerment.
feedbacks, (6) creating a shared pride in For creating a culture of empowerment, it
our achievements, and (7) sharing life les- try, Bharti defined the service levels as is extremely critical that the people in these
sons in creating the core identity. answering customer calls taken within 10 teams share a common goal, are stretched
While at an organisational level the seconds and measuring the % of calls that and know those few exceptions that go be-
shared dream could be its vision, at an met this target. This was at a time when yond their scope of authority. Empower-
operational level the shared dream could there were no specific customer require- ment in Bharti is all about people who are
be to be the leader in the market. At a ments of this nature. Such measurement willing and able to realise the collective
functional level, the shared dream could mechanisms are not only deployed at the dream. Ability or competence and enable-
even be to be the best in servicing the cus- business/functional levels but also at an ment through authority commensurate with
tomers or to be the sought after center of individual level. This creates a competitive responsibility are key ingredients for creat-
excellence for accounting standards. While cum collaborative atmosphere, energizing ing willingness in employees.
the shared organisational vision could be people at all levels. These stretch goals hap- Regular periodic reviews are an essential
long term, the operational dream could be pen both by emotive goal setting (For e.g., part of creating and sustaining a high per-
as short-term as crossing a milestone in the one of our start up businesses set a goal formance team. These reviews are typically
subscriber base by the end of the month of Rs 2000 Cr turnover while entering a business reviews that challenge the status
or quarter. It is these short-term shared market dominated by an existing player) quo, digs out the weak points; where the
dreams which when met consistently pro- as well as by constantly benchmarking with team members address key bottlenecks and
vides a sense of pride as well as a sense both internal/external comparators. The identify opportunities to be exploited. These
of confidence in achieving the larger goal latter is a critical element in defining the reviews also provide an opportunity for the

August-October 2005 25 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

team members to celebrate the successes into numerous smaller units. Therefore, stantly promote team building rather than
and share their results and experiences. the importance of team building should individual performances using all its com-
In creating high performance teams, be realised and valued at the management munication channels. There will always be
the process of sharing is not restricted to level first and then cascaded through to the better performers who need to be recog-
numbers and strategies. Stories and people smallest of teams at various levels. nised for their efforts but the focus should
profiles are important means to help people The success of an organisation, there- primarily be on the success of the team
link emotively to the leaders, managers, fore, depends largely on an efficient team- rather than that of individuals.
employees and the organisation. In other work at every level, not in select areas. Following are some of the key ingredi-
words, the team chemistry, attained through Team building, for any organisation, ents required in making an efficient team.
this process is more critical in building high should not be a tool for improvement. It l Goal setting: The team should have

performance teams as compared to team a clear idea of what the organisation

‘physics’ of goals, skill enhancement inputs The success of an expects from it. Goals help the team
and reviews. In Bharti, leader profiles are members to have a better understand-
organisation, therefore,
periodically shared through our intranet ing of the organisational targets and
to get people closer to the leaders. Sto- depends largely on how the team helps it to achieve them.
ries of our organisation and leaders’ initial an efficient teamwork It also works as a motivational factor.
struggles are shared in forums especially l Role demarcation: It doesn’t mean that
at every level, not in
created for these purposes. These forums a team member has a restricted area
help the team members ‘feel’ the organi- select areas of operation rather it gives him or her
THE VOICE VOTE High Performing Teams

sation, its challenges, its DNA, its aspira- individual ownership of a collective
tions and encourage them to ‘emotionally cannot be forced upon people. The organ- goal. Team members supplement each
connect up’. isation must create an environment that other ensuring that the team achieves
Needless to say, the above aspects are inculcates and encourages teambuilding its targets.
not independent but are a web of interde- among people. It is not easy, least to say. l Clear communication: Communication

pendent variables that make High Perfor- Our socio-cultural structure - like educa- is extremely important in team building.
mance Teams a possible reality. tional institutions - is based on individual Clear communication brings transpar-
performances. We tend to follow the same ency to the entire system. It also brings
Manoj Tandon pattern in organisations. And those indi- out the worries and concerns, if any, of
Assistant Vice President, viduals who perform better, expect a bigger employees.
CSC India pie of recognition and appreciation. l Delegation and empowerment: Del-

A team of champions will never beat a

champion team.” Reads a quote in one
of my colleagues’ cubicle. Nice, interesting
The organisation should therefore con- egation and empowerment give an

and thought-provoking.
But how do organisations create cham-
pion teams that include people who might
not essentially be ‘champions’?
Team building is not just about putting
people in a team and then expecting them
to perform exceedingly well. I am sure no
organisation expects this miracle to happen
ever. Team building is an organisational
process that requires extensive planning,
effective implementation and constant
monitoring.
It is popularly believed that team build-
ing should be done within the department
or at the lower levels of the organisational
chart. We often concentrate on small de-
tails, ignoring the bigger picture. We tend
to forget that an organisation itself is a team
though much bigger in size. It is a team of
various units which are further segmented

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 26 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

employee a sense of ownership and re- is expected on a day to day, week to

sponsibility. It helps individual growth week and month to month basis.
enabling the person acquire new skills Thus focus of all team building
and capabilities. and performance management in-
A major challenge in team building is terventions should be on the build-
the alignment between individual aspira- ing blocks of a ‘High Performance
tions with organisational goals. When an Teams’ - the individuals who have
individual joins an organisation he or she to have skills, knowledge and the
has certain objectives and targets in terms attitude to act professionally.
of individual growth and career develop- In my opinion, becoming pro-
ment. The organisation on the other hand fesional and producing consistent
has its own goals. A team stands in between results in inconsistent situations con-
and performs the crucial role of a catalyst verges with the objective of a high
in aligning organisational goals with indi- performance sales team.
vidual aspirations. Ensuring professional sales
An organisation that bridges these goals behaviours is the basic challenge
successfully turns out to be the cradle of and an ideal, any high performance
exemplary teamwork, a ‘champion team’. sales team manager is consistently
The writer, Manoj Tandon, is Assistant chasing. In reality, it is far from
Vice President, CSC India. The views ex- the ideal, due to resource and re-
pressed here are his personal. quirement imbalances. The real challenge for achieving and maintaining high per-
often translates into meeting targets with formance levels.
Sourav Chatterjee whatever resources one has. Accepting and
Director, understanding this reality is the first step. Show’ em the Money
Planman Consulting A manager has to be sensitive before he Money is the key driver for high perfor-
goes about meeting the challenge. mance sales professionals. All managers

B uilding and sustaining high perfor-

mance sales team is a continuous
challenge due to business environment
Once having achieved a stable team, it
is critical to have a self and team realisation
activity where all team members become
have to principally establish a fact and be-
lief among all team members, that working
together translates into more money for
and often changing business goals. Thus aware of the skill, knowledge and attitude everybody. Increasingly, companies have
policies, strategies and techniques adopted profiles of themselves and their fellow team found that remunerating team members at
to address these challenges also need to members. It is something that a sales per- individual, group and corporate levels bring
be deployed keeping in mind the dynamic son may take time to be conscious of, if not around a sense of collective entrepreneur-
circumstances and changing performance actively driven by team managers. ship and an unparallel drive towards all
pressures which a sales team faces. goals and values of a corporation. More
Nevertheless there are fundamental Group Coaching & Training Focus importantly if a manger expects excep-
approaches, which need to be adopted to Team managers need to coach and re-train tional performance from team members,
address this challenge. continuously using simulated sales situa- he also has to ensure an exceptional reward
tions or reviewing past cases. Thus, it is mechanism to re-in force such performance
The Key- Distilling the Real Challenge important as a group, to develop an un- behaviour.
Rarely will a manager find a team of per- derstanding of the reactionary patterns and
fectly skilled, highly knowledgeable and gaps of the team members as individuals, Lead by Example
rightly attitude-d team members. There are groups and organisation. These activities Success stories, moments of truth and sto-
bound to be imbalances in all parameters should be over and above the fundamental ries of exceptional performances deliver a
among team members. Every team member selling skill programs or product knowledge competitive spirit and a self-belief in the
will have certain strengths to be leveraged programs or customer management pro- achievability of targets. Sales managers,
by the team in challenging customer situ- grams a sales manager is likely to drive. when they exemplify would surely be able
ations. As Sun Tzu said ‘know your self These sets up realistic expectations and to motivate the desired behaviours among
and know the enemy’- understanding weak thus plan better responses or deploy the team members to make them ‘high- perform-
areas will also help plug mission critical right resources to cover gaps in profes- ing’ teams.
resource gaps. All performance challenges sional sales behaviour. This also defines These above mentioned fundamentals can
need to be translated to individual and future training, teambuilding and devel- provide the required impetus for management
group objectives further translated to what opment interventions that can be useful of high performance sales teams. n

August-October 2005 27 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

THE HUMAN FACTOR

peror ’s Looking
The Em

Why
Organisations
Don’t
An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 28
By Michael Feiner Work?
August-October 2005
Great Today: THE HUMAN FACTOR

going to work it must be because people

the junk bond capers of the same decade exercise positive leadership. Leadership
brought to us by the likes of Ivan Boesky that it is at least as much about the small

T
he list of companies embroiled in and Michael Milken not to mention Drexel stuff as about the big stuff, and that it needs
controversy seems to grow longer Burnham Lambert. The sequence contin- to happen at all levels of an organisation.
every day. Arthur Andersen was ued in the nineties, with such luminaries Leadership is the aggregation of these daily
found guilty of obstruction of justice. En- as Chainsaw Al Dunlap and his near-killing transactions and decisions that collectively
ron’s executives have been investigated of Sunbeam Corporation, and the fraudu- determine an organisation’s fate. It follows
for creating and approving partnerships lent accounting at Waste Management. that if organisations are to work, people
that kept billions of dollars of debt off the And these are just the firms that reach the both junior and senior, both new and ex-
company’s books. WorldCom is accused of point of melt-down. We can only assume perienced, must exercise positive leader-
inflating its earnings by booking expenses that there are plenty of other organisations ship in hundreds of ways every day. If they
improperly. So is HealthSouth & AIG. Quest where unethical behaviour either goes don’t, the results will be devastating – as
Communications is being investigated for unpunished or skirts just shy of technical we have seen.
accounting practices that inflated sales as illegality. While the examples here are ex- Yet exercising leadership can be dif-
is Dynergy. Executives at Tyco and ImClone amples of calamities, I suspect that most ficult. More than this, it can be scary.
face criminal charges connected to their organisations stop working the way they Remember the famous fairy tale by Hans
allegedly illegal self-enrichment. And this should long before calamity arrives. Christian Andersen, “The Emperor’s New
is only a partial list of businesses now un- But the assertion that companies don’t Clothes”. No one was willing to tell him he
der a cloud. work the way they should has an imper- was naked until the little girl asked why
Is all this an aberration which casts an sonal, abstract quality to it. While the news- he had no clothes on! It takes courage to
unfair cloud over the vast majority of or- paper headlines level blame at corporate tell the Emperor (or Empress) that he (or
ganisations? I don’t think so. While most entities, there are people – leaders – behind she) has no clothes. Bosses have enormous
leaders may be basically honest, most or- every scandal. So if organisations are ever power, over our compensation, our pro-
ganisations simply don’t work the way motions, and our careers, and, more
they should. The current list may be immediately, over our quality of life at
longer than usual, but a review over While the newspaper the office each day. So taking on the
the past quarter century reveals many headlines level blame at responsibility for telling our superiors
parallel cases. Consider the Watergate corporate entities, there are when they’re heading in the wrong
scandal of the seventies. Recall the Sav- direction can seem daunting. To be a
ings and Loan crisis of the eighties, and people - leaders - behind High-Performance Leader, however,
the shenanigans of Charles Keating. Or every scandal requires telling the Emperor when he

August-October 2005 29 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

or she is naked. When his agenda is over- Effective push-back To do these things is never easy. But
loaded, when her objectives are unclear, there are ways of pushing back with boss-
when his team is splintered, when her pri- would lead to a es that make it much more probable that
orities are unclear, when his leadership is substantial reduction leaders up the line receive the informa-
failing. And when the wisdom of his or her in the number of tion and feedback they deserve – and that
decisions is doubtful. their organisations require – to make good
In case you feel that I’m suggesting ef- organisations that decisions.
fective push-back is a silver bullet for all crash and burn These laws provide more specific tactics
our corporate ailments, I should clarify as to how to do so:
what I mean here. I’m not claiming this able to do what they did covertly. I don’t
is a one-hundred-percent solution for the believe that’s a rational assumption. Do we 1. The Law of Loyalty vs.
problems that beset most organisations. really suppose no-one knew outside the Insubordination
There are certainly structural problems senior team what was going on at World- Most bosses like the power and authority
related to financial reporting, corporate Com? Do we really suppose no-one knew they’ve worked hard to acquire. And with
governance and industry regulation, that apart from Sherron Watkins, of the fun and the success they’ve achieved, bosses can
need our urgent attention. But I would ar- games at Enron? Do we really suppose no- come to believe that their way is the right
gue that more effective push-back would one knew what Dennis Koslowski was up to way, the best way – perhaps even the only
GLOBAL OUTREACH Why Organisations Don’t Works?

lead to a substantial reduction in the num- at Tyco (do we really suppose you can hide way. It is what led to their success and it is
ber of organisations that crash and burn or a multi-million dollar apartment, or a lav- why bosses can easily mistake an opposing
that make their employees’ lives miserable ishly refurbished headquarters office)? And view from a subordinate not as feedback,
along the way. do we really suppose that Sunbeam, Waste but as insubordination. To avoid this trap,
And if you feel that the scandal-ridden Management, Drexel Burnham and all the leaders need to establish at the outset that
firms were led by bad leaders and that bad others were staffed entirely by blind and they intend to tell their boss what he or she
leaders are just that and cannot be changed, deaf employees? Anyone who’s worked in needs to hear, as opposed to what he or
I’d counter with two points. Firstly, most an organisation for more than a day knows she wants to hear. Telling a boss early in
bad leaders begin their lives as good lead- that all too often people don’t tell one an- the relationship, before contentious issues
ers. Secondly, to pin the blame on a single other what they need to know to make arise, that you’re sure he or she wants an
bad apple, or on a small group of ethically- good, honest, and appropriate decisions. honest and straight point of view is essen-
retarded executives requires us to believe Many employees of all these firms knew tial. Because contentious issues will arise
that these individuals or senior groups were perfectly well what was going on – they and when they do it’s too late to prepare
weren’t blind. But they were a boss for push-back.
tragically mute. I’d argue that Very early in the relationship with your
they lacked the tools to push boss it’s essential to establish this ground
back effectively, particularly rule with phrases such, “I assume you want
in the early stages of aberrant my point of view,” or, “I’m sure you feel
behaviour, when the line be- I owe you the truth.” And once you’ve set
tween ethical and unethical your boss’s expectations in this way, reiter-
behaviour is easy to cross with ate your position often so that your boss
a very small step. understands that you equate intellectual

A Professor of Management at Columbia

Graduate School of Business and author of
‘The Feiner Points of Leadership: 50 Basic
Laws That Will Make People Want to Perform
Better For You”, Michael Feiner attempts to rescue
today’s organisations from the shackles of
‘leaders with high egos’, who think their way is
the only way to do things.
An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 30 August-October 2005
 THE HUMAN FACTOR

honesty with loyalty, not with insubordina- made it easier for me to do what I felt was meeting – and all our meetings. Probably
tion, that your motivation is professional needed. “What’d you think of the meeting?” most important, we should spend most of
commitment, not mutiny. she asked. tomorrow’s session trying to figure out how
Too often people masquerading as lead- “Do you really want to know?” this thing got screwed up. You know, try
ers agree with the boss and go home hat- “What’s that supposed to mean?” to sort out as a team what we did wrong
ing themselves for their lack of courage. At “Linda, I’m the new kid on the block so I so we don’t have the same implementation
home they kick the cat, scream at their kids don’t mean to come across as a professional problem again.”
or argue with their spouse without really critic. But I figure you’re paying me to give Linda listened carefully to this. “Any-
understanding. Why? Their boss, mean- you my best thinking on stuff. I mean – I thing else?”
while, is in the dark about what’s wrong, think you want my honest opinion.” “No…just thanks for letting me tell
and doesnot have the information he or “What are you trying to say, Mike?” you what was on my mind. Hope it was
she needs to make a better decision. It is I swallowed but my mouth was dry. I helpful.”
a lose-lose proposition. wasn’t sure where this was going to end I got up to leave, but Linda had some-
This law was particularly crucial for me up. thing else to say. “I heard you were in-
to follow when I started working for Linda, “Linda, I owe you the truth in dependent. That’s your reputation, you
our new division president. Everyone knew this job. And I think you want know.”
about Linda. She was one of the youngest my points of view even “Yeah, I guess I am independent
division presidents – a superstar who had if they don’t agree with
achieved sensational results in her past yours”. Even if leaders let
few assignments. Passionate, intense and “Keep going.” I had
strong-willed, Linda was held in high re- Linda’s attention, al-
bosses know early in
gard by her peers. But there were caution though she was clearly the relationship of
flags as well. She was known to be impa- uncomfortable. their union to push
tient, wanted most things done yesterday “You asked me what
and expected that her people do things I thought about the
back, that is not
her way. All in all she was considered an meeting. So let me tell enough. Leaders must
intimidating boss. you, even though you recite the loyalty oath
After a couple of weeks, I saw first hand may not like what I have
Linda’s towering strengths – she was very to say. But like I said – I
periodically
bright, creative, decisive, and obsessive think you want me to be
about winning in the marketplace. True honest and give it to
to her reputation, however, Linda was all you straight. Not only – but that has nothing to do with
about push – she’d decide, without much about the meeting what I hope you see is my commit-
consultation with the team, what she want- issue but on other ment to you and this organisation. That’s
ed to accomplish and how the team should stuff that comes exactly why you deserve my honest point
go about delivering it. And she had little up. For as long as of view for however long I work for you.”
patience for debate. I work for you. That’s the way I plan to I left her office, breathing a very deep sigh
After a particularly bruising meeting in operate with you.” of relief that my push-back hadn’t set her
which Linda expressed her strong dissatis- “Go ahead, I’m listening.” off. Linda subsequently took my advice
faction with the implementation of some So I proceeded to tell Linda that I – she apologized to Kate and Brian, re-
of her decisions, she brought the session thought chewing out individuals in a team frained from chewing out people publicly,
to an abrupt close and directed that we meeting was a mistake. That it wasn’t the and was able to improve the quality of our
reconvene the next day after some members best way to elicit commitment from subor- team meetings.
of the team took corrective measures to fix dinates. And that her meetings appeared
the problem. It was obvious that she was to be hers, not the team’s. 2. The Law of Re-Pledging
pretty angry. I figured it was now or never She listened impassively, which I Allegiance
– this was the moment of truth. As people thought was unusual for such a quick-tem- Even if leaders let bosses know early in
began leaving the conference room and pered personality. And then she said, “What the relationship of their intention to push
heading back to their offices, I approached do you think I should do now?” back, that’s not enough. Leaders must recite
her and asked if she had a minute to talk. “I’ve got a couple of ideas. First, apolo- the loyalty oath periodically. Otherwise a
She nodded, which I took to mean a re- gize privately to Kate and Brian. I’d also boss can forget your initial expression of
luctant yes. set aside time at tomorrow’s meeting for loyalty and see your push-back as trucu-
We entered her office, and her opening all of us to build an agenda for next week’s lence, insubordination, or disrespect. De-

August-October 2005 31 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

When push-back turns for managing our union negotiations. We getting too high on the pressure valve.”
had over fifty different labor agreements Luke paused. “Mike, I’m not talking about
contentious - as it may and seemed to approach each as an isolated dialing down the pressure. I’m suggesting
on occasions - a leader deal. More troubling to me, we had no real we remove the reviews altogether.”
should not continue handle on the terms we were prepared to It was my turn to pause. “Come on,
settle for or what our management objec- you’re not serious.”
to advance his or her tives were for new labour agreements. “Yeah, I am. We’ve achieved what we
opposing view Our approach was totally reactive – we set out to. The entire field team knows
seemed to scramble to cut the best deal that we need to be smarter and tougher
pending on the boss, it may be necessary to we could. in negotiations.”
reiterate your commitment each time you So within a few months I asked our la- “Luke, as soon as we take our foot off
push back. Phrases such as “As I promised bour department to implement what we the gas, the field folks’ attention will drift
when we started working together I need ended up calling the Negotiating Author- elsewhere. It’s not embedded yet in their
to tell you when I disagree…” or, “I hope ity Request Process (clearly our market- DNA.”
you recognize I’m pushing back here out of ing folks weren’t involved in selecting the “I’m not suggesting that we eliminate
concern for our group’s success,” or, “I’m name), which required our field managers the work or thinking that goes into the
not trying to be difficult but this issue is to come to headquarters and present a re- process. We can ask the field to submit all
GLOBAL OUTREACH Why Organisations Don’t Works?

important for the team so I’d like to offer view of the upcoming labour negotiations, the data and their recommendations for a
a different alternative,” are some examples including a history of collective bargaining settlement. If we agree, we can sign off.
of how to do this. Reciting the loyalty oath in that location, wage rates in the location If we have some concerns, we can ask for
and restating it periodically are essential (including Coke’s) and changes we should more info and talk about it by phone. But
so that bosses don’t perceive push-back as seek in the upcoming contract talks. These requiring these people to travel to head-
a lack of commitment. reviews were very rigorous, especially for quarters and face the firing squad is un-
those on the receiving end of my questions. necessary and unhealthy.”
The Law of the Strategic Retreat I would ask why we couldn’t negotiate a “I’m in violent disagreement. We need
So you’ve established these ground rules less costly deal, or get more union con- to inspect what we expect,” – I was right up
and communicated frequently how com- cessions, and the managers would have to to date on the latest management aphorism
mitted you are to your boss’s success. Yet defend the deal they’d proposed. – “so no way am I prepared to abandon this
on this particular day your boss isn’t buy- The process worked. Over a few years process.” I was really annoyed.
ing your recommendation and is clearly we significantly reduced the size of wage Luke tried a few more arguments: it was
rejecting your push-back. When push-back increases, reduced absenteeism and be- expensive to fly people to headquarters and
turns contentious – and it may on occasion gan to regain management control in our it was preventing the field from focusing
– a leader should not continue to advance sales and manufacturing facili-
his or her opposing view. This is the time ties. So when Luke, my chief
for a Strategic Retreat. But all is not lost. labour guy, called and asked
Often an approach phrased as “let’s both if we could spend some time
think some more about this and talk again discussing our approach, I told
when you have some more time” or “let’s him to stop by right away.
agree to disagree and revisit the issue when “Mike, I think we need to
time permits” is a good way of establishing revise the Authority Request
license to revisit the issue at another time. Process,” he began as soon as
The critical idea here is not that you give he came into my office.
up, but that you reserve the right to return “Luke, if these reviews get
to the issue when you’re more likely to have any tougher, we’ll need to begin
a positive impact – you’re choosing to lose passing out smelling salts to the
the battle so as to keep alive the possibility field people.”
of winning the war. “Well, I’m really not talking
I first saw the value of this approach about making them any more
when a talented subordinate used it to rigorous. Just the opposite.”
overcome my own reluctance to heed “It’s funny you say that
push-back. ‘cause I was thinking about
Early on in my job as VP-HR at Pepsi, I turning the dial down a little
realized that we had no system or process on these reviews. Maybe they’re

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 32 August-October 2005

on their many other priorities. I was buying leaders must recognize whose candy store
none of it. “No way, Luke. Absolutely no it is – that is, they must show they know
way.” I was adamant. who’s the boss. They recognize that bosses
And Luke did something interesting. have the right to make the final call and
“Mike, can we agree to disagree? And ta- that, short of that decision being a breach
ble this for another time? You feel strongly of their personal ethics or a violation of
about this but I think it’s worth picking up the law, it must stand even if they feel it’s
at another time.” wrong. What’s crucial, however, is that the
How could I say no? leader leaves the office that night knowing
And for the next month or so Luke would he or she fought the good fight and told the
revisit the subject, never trying to win me emperor or empress they didn’t agree with
over in a single conversation, but rather a course of action.
calmly reprising his arguments, and add- So, why is it that organisations don’t
ing a new one or two each time. Finally, he work? They rely, as makes sense, on struc-
had moved me to the point where I thought tures of power and authority(the org chart)
what he had been saying made sense. So I in order to get things done. But the same
agreed to try his approach for six months. hierarchies which are so essential for ef- Painful and tricky
Instead of forcing a decision which ficient operation also inhibit the vital flow
would not have gone his way when he first of information up the organisation to where
as it sometimes is,
raised the subject, Luke executed a Strate- it’s most keenly needed. People experience push - back is part of
gic Retreat, thereby avoiding an extended a tension between the need to push back, a High-Performance
skirmish he could see he would lose. By to pass critical information and opinions
reengaging me in discussions at other times, up the organisation and the need to respect
Leader’s repertoire
he won the war. the office, to know whose candy store it is
and who holds the power. Fundamentally, push-back can go a long way to properly
3. The Law of the Candy Store organisations don’t work because the bal- clothing our corporate leaders.
High-Performance Leaders don’t shy away ance is tipped away from the need to push
from pushing back. Painful and tricky as back, and towards the need to follow the Feiner’s Laws of Push-back
it sometimes is, push-back is part of a boss and protect our continuing employ- 1. The Law of Loyalty vs. Insubordi-
High-Performance Leader’s repertoire. ment. And this imbalance exists because nation Leaders must establish early on
Yet no leader, no matter how skillful at most people lack skills when it comes to that they intend to tell bosses what they
push-back, can win every disagreement. So telling the emperor he or she has no clothes. need to hear as opposed to what they
As we’ve seen, real options exist want to hear. Having set the ground
between the extremes of silence rules, they must reiterate them often.
on the one hand or resignation 2. The Law of Re-Pledging Alle-
on the other. High-Performance giance Leaders must repeat the loy-
Leaders know these options and alty oath periodically so that bosses
use them. don’t perceive push-back as a lack of
And when they do practice commitment.
these Laws of Push-back, the 3. The Law of the Strategic Retreat
results are dramatic. Bosses If push-back turns contentious, a leader
with oversized egos begin to should not continue to advance his or
listen. “My way or the high- her opposing view but should reserve
way” superiors begin to accept the right to return to the issue later.
opposing points of view. Execu- 4. The Law of the Candy Store Lead-
tives whose knee-jerk reaction ers recognise whose candy store it is,
is their own self-preservation i.e, knowing who is the boss n

begin to realize there are bet-

ter ways to achieve results. I’ve Michael Feiner is the President of Michael
worked for very tough bosses C. Feiner Consulting Inc., a firm he formed
who responded to these laws, in 1996 after he retired from Pepsi-Cola Co.
so I speak from experience, not He is also a Professor of Managemnet at the
from naïve optimism. Effective Columbia Graduate School of Business.

August-October 2005 33 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

THE HUMAN FACTOR

Leadership and Team Building, and

the Evolution of People Management:
By Prof. Ben Swanepoel

What’s new?
An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 34 August-October 2005
 THE HUMAN FACTOR

I
t has been a very long time of trying to IR’. Personnel management and Industrial great industrialists (like Henry Ford) but
come to grips with what really makes relations were said to belong to the more also ‘scientific management’. It was soon
the human dimension of organisational traditional way of managing the people discovered that the productivity of labour
life work. Some claim that leadership and side of organisations. Industrial relations as one of the ‘factors of production’ was
teamwork are the ‘new solutions’. At the (IR) as a field had its seeds sown during key. Unfortunately maximum utilisation of
same time many also claim that ‘HR’ is the era following the industrial revolution the ‘human factor’ also often meant poor
not ‘delivering’ (such as Ulrich 1998a and and focused more on the formal, conflict conditions of work, hardship and a general
Kochan 2003). So – is it now a case of lead- and collective dimensions of work and the lack of ‘care’ for the workers. The economic
ership having come to replace ‘HR’? people employed to do the work in organi- dimension was paramount and labour was
It has not been too long ago when ‘HR’ sations. Personnel management (PM) on viewed as a cost (as is still the case today).
was introduced as the ‘new’ panacea for the other hand developed as a natural pro- The work of Frederick Taylor laid some
managerial problems. During the late six- gression from the welfare phase and the foundations for the scientific management
ties and seventies many were saying that human relations movement with a focus movement based on the rational economic
paternalism and welfare orientations do not more on the individual and general well- view of man but as Maund (2001:12) ex-
work. The last quarter of the twentieth cen- being dimensions of employees. ‘PM & IR’ plains: “However, scientific management
tury saw many claiming that ‘IR’ (industrial thus essentially developed in response to techniques did not prove to be the pana-
relations) was not delivering. Before that some of the negative aspects that were as- cea expected by industrialists … economic
the welfare phase had to make way for per- sociated with the era that was born from the reward as a driver to improve productivity
sonnel administration. And before that? industrial revolution. But what happened was not always an intrinsic motivational
Each time something new different and before that? factor.” These orientations and concomi-
‘better’ is said to be needed in order to make Before the industrial revolution, people tant practices could therefore not continue
it into the future. So it came that ‘human were mostly engaged in some agricultural indefinitely.
resource management’ was born. activities and/or some form of home craft. Much earlier, already the Scottish textile
It was especially during the later 1970’s People worked in a context where they felt manufacturer, Robert Owen (1771-1858),
and the 1980’s that ‘human resource man- they ‘belonged’. Even owners and workers for instance bought into, or many might
agement’ gained increasing popularity in “often toiled side by side and became inti- argue probably laid the foundations for,
countries like the United States, the United mately acquainted … The owner invariably what became known as the human rela-
Kingdom and elsewhere too. The concept knew by name the members of his workers’ tions movement of the early to mid 1900’s.
of ‘HR’ (human resources) probably origi- families and usually took a keen interest He used profits to improve the working and
nated somewhere in the 1960’s. Becker’s in their welfare … this closeness between living conditions of those who worked in
work (1964) probably laid some founda- master and worker disappeared” (Slabbert his cotton mill factories in Scotland. These
tions and Miles (1965) clearly distinguished & Swanepoel 2002: 5). included better health and sanitation fa-
between human relations and human re- The establishment of factories altered cilities at work, villages near the factories
sources. There were trends of moving away things radically and working life was no lon- where workers and their families could
from a ‘relations’ driven orientation to a ger part of an environment where support live and schooling facilities (Beach 1980;
‘resource’ based approach. and care and ‘belonging to’ were central Cuming 1989). During that same period
In the UK, Guest (1987 & 1989) and themes. Work became somehow separated the United States experienced its first ever
Storey (1992 & 1995) contrasted the ‘new’ from non-work life and labour became a documented strike (in 1786) over mini-
and the ‘old’ - ‘HRM’ and ‘Personnel and commodity. Organisations and their own- mum weekly wages and as such industrial
ers developed very different objectives and relations as a field started gaining more
styles of doing things. ‘Them and us’ men- prominence (Swanepoel et al 2000) and
talities developed. The overriding driver this continued throughout the first half of
came to be production and the industri- the twentieth century.
alists were interested only in productivity The work of people like Henry Fayol and
improvement. Max Weber in the mid twentieth century
The first 25 years of the twentieth cen- reflected a shifting emphasis on the peo-
tury saw the rise of not only a number of ple and work dimensions of organisations

Challenges related to handling the human side of

organisations? - Prof. Ben Swanepoel highlights a few brief
evolutionary perspectives.
August-October 2005 35 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication
 THE HUMAN FACTOR

and management thought. In fact, Taylor’s other humanist psychologists like Abraham transforming the large US retail company,
(1911) work also emphasised things like Maslow, Chris Argyris, Douglas McGregor Sears, Roebuck and Company, in the nine-
work design, the selection of workers, in- and Frederick Herzberg) to establish the ties. The essence of this business model is
centives for work and the importance of human relations school of thought. basically that one has to create a compel-
supporting workers by planning their work It turned out that apparently neither ling place to work which would lead to a
and “smoothing the way as they do their the welfare phase, nor the human relations compelling place to shop, which would lead
jobs” (Taylor 1911:44; Quinn et al 2003:4). movement or ‘Personnel and Industrial Re- to a compelling place to invest in.
Taking care of the people side of things lations’ model, would be able to ‘deliver’. Creating such a compelling place to
thus developed momentum, the welfare of Then ‘human resources’ as concept and work obviously asks for all the people who
workers became more prominent and with ‘new approach’ was invented somewhere in work there to work towards making it such
all this came the more paternalistic model the 1960’s and later moulded into what was a great place to be working at. This ‘chain’
and pluralist frame of reference that laid promised to become the ‘new solution’. It model therefore places heavy emphasis on
foundations for the ‘PM & IR’ way of do- now seems uncertain whether this indeed getting every manager, every leader and
ing things where ‘relations’ were viewed was the resultant outcome. in fact, each and every employee to under-
as central. Kochan (2003:1) says that the “human stand and share in the purpose and value of,
The early forms of ‘personnel depart- resource management profession faces a and to buy into and take ownership of such
ments’ were established during the late crisis of trust and loss of legitimacy” and he a model or system. Teams and teamwork
nineteenth and early to mid twentieth adds that after two decades it has failed in are thus increasingly being acknowledged as
GLOBAL OUTREACH Leadership & Teambuilding

centuries evolving from welfare and ad- terms of delivering on promises of enhanced central to the structural configurations of or-
ministration offices to fully fledged per- achievement, status and influence. Seven ganisations like Sears where a customer fo-
sonnel and industrial relations sections or years ago Ulrich (1998a) argued that a new cus and service enhancement are important.
departments. In 1913, the Welfare Workers mandate was required and that if not trans- Waddell, Cummings and Worley (2004) cite
Association was formed in the UK, and this formed and revitalised (with a new agenda other such ‘team-based’ firms like Hewlett-
association eventually evolved to become and role that steer away from traditional Packard, Motorola and Xerox.
the Institute of Personnel Management in functions like remuneration and staffing) The striking thing is that a key theme
1946 (Cherrington 1983; Cuming 1989). organisations may as well do away with of such process driven structural configu-
Also in 1913, Hugo Muensterberg published ‘HR’. Ulrich (1998b: 3) further qualified: rations, is that the people or ‘soft’ side of
Psychology and Industrial Efficiency, prob- “For HR to become a profession, it must things is what makes the difference ulti-
ably paving the way for further work by a develop a deliverables focus … consider mately. It is within this context that aspects
number of researchers (like Elton Mayo and their activities as well as their results.” In- like teams, leadership, and working together
terestingly, this results focus, according to become more meaningful. Of even greater
Ulrich (1998b:17), has shifted the respon- significance is probably that it is becoming
sibility for human resource management more commonly accepted that these aspects
to line managers. have to become more the norm rather than
Das and Shuhra (2003) confirm this the exception in particular because we are
trend and a careful study of three recent moving further beyond the industrial era
books by Becker et al. (2001), Huselid et and deeper into the knowledge and infor-
al (2005) and Hornsby and Kuratko (2005) mation era.
bears further testimony to shifts of devolv- Pearce (2004:47) says: “Knowledge
ing the management of human resources work – work that requires significant in-
to line management. vestment in, and voluntary contribution of,
The message is clear: all managers have intellectual capital by skilled professionals
to take responsibility for dealing success- is increasingly becoming team-based … It
Unfortunately fully with the people side of organisations. is ever more difficult for any one person to
maximum utilisation This trend seems to be intertwined with the have all the skills, and abilities required for
apparent growth in popularity of things like all aspects of knowledge work, and this is
of the ‘human factor’
leadership, teamwork and team building. true in a wide variety of contexts … even to
also often meant poor Developing leadership and teamwork: the executive suite.” It thus seems clear that
conditions of work, (re)discovering ‘links’ in the people-and- the responsibilities for people management
organisational success value chain? are increasingly acknowledged to be less the
hardship and a general
Rucci, Kirn and Quinn (1998) coined domain of HR specialists or departments.
lack of ‘care’ for the notion of the employee-customer-profit Leadership is about people and so are teams
the workers chain in the well-known case of strategically and teamwork.

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 36 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Hayes (2002) goes so far to claim that In order to do so they engage in dif- The knowledge age
“[m]odern management has become in- ferent activities, practices and functions.
creasingly focused around the idea of the Some of these relate to other employees. seems to relate
team” and the book of Weaver and Farrell The general process model of management primarily to how
(1997) even refers to the need to make all still prominent today and the framework for organisations can best
managers facilitators because of the chang- most introductory textbooks on manage-
ing workplace. The challenge during this ment even though it has its roots in the unlock and develop
emerging information and knowledge age work of people like Henry Fayol and Max the potential and
thus seems to relate primarily to how or- Weber in the mid twentieth century, in- unrealised value of
ganisations can best unlock and develop the cludes the general management functions
potential and unrealised value of their in- of planning, organising, leading and control.
their intangible assets
tangible assets – most of which relate to the Two of these specifically relate to people – most of which relate to
‘human factor’. There seem to be changing and their work in organisations, namely the ‘human factor’
roles and role-players however. Demands organising and leading.
for a focus shift towards making the people Leadership is thus, from such a perspec-
dimension of organisations the business of tive, part of management and has been
all managers, all leaders, and in fact all viewed as such for a very, very long time.
employees seem to be the latest. It cannot be a case now of leadership replac-
In the next section this distinction be- ing management or of teams now being the
tween managers, leaders and employees only viable way of organising work.
is taken a look at. It seems that this might All managers must organise and lead but
be important because it is becoming rather they increasingly have to do so in contexts
common to be confronted with phrases like requiring different structural configurations
‘more leaders and less managers, please’, with less hierarchy and bureaucracy and
‘develop leaders, not managers’, or ‘manag- more needs for flexibility and team-based
ers do this whereas leaders do that’. Kot- work processes. Not all leaders are manag-
ter (1990) wrote a whole book in which ers however – and this is where notions like
management is contrasted with leadership. shared leadership and distributed leader- Moving away from the ‘either-or’ ap-
Numerous others seem to be slavishly fol- ship come in. But this is also where more proach to a ‘both-and’ approach: are ‘rela-
lowing propagating a shift ‘from a manage- traditional notions like delegation and par- tions’ in again?
ment paradigm to a leadership paradigm’ ticipative management come in – notions Perhaps the time has come to accept that
(Lussier & Achua 2004). that have been around for very long. life in general and the world of work and
Does this make any sense though? Is it The roles and activities related to lead- organisational life in particular is far from
now a case of not only ousting ‘IR and PM’, ership, management and in all the people simple. It is complex, changing at an increas-
or more recently ‘HR’, – but doing away aspects of management, are thus increas- ingly fierce pace and in fact is filled with
with managers and management in total ingly shared by managerial and non-mana- dynamics and diversities and paradoxes – all
and replacing these with leaders and leader- gerial employees – and also by specialists of which seem to indicate that we should
ship? Are we to now break down all non- and generalists (the HR professionals and refrain from trying to find simple, quick-fix
team structural configurations and make all line managers and other employees). It or one-size-fits-all solutions.
organisations ‘boundary less’ and consisting does not seem to be all that new or radi- Of course the people that work in and
of self-managing teams only? cal therefore. There are different types of for organisations can be viewed as ‘person-
Managers & management, and leaders & employees, different kinds of employment nel’. Of course we still need some ‘personnel
leadership: employees in a changing organi- relationships and different ways of organis- management’. Of course we have to move
sational context with changing roles. ing work and how to get work done. The beyond traditional ‘PM’ functions and focus
Managers are people who are appointed challenge lies in getting the mix right and on how best to organise the work and the
to positions that give them some formal finding a recipe that works. organisations’ processes, systems, etc. There
authority. They are employees because they As has been highlighted at the more are many different options here and teams
are employed. Non-management employees early stages the key ingredients seem to and team-based designs make up one such
are also employed but to play a different have revolved around ‘relations’. Then the option. But there are alternatives and varia-
role. Managers are paid to play a role of key thrust became the ‘harder’ and more tions. Not all organisations and situations
acting on behalf of the ‘owners’ of the or- tangible or ‘resources’ side of things. Now will operate best with self-managed teams
ganisations that employ them and to make it seems like we might be going back to a for instance – and so not all organisations
these organisations more successful. focus on ‘relations’ again. Or are we not? will be best off using the same kinds of

August-October 2005 37 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

distributed leadership approaches. There

are different types of teams and different in-
tervention styles for different circumstances
may be more appropriate.
All of this calls for a contingency ap-
proach. While there may be room for ‘ HR’
issues, not all is about that. It seems to be
more about relationships in all of this. It’s
not a case of no focus on the resource side
with all the focus on relations however.
Resources are owned and can be bought
and sold. Organisations do not buy staff.
So there is a fundamental difference. We
hire staff, and there is a relationship of
exchange irrespective of how one looks at
it. There is an exchange transaction. This
relationship of exchange can be complex
and multidimensional but it essentially in-
GLOBAL OUTREACH Leadership & Teambuilding

cludes that one party’s knowledge, skills,

abilities, energy, etcetera is sought to be
put to use for the purposes of the other
party—the employer. Note again that the
‘other party’ is the employing entity—the
‘employer’, and the managers are also in

similar exchange relationships with the representatives. This makes ‘employment’

same employer. As mentioned, managers relations to still be very real and relevant in
are also employees. The manager is respon- many cases. Managers are responsible and
sible and held accountable for making the held accountable for ‘getting the work done’
most of all the different relationships in and making organisations as successful as
the employment context. Some of these possible – and this entails focusing on all
relationships, although still relevant to the the resources and relationships.
human factor or dimension extend beyond The resources or assets that are at play
the actual organisation’s boundaries such when it comes to people are actually locked
as relationships with labour brokers or HR up inside the humans who are standing
consultants or trade unions. in a particular relationship with the or-
Many of the traditional personnel man- ganisation. The people, as such, are not
agement and industrial relations functions the resources or assets but they own the
Just as ‘resources’ are thus still relevant today, although the resources and assets which the organisa-
have to be planned context is changing and hence the detail tions need. This is why the relationship side
for, acquired, utilised, of the different practices and activities of things is again to be acknowledged as
might be taking on different shapes. Just being of prime importance more than the
etc, the relationships like other ‘resources’ have to be planned actual resources as such. It is only through
between those who for, acquired, utilised, etcetera, the rela- building, improving and nurturing these re-
(will) work in and for tionships between those who (will) work lationships that better exchanges between
in and for organisations, and the organisa- the parties may be elicited. Sometimes
organisations, and the tion and its work requirements, have to be these relationships are moulded more in
organisation and its planned for, established (recruit, select and the context of teams and at other times
work requirements, appoint), developed, nurtured and utilised less so.
as best as possible, etcetera. In many cases HRM is therefore not irrelevant or obso-
have to be planned for there are still interactions, negotiations and lete. Leadership is not in and management
relationships with trade unions and their out. Personnel management and industrial

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 38 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

relations are not dead. (some of whom may be co-leaders such as The same author explains that the origins
All of these are alive in the case of rotating leadership roles in of teams and teamwork are actually to be
and there are many distributed leadership models). found in the human relations movement
varieties of how these It therefore almost seems as though as that school of thought emphasised that
manifest. there is, once again (as was the case dur- most people like to be treated very well
Complexity, vari- ing the human relations movement era), and enjoy to cooperate with other people
ety and diversity are a shift in emphasis or attention – but this as they work rather than to be treated like
thus key ingredients time it seems to be back to the relationship other assembly line elements. It does not
of the dynamic world side of things. After all, leadership is about seem to be all that new therefore – but the
of work and organisa- relationships and so is teamwork. Or is this importance of these things is once again
tions it seems. In such not the case? reiterated.
cases where the organ-
isational environment Developing leadership and
requires more organic teamwork: relationships are central
and flexible design con- DuBrin and Dalglish (2003:3) say that an
figurations and where important contemporary thrust of trying
teams and teamwork to come to grips with what leadership is
are supposed to be all about, “ is to regard it as a long-term
more prominent, the relationship” between those who make up
processes and content the group/s and their leaders. In fact, the
of various functions, notion of a ‘partnership’ between leaders
practices or activities and group members is strongly favoured.
will have to fit such This emphasises a relationship of work-
circumstances or con- ing together and of collaborating. Further,
ditions. The shape of based on an extensive study into leader- The shape of things
things like recruitment ship dynamics in Asia, Bennett and Bell
like recruitment
and selection, training and development, (2004:20-21) conclude that the task of
performance management, career devel- leadership in organisations is ‘refreshingly and selection, T&D,
opment, etcetera, might have to change simple … Leaders lead people ... You can’t career development,
though if we want to develop the lead- lead your balance sheet or a profit and
etc have to change if
ership capabilities and teamwork of such loss statement or a cash register … The
organisations. very essence of the definition of leadership we want to develop
If it is more about teams and teamwork, when you strip everything else away is that leadership capabilities
and distributed or shared leadership, the it is concerned with the impact that the and teamwork in
type of people to be recruited and em- leader has on those people around them”.
ployed will have to be different from those Clearly therefore, people and relationships organisations
required in more traditional hierarchical are central to leadership. The same holds
and mechanical organisations. The same for teams and teamwork. Efforts to develop leadership capabili-
holds for the actual recruitment and selec- Hayes (2002: 51) says that “a team is ties ought to take into account all the com-
tion practices (think of things like the types a group of people actively co-operating to plexities and diversities that the field of
of psychometric tests, perhaps team-based achieve the same goal or purpose … Team people management theory and practice
interviews with prospective candidates) as members work with one another to achieve has witnessed as it has evolved over time.
well as things like performance manage- their goals” and the importance of things The University of Southern Queensland
ment and reward (eg team-based appraisals like communication interpersonal relations (USQ) does this in terms of the spectrum
and reward for performance). In such situa- when it comes to building good teams of courses offered in the fields of man-
tions it will again be much more important and teamwork are emphasised. Welbourn agement, leadership and human resource
to pay attention to relationships – the rela- (2001) also emphasises that sound inter- (HR) management.
tionships between team members, between personal relationships and the development Leadership is a lot about people and
them and the HR professionals who might hereof can be a determining factor in the relationships between people, and so are
assist in the design and implementation functioning and performance of teams, things like teams and teamwork – and the
of relevant systems, processes and prac- and suggests that “teams more often fail management of people in the context of
tices, and also between the team leaders because of relationship issues than for lack organisations in general. A lot boils down
(or managers) and other team members of technical ability” (Welbourn 2001:173). to ‘human relations’ and as such these pose

August-October 2005 39 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

complex challenges to managerial leaders Finding appropriate 17. Muensterberg, H. 1913. Psychology and
and all who work. Finding appropriate ways Industrial Efficiency. Boston: Houghton
of establishing and developing optimal and ways of establishing Mifflin
mutually beneficial relationships in chang- and developing an 18. Pearce, CL. 2004. The future of lead-
ing and a variety of contexts is indeed very optimal and mutually ership: combining vertical and shared
challenging. leadership to transform knowledge
Developing teams and teamwork and beneficial relationships work. Academy of Management Execu-
leadership and in particular team leader- in a changing tive, 18 (1)
ship – and also the general management environment is the 19. Quinn, RE, Faerman, SR, Thompson,
of people in organisational and employ- MP & McGrath, MR. 2003. Becoming a
ment contexts are all closely intertwined
challenge! Master Manager: a competency frame-
and form part of a complex web of chal- work. 3rd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley
lenges related to how best we can develop 20. Rucci, AJ, Kirn, SP & Quinn, RT. 1998.
relationships with different dimensions and The employee-customer-profit chain
dynamics. Through distance learning, USQ at Sears. Harvard Business Review.
offers numerous opportunities (in courses 76(1)
like ‘Team Leadership’, ‘Leadership Devel- 21. Slabbert, JA & Swanepoel, BJ. 2002.
opment’, ‘Leading Organisational Change’, Introduction to Employment-Relations
GLOBAL OUTREACH Leadership & Teambuilding

‘Global Issues in Employment Relations’ and Management: aglobal perspective. 2nd

‘Entrepreneurship Innovation and Creativ- ed. Durban: Butterworths
ity’) for anyone, anywhere, to learn more 22. Storey, J. 1992. Developments in the
about these challenges. In order to face Management of Human Resources. Ox-
all these challenges we need to become ford: Blackwell
life-long learners – and develop learning 23. Storey, J (ed). 1995. Human Resource
organisations. n ship: and Australasian focus. Milton, Management: a critical text. London:
QLD: Wiley Routledge
References 9. Guest, D. 1987. Human resource man- 24. Swanepoel, BJ., Erasmus, BJ, Van Wyk,
1. Beach, DS. 1980. Personnel: The Man- agement and industrial relations. Jour- M & Schenk, H. 2000. South African
agement of People at Work, 4th ed. New nal of Management Studies, 24 (5) Human Resource Management: theory
York: MacMillan 10. Guest, D. 1989. Personnel and HRM: & practice. 2nd ed, Landsdown: Juta
2. Becker, G. 1964. Human Capital. USA: Can you tell the difference? Personnel 25. Taylor, FW. 1911. The Principles of Sci-
Columbia University Press Management, 21 (January) entific Management. New York: Harper
3. Becker, BE, Huselid, MA & Ulrich, D. 11. Hayes, N. 2002. Managing Teams. Lon- & Brothers
2001. The HR Scorecard: Linking Peo- don:Thomson 26. Ulrich, D. 1998. A new mandate for
ple, Strategy, and Performance. Boston: 12. Hornsby JS & Kuratko, DF. 2005. Front- human resources. Harvard Business
HBS Press line HR: a handbook for the emerging Review. 76(1)
4. Bennett, M & Bell, A. 2004. Leadership manager. Mason, Ohio: Thomson 27. Ulrich, D. (ed) 1998b. Delivering re-
Talent in Asia: how the best employ- 13. Huselid, MA, Becker, BE & Beatty, RW. sults: a new mandate for human re-
ers deliver extraordinary performance. 2005. The Workforce Scorecard: man- source professionals. Boston: HBS
Singapore: Wiley aging human capital to execute strat- Press
5. Cherrington, DJ. 1983. Personnel Man- egy. Boston: HBS Press 28. Waddell, DM, Cummings, TG &
agement: The Management of Human 14. Kochan, TA. 2003. Restoring trust in Worley,CG. 2004 (Pacific Rim 2nd
Resources. Dubuque, Iowa: WMC the human resource management pro- ed). Organisation Development
Brown fession. Presentation at Sydney Univer- & Change. Southbank Victoria:
6. Cuming, MW. 1989. The Theory and sity’s celebration of 50 years of Indus- Thomson
Practice of Personnel Management, 6th trial Relations teaching and research, 29. Weaver, RG & Farrell, JD. 1997. Manag-
ed. Oxford: Heinemann November. Draft 10/27/03 ers as Facilitators: a practical guide to
7. Das J & Shubhra K. 2003. HR profession 15. Maund, L. 2001. An Introduction to Hu- getting work done in a changing work-
in transition – role of line managers. In- man Resource Management: theory and place. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler
dia Infoline, http://www.indiainfoline. practice. Hampshire: Palgrave Publishers
com/bisc/hrpo.html.Accessed 23 June 16. Miles, R. 1965. Human relations and 30. Welbourn, M. 2001. Understanding
2005 human resources. Harvard Business Teams. Frenchs Forest NSW: Prentice
8. DuBrin, AJ & Dalglish, C. 2003. Leader- Review, July/August Hall

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 40 August-October 2005

THE HUMAN FACTOR

rethink edify delineate

IIPM - Think Tank

web : www.iipmthinktank.com

Who we are.. What we believe.. What we do..

The IIPM Think Tank, an independent, The IIPM Think Tank is wholly free of As a premier ‘ideas organization’ in Asia
India-centric research body, is inspired by ideology and looks at the Indian Develop- The IIPM Think Tank is committed to
Dr. M.K. Chaudhuri’s vision of India as ment Paradigms, Purely modeled upon the enhance public awareness of policy issues
an economic powerhouse in the 21st cen- basis of ‘Objective Reality’. We passionately an economics and management and to en-
tury; a modern nation state where poverty believe in the credo that we constantly seek gineer solutions that will fulfill the ‘Great
becomes history and the underprivileged to follow: rethink, edify and delineate. This India Dream’. By publishing the finding of
are not consigned to the dustbin of amnesia. enduring commitment has helped us fos- its research, and though the active partici-
The national presence (across seven nodes, ter and broaden the parameters of public pation of its senior researchers in the media
News Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Ban- policy debate and alternatives. Toward that and policy, it aims to bring new knowledge
glore, Hyderabad and Ahemdabad), makes goal, it strives to archive greater involve- to the attention of policy makers. Every
our understanding of the economy superior, ment of the intelligent, concerned change year, The IIPM Think Tank commissions
where is many research fellows, senior re- agents (reform minded politicians, public and publishes three quarterlys reviews and
search associates, research assistants, pro- servants, media, socially responsible firms an annual review, on a wide range of policy
gram coordinators, visiting fellows and etc and citizens) in questions of policy and the issues including education, health, poverty,
embark on research assignments and net- ideation, furthermore, we ardently believe unemployment, agriculture, industry, ser-
work with global intelligentsia. that the managers of tomorrow that are vices, FDI, external trade, infrastructure
being groomed at IIPM today will play a and environment. All these outputs meet
decisive role in India’s renewed tryst with the highest standards of scholarship, are
destiny. accessible to a broad readership, and ex-
plore policy alternatives consistent with the
philosophy of ours. The central theme of
our issues are devoted to assess where the
critical predicaments are, analyzing what
needs to be done to annul the element of
development deterrents in the economy
and offer concrete proposals on how to
accelerate welfare everywhere towards
achieving inclusive development. The India
Economy Review is a small manifestation
of that vision. More than 1,000 students
(seven nodes of IIPM0 have---and continue
to-spent endless hours conducting primary
and secondary research on contemporary
issues that confront the Indian Economy.
This research is then analyzed threadbare
by at least 50 knowledge workers across the
seven campuses. Brand new insights and
policy recommendations that are provided
by this core team are then crafted, honed
and polished by 20 members Economy Re-
search Group (ERG). This massive effort
is spearheaded and led by the renowned
economist and management guru, Profes-
sor. Arindam Chaudhari.
An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | August-October 2005
 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Serious About Unlocking

High Performance?
Leading and Measuring Sustainable
Culture Change

T
here isn’t a Chief Executive who
GLOBAL OUTREACH High Performance

does not dream of getting more

commitment, energy, effectiveness
and efficiency out of his or her workforce. A
common approach is to push the ‘machine’
to its production limits – driving people for
higher and higher results, demanding ever
greater commitment and ‘alignment’ to the
corporate vision and values. Employees at
all levels are responding to these increas-
ing demands in ways that tend to deliver
the CEO’s demands in the short term, but
at a cost to personal balance, exhaustion,
stress and a growing restlessness at work.
The consequences are grave.

The consequences
40% of high flyers said they intend to leave
their employer within 2 years and 73%
have recently been approached from the
outside with job offers (Whiteway Research
International).
75% of business change projects fail to
meet their objectives. 90% of the time this
is because of failure to address the people
and behavioural issues (PwC Transform).
25% of “high-value employees” want
to quit their job within one year (London-
based Corporate Leadership Council. Char-
acteristics of Generation X and Y).
62% of employees in a supervisory or
management role claim that work related
stress is affecting their heath.
57% of employees in a supervisory or
management role claim that work related

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 42 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

stress is affecting the quality and or sta- 96% told us that their business had
bility of their non-work relationships and clearly articulated values (2% were in the Out of the 120 CEOs
family life. middle of reviewing the corporate values questioned on what
and 2% did not believe that publishing cor-
STRESS AT BREAKING POINT porate values made any tangible difference
role did values-
Stress at work has reached unprecedented to performance.). centered leadership
levels. Collating the results of a range of 118 (98.3%) told us that they had been play in their
formal and informal surveys into work- personally involved in the writing of the
place stress, these are seen as the com- company values.
organisation, 96%
mon causes: 62 (51.6%) had used an external agency claim they had clearly
l Unclear targets and lack of (or confus- to help compose the published values. articulated values
ing) vision from the top. In 78% of cases, the HR Director led
l Poor emotional support for perpetual the values initiative.
change; and lack of training in how to Only 7 (5.8%) of those interviewed We believe it is within the easy grasp of
manage change. could recite their company’s vision (or almost every business leader to change the
l Insensitive supervision and management mission) statement and all of the company course and culture of their organisation by
by superiors. values without reference to paper. making one simple shift in focus.
l Unrealistic targets set by managers; If a CEO was able to say, authentically,
conflicts of priorities. Is There A Way Out Of This? to all employees, “help us to drive the or-
l A “masculine”, “competitive” or “driv- Thinking out of the box (but not so ganisation towards our vision, and we will
ing” culture for short term financial far out) shape the organisation according to your
results over sustainable business de- “Vision comes from the board, values come values”, the resulting culture would unleash
velopment (particularly acute in start from the people.” far more of the potential of the employees
up entrepreneurial environments and in RICHARD BARRATT, AUTHOR LIBERATING than before.
the larger, public quoted companies). THE CORPORATE SOUL. We have been investigating Richard
l Disconnection from work-life balance We believe there needs to be a new Barrett’s tool in depth, and reviewing the
and little or no management under- ‘contract’ between Executive Boards and impact that his model has had on organisa-
standing of non-work related needs. the employees of an organisation. tions in many different sectors. Our findings
l Increasing hours, caused by reducing In 1998 Richard Barratt published his have caused us to radically reappraise our
support staff and increasing expecta- first book, Liberating The Corporate Soul. approach to building values centered or-
tions and targets. The impact was immediate and felt world- ganisations. The knock on impact has been
l “Out of touch” executive boards. wide. For the first time business leaders to weave Richard’s Cultural Transformation
l Poor inter-personal relationships. were able to see, measure and prove the Tools into all the board development and
l Bullying. immediate short term and long term finan- leadership development work we design at
cial benefits of developing a sustainable the Institute of Human Development.
A Crisis of Confidence & Commitment values-centered organisation. Suddenly all We have not found, in ten years of re-
Walking the talk the ‘soft’ talk from HR Directors snapped search, a more elegant or effective tool for
We asked 120 CEOs and Managing Direc- into focus and CEOs and Finance Directors stimulating and guiding real performance-
tors what part ‘values-centered leadership’ had a tool for measuring the intangibles led change within an organisation. The next
played in their organisations. within an organisation. section sets out a new approach to perfor-
Since 1998, hundreds of organisations mance change.
have guided themselves through change
with Richard Barrett’s Cultural Transforma- Making Immediate and Sustainable
tion Tools at the hub of the change. Shifts in People, Performance and
A few years on, there is now overwhelm- Profit
ing evidence that culture can be measured Businesses which have no sustainable en-
against the bottom line (and against the ergy for change?
share price of commercial organisations).

Adrian Gilpin discloses the ticking time bomb behind the

illusion of ‘success’.
August-October 2005 43 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication
 THE HUMAN FACTOR

The way most organisations work is that esteem, love and respect) are all but extinct
the board –with help from a consultant or Passive values are in company mission and values statements
an internal committee – agrees and publish and rarely in evidence in the workplace. It
like the sleeping
the organisation’s values, often along with is hard not to conclude that many (most?)
a mission or vision statement. policemen of leaders have a fear of the power of these
In our view, this is often interpreted by the soul ‘softer’ human emotions and have learned
the majority of employees as an instruction to settle for the results they can achieve
to adopt the published values personally through harder-nosed, tougher (more mas-
and adopt new behaviours that align with rears its head when violated. Only when culine) values and behaviours.
the new corporate values. In fact, it is often someone is being dishonest to me, or when
the stated intention of the board that this I am being less than honest with someone, The risk & the disconnect
should be so. do I trigger internal signals that something The old style of directive leadership is in-
This presents two problems: is wrong. In other words, passive values are creasingly becoming a risk to organisational
1. Most corporate values are passive – in like the sleeping policemen of the soul. stability and sustainability. We are also
other words they do not excite passion Quality, service and customer care are beginning to see that leaders who remain
or create energy. all examples of passive values. While vital fearful or resistant to building organisations
2. Most people – at least those who are for running a successful business (like hon- on better foundations – human, emotional
clear about their own values – do not esty is vital for running a successful life) foundations – are risking their own careers.
feel positively inclined to adopt a new these are fundamentals that do not excite Daily the media brings us stories of senior
GLOBAL OUTREACH High Performance

and inauthentic set of values while at energy or passion. No one leaps out of bed leaders losing their jobs through making
work. In fact, having to do so is one of in the morning inspired by the opportunity the wrong (values) choices about how to
the greatest stressors in the workplace to be honest or achieve further benchmarks behave and how to lead an organisation
for most people. in quality, service or customer care. authentically.
The obvious conclusion is that playing
Passive Values Passions hard-nosed, aggressive, and competitive (to
A passive value is one which does not ener- Passions are the values that drive us to ac- the exclusion of more potent human values)
getically drive people to action. An example tion. Things we can get excited, passion- does not maximise profit or shareholder
might be the value of honesty. While most ate about. Every individual is unique, but value in the longer term nor does it make
of us would claim this as a value, it only common passions are love, being valued, for a stable career.
being cared for, being stretched, being part Inside most organisations it is possible
of something exciting (adventurers) or in- to see and feel the disconnection between
teresting (intellectuals) or different, being stated organisational values and the fun-
safe, making a difference, being authentic, damental human needs of the people. The
being with friends and family, partying degree of stress that people experience is
or celebrating, connecting with others directly proportional to the scale of this
mentally (thinkers), socially (engagers disconnects. A genuine difficulty for many
and extroverts), emotionally (feelers) CEO’s (and many senior leaders) is that – in
or spiritually (questors). These values the most part – they are personally much
are often called ‘soft’ values. The term more in touch with the result-oriented part
soft has come to imply ‘not business-like’ of themselves than with the part that seeks
and many leaders are fearful of these more balance. In many ways it is this absence
fragile and less easily defined human emo- of balance that drives high achievement.
tions. Many years of neglect have made Achievement is almost always a stronger
these fundamental human needs scarce value in leaders than fulfillment. Both exist,
in most commercial organisations, and but one dominates. Leaders must recognize
under valued in all sectors. that these values are reversed almost ev-
erywhere else in their organisation. For the
Fragile = easy to break! achievement oriented leader, the pathway
The more fragile the emotion, the to success is through fulfilling the needs of
easier it is to break. The irony is that the followers. When successful, the trans-
those emotions that are most needed formational leader creates achievement and
to drive an individual or organisation fulfillment for the whole community (share-
to succeed (courage, confidence, self- holders, managers, employees, customers,

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 44 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

suppliers and the wider community.) from fear and who have been given the
The emotional language of achievement license to define the culture (the real
For the achievement
and fulfillment are subtly but significantly values) of the organisation. oriented leader, the
different. There is a language – spoken by pathway to success is
few – that brings these forces together: it is The Role of Cultural Transformation
the language of authentic leadership. Tools (CTT)
through fulfilling the
Let us restate one of the things we have needs of the followers
Authentic Leadership in Practice said above.
Achievement means driving for results in If a CEO was able to say, authentically,
bursts – leadership means sustaining perfor- to all employees, “help us to drive the or- 4. Transformation
mance over time. At the IHD we have been ganisation towards our vision, and we will 5. Internal Cohesion
exploring the idea of authentic leadership shape the organisation according to your 6. Making A Difference
since 1993. values” the resulting culture would unleash 7. Service
We believe there are a few component far more of the potential of the employees A leader who can respond appropri-
parts. than before. Full Spectrum Leaders and Full ately at all seven levels of consciousness
1. Creating Clarity of Purpose. Spectrum Organisations’ Cultural Trans- will lead a very different organisation as
2. Creating a compelling Vision. formation Tools capture and analyse the compared to one who is stuck exclusively
3. An authentic commitment to excellence personal, organisational and the societal or predominantly in one mode of values
and sustainability in the execution of values operating within an organisation and behaviour.
the vision. and within any division, team, location or A full spectrum organisation is one that
4. A culture that first meets the fundamen- sub-culture. pays appropriate attention to each level of
tal human needs of the workforce. Values are recorded at seven levels of consciousness and operation. If any level
5. An emotionally intelligent leadership individual and organisational ‘conscious- of conspicuousness is not present, or if any
team that is fully committed to walking ness’ – these levels are well understood by level is out of balance, the organisation
the talk, especially when it is difficult all global cultures and relate to the physi- cannot operate to peak potential.
to do so. cal, mental, emotional, and spiritual values By looking at the matches and mis-
6. Managers who are naturally gifted or of a society. matches of values in an organisation, we
professionally trained to coach others to The levels are: can identify areas of ‘entropy’ or nega-
higher levels of performance, personally 1. Survival tive energy inside an organisation. This is
and collectively. 2. Relationships akin to finding the virus that is sapping a
7. Employees who have been liberated 3. Self-Esteem (of Self Efficacy) patient of health and wellbeing. Entropy
is almost always invisible to the naked
eye but has a tangible impact on the ef-
fectiveness of an organisation to perform
at its peak.
CTT can be used with a board, a
team or – for optimal impact – a whole
organisation. CTT starts by asking three
questions:
1. What are your core personal values?
2. How do you perceive the current culture
of this organisation (values and behav-
iours of the organsation) ?
3. What culture according to you is neces-
sary for your organisation and the people
of the organisation for it to achieve the
highest potential? n

Adrian Gilpin is the Chairman and Pro-

gramme Director of the Institute of Human
Development and a leading authority on
peak performance coaching for individuals
in business.

August-October 2005 45 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Prof Dave Ulrich is a professor of Prof Wayne Brockbank is the Clinical Professor Prof. Alejandro L. Sioli is a professor
Business Administration at the of Business & Co-Director of Human Resource at the IAE Business School at
University of Michigan. Education at the University of Michigan. Austral University.

So! We Are
GLOBAL OUTREACH At the Table! Now What?

At The Table.
Now What?
Are HR professionals
ready to face today’s
business realities
which mandate
involvement of HR at
the “strategy table”?
By Prof. Dave Ulrich,
Prof. Wayne Brockbank,
Prof. Alejandro L. Sioli,
Prof. Dani Johnson

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 46 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

T
he human resource side of business novation, accountability, leadership bench,
Ta ble 2 : Regression Results
is emerging as the ultimate source talent management, and other organisation
of competitive advantage. HR pro- capabilities), this article addresses two central Competency Domain R Square
fessionals are increasingly joining the senior questions relative to their strategic role:
Business Knowledge .18
business decision-making forums. Whether 1. What competencies are required of HR
HR professionals have actively campaigned professionals to be effective participants HR Functional Capability .25
to have access and involvement, or whether at the strategy table? Culture Management .30
they have been encouraged by enlightened 2. With those competencies, what agendas
line executives who understand the poten- might they bring to the strategy table? Change Management .37

tial of such a move, today’s business context The first questions will be addressed Personal Credibility .44
mandates that HR professionals be at the through the ongoing study of HR profes-
strategy table (Brockbank, 1997; Brock- sional competencies that has been con-
bank, 1999). Several reasons that their ducted at the Ross School of Business at competence, change management, culture
input is not only welcomed but essential University of Michigan. (See Ulrich, Brock- management and personal credibility. The
include: the rate of speed at which all as- bank, and Yeung, 1990; Ulrich, Brockbank, dependent variable was a single question:
pects of work have increased; the econo- Yeung, and Lake, 1995; Brockbank, Ulrich, Overall, compared with other human re-
mies of developed countries are shifting and James, 1997.) As we answer the first source professionals that you have known,
from products to services; competition for question based on our survey research, we how does the participant compare as mea-
a demographically changing workforce will answer the second question through sured on a twenty point scale with 1=bot-
has never been greater; loyalty lasts only case study examples of high value-added tom 5% and 20=top 5%?
as long as customers’ needs are met; and HR agendas that senior HR executives from This question was regressed against the
finally, financial markets are mandating competency domains to obtain the percent
attention to the human side of business Today a firm’s of the overall competence that is predicted
(Ulrich and Smallwood, 2003). They have market value is heavily by each. The results are given in Table 2.
recognized that a firm’s market value is In this work, the component variables
heavily contingent on the human side of
contingent on the in each competency domain were subjected
the business (Ernst & Young, 1997). human side of the to factor analysis1 to assess the grouping
Assuming that HR Professionals are in- business of HR knowledge or skills that comprise
deed expected to be at the strategy table each competency domain. This analysis
and that HR professionals accept primary high performing firms bring to the strategy provided a more precise view of the vari-
responsibility for major HR agendas (e.g. table. ables that comprise the major competency
culture change, bureaucracy reduction, in- In our HR competency research, senior domains. Analysis of variance2 was then
HR executives and their teams from the applied to asses which competency fac-
Ta ble 1 : Sa m ple Dem ogra phics participating firms recommended a num- tors differentiate the HR professionals in
ber of HR Participants. These participants high performing firms from HR profession-
Individuals 3229
then selected a number of “Associates” (a als in low performing firms. To ensure a
Business Units 678 mixture of superiors, peers, internal clients, more precise analysis3 , the firms in the
and subordinates) who had working knowl- data sample were placed in high, medium,
Companies 142
edge of the Participant’s functioning as an and low performing groups. The medium
Respondent HR professional. Participants completed performing companies were taken out of
Associate 2565
Participant 664 a self-assessment survey and the Associ- the analysis, which provided a more dis-
ates completed a survey on the relevant tinctive comparison between the high and
Gender Participant. The demographics of the data low performing groups. Earlier work has
Male 70%
Female 30 % set are included in Table 1. suggested that the rate of environmental
In 1997, five competency domains were change influences relationship between HR
Functional specialty
studied and serve as the independent vari- competencies and business performance
of Associates
General Management 20% ables: business knowledge, HR functional (Ulrich, Brockbank, Yeung, & Lake, 1995).
Finance/ Accounting 10%
M anufacturing 16%
Marketing/ Sales 10% 1 The variables in each competency category were subjected to factor analysis using verimax rotation method with Kaiser Normalization and principal component analysis as
Planning 2% the rotation method. Reliability analysis was then calculated for each factor. All factors had an alpha greater than .8 with the exception of the three business knowledge
R&D 3% factors which had alphas greater than .7
2 The ANOVA results are simplified into weak, moderate or strong differentiation depending on the level of significance (F-test) with weak being greater than 0.1, moderate
HR 23%
being greater than 0.5, and strong being greater than 0.01 If the level of significance is less than 0.1, the results are reported as none.
Other 16%
3 For a more detailed review of analytical techniques used for this paper, see Sioli (2000)

August-October 2005 47 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Ta ble 3 : O ne-w a y AN O V A com pa rison of Business Know ledge Com petencies words, knowing a lot about HR is required
of HR Professiona ls in High Perform ing Businesses w ith HR Professiona ls in Low but since it is high for HR professionals in
Perform ing Businesses under High Cha nge Conditions
both high and low performing firms, it is
Factor Mean Mean Score Mean F Sig. not a competitive differentiator. Likewise,
Score for High Score for while HR professionals tend to know rela-
Factor Performing Low Performing
tively little about internal operations, it is
Business Business
also not a statistical differentiator so even
Human Resources 4.29 4.37 4.19 3.808 0.055 if internal operations were very well un-
Human Resource Practices
derstood by HR professionals, it would not
Organisational Structure
provide a competitive advantage either.
Internal Knowledge 2.88 2.94 2.81 1.613 0.208 HR professionals tend to know little about
Information Systems external issues concerning customers, com-
Finance
Production Capability petitors, suppliers, and globalisation, yet
Supplier Management knowledge about such aspects of business
Government Relations strongly distinguishes HR professionals in
External Knowledge 2.97 3.09 2.83 6.716 0.012* * high performing firms from those in low per-
Competitor Analysis forming firms. Intuitively, this makes sense. In
Customer Buying Criteria a world of change, HR professionals must un-
Customer Relations
GLOBAL OUTREACH At the Table! Now What?

Globalisation derstand the direction and velocity of change

Marketing and Sales in order to align organisational capabilities
Mergers and Acquisitions with changes to the external realities.
The goal is to ensure that at any given
* * * p<0.01, * * p<0.05, * p<0.1 point in time the company has human ca-
pabilities required by the market place.
Therefore, for purposes of this analysis, the of HR does not distinguish the HR profes- This is increasingly difficult because of
data set was also divided into three catego- sionals in the high performing firms from the speed at which change is happening;
ries: high, medium, and low change firms. those in low performing firm. This is true organisational capabilities have progres-
The medium change firms were eliminated under conditions of high as well as low sively shorter shelf lives. New ones must
from the analysis. ANOVA was conducted to change. It may be safely surmised that be adapted and created and unneeded ones
compare firms in the high and low change knowledge of HR is foundational; in other must be eliminated. HR Professionals with
categories. Finally, the mean score of each Ta ble 4 : O ne-w a y AN O VA com pa rison of Business Know ledge Com petencies of
factor was calculated and compared on the HR Professiona ls in High Perform ing Businesses w ith HR Professiona ls in Low
basis of being high, medium or low relative Perform ing Businesses under Low Cha nge Conditions
to the other factors in each competency Factor Mean Mean Score Mean F Sig.
domain to identify which competency fac- Score for High Score for
tors distinguish the HR professionals in the Factor Performing Low Performing
Business Business
high performing firms from those in the low
performing firms (Sioli, 2000). Human Resources 4.25 4.28 4.22 0.524 0.472
These results will be reviewed for each Human Resource Practices
Organisational Structure
competency domain. The HR agendas and
practices that HR professionals can bring Internal Knowledge 2.82 2.73 2.90 3.013 0.087
to the strategy discussion will be discussed. Information Systems
Finance
“SO! We’re at the table. Now what?” Production Capability
Supplier Management
Business Knowledge Government Relations
Three sub-domains of business knowledge
External Knowledge 2.74 2.74 2.74 0.000 0.996
emerge from the data: knowledge of HR, Competitor Analysis
knowledge of internal issues, and knowl- Customer Buying Criteria
Customer Relations
edge of external issues. (See Tables 3 & 4.)
Globalisation
Collectively, these account for 18% of the Marketing and Sales
variance in overall competence. Mergers and Acquisitions
As might be guessed, HR professionals
know a lot about HR; however, knowledge * * * p<0.01, * * p<0.05, * p<0.1

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 48 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

external knowledge will find themselves HR professionals in Culture management

better equipped to bring high value-added high performing
agendas to strategy discussions. firms. On the is an important
other hand, differentiator between
Functional Delivery HR profes- HR professionals in
We examined six sub-domains of HR func- sionals pro-
tional competence. The combined factors vide staffing
high performing
account for 25% of overall competence. practices at a firms and those in low
Tables 5 & 6 show several useful trends in high level and performing firms
the competency levels at which HR profes- staffing practices
sionals deliver HR practices and the extent also distinguish high work has suggested that the rate of envi-
to which these practices differentiate HR performing firm HR professionals from low ronmental change influences relationship
professionals in high performing firms from performing firm HR professionals. Therefore, between HR competencies and business
those in low performing firms. a small amount of improvement in staffing, performance (Ulrich, Brockbank, Yeung,
HR professionals tend to provide perfor- even among high performing firms, can pro- & Lake, 1995). Therefore, for purposes of
mance appraisal and communication process- vide significantly differentiating contribu- this analysis, the data set was also divided
es at high levels but it appears the HR profes- tions to business performance. into three categories: high, medium, and
sionals in the low performing firms provide Distinctive comparison between the low change firms. The medium change
them at the same competence level as the high and low performing groups. Earlier firms were eliminated from the analysis.

Ta ble 5 : O ne-w a y AN O VA com pa rison of Functiona l Com petencies of HR Professiona ls in High Perform ing Businesses w ith
HR Professiona ls in Low Perform ing Businesses under High Cha nge Conditions

Factor Mean Score Mean Score Mean Score F Sig.

Factor for High for Low
Performing Performing
Business Business

Performance appraisal 3.61 3.73 3.47 3.662 0.060

Establish clear performance standards
Design feedback process

Communication 3.76 3.84 3.68 2.286 0.135

Design internal communications
Explain why business practices exist
W ork with managers to send clear and
consistent messages
Helps disseminate of customer information
Effective written communications
Effective verbal communications

Staffing 3.61 3.81 3.40 10.919 0.002* * *

Attract appropriate people
Promote appropriate people
Outplace appropriate people

Development 3.51 3.57 3.45 0.811 0.371

Offer training programs
Design development programs that facilitate change

Organisation design 3.36 3.50 3.21 4.716 0.033* *

Help create reporting relationships
Designs self-managing work groups
Facilitates organisational restructuring
Integrates different business functions

Rewards 3.20 3.23 3.17 0.130 0.719

Design compensation systems
Design benefit systems
Design on non-financial reward/ recognition systems

* * * p<0.01, * * p<0.05, * p<0.1

August-October 2005 49 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Ta ble 6 : O ne-w a y AN O VA com pa rison of Functiona l Com petencies of HR Professiona ls in High Perform ing Businesses w ith
HR Professiona ls in Low Perform ing Businesses under Low Cha nge Conditions

Factor Mean Score Mean Score Mean Score F Sig.

for for High for Low
Factor Performing Performing
Business Business

Performance appraisal 3.56 3.58 3.54 0.098 0.755

Establish clear performance standards
Design feedback process

Communication 3.70 3.71 3.69 0.04 0.841

Design internal communications
Explain why business practices exist
W ork with managers to send clear and
consistent messages
Helps disseminate of customer information
Effective written communications
Effective verbal communications

Staffing 3.51 3.60 3.43 2.840 0.096*

Attract appropriate people
GLOBAL OUTREACH At the Table! Now What?

Promote appropriate people

Outplace appropriate people

Development 3.47 3.53 3.41 1.038 0.312

Offer training programs
Design development programs that facilitate change

Organisation design 3.13 3.13 3.13 0.002 0.968

Help create reporting relationships
Designs self-managing work groups
Facilitates organisational restructuring
Integrates different business functions

Rewards 3.08 3.19 2.98 1.813 0.182

Design compensation systems
Design benefit systems
Design on non-financial reward/ recognition systems

* * * * p<0.01, * * p<0.05, * p<0.1

ANOVA was conducted to compare firms knowledge of internal issues, and knowl- know a lot about HR; however, knowledge
in the high and low change categories. Fi- edge of external issues. (See Tables 3 & 4.) of HR does not distinguish the HR profes-
nally, the mean score of each factor was Collectively, these account for 18% of the sionals in the high performing firms from
calculated and compared on the basis of variance in overall competence. those in low performing firm. This is true
being high, medium or low relative to the As might be guessed, HR professionals under conditions of high as well as low
other factors in each competency domain change. It may be safely surmised that
Figure 1 : Rela tionship betw een ha v-
to identify which competency factors dis- ing the best ta lent a nd designing high knowledge of HR is foundational; in other
tinguish the HR professionals in the high va lue-a dded w ork words, knowing a lot about HR is required
performing firms from those in the low but since it is high for HR professionals in
performing firms (Sioli, 2000). both high and low performing firms, it is
These results will be reviewed for each not a competitive differentiator. Likewise,
competency domain. The HR agendas and while HR professionals tend to know rela-
practices that HR professionals can bring tively little about internal operations, it is
to the strategy discussion will be discussed. also not a statistical differentiator so even
“SO! We’re at the table. Now what?” if internal operations were very well un-
derstood by HR professionals, it would not
Business Knowledge provide a competitive advantage either.
Three sub-domains of business knowledge HR professionals tend to know little
emerge from the data: knowledge of HR, about external issues concerning customers,

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 50 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Ta ble 7 : O ne-w a y AN O VA com pa rison of Culture M a na gem ent Com petencies of HR Professiona ls in High Perform ing Busi-
nesses w ith HR Professiona ls in Low Perform ing Businesses under High Cha nge Conditions

Factor Mean Score Mean Score Mean Score F Sig.

(One Factor) for for High for Low
Factor Performing Performing
Business Business

Culture Management 3.56 3.58 3.54 0.098 0.755

Shares knowledge across organisational boundaries
Champions the culture transformation process
Translates desired culture into specific
employee behaviours
Challenges the status quo
Identifies the culture required to meet the
business strategy requirements
Frames culture in a way that excites employees
Encourages executives to behave consistently
with the desired culture
Focuses the internal culture on the needs
of the external customers

* * * * p<0.01, * * p<0.05, * p<0.1

competitors, suppliers, and globalisation, This is increasingly difficult because of account for 25% of overall competence.
yet knowledge about such aspects of busi- the speed at which change is happening; Tables 5 & 6 show several useful trends in
ness strongly distinguishes HR professionals organisational capabilities have progres- the competency levels at which HR pro-
in high performing firms from those in low sively shorter shelf lives. New ones must fessionals deliver HR practices and the
performing firms. Intuitively, this makes be adapted and created and unneeded ones extent delivering to which these practices
sense. In a world of change, HR profes- must be eliminated. HR Professionals with differentiate HR professionals in high per-
sionals must understand the direction and external knowledge will find themselves forming firms from those in low perform-
velocity of change in order to align organi- better equipped to bring high value-added ing firms.
sational capabilities with changes to the agendas to strategy discussions. HR professionals tend to provide perfor-
external realities. mance appraisal and communication pro-
The goal is to ensure that at any given Functional Delivery cesses at high levels but it appears the HR
point in time the company has human ca- We examined six sub-domains of HR func- professionals in the low performing firms
pabilities required by the market place. tional competence. The combined factors provide them at the same competence level

Ta ble 8 : O ne-w a y AN O VA com pa rison of Culture M a na gem ent Com petencies of HR Professiona ls in High Perform ing Busi-
nesses w ith HR Professiona ls in Low Perform ing Businesses under Low Cha nge Conditions

Factor Mean Score Mean Score Mean Score F Sig.

(One Factor) for for High for Low
Factor Performing Performing
Business Business

Culture Management 3.33 3.41 3.24 3.662 0.060

Shares knowledge across organisational boundaries
Champions the culture transformation process
Translates desired culture into specific
employee behaviours
Challenges the status quo
Identifies the culture required to meet the
business strategy requirements
Frames culture in a way that excites employees
Encourages executives to behave consistently
with the desired culture
Focuses the internal culture on the needs
of the external customers

* * * * p<0.01, * * p<0.05, * p<0.1

August-October 2005 51 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Ta ble 9 : O ne-w a y AN O VA com pa rison of Cha nge M a na gem ent Com petencies of HR Professiona ls in High Perform ing Busi-
nesses w ith HR Professiona ls in Low Perform ing Businesses under High Cha nge Conditions

Factor Mean score Mean score Mean Score F Sig.

for for High for Low
Factor performing performing
Business Business

Interpersonal Facilitation 3.97 4.05 3.87 2.246 0.139

Builds supportive relationships
Establishes trust and credibility in relating to others
Engages in constructive problem-solving with client
Uses reasoning to influence others
Puts specific problems in the context of the larger system
Clarifies role and responsibilities

Direction setting 3.61 3.75 3.46 7.193 0.009* * *

Is visionary
Identifies problems central to business success
Takes a proactive role in bringing about change
Encourages others to use innovative approaches
to tasks and projects
Clarifies business goals
GLOBAL OUTREACH At the Table! Now What?

Articulates the outcomes of change

Builds commitment to strategic direction
Forecasts potential obstacles to success
Encourages others to be innovative

* * * * p<0.01, * * p<0.05, * p<0.1

as the HR professionals in high performing the work done by their employees is high is an important differentiator between HR
firms. On the other hand, HR professionals value added and challenging—thus ensur- professionals in high performing firms and
provide staffing practices at a high level ing value to the customers and shareholders those in low performing firms. This is true
and staffing practices also distinguish high while simultaneously providing their em- in low change environments (Table 9) but
performing firm HR professionals from low ployees with interesting work that stretches even truer in high change environments
performing firm HR professionals. There- their skills and intellect. This continuous (Table 8). Thus, there are important op-
fore, a small amount of improvement in look at work processes has been a constant portunities to create competitive advantage
staffing, even among high performing firms, agenda at GE and has provoked many major through a more pronounced and effective
can provide significantly differentiating initiatives at GE, including Workout, CAP focus on culture management agenda.
contributions to business performance. (Change Acceleration Program), and Six The Walt Disney Corporation has ap-
GE serves as an outstanding example Sigma. (Ashkenas et al, 1995). plied culture change competencies in creat-
of a company that has capitalized on the ing high value-added HR initiatives. Disney
understanding of those factors that are both Culture Management theme parks are especially skilled at effec-
strengths and are considered to impact busi- Culture management focuses on identify- tively managing its culture. At the center
ness performance. GE’s attention to a com- ing basic business values and assumptions of Disney’s culture are four cultural pil-
bination of these factors has driven several and translating them into competitive be- lars: safety, courtesy, show, and efficiency.
major initiatives over the past 14 years. haviours. These defining pillars are evident in spe-
GE has determined that greater im- Three important issues became clear cific behaviours expected by all of Disney’s
provements in staffing practices as well through our statistical analyses. (See Ta- ‘cast members.’ For example, sunglasses
as work design and organisation can yield bles 7 and 8) First, culture management are avoided because they block interper-
moderately high performance benefits (See accounts for 30% of the variance in overall sonal communication with guests; hair
Tables 5 and 6) and has worked to prog- personal HR effectiveness. Second, the HR styles are conservative and hair, if dyed,
ress in both arenas. GE’s HR professionals field as a whole does not do a very good must be all one colour; deodorant must be
have a reputation for their intensive ef- job on culture management. HR profes- used. The general culture and the identi-
forts in competency-based hiring and suc- sionals have been talking about culture fied behaviours are both communicated and
cession planning (Kerr, 1998). GE is also management for many years but are far reinforced through almost every aspect of
continuously updating the design of the from being highly effective at making it HR—from recruitment to measurement
organisation and work processes so that happen. Furthermore, culture management and rewards to leadership development.

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 52 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Close adherence to this cultural agenda has of a company whose HR team has used direction of strategic change.
created an environment that has attracted a competency in change management to Personal Credibility
more vacation dollars than anywhere else build HR agendas. The HR team takes an Personal credibility accounts for 44% of
on earth. active part in a group called Innovation overall competence. Tables 11 and 12 in-
Leadership Team (ILT), whose sole pur- dicated that HR professionals tend to be
Change Management pose is to ensure that Baxter Healthcare better at achieving results with integrity
Change management accounts for 37% of the is on the leading edge of pharmaceutical than they are at contributing to business
variance in overall effectiveness. The Human innovation. decisions. However, achieving results is not
Resource Competency Study data (Tables 9 HR has worked with this team to iden- a distinguishing factor between HR profes-
& 10) reveal that the HR field as a whole has tify the ILT agenda. HR influence in this sionals in low versus high performing firms.
reasonably high levels of facilitation skills, forum includes: 1) input into the financial This is true under conditions of both high
but these skills do not distinguish HR pro- resource allocation, including not only cri- and low change. On the other hand, con-
fessionals in the high performing firms to teria for continued investment in specific tributing to business decisions distinguishes
those in the low performing firms. On the R&D, but also criteria for discontinuation (albeit weakly) the HR professionals in the
other hand, while most HR professionals do as well; 2) aid in communication design high performing firms from those in the
not have direction setting competencies, the that fosters knowledge transfer among low performing firms under conditions of
ability to do so is a significant differentiator R&D chimneys throughout the company; both high and low change.
between HR professionals in high and low and 3) leveraging key talent by: protection One useful example of HR “Contribut-
performing firms. As might be expected, this of brilliant but often difficult scientists re- ing to Business Decisions” was documented
conclusion holds true under conditions of sponsible for revolutionary breakthroughs, by Brockbank and Ulrich (1991). Over a
high change (Table 9) but not under condi- tracking the development of key innova- two year period, Oil Services Corporation
tions of low change (Table 10). Thus, the tive talent and engaging them to attract (OSC—pseudonym) saw its market share
traditional role of HR professionals primar- future talent, and providing workspace drop from 24% to 19%. In a Senior Man-
ily as facilitators is becoming a commodity. that leverages the capabilities of key tal- agement Team meeting, it was concluded
The emerging role of HR is that of being a ent leaders. HR professionals at Baxter that in order to determine the cause of
central contributor to setting the direction Healthcare have been able to play a higher this drop, a large-scale customer survey
of change (Brockbank, 1999). value-added role because of the compe- needed to be conducted. Since the mar-
Baxter Healthcare is a good example tencies they possess in helping to set the keting department was in the middle of

Ta ble 1 0 : O ne-w a y AN O VA com pa rison of Cha nge M a na gem ent Com petencies of HR Professiona ls in High Perform ing
Businesses w ith HR Professiona ls in Low Perform ing Businesses under Low Cha nge Conditions

Factor Mean Score Mean Score Mean Score F Sig.

for for High for Low
Factor Performing Performing
Business Business

Interpersonal Facilitation 3.87 3.91 3.83 0.650 0.423

Builds supportive relationships
Establishes trust and credibility in relating to others
Engages in constructive problem-solving with client
Uses reasoning to influence others
Puts specific problems in the context of the larger system
Clarifies role and responsibilities

Direction setting 3.50 3.56 3.44 1.855 0.177

Is visionary
Identifies problems central to business success
Takes a proactive role in bringing about change
Encourages others to use innovative approaches
to tasks and projects
Clarifies business goals
Articulates the outcomes of change
Builds commitment to strategic direction
Forecasts potential obstacles to success
Encourages others to be innovative

* * * * p<0.01, * * p<0.05, * p<0.1

August-October 2005 53 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Ta ble 1 1 : O ne-w a y AN O VA com pa rison of Persona l Credibility Com petencies of HR Professiona ls in High Perform ing Busi-
nesses w ith HR Professiona ls in Low Perform ing Businesses under High Cha nge Conditions

Factor Mean score Mean score Mean Score F Sig.

for for High for Low
Factor performing performing
Business Business

Achieves results with integrity 4.12 4.19 4.05 2.151 0.147

Demonstrates high integrity
Meets commitments
Has earned trust
Has track record of results
Has “ chemistry” with key constituents
Instills confidence in others
Performs accurate work
Acknowledges personal limitations

Contributes to business decisions 3.91 3.99 3.83 3.058 0.085*

Provides candid observations
Asks important questions
Frames complex ideas in useful ways
Takes appropriate risks
GLOBAL OUTREACH At the Table! Now What?

Provides alternative insights on business issues

Continually learns

* * * * p<0.01, * * p<0.05, * p<0.1

its annual advertising campaign, the or- product throughout the world. The sur- product quality, sales effort, product fea-
ganisation and conduction of this survey vey covered many issues, but the question tures, and timeliness of delivery.
fell to the HR Department. With the help that ultimately had the greatest influence To avoid hearing, “we already knew
of an outside consulting group, the HR De- focused on the identification of customer that” from senior management when the
partment developed a questionnaire and buying criteria. This question required the results were presented, the HR team also
personally visited with 1200 of the most customers to allocate 100 points over buy- asked senior management to give their best
influential purchasers of this company’s ing criteria, which included price, service, guess at the weighted responses. Senior

Ta ble 1 2 : O ne-w a y AN O VA com pa rison of Persona l Credibility Com petencies of HR Professiona ls in High Perform ing Busi-
nesses w ith HR Professiona ls in Low Perform ing Businesses under Low Cha nge Conditions

Factor Mean score Mean score Mean Score F Sig.

for for High for Low
Factor performing performing
Business Business

Achieves results with integrity 4.03 4.10 3.96 2.582 0.112

Demonstrates high integrity
Meets commitments
Has earned trust
Has track record of results
Has “ chemistry” with key constituents
Instills confidence in others
Performs accurate work
Acknowledges personal limitations

Contributes to business decisions 3.77 3.85 3.70 3,341 0.072*

Provides candid observations
Asks important questions
Frames complex ideas in useful ways
Takes appropriate risks
Provides alternative insights on business issues
Continually learns

* * * * p<0.01, * * p<0.05, * p<0.1

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 54 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Ta ble 1 3 : O FS Survey Results – M a na gem ent’s Estim a tes com pa red to Custom ers’ References
Actua l Responses 1. Ashkenas, Ron, Dave Ulrich, Todd Jick, & Steve
Kerr. (2002). The Boundaryless Organisation:
Customer Buying Criteria Management’s Estimates Customer’s Response
Breaking the Chains of Organisational Struc-
Price 34 13 ture. Rev. ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
2002.
Service 18 48 2. Brockbank, Wayne., “If HR were Really Stra-
Product Quality 16 13 tegically Proactive: Present and Future Direc-
tions of HR as a Competitive Advantage.” HR
Sales Effort 17 14 Management 38, no. 4 (1999): 337-352.
Timeliness of Delivery 16 12 3. Brockbank, Wayne. “HR’s Future on the Way
to a Presence.” Human Resource
TOTAL 100 100 Management 36, no. 1 (1997): 65-70.
4. Brockbank, Wayne. & Dave Ulrich. “Avoiding
Management’s responses compared to those firms. It can be argued that these are SPOTS: Creating Strategic Unity.” In Handbook
of the customers are given in Table 13. foundational HR competencies. They are of Business Strategy, edited by Harold E. Glass.
Senior management had severely overes- necessary but insufficient. The absence Boston: Warren, Gorham & Lamont, 1991.
timated the importance of price and under- of them can create competitive disadvan- 5. Brockbank, Wayne, Dave Ulrich, & Connie
estimated the importance of service. These tage but the presence of them does not James. “Trends in Human Resource Compe-
assumptions had caused the management appear to create competitive advantage. tencies.” Paper presented at the Third Confer-
team to hire low-cost service personnel and Foundational HR competencies include ence on Human Resource Competencies, Ross
provide them with standardized technical the following: School of Business, University of Michigan Ann
training that did included little in the way l Knowledge of HR Arbor, MI, 1997.
of customer relations. Based on the data l Knowledge of Internal Operations 6. Ernst & Young. “Measures that Matter. An Out-
gathered by the HR team, senior manage- l Performance Appraisals side-in Perspective on Shareholder Value Rec-
ment substantially modified the hiring cri- l Communications ognition.” 1997, http://www.ey.com/GLOB-
teria and service training budget. Over the l Training and development AL/content.nsf/UK/CF_-_Library_MTM
next two years, the market share that had l Facilitating change 7. Sioli, Alejandro L. The Impact of the Focus
dropped from 24% to 19% now rose from l Building interpersonal relations and Roles of HR Departments and HR Pro-
19% to 31% for a $1.56 billion increase l Achieving results with integrity. fessional’s Competencies on Business Perfor-
in top line growth. Such is the potential mance in Change Contexts. Ph.D. Dissertation.
influence of HR professionals in creating There are also those competencies that Barcelona, Spain: IESE of the Universidad de
value when they ask important questions, clearly and significantly distinguish HR pro- Nararra: 2000.
provide candid observations and take ap- fessionals in high performing firms from 8. Ulrich, Dave. HR Champions: The Next
propriate risks in “contributing to business those in low performing firms. In most Agenda for Adding Value & Delivering
decisions.” n cases, HR professionals as a whole do not Results. Boston: Harvard Business School
do them well. Thus, they provide great Press, 1997
Summary potential sources for creating competitive 9. Ulrich, Dave, Wayne Brockbank, & Arthur
This article has addressed two questions: advantage. These competencies include the Yeung. “Beyond Belief: a Benchmark for Hu-
1. What competencies are required of HR following: man Resources.” Human Resource Manage-
professionals to be effective participants l Knowledge of the External Environ- ment. 28 no. 3 (1990): 311-335.
at the strategy table? ment 10. Ulrich, Dave., Wayne Brockbank, Arthur Yeung,
2. With those competencies, what agen- l Staffing & Dale Lake. “Human Resource Competencies:
das might they bring to the strategy l Organisational Design an Empirical Assessment.” Human Resource
table? l Culture Management Management 34 no. 4 (1995): 473-495.
This article has identified the requi- l Setting the Direction of Change 11. Ulrich, Dave., Steve Kerr, & Ron Ashkenas,
site competencies that HR professionals l Contributing to Business Decisions GE Work-Out. McGraw-Hill. 2002.
must possess to be effective contributors 12. Ulrich, Dave & Dale Lake, Organisational
at the strategy table. In most cases the With these competencies in hand, Capability. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
competencies in which HR professionals Human Resources (HR) professionals 1990.
are generally strong do not distinguish are able to develop and deliver agendas 13. Ulrich, Dave & Norm Smallwood. Why the
the HR professionals in the high perform- which add substantial value to their re- Bottom Line Isn’t. New York: John Wiley &
ing firms from those in low performing spective businesses. Sons, 2003.

August-October 2005 55 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Vikram Chandra in conversation with

The Human Factor on what it takes to
make it big in the world of news media
THE PEBBLE & THE RIPPLE HR... in the Army Now

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 56 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Vikram Chandra:
Media’s Man Friday
“Journalism largely consists of saying Vikram Chandra, an enigmatic person-
`Lord Jones is dead’ to people who never ality whose presence vibrates with the en-
knew that Lord Jones was alive.” ergy and passion that drives today’s most
-G.K. Chesterton reputed television channel in India. Known
as a reporter par excellence with more than

W
ell the above quote quite suc- a decade of experience in TV journalism,
cinctly brings out the agony Vikram has been named “Global Leader for
that most of us had to go Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum
through while watching news bulletins in Davos. He studied at the Oxford Univer-
during our formative years. But thanks to sity on an Inlaks Scholarship, followed by a
the visual media company with a charm- course in Mass Media at Stanford Univer-
ing red logo, which redefined the way sity and graduated from St Stephen’s with
news was presented and transformed Economics Honours. The man has been as-
news bulletins into a delightful experi- sociated with NDTV since its infancy and is
ence. A news bulletin where dynamic and today considered the icon of many aspir-
vibrant reporters kept you hooked onto ing journalists. An expert at what he does,
your seat, where each line uttered made Vikram Chandra’s brilliance is showcased
one marvel at the way in which they made in his super achievement over the years
the most seemingly mundane issues seem rel- to being the head of NDTV Profit and the
evant, interesting and thought provoking. CEO of NDTV convergence.
Today, the same media company with There was a time in 1994 - 95 when
three 24 hour news channels has become an Prannoy Roy was the only prominent fac-
integral part of our lives. It is the brainchild tor by which people could identify NDTV.
of Prannoy and Radhika Roy, New Delhi But today NDTV is a big brand in itself and
Television Ltd. popularly known as NDTV. getting the chunk of the market pie has not
Founded in 1988, NDTV has witnessed a come at the cost of compromising with the
superlative growth in a short span of 17 principles of NDTV. As a news channel, it is
years. Today the word news has become aware of its responsibility towards society
synonymous with NDTV and NDTV has set and has a deep-rooted focus on the highest
a benchmark for others to match. But this journalistic standards. According to Vikram,
dream journey would not have been pos- NDTV has always followed where the truth
sible without the exceptionally qualified is, stuck to those basic journalistic ethics
and motivated staff that NDTV considers and maintained a balance. All its report-
as its most indispensable asset. The Human ers known where to draw the line when it
Factor Team had the opportunity of inter- comes to news reporting. The guardians of
acting with the soft spoken leader of the NDTV, Dr Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy
NDTV fraternity, Vikram Chandra. It is this have always been clear as to what con-
interaction with him which forms the basis stitutes ethical journalism. According to
of this article. Vikram, the Roy duo has been the back-

August-October 2005 57 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

bone of the organisation through all these l We are getting it first the nation. If on the one hand they have
years. The vision, philosophy and values l We are analysing it first NDTV India aimed at the masses, on the
are greatly inspired by them. l We are breaking it first other hand they have NDTV Proft which fo-
“Passion, passion and passion are the Vikram considers it important to take in cuses exclusively on the dynamics of India
three most important ingredients of mak- new people, encourage them and in turn Inc. Today, his organisation has something
ing it big in the world of journalism. One help them grow in the organisation. It helps for everybody on its menu. Vikram joined
needs to have a single minded passion for in generating a constant dose of fresh ideas NDTV when he was in his mid-twenties and
getting correct and fast news to survive and without which it becomes an inevitable trip feels that the sole factor which gave him
succeed in the world of journalism. The to disaster valley. the confidence to surge ahead was the trust
glamour is only skin deep and evaporates Vikram personifies the passion that that was placed on employees of his age
within weeks.”, says Vikram. He also em- NDTV stands for, to the hilt. Today, he in the organisation by Prannoy Roy. “The
phasises that TV journalism is anything but is the head of two of the most important employees got a chance to rise and grow,
glamorous. Infact this shortlived passion for business verticals of NDTV and has a bag- and were made to feel that the power to
seeing oneself on screen is quite prevalent ful of responsibilites. While most others herald change is in their hands.”, states
in youngsters aspiring to be TV journalists. in his shoes would have been knocking on Vikram.
This superficial passion in turn leads to the doors of self actualization stage of the The more successful a person, greater
frustration on the job once the euphoria of Maslow’s hierarchy. But for Vikram, jour- is the modesty acquired by him, is a fact
seeing yourself on air is dead. To be out in nalism is almost his basic survival need like well espoused by Vikram. In fact even
THE PEBBLE & THE RIPPLE Media’s Man Friday

food and air. He has a perpetual hunger for modesty would be embarrassed when a
doing live reporting and regrets the fact that person like Vikram attributed the success
of his journalistic career
Passion, passion and passion to luck and to being at
the right place at the
are the three most important right time. On further
insistence, he said that
ingredients for making it big it was his love for the
profession that has got
in the world of journalism him to where he is to-
day. Being an illustrious
he gets to do very little of that today. From scholar, he could have easily gone for
reporting and part time anchoring, his role much more comfortable careers but he
is now much more of editorial and manage- decided to do otherwise and follow his
the sun for 8 hours waiting for a politician rial nature. But he is enjoying his new role dream instead.
to give that one sound byte, to be in the of helping in the process of grooming young A long and fulfilling journalistic career
middle of chaos and danger, and to stay in people and creating bright journalists for would certainly have had its share of learn-
hovels spelt as h-o-t-e-l-s is anything but the organisation as it is great reporting and ing. “Have an open mind while exploring
glamorous. In fact, one of the things that anchoring that makes NDTV stand out from possibilities and try your luck in a number
sets NDTV apart from others is that they do the crowd today. In a way NDTV is today of different areas. Only then will you come
not have the concept of only newsreaders. what it is because of its people and also to know the one field which you are most
Every new recruit at NDTV joins as reporter its people are today what they are because passionate about. And once this happens,
and not just as a newsreader. of NDTV. It has been a symbiotic process things will start falling in place on their
Environment is one of the major driv- wherein both the organisation and its em- own”, insists Vikram.
ers of the competitive spirit of the NDTV ployees have contributed extensively to the At the end of it all, it would be safe
employees. Informal culture and giving as betterment of each other. to say that Vikram’s contribution will
many opportunities as possible, are just few Looking back at his 17 year long jour- certainly figure in the highest echelons
of the many facilitating factors the organ- ney with NDTV, Vikram believes that he of the history of journalism. Together,
isation tries to provide to its workforce. could not have asked for more. In a country Vikram and his organisation have proved
“Just look around and you can feel the buzz where cricket and Bollywood is the opium to be the harbingers of change which
in the studio and the newsroom . Being of the masses, his organisation has man- the society had been craving for in the
on the cutting edge of news gives one an aged to elevate the status of news to a simi- field of news. Here is hoping that we
unparalleled high.”, adds Vikram. People lar level. From a channel aimed solely for continue to get such refreshing and reju-
at NDTV derive the strength, zeal and the the elite in its intial years, today it caters venating shots in the arm from the house
energy from the following statements: to almost the entire length and width of of NDTV. n

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 58 August-October 2005

THE HUMAN FACTOR

rethink edify delineate

IIPM - Think Tank

web : www.iipmthinktank.com

Who we are.. What we believe.. What we do..

The IIPM Think Tank, an independent, The IIPM Think Tank is wholly free of As a premier ‘ideas organization’ in Asia
India-centric research body, is inspired by ideology and looks at the Indian Develop- The IIPM Think Tank is committed to
Dr. M.K. Chaudhuri’s vision of India as ment Paradigms, Purely modeled upon the enhance public awareness of policy issues
an economic powerhouse in the 21st cen- basis of ‘Objective Reality’. We passionately an economics and management and to en-
tury; a modern nation state where poverty believe in the credo that we constantly seek gineer solutions that will fulfill the ‘Great
becomes history and the underprivileged to follow: rethink, edify and delineate. This India Dream’. By publishing the finding of
are not consigned to the dustbin of amnesia. enduring commitment has helped us fos- its research, and though the active partici-
The national presence (across seven nodes, ter and broaden the parameters of public pation of its senior researchers in the media
News Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Ban- policy debate and alternatives. Toward that and policy, it aims to bring new knowledge
glore, Hyderabad and Ahemdabad), makes goal, it strives to archive greater involve- to the attention of policy makers. Every
our understanding of the economy superior, ment of the intelligent, concerned change year, The IIPM Think Tank commissions
where is many research fellows, senior re- agents (reform minded politicians, public and publishes three quarterlys reviews and
search associates, research assistants, pro- servants, media, socially responsible firms an annual review, on a wide range of policy
gram coordinators, visiting fellows and etc and citizens) in questions of policy and the issues including education, health, poverty,
embark on research assignments and net- ideation, furthermore, we ardently believe unemployment, agriculture, industry, ser-
work with global intelligentsia. that the managers of tomorrow that are vices, FDI, external trade, infrastructure
being groomed at IIPM today will play a and environment. All these outputs meet
decisive role in India’s renewed tryst with the highest standards of scholarship, are
destiny. accessible to a broad readership, and ex-
plore policy alternatives consistent with the
philosophy of ours. The central theme of
our issues are devoted to assess where the
critical predicaments are, analyzing what
needs to be done to annul the element of
development deterrents in the economy
and offer concrete proposals on how to
accelerate welfare everywhere towards
achieving inclusive development. The India
Economy Review is a small manifestation
of that vision. More than 1,000 students
(seven nodes of IIPM0 have---and continue
to-spent endless hours conducting primary
and secondary research on contemporary
issues that confront the Indian Economy.
This research is then analyzed threadbare
by at least 50 knowledge workers across the
seven campuses. Brand new insights and
policy recommendations that are provided
by this core team are then crafted, honed
and polished by 20 members Economy Re-
search Group (ERG). This massive effort
is spearheaded and led by the renowned
economist and management guru, Profes-
sor. Arindam Chaudhari.
An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | August-October 2005
THE HUMAN FACTOR

Leadership
at the altar of the marketplace

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 60 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

I
n his book ‘Only the Paranoid Survive”, like Digital and Compaq became history. clining sales of mainframes. IBM has more
former Chairman of Intel Andy Grove Many reinvented themselves to their pre- than 300000 employees worldwide.
describes the crucial point when INTEL eminent positions such as IBM and Intel. IBM was built around the personality of
Corporation shifted from memory chips to Many new legends such as Bill Gates and its late founders the Watsons and accord-
microprocessors. It took a continuing de- Michael Dell were created. ingly the beliefs were still stuck in the form
cline of over a year in the sales and revenue If we examine the computer industry that suited its existence as a company that
of their flagship product namely memory in the 1920’s and today, one name is still grew from humble levels to global propor-
chips before that point was reached. Why around and that is IBM. It is still big news tions. This was a) Excellence in everything
the delay, you may ask? Because until then as it hived off its PC business to LENOVO we do; b) Superior customer service; c)
Intel and memory chips were synonymous of China, which had the US Senate worried Respect for the individual. However, over
in the market and it was impossible to con- about security implications. To new readers time the company had internalized these
ceive of themselves in any other form. And of management this in itself may not be very beliefs to the extent that it became identi-
in the memory chips market they were tak- surprising but at one stage IBM lost out in fied with procedures and did not reflect the
ing a hammering from the Japanese who the big computer market by ignoring the changing realities of the marketplace. To
had only one mantra “Quote 10% below relevance of the PC and the desktop, and cite an example, superior customer service
Intel and AMD and if they requote quote then entered it in a big way only to exit meant servicing the IBM computers at the
10 % lesser till you win….”
Sitting in the then Chairman and CEO
office of Gordon Moore, Andy Grove won-
At IBM, superior customer service meant servicing
dered loudly that if they were kicked out of the IBM computers at the site of the customer.
the company by the board what is the first Whereas, for IBM to survive, it had to change
thing their replacement would do. “He would
get us out of memories” said Moore.
its products to meet the growing customer need

Why don’t we do that ourselves replied again. Since leadership as simply stated, is site of the customer. Whereas, if IBM had
Andy Grove and thus was set in motion the the ability of leaders to transform organisa- to survive, it had to change its products/
turnaround of Intel into the world famous semi- tions i.e. management of change, the views business to meet the growing needs of the
conductor company we now know it as. of its last Chairman, Lou V Gerstner, on customer. Clearly, a case of good manage-
leadership surely merits discussion. ment but no leadership.
No other industry in recent times has
seized the imagination of the entire world The IBM turnaround Gerstner outlined his principles to
as much as the computer industry. From To understand it better, a few statistics first: the employees of IBM:
mainframes to PC’s to the networked com- in 1992 when Gerstner took over, the reve- a. The marketplace is the driving force
puter. From the proprietary software to the nues were distributed as follows: Hardware behind everything we do
off the shelf software to controlling piracy. 56 %; Services 25 % and Software 10%. b. At our core, we are a technology com-
Entire paradigms of doing business based In 2001 when he left, the distribution pany with an overriding commitment
on technology and assumptions changed. was as follows: Services 43 %; Hardware 31 to quality
The customer changed from the big compa- %; Software 16 % & Technology 10 %. This c. Our primary measures of success are
nies to the desktop user and ultimately the when revenues itself increased from $64.5 customer satisfaction and enhancing
palmtop traveler. The need changed from billion to $85.9 billion, a jump of 25 %. It shareholder value
data to processing to gaming to entertain- must be remembered that when Gerstner d. We operate as an entrepreneurial or-
ment. From vertical all purpose firms to took over it was widely stated in the press ganisation with minimum bureaucracy
horizontal sectors with sector leaders. This that the writing was on the wall for IBM; and an undying focus on productivity.
brought about a huge challenge before the that it would split into two companies and e. We never lose focus from our strategic
industry and its players. Many big names it was hemorrhaging cash losses besides de- vision.

Prof Hari Parmeshwar identifies the indispensable need of

leadership at various levels - the village, district headquarters,
at the state and at the national level.
August-October 2005 61 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication
 THE HUMAN FACTOR

a books such as “When Corporations Rule

the World” written by a Stanford B School
The corporate world as correctly stated by
Professor chronicles the rising influence of
Lou Gerstner is dictated by the conditions in corporations in world affairs. The corporate
the market. The corporate exists because of the sector has also been able to attract the best
talent away from research, civil adminis-
market and not vice versa
tration, politics, and other fields such as
medicine, law, armed forces etc.
As a matter of fact while the business
f. We always think and act with a sense automobiles, to software. The list of remark- leaders list is increasing, there is a paucity of
of urgency. able feats of leadership is endless in the leaders in other areas. To illustrate, in India
g. Outstanding, dedicated people make it corporate world. itself we have Narayanmurthy, Azim Premji,
all happen, particularly when they work Aditya Birla, AM Naik, Mittals etc…whereas
together as a team. The marketplace in the political arena we have largely leaders
h. We are sensitive to the needs of all The corporate world, as correctly stated by based on ideology, caste or sectarianism.
employees and to the communities in Lou Gerstner is dictated by the conditions in Nowhere to be seen is the passion or vision
which we operate. the market. The corporate exists because of that is so essential for society and nations
the market and not vice versa. The market in order to transform. This is equally true
While the principles were important, has been at the center of human activity, of other countries as well barring excep-
the question was how to instill it into the ingenuity and with the onset of globalisa- tions such as Singapore or some countries
DNA of IBM: tion, it has taken firm roots. As a result or- in Latin America. Europe and the USA find
To quote Gerstner “What are the levers ganisations have had immense opportunity themselves moving in a direction not accept-
IIPM SPEAK Leaderhsip

of motivation? What can a CEO – or, for that to grow and innovate. The key aspects of able to its citizens and strains and fissures
matter, a head of state or university president organisations are limited focus areas such are appearing such as the bitterly fought
– do to change the attitudes, behaviour and as profit and established rules of owner- elections in the USA or the recent negative
thinking of a population? Of course, differ- ship and control such as Board of Directors referendum in France. Some schools do not
ent things motivate different people. Some and the MD. Barring recent issues of cor- teach Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution
by money. Some by advancement. Some by porate governance, the corporate business to children for fear of reprisals. That’s how
recognition. For some the most effective moti- organisation has done very well and many far we have digressed. The consequences
vator is fear - or anger. For others that don’t are there for everyone to see. Be it illogical
work; it’s learning, or the opportunity to wars or lies to the public or corruption. Sub-
make an impact, to see their efforts produce The IBM leadership compe- tler, the utter disregard for the environment
concrete results. Most people can be roused tencies were as follows with issues such as global warming or hu-
by the threat of extinction. And most can be man rights or civil rights finding a subdued
inspired by a compelling vision of the future. Focus to win impact on the lives and activities of people
Over the past ten years, I ‘ve pulled most of  Customer Insight and their affairs. In direct contrast the mar-
those levers.”  Breakthrough Thinking ketplace continues to excite as it has more
In his talk to the top management team  Drive to Achieve gizmos and products to offer and please.
of 420 people Gerstner said “There are no Some alternate leadership activities have
ifs in my vernacular. We’re going to do it Mobilise to execute emerged but more as a challenge to cor-
together. This group is going to work as  Team Leadership porate hegemony rather than posing any
change agents and he outlined the required  Straight Talk serious alternatives such as NGO’s who have
behavioural change”.  Teamwork succeeded in raising questions on globalisa-
Thus, it is that IBM continues to be in  Decisiveness tion. Responsible corporate citizens have
the news for its acquisitions/ sales and also tried to expand their role in civic affairs
layoffs. Similar corporate turnarounds are Sustain momentum such as Infosys in Bangalore. The left too
abundant in the automobile industry such as  Building Organisational Capability has excellent leadership and commitment
Maruti Udyog Limited facing the onslaught  Coaching but alas no plans or alternatives.
of the Koreans. The TATAS have success-  Personal Dedication What is required is for the District Col-
fully engineered a complete transformation lectors, the Supertindent of Police in Dis-
in their image from an ageing warhorse The core tricts, the Chief Medical Officers, the District
to a mean, fit and fighting machine in an  Passion for the Business Magistrates, the MLA’s the MP’s to display
array of industries ranging from hotels to some passion and talent for their job. Or the

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 62 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

managers of PSU’s and Public Sector banks.

Imagine if these people were vested with
the same zeal as that of Lou Gerstner or
Narayanmurthy, we may still see an India
with AIDS, malnutrition and inhuman living
conditions under control. There are well ar-
gued systemic reasons for the above malaise
but none so great as the loss of leadership
in civic society to the marketplace.
Perhaps the solution lies in Stephen
Covey’s 8th Habit where he states that lead-
ers must listen to their inner voice while
taking their decisions. And to illustrate,
he gives the fine example of Mohammed
Yunus, a Professor of Economics in Dhaka
University, Bangladesh who while teach-
ing economics could not but help feel in-
adequate as famine ravaged his country.

leadership in the non corporate and the private sector witnessed the huge
sector, for example, the Delhi salary boom and saw talent diverting from
Metro led by E Sreedharan at the IAS or PSU’s.
the remarkable age of 70 +. Or Have the government, thinkers, me-
Kiran Bedi in the IPS. But they dia, public, management institutions
are too far and too few. thought of building leadership beyond
P Sainath, the journalist and the dynamics of the marketplace. Would
the crusader of the Center for the marketplace survive, if the rest of
Science and Environment are society crumbles? These are serious
other reasons for hope. But per- questions, which go beyond the realm
haps the reality is more typical of short-term excitements such as the
Stepping out of his academic confines, he of the IAS officer who is caught in the flood Sensex climbing beyond 7000. These
discovered the paucity of sufficient credit relief scam. Up to the late 1980’s, the PSU’s are questions which the CII and Indus-
facilities to the poor and not the want of and IAS offered very good careers for those try Associations need to consider besides
talent or ability to work hard behind the passing out from the top educational insti- merely asking for continuous sops from
cause of poverty. Thus, on a limited scale, tutions. These people must now be in the the government.
he experimented with what we now know mid 40’s, perhaps in various middle levels Leadership, therefore, is required at the
as “micro credit” and gradually expanded of government bureaucracy stagnating and village, at the district headquarters, at the
to become a much touted successful experi- sick over the mistakes made in their careers. state level, at the national level. It is time we
ment but even though this example is well The Prime Minister has talked of reforming realise that leadership is required beyond
known and also desirable in several other the performance appraisal system. Has he the marketplace n

countries including India, we are yet to identified such officers who can take up
implement. This only underscores the im- the mantle of leadership? Does he have the Hari Parmeshwar is a Professor of Business
portance of leadership. Why, even in India opposition with him on this vital issue? It Law at the Indian Institute of Planning and
we have very few examples of successful is only post liberalisation that the IT sector Management, New Delhi.

August-October 2005 63 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Prof Chakraborti analyses the pros

and cons of playing the blame game
and concludes that determining
accountability is a better strategy
to avoiding mistakes rather than
mudslinging after an error has been
committed.
By Jayanta Chakraborti
IIPM SPEAK The Blame Game

The Blame
Game
I
had the good fortune of working under a dynamic person who had taken up the reins of the or-
ganisation at a critical juncture when questions were being raised whether the organisation would
survive. Unfortunately, he used to crib bitterly, “I’m supposed to clean the other man’s shit !!! My
predecessor has messed up everything and I have to clean up the whole mess before I can rescue this
organisation from debris !!!” Although I admired the man’s grit, determination and strategic approach
with which he finally pulled the organisation out of the crisis, I could never appreciate his constant
cribbing and passing off all the blames to his unfortunate predecessor.
When some great milestone is achieved, everyone jumps into the fray to pick up the credit. A great
deal of self accolades will be seen floating around. But unfortunately, when things go wrong, the first
question that everyone asks is “Whose fault is it?”. It is said “Success has many fathers but failure has
no son”. But this knee-jerk response of witch hunting to find scapegoats undermines learning and
leads to distrust and defensiveness. Blame is a natural reflex when problems arise but resorting to
finger-pointing limits productivity and innovation.

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 64 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

David Baldwin has contented that blame teams go bad. In an article called “The Nut for successful execution, it is important we
can be a powerful constructive force. It can Island Effect”, Paul Levy talks of a team that rely on our declarative memory and not
be an effective teaching tool, helping people operated the Nut Island Sewage Treatment procedural memory. If a person is more
to avoid repeating their mistakes. When Plant in Quincy, Massachusetts. This team conscious of the procedure he’s executing
used judiciously, and sparingly, blame can would have been every manager’s dream instead of being focused on the desired re-
prod team members to put forth their best team. Members of the group performed dif- sult, he’s bound to land up in big trouble.
efforts while maintaining their confidence ficult, dangerous work without complaint. The epic Mahabharata relates the story of
and focus on goals. Indeed, blame can have They needed little supervision. They im- how Arjuna had beaten Karna in a battle
a very positive effect when it is used for the provised their way around operational dif- of archery to win Draupadi. Though both
right reasons.1
Not being criticized after committing
a mistake may also make a team member
Blame is a natural
feel uneasy. “Does the leader care enough reflex when problems
to reprimand me or does he think I am ab- arise but resorting
solutely hopeless ? Or are they planning to
throw me out of team ? That might explain
to finger-pointing
the reason for the silent treatment !!!.” limits productivity and
There is another school of thought that innovation
says playing the blame game actually ac-
complishes nothing. Experienced leaders
have realized that coming down hard on ficulties and budgetary constraints. They had trained under the same master and
team members for a mistake in physical sometimes put in their own money to buy possessed almost equivalent skills, Arjuna
execution actually harms the team’s mo- spares and tools. They were dedicated to won because he focused on the bird’s eye
rale. Excessive blaming will result in ev- the organisation’s mission. But their hard (the result) while Karna was concentrat-
eryone looking for scapegoats to escape work led to a catastrophic failure. What ing on the best way to shoot the bird (the
the wrath. seemed like a dream team of self-sufficient procedure).
Interestingly, the word scapegoat comes workers was responsible for the worst pol- The vicious cycle of blaming and de-
from the Jewish tradition where they would lution disaster in Boston history, releas- stroying the self esteem of others can be
literally pick a goat, upon which they would ing billions of gallons of raw sewage into reversed through accountability. A focus
symbolically place all their sins and then Boston Harbor.2 on accountability recognizes that everyone
send the animal out in the wilderness. In Where did the team go wrong? Levy may make mistakes or fall short of com-
organisations also, most of the times, we meticulously analyzed the problems at the mitments. Becoming aware of our own
seek out a scapegoat, blame him for all the Nut Island case and discovered a very im- errors or shortfalls and viewing them as
misfortunes and banish him from the team portant phenomenon. When trouble strikes opportunities for learning and growth en-
in order to save our skin and safeguard our and management passes off the blame, team able us to be more successful in the future.
own reputation. members feel betrayed and develop an us- Accountability therefore creates conditions
Blaming is more than just a process against-the-world mentality. They stay for ongoing, constructive conversations in
of allocating fault. It is often a process of out of management’s line of sight, hiding which our awareness of current reality is
shaming others and searching for something problems. The team begins to make up its sharpened and in which we work to seek
wrong with them. Blaming provides an early own rules, which mask grave problems in root causes, better understand the system,
and artificial solution to a complex problem. its operations. Management, disinclined in and identify new actions and agreements.
Blame makes inquiry difficult and reduces the first place to focus on the team’s work, The qualities of accountability are respect,
the chances of getting to the real root of is easily misled by team members’ skillful trust, inquiry, moderation, curiosity, and
a problem. Blame also generates fear and disguising of its performance deficiencies. mutuality.
destroys trust. When we blame, we often And when disaster strikes, damage control In the late 1970s, a group of GE employ-
believe that other people have bad inten- becomes all the more difficult. ees were attempting to develop a revolu-
tions or lack ability. We tend to excuse our Why do we make mistakes while ex- tionary new light bulb called Halarc, which
own actions, however, because we know ecuting a task ? The answer probably lies would last ten times longer and consume
firsthand the challenges we face. The in- in the way our brain functions. The proce- less energy. However, the product failed as
ternecine features of the blame game are dural memory in the human brain stores no one was ready to pay $10.95 for a single
poor judgment, anger, fear, punishment, information about how to do things while bulb. Instead of punishing those involved in
and self-destruction. the declarative memory stores information the Halarc effort, GE emphasized that they
The blame game can actually make good about what to do. While executing tasks, believed in the potential of the Halarc play-

August-October 2005 65 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

This communication becomes most useful the story with the emphasis that a great
A great leader always when people are willing and able to discuss leader always owns responsibility for fail-
owns responsibility for their common difficulties within a larger ures and gives credit for successes to his
setting that values accountability. team members. 4
failures and gives credit Our honourable President, Dr APJ Abdul A leader should take great pains to cor-
for successes to his Kalam, while delivering Dhirubhai Ambani rect the situation in which others are being
team members Memorial Lecture, told a very inspiring sto- blamed for his mistakes. In the year 2000,
ry of how leaders should handle failures. US regulators reported that 119 people
ers by handing out cash awards and promot- On 17th August 1979, while launching had died because of faulty Firestone tyres
ing several team members for their great the maiden flight of the SLV-3 under the in Ford Explorer and other models made
attempt. Such kind of great gestures have guidance of Prof Satish Dhawan, Dr Kalam by Ford. Jacques Nasser, the then CEO of
catapulted organisations like GE & 3M into made a crucial mistake. Four minutes be- Ford, starting rolling back the defective
the big league of innovative companies.3 fore the actual launch, the computer came models, but refused to accept the respon-
Accountability can be incorporated for out with an instruction to delay the launch sibility and testify before a Congressional
proper functioning of team by making mem- because of a leakage in the second stage enquiry into the Explorer rollovers. He
bers responsible for their actions. This can control system. Ignoring the computer in- quickly reversed his position but a great
be done by clarifying roles and responsi- structions, he went ahead and launched damage was already done.
bilities at the beginning of a task and de- the rocket in manual mode. Within a few His reluctance to show accountability
signing a process for handling breakdowns seconds, instead of putting the satellite in resulted in a series of unfortunate after-
before they occur. Accountability comes the orbit, the whole system crashed into maths. The relationship with Firestone
from clear job assignment, responsibility the Bay of Bengal. soured and by 2001, Ford got drowned in
IIPM SPEAK The Blame Game

allocation, ongoing conversations and an Prof Dhawan, instead of blaming his red ink, having suffered a staggering loss
organisational commitment to supporting subordinate, stood in the press conference of $2 billion. Its reputation for quality, so
accountability rather than blame. The job before hundreds of reporters, and accepted carefully honed throughout the 1980s and
assignment focuses on tasks to be accom- the responsibility of failure. Exactly after 1990s when it insisted “Quality is Job One”
plished, roles to be taken, processes to be one year, on 18th July 1980, the same team was in shambles. And finally, Bill Ford him-
used, standards sought, and expected re- under Prof Dhawan and Dr Kalam success- self had to step in and sack Nasser and take
sults. Team leaders need to hold periodic fully put the satellite in the orbit. This time, up the responsibility of CEO .5
conversations to review both ex- Prof Dhawan asked Dr Kalam to Tom Peters opined that the best for-
plicit and tacit contracts in order go and face the press confer- mula to make an innovator out of every
to verify shared understanding. ence. Dr Kalam summed up employee is to offer explicit support for
failure. Emerson’s Charles Knight, Johnson
& Johnson’s James Burke and 3M’s Lewis
Lehr explicitly talked about the necessity to
make mistakes. When Steve Jobs of Apple
computers was asked about the secret of his
company’s much admired brand equity, he
replied “I still make a lot of mistakes. But
Apple is a great company because we have
created an environment where people can
make mistakes and grow.”6
Hewlett-Packard (HP) is another com-
pany that encourages their employees not
to be bogged down by the fear of failure
and go for innovation. HP laid down a phi-
losophy for fostering an environment for
creativity and innovation in their 1999 An-
nual Report. This was known as the rules
of the garage which stated:
“Believe you can change the world.
Work quickly, keep the tools unlocked, and
work whenever. Know when to work alone
and when to work together. Share — tools,

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 66 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

ideas. Trust your colleagues. No politics. No

bureaucracy. The customer defines a job
well done. Radical ideas are not bad ideas.
Invent different ways of working. Make a
contribution every day. If it doesn’t contrib-
ute, it doesn’t leave the garage. Believe that
together we can do anything. Invent.”7
To avoid failures while executing
strategies, communication and deci-
sion making should be approached both
top-down and bottom-up. The problems
creep in when decision making is solely
concentrated on the central authority
and thus suggestions and recommenda-
tions from other team members are of-
ten ignored. On 28th January 1986, the
Challenger Space Shuttle exploded about
1 minute after launch killing all 7 astronauts

Proper job accountability and

delegation can take an organisation
to pinnacles of success, while witch
hunting can sow the seeds of destruction

on board. The shuttle exploded because two private and praised in public, it evokes an decision lies in your hands - which is the
rubber O-rings leaked after losing their re- equally strong emotion in him which helps path you want to choose and where do you
siliency as the shuttle was launched on a him to remember the event better and to want to take your organisation n

very cold day (less than 0 Celsius). avoid similar kinds of blunders in future.
On the day before the launch, the engi- Blame can be an effective teaching tool, Professor Jayanta Chakraborti, Associate
neers who designed the rockets expressed but overusing it can quickly diminish it’s ef- Dean (Academics), Indian Institute of Plan-
their opposition to launching the challenger fectiveness. Blame can serve some very use- ning & Management, Pune.
because they were concerned that the rings ful functions within any organisation but it
would not seal at such cold temperatures. must be managed wisely. Otherwise blame References
The engineers presented their case using 13 can create problems that are far worse than 1. Baldwin, David, How to win the blame
charts which they faxed to NASA. A high the unsatisfactory situation that spawned game, Harvard Business Review, July-
level NASA official was “appalled” by the it in the first place. August 2001
recommendation, and conveniently over- Playing the blame game is easy; playing 2. Levy, Paul, The Nut Island Effect, Har-
threw the apprehensions by saying that the the accountability game is tough. It’s quite vard Business Review, March 2001
evidence presented by the engineers was in- easy to pass off the responsibility of failure 3. Welch, Jack, Jack: Straight from the
conclusive in showing that O-ring problems to someone else and snatch away the credits Gut, Warner Books, 2001
were linked to cool temperatures. The re- for good performance. Some people do it 4. Kalam, Dr APJ, Dhirubhai Ambani Memo-
sult was the historic disaster that shook the even more ludicrously - they keep on post- rial Lecture, Mumbai, 6th July 2003
foundation of the US Space Research.8 poning their decision making as they are too 5. Maynard, Micheline, The End of Detroit,
It is always better to blame in private concerned to accept the onus of failure. Doubleday, 2003
and praise in public. The team leader need However, a true leader not only accepts 6. Peters, Tom & Watson, Robert, In Search
not chastise the errant in front of the whole responsibility of failure, but also sees that of Excellence, Warner Books, 1982
team to impress upon him the gravity of that the kudos for success are shared by all 7. Fiorina, Carly, Rules of Garage ensure
the error committed. If that is done, the er- team members. Proper job accountability continued innovation, New Perspectives
rant will turn defensive and become nervous and delegation can take an organisation Quarterly, 15th May, 2001
instead of being receptive to criticism. If a to pinnacles of success, while witch hunt- 8. Lewis, Richard, Challenger: The Final Voy-
team member is strongly reprimanded in ing can sow the seeds of destruction. The age, Columbia University Press, 1988

August-October 2005 67 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

THE HUMAN FACTOR

Everyone is talking about the importance of leaders

and leadership, but do we have enough leaders to
help us win this ongoing battle?
By Sandeep Kumar

‘Pipelining’
Cohan’s Value Leadership
Principles for Practical

Performance
An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 68 August-October 2005
 THE HUMAN FACTOR

I
had the good fortune of working under the mechanisms for transitioning the team. managing oneself to managing others, from
a dynamic person who had taken up the Also, a good leader is required today for managing others to managing managers,
reins of the organisation at a critical every unit and everyone in the organisa- to becoming a functional manager, then
juncture when questions were being raised tion. Nowadays, everyone is talking about business manager, then group manager and
whether the organisation would survive. leaders and leadership, but do satisfied em- finally enterprise manager. Each transition
Unfortunately, he used to crib bitterly, “I’m ployees and delighted management mean requires that a manager learn new skills,
supposed to clean the other man’s shit !!! ‘we have won’? No! What we should strive broaden time horizons and define success
My predecessor has messed up everything for is not just good leadership, but as ad- in different ways.
and I have to clean up the whole mess be- vocated by Peter S. Cohan in his seminal So, we need a team of leaders and not
fore I can rescue this organisation from de- book, it should be Value Leadership. Value a team of ‘one leader – others follower’.
bris !!!” Although I admired the man’s grit, Leadership is based on very specific notions But one of the management’s biggest chal-
determination and strategic approach with of value and leadership. It recognizes that lenges is finding new leaders and one of
which he finally pulled the organisation out a company cannot survive without the par-
of the crisis, I could never appreciate his ticipation of others: employees, customers,
constant cribbing and passing off all the investors and communities. The ‘value’ in
blame to his unfortunate predecessor. Value Leadership alludes to the nature of
Organisation is essentially about people relationship between the company and the
working together and yet so often they fail others. Cohan mentioned 7 principles of
to capitalize upon its full potential. Most value leadership in his book.
of the work in the organisations is done
in teams. Even though individuals are im- The Seven Principles
portant, their effectiveness depends, to a are as follows
large extent, on the teams of which they 1. Value human relationships
are members. 2. Foster teamwork
The importance of teams was first real- 3. Experiment frugally
ized from the results of the famous Haw- 4. Fulfill your commitment
thorne studies in the 1930s. However, it was 5. Fight complacency
Mc Gregor who brought special attention 6. Win through multiple means
to teams in the 1960s. Likert, during the 7. Give to your community
same period, focused attention on teams These values are guidelines for every
as important elements in the humanization leader to follow. But as I mentioned earlier,
of organisations. A real key to success is we should think of fostering not just leader-
the way in which individuals behave with ship for creating follow-
each other and the way in which groups of ers, but we should create
people relate to and work with each other. leaders for each and ev-
Teamwork improves these things. ery unit of the organisa-
tion. Every team member
should be a leader in his/
The ‘value’ in Value her own right.
Leadership alludes But time and again, we
to the nature of have seen high – potential
people fail as leaders even
relationship between though they work hard
the company and the and display obvious tal-
others ent. For this, Leadership
Pipeline model described
by Ram Charan, James
A high – performing team is a group Noel and Stephen Drotter
of individuals whose coordinated compe- really helps. This leader-
tence and personal commitment to overall ship pipeline consists of
goals and to each others’ success results six important transitions
in the outstanding performance of team that commonly occur in
tasks. Now a team leader is clearly one of large organisations: from

August-October 2005 69 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

the questions that arise in this ordinates. Coupled with a little bit
quest is whether to bring in “new of autonomy, we have leaders at
– blood” and fresh ideas or take each and every level.
advantage of “home – grown” Now leaders at all the levels are
experts already acclimated to an supposed to follow the Principles
organisation’s corporate culture. of Value Leadership. But obviously,
For this, we need to diagnose an few of the principles will have dif-
individual’s performance and capa- ferent meaning and different objec-
bilities. Once you have diagnosed tive for the managers at different
that an individual or a group of levels.
people working at inappropriate We need to incorporate all the
leadership levels, you have some 7 principles of value leadership at
major pipeline repair work to do. all the levels because managers at
The Leadership Pipeline em- each and every level are supposed
phasizes about ‘The Relevance of to have a different job profile and
Role Clarity’. Also about ‘Perfor- they have different potential also.
mance Gaps’ and ‘Performance The following 7 principles of Value
Overlaps’. So, a purely result ori- Leadership would help in under-
ented approach is something which standing it better which showcases
can be observed here. Now, we can that they need to be different for
see that among the concepts that I different levels of managers to
IIPM SPEAK Pipelining Performance

have discussed above, “The Value help them emerge as leaders:

Leadership” shows how to value 1. Value human relationship:
human relationships and provide As one has to work with humans,
a better deal to your employees, for humans. For any level, if one
customers and society from that of is a team leader or a sales execu-
the competitors. “The Leadership tive or even if a CEO, one has to
Pipeline” model deals with creat- work with one’s employees, peers,
ing leaders, managing and improv- juniors and seniors as well as with
ing their performance. outsiders also. As at all levels, hu-
man relationships are imperative, this
We need a team of leaders and not a team of principle cannot have much variance at
the different levels levels.
‘one leader – others follower’
TEAM OF LEADERS (TOLs) MODEL
According to my observation, I found collaborative manner. At the same time it 2. Foster teamwork: Select everyone
various big business houses that are a prop- emphasizes how to value the human re- according to ones potential and develop
er combination of both the models that can lationship while taking care of your goal. them. For the first level managers, they
make the organisations achieve their desired According to this model, managers at each need to develop themselves and special-
goal. As we are thinking of increasing mar- level are interrelated/interconnected with ize in any one particular area to improve
ket share, more profits, employee welfare each other and their individual roles cor- their skills further.
and social development as well, so, I am relate with each other also. This is because 3. Experiment frugally: It deals with
propounding a new model for leadership result of one manager will affect the result accidental innovation but this accidental
which is a combination of both ‘Value Lead- of other manager and finally it can affect innovation means different things for
ership’ model as well as ‘Pipeline’ model but the overall objective. Also going through different levels. For example, a CEO
with some changes and more clarity. I am the Pipeline Model, there should be no can experiment with different strategy
suggesting one new model Team of Leaders gaps and no overlaps of roles. In the TOLs for implementing it in the organisation
Model (TOLs Model). Model, block arrows shows the interrelation while a GM marketing can assign some
TOLs model talks about how to create between different levels as well as how in- different targets for different sales exec-
leaders, all the issues that need to be con- dividual effort sums up to the achievement utives and the PR department can think
sidered in order to create leaders, to make a of final objective. The downward arrows of doing the publicity by means of some
team of leaders as well as to ensure growth show the flow of Values, direction, stan- never-before tried source. Simultane-
of the entire organisation by working in a dard setting and motivation for the sub- ously, the impact or the outcome of the

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 70 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

experiment will have a different level the situations in all our functions. Gas Tragedy took place). The first 3 compa-
of impact on the organisation. 7. Give to your community: Never nies are still operating while Union Carbide
4. Fulfill your commitments: This is do charity, do social work. Believe in closed down. The reason behind assigning
the most important principle for manag- Stephen R. Covey’s one statement that these companies to different quadrants are
ers at every level and for everyone in “give a man a fish and you feed him as follows:
the organisation. If you have commit- for a day, teach him how to fish and 1. Infosys: India’s most admired company
ted something, fulfill it at any cost. Do you feed him for a lifetime”. Transfer both in terms of performance as well as
whatever you say. By doing this, you can corporate resources to society. Not only human values.
express your deep concern towards oth- in terms of donations, but also by means 2. Reliance: India’s biggest private com-
ers. If one is a sales executive and has of imparting knowledge; contribution pany, but low in values. The recent
committed something to the customer, in terms of manpower for doing some property issue among Ambani broth-
it has to be fulfilled. So, this shows that social development and welfare work; ers added more colour to it!
one is giving importance to the customer we can control pollution coming out of 3. Union Carbide: The notorious, previ-
and this is how one can value custom- our own factory if we have a production ous owner of Eveready, once operating
er relationship. Again, if one is an HR unit. Every level can contribute accord- in India where the very tragic Bhopal
Manager and he/she has committed that ing to their potential. Gas Tragedy took place and was closed
he/she will issue bonus during festivals So, as per the TOLs model, every em- down. It closed down because of the
then it has to be distributed. This shows ployee at all the levels should have their scams running within the company. So,
that one values human relationship and own set of 7 principles. Obviously few of the no, values, no result.
also adds a sense of responsibility and principles will vary as per the potential and 4. Tata: Again a very famous and one
caring among employees. profile of employees at different levels. of India’s oldest business houses. The
5. Fight your complacency: One is sup- To make things more clear and to prove company is very ethical with a lot of
posed to fight against oneself if one is the relevance of TOLs model, I would like values. Results are also good but the
getting complacent. Keep doing some- to take examples for four companies and company is not aggressive in its ap-
thing new, something innovative. Also, to locate it on the GE Leadership Matrix. proach.
being a leader, everyone is supposed This GE leadership matrix has four quad- Now, the first quadrant is the ideal posi-
to find ones own new ways. This again rants based on two parameters ‘Value’ and tion for every company. High values as well
adds up to the generation of new skills ‘Result’. Here again VALUE deals with valu- as high result. We should try to bring our
among all the employees thereby adding ing the human relationship and RESULT is company into the first quadrant.
new dimensions to them. achievement of goals. Now, the question is how can we do
6. Win through multiple means: This From the matrix we can see that we have this? We can do this if we have ethical
again varies according to the level of four quadrants like the following: - values among each of our employees; if
leadership. For the first level managers 1. High in Value – High in Result we have human relationship values within
/employees, it is the presence of mind, 2. Low in Value – High in Result us; if we have commitment for our goal
fast and smart thinking i.e. high IQ and 3. Low in Value – Low in Result and our company; if we know what to do
EQ. For CEOs, it is strategic thinking 4. High in Value – Low in Result and how to do; if our vision is clear to us;
and analysis. For the middle level man- The four companies that I have taken if we are motivated enough to achieve our
agers, it is high HQ. So, this does not here are very well known. All of us know individual as well as our organisational
mean that we need to have market lead- about Infosys, Tata, Reliance and Union objective and if we are not only utiliz-
ership only; rather we should win in all Carbide (the infamous MNC where Bhopal ing the living and non-living resources
but also developing and adding value to
them.
Following the TOLs Model can make
it possible because this model deals with
creating values, role clarity, performance
improvement, value addition and collab-
orative team work. It deals with creating
and managing leaders.
So, we can reach the destination, at the
same time we can or design destiny! n

Professor Sandeep Kumar, Indian Institute of

Planning & Management, Chennai.

August-October 2005 71 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

THE HUMAN FACTOR

“I start with the promise

that the function of
leadership is to produce
more leaders, not more
followers”. Ralph Nader.
By Leslie Rebello

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 72 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Leadership
across the Organisation
– Distributed Leadership: A need
of the hour

W
e live in a world that is dis- ers rely totally on the situational models
continuous. A world where for efficient governance. Everybody in the
wealth is destroyed when a organisation needs to be ready for transfor-
new business model drives mation and thus the subordinates’ ability
out an old one. In corporate circles we to lead and take over some of the leader’s
always hear a voice which says, “Only a functions has gained importance and needs
few will survive”. This statement will find introspection. So what is important is to
relevance today, as there is a rapid rate of not restrain leadership to ‘a position’ but to
change in businesses, markets, technology, disseminate its power at several levels so
hard skills and soft skills required to run that the ‘reach of’ leadership is multiplied
an organisation. or distributed.
With globalisation, leadership in an or-
ganisation has become even more critical Back in Time
than before. A leader, with his vision, action Before we dwell on the concept of distrib-
and spirit guides the organisation on its uted leadership, it would be necessary for
journey of actualising its potential to the us to familiarize ourselves with the leader-
fullest. However, the reality is that with ship theories propounded by researchers in
the vast operations spread, organisations the past. Leaders are unique in their ap-
are finding it more and more difficult to proaches, which differentiates them from
manage the challenges thrown up during
the actual functioning such as diversity and
differences brought about by multi- loca- Organisations need
tion operations, lack of alignment in val- to be ready for
ues, ethics and goals, issues of distribu-
tion of wealth and ownership,
transformation
integration of and thus the
people and pro- subordinates’
cess etc. Moreover,
with increasing com-
ability to lead and
plexity at the workplace, take over some of the
there seems to be an alarming leader’s functions has
paucity of leadership.
The leadership required
gained importance and
today cannot be confined to needs introspection
theories of trait nor can lead-

August-October 2005 73 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

THE HUMAN FACTOR

their followers. Thus, there is a tendency preferred behaviour pattern over time to- basis of spirituality (upasana) have created
to perceive a set of traits in such leaders. wards a stimulus in a situation. value and wealth for their organisations.
Some would even believe that a chosen few Such fundamental approaches have However, this line of research still needs to
are born to lead, be it by their intelligence paved way for a deeper understanding of be established. Moreover, when and how
or energy levels or confidence. However, the concept of leadership and its process, the followers’ belief structure and respect
simple people have also become business which are easy to comprehend. However, for a value defined by the framework set
leaders and tycoons. Mr. Richard Branson the reality of work situations today involves up by the leader will beget success is an
of Virgin Airlines or Mr. Arnold Schwar- complexity, change and diversity, hence to undefined issue.
zenegger, Governor of California are strong attribute a style that leads to performance
cases in points. can bring up several unexplained issues. Distributed Leadership
Research over the years does not indi- Transformational leadership is one of When one defines leadership as a process,
cate that hereditary traits have a role to the current approaches to understand the it no longer remains the hallmark of a per-
play in successful leadership nor is there leader. The transformational leader, as the son; it becomes a function of a transaction
any correlation of a set of traits that lead name suggests, transforms people. It is a between one who leads and the ones who
to success in a business. Leadership is an process that incorporates charismatic and follow. It implies that a leader impacts oth-
art as described by Max De Pree, which visionary leadership. The leader creates a ers and is in turn impacted by others too.
can be learnt. connection that enhances motivation and Max De Pree goes on to say that lead-
A leader could further be understood morality in both the leader and the fol- ers are required for product, design and
from the behavioural approach or style lower. This style is socially desirable and organisation innovation in his writings;
he/she uses to achieve his goals. Such ap- has a popular appeal. “Leadership is an Art”, “Leadership Jazz”
proaches are simple to understand as it has Today with the gaining interest and loy- and “Leading without power”. He describes
a continuum - Autocratic to Laissez-faire alty towards different forms of meditation, effective leaders as part of a jazz group
or a grid indicating the leader’s position and discipline of the body and mind (Yoga), where simplistic instructions with a simple
depending on his concern for people or leadership and spirituality have been of- wand raised high and low directs one musi-
production as described in the Blake and fered new definitions. Individuals the world cian to complement the other in a complex
Mouton Managerial Grid. over are undergoing dramatic transitions world of multiple instruments and sounds
When leaders help followers achieve with their recent interest in spiritual litera- to create a wonderful piece of music. The
their goals, for task attainment, team ture, inter-faith dialogues etc. Jean Houston worst player in the group of musicians is
building or development of individuals, in The Possible Human describes the new going to decide the fate of the musical ses-
they adopt a style for a situation (as de- heroes – people who have a healthy and sion. It is then in the evoking of the lead-
scribed by Hersey and Blanchard in the spirited appreciation of the complexities ership and the direction that is provided
Situational Leadership Model). To be a and capacities of their own being: at each vulnerable point that creates the
successful leader then sounds very mean- “They regularly spend time in discover- contribution.
ingful as it demands certain flexibility ing, refining, and applying the latent po- In this situation, the leader neither has
and an understanding of the followers. tentials of their own body-minds. They take all the facts nor all the competencies across
The question before most of us in a work time to prepare themselves so that they can musicians/sub groups of musicians, but
situation is the mismatch between leader listen to the rhythms of awakening that may through a magical formula of trust, design,
and follower for which there appears no be ‘pulsing’ from a deeper more coherent hope, promise and mystique, he creates the
solution. The issue of multiple approaches Order of Reality”. euphoric music. This leader or the sub-lead-
required for handling followers who func- A need is perceived for the integral ers across the groups who take the initiative
tion differently in different time frames development of ones attitudes and com- may possess traits/have varied styles and
can also pose a problem, as petencies to become leaders. In turn, it is could be subjected to dynamic situations. But
leaders tend to develop a a well known fact that the leaders with what they are taught to embrace by the dis-
their daily, disciplined, devotional, ardent tributed leaders is the paradox by not judging
practice of thought and action which is the but learning to adapt to the given situation

It is a well known fact that the leaders with their daily,

disciplined, devotional, ardent practice of thought and action
which is the basis of spirituality (upasana) have created
value and wealth for their organisations

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 74 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

and move in the next situation in trust. top - of a nation’s security force. free to develop and share new ideas. Even
Over 100 organisation diagnostic stud- In the massive world of business across if the concept of leadership in general and
ies conducted by our organisation with vari- nations, the need for partnering to suc- distributed leadership in particular is in its
ous manufacturing and software concerns ceed is based on trust. Leaders at all levels fluid/amorphous state, there are certain
reveal data that underlines the criticality need to facilitate one common purpose. ideas that clearly differentiate what distrib-
of leadership in organisations today. Rep- Leaders need to convince and evolve in a uted leadership is and what it isn’t.
resentative comments of employees speak given situation, which is the base for Dis- l Distributed Leadership means finding
volumes of the issues faced by employees tributed Leadership. The uneven capaci- the best path by tapping the exper-
about the lack of distributed leadership: ties to influence and the uneven distribu- tise, ideas, and effort of everyone in-
l “Till our MD is here we have our bread tion of talent and power can never make volved.
and butter, but after that we don’t a leader omnipotent but for leadership to l Ideas are not only encouraged and
know”. be omnipresent the solution is through Dis- shared but also applied in reality. Mis-
l “People feel that Mr. ABC is the only tributed Leadership. This capability of the takes are not brushed under the carpet
reason for the company progressing and organisation is based on its ability to cre- but are openly discussed so as to gener-
they have hopes from him.” ate a psychological exchange through ate creative solutions.
l We feel that till the time Mr. ABC is head- discussion, consensus and l People share a mission but contribute
ing the company we will have a good differently. There is diversity of thought
future. After him we are unsure of the and unity of action.
future”. l One of the most important criteria of
l “We should develop an authority matrix; distributed leadership is trust at all lev-
as even a manager executing work of els in people and their competencies.
over XX crores has no authority”. Everybody is equally significant.
l “There is no decentralized decision- l Distributed leadership empowers people
making”. so that they are more open to try out
new ventures leading to more satisfac-
Thus one can conclude the following: tion with their jobs.
l Followers do not sense meaningful l There are no limits or boundaries to per-
leadership and tend to leave the
For distributed leadership, form with of course reasonable risk tak-
organisation. an environment is created ing. The “traditional” or “time-tested”
l Followers are constantly searching where everyone feels free methods are not necessarily the best.
for a leader whom they can emulate All look for better ways of functioning
or where leaders have an ability to
to develop and share through controlled and reasonable risk
sense their voice/concern. new ideas taking.
l People feel ready to take responsibil-
ity if assigned to them. agreements in fundamental shifts that are Let’s explore the Nokia Story:
required to run a business. Circa 1992, Nokia – the 130-year-old
What is Distributed Leadership? These fundamental shifts are invariably Finnish company – had the following con-
Imagine a business arena as a war zone. created by demands from customers; and cerns:
The one to strike first will win the war the old mechanism of dealing with the ex- l Can Nokia sustain a 50% growth rate
or succeed. In a few minutes the war is ternal customer without considering the year after year and face an uncertainty
over. All ones strength backed by talented internal customer means disaster and no with courage where margins were bound
and competent personnel in an army, navy place for Distributed Leadership. Unpre- to drop sharply as the product would
or air force will be of no consequence - dictable nature of business, unstable set belong to a low profit business, and it
however gigantic - if the required leader- of followers and demanding customers the would become a commodity item.
ship either does not exist or is split across world over today makes it imperative to l Nokia’s top management admitted
functions resulting in a failure to respond. have Distributed Leadership. that they underestimated the scale and
There has been a tendency to keep leaders Under Distributed Leadership, everyone growth of telecom sector.
disconnected lest they acquire power with is responsible and accountable for lead- l Nokia needed to explore its core
which they are distrusted, but by the time ership within his or her area. Good ideas competencies and examine dis-
the leaders are connected, the ultimate re- come from throughout the organisation, continuities. Nokia had sensed the
sults would be an inability to function. The and many people cooperate in creating warning signals namely:
essence/base line is that there is a lack of change. For distributed leadership, an en- l Their environment was changing at a rap-
trust in Distributed Leadership even at the vironment is created where everyone feels id rate due to emergence of new markets,

August-October 2005 75 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

THE HUMAN FACTOR

technology, liberation and competition. the most competent people, Nokia con- –David Ogilvy
l Rival companies could outspend Nokia in cluded that they had the greatest oppor- In Distributed Leadership, the leaders
research and development thus challeng- tunities to succeed. The conducting of such understand and align the edge of the or-
ing its ability to bring new products in an exercise/endeavour involved thousands ganisation with the centre as they are sen-
the market faster than the competitors. of sparkling minds that required distrib- sitive to the fact that all revolution comes
l Nokia needed a strategy to attract young uted leadership to support the process. It is from there; be it social – women’s libera-
talent that would push creativity and this distributed leadership that could bring tion or technical – steel being replaced by
innovation. Nokia a set of new: plastic. This pluralistic process helps lead-
l The company faced a threat with refer- l Venture opportunities to create funda- ers at every point to facilitate followers to
ence to its values, behaviours, organisa- mentally new businesses experience and see the world in new ways
tion cohesion and the balance between l Learnings that got reported. by shifting their vantage points. Distributed
anarchy and bureaucracy without un- l Behaviours which were practiced within Leaders evoke in all their followers the deep
dermining independence. and across units. passion for discovery and novelty to chart
l Business ideas that continuously out their collective destiny. The fear is that
The Company rationalized the busi- flowed. such a distributed leadership process could
ness portfolio, which then included paper, l Activists who championed idea imple- lead to conflicting ideas but in Nokia’s case
aluminum, power generation, tires and mentation without sacrificing current their experience suggests otherwise. What
electronics into a highly focused telecom operations. a company ultimately needs is a series of
business. Its performance: 100% volume experiments continuously happening. For
production per year increase with entry into In Nokia’s approach they went about all these experiments you need leaders who
new geographic markets and building an listening to new voices and entered conver- are emergent. To climb any mountain, the
organisation with 30% new comers. The sations with new perspectives. Their Dis- path is invisible and if you want leaders and
gains in productivity were higher sales per tributed Leadership encompassed diversity followers to reach the summit, the need of
employee than Motorola & Ericsson. to exploit and discontinuities that could be the hour will be to allow these distributed
Nokia’s approach that compared to leveraged to create new wealth. leaders to experiment, start moving and
the process of instituting the concept of take the first step.
distributed leadership amongst others is Building a Company of Giants
detailed below: If each of us hires people who are smaller So, How Do You Cultivate Leaders at
The company drew resources from all than we are, we shall become a company of All Levels.
parts of the world, which included pro- dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who When one visualizes leaders at all
vocative insights from inexperienced but are bigger than we are, we shall become a levels, it becomes a characteristic of the
talented youngsters. The insights company of giants. organisation rather than a per-
were communicated to several son. Distributed leadership is
thousand employees for their an attitude and an approach
reactions. All those who wanted one assumes rather than a mere
participated, shared their experi- management technique.
ences and when problems arose, the
top management served as a sounding Catch Them Young
board. Several hundreds of managers met Successful leaders have been invariably
to discuss the outcomes. Thus there was a exposed to opportunities where they could
feeling that everyone’s ideas were used to lead, take risks and turnaround failures
shape the future rather than predict the to achieve the desired goals. They have
future. There emerged no clear picture of used these opportunities to learn from
what the outcomes would be but the ambi- both failures and triumphs experienced
tious nature and the positive attitude of the by them.
group was noticeable. These behaviours The vast knowledge they gain from
resulted in the multiple groups reflecting
Distributed leadership such experiences holds them in good stead
on opportunity identification, actions and is an attitude and an in their later careers as effective lead-
deliverables. Effort levels required in a approach one assumes ers. Thus, if you want to grow/cultivate
simple framework were discussed which leaders to take care of the future of your
enabled the emergence and a process that
rather than a mere organisation, push them into situations
helped Nokia to renew itself. management technique that will make them prove their mettle.
With the best ideas available now and Delegate authority, decision making pow-

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 76 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

ers and thrust responsibility onto them. have recommended this strategy where the an organisation calls for an investment.
The key word here is – decentralization. formal head treats every person or group World-class organisations like Infosys,
Sometimes businesses develop addi- differently and chalks out a development Wipro, TCS have created institutions for
tional challenging opportunities by strong plan for each. leadership enhancement. The key here
growth through new products or services. Refresh, Renew, Redesign is to have an attitude that permits lead-
e.g. 3M has had a policy that at least 25% Get the top management to rethink its ership to flourish and bloom across the
of its revenue should come from products business plan, the future path, decide on organisation.
introduced within the last five years. That levels of achievement keeping in mind the
encourages small new ventures, which in resources capability possessed or acquirable Conclusion
turn offers hundreds of opportunities to test and convincingly present the same based Distributed leadership is spread across the
and stretch young people with on a scientific study to the members of the organisation at different points. In
leadership potential. organisation. Examine the organisation an organisation that has distrib-
At the base of this process uted leadership, leaders have the
is the competency mapping ex- capacity to attract talent at their own
ercise. An organisation must have level and keep them together through
an exhaustive inventory of the skills credibility. It is these good followers who
possessed by its work force. Working on trust the leader and give him strength
the employees with potential will lead in and out of the organisation. Leaders
to a higher success ratio of churning out create this environment of trust by bear-
competent leaders at the respective levels. ing with mistakes. Such leaders lead by
The organisation must then plan for the creating a difference and transcending the
development of these ‘budding’ stars, such ordinary to change rather than manage
as fast track growth, learning opportunities what is around. The principles they fol-
and succession planning etc. low are universal and they capitalize on
the strength of the followers, chase high
The key is to have an
Business and People Alignment standards but provide freedom and most
Communication is the key process in attitude that permits essential of all they learn at all times and
an organisation to establish awareness leadership to flourish from all.
and create attachment /oneness with the Mr. Leslie Rebello is Director, L. R. As-
and bloom across the
goals of the company. This calls for a sociates Pvt. Ltd. an Organisation Consulting
simple and direct statement of the vision organisation Company based in Mumbai.
of the company that is further broken The views expressed in this article are
down into objectives for each depart- structure, define processes, renegotiate roles for information purposes only and intended
ment and subsequently KRA’s of each and eventually empower/ decentralize the to provide accurate information in regard
individual. Regular meetings conducted decision-making at each point of contact. to the subject matter covered. While every
within and across the departments can attempt has been made to present up-to-
keep people updated and focused onto Begin at The Beginning. date and accurate information, we cannot
the expectations from the organisation. Ensure that all concerned are familiar with guarantee that inaccuracies will not oc-
If there is a misalignment between busi- the facets of leadership – traits, styles, ap- cur. L. R. Associates Pvt. Ltd. will not be
ness and people objectives, then there proaches and so on. Encourage leaders held responsible for any claim, loss, dam-
is bound to be a friction which in turn across the organisation to think, adopt and age or inconvenience caused as a result of
will be a major block in grooming up- construct a magic that will work and be any information in this article. Users who
coming leaders. accepted by followers through experimen- adhere, follow, or heed any and all advice
tation lest they adopt a behaviour, which from this article will be responsible for the
Leadership - The Mentoring Way gets rejected. Content matters so sensitivity outcome and results of following this advice
An organisation, which wants to create to ones behaviours at every point of action and information.
leaders across the organisation, can learn in a process or event needs to be encour-
from the prevalent practices of success- aged as it is through this feedback that the Bibliography
ful leaders from within. Mentors can take leader enhances his capability to influence Pandit Shrinivas (2005): “Exemplary
identified potential leaders through their the person or group. CEO’s: Insights on Organisational
own work style, competence and personal- Transformation” Tata McGraw Hill
ity that have made them successful. In the Back to School Publishing Company Limited, New
course of my Organisational consultation, I A capacity to build leadership across Delhi n

August-October 2005 77 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

THE HUMAN FACTOR

Axing the Axis

John Friend, world renowned yoga expert in conversation with Prashanto Banerji

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 78 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

D
oes the world think better on its aspect of life, from health to spirituality. by the promise of paradise, the demons of
head than on its feet? Having spent Unfortunately, Tantra has become synony- ignorance, the humiliation of persecution or
inordinate lengths of time with an mous with the sexual practices that form perhaps a combination of all of the above,
inverted worldview, I’m inclined to believe only a minute part of its broad philosophy. a private perhaps by patriotism, and there
that such a perspective is not without its Public imagination notwithstanding, Tantra are others still who fight to protect and
benefits. Yogic philosophy would have you presents an usable world-view that can find to preserve peace. Any act that serves the
believe that, besides holding the promise expression in worlds as diverse as religion purpose of life is a virtuous act. And if a
of well grounded feelings, such a position and business. soldier fights to protect and preserve that
would ensure that thoughts flow from the Tantra maintains that every aspect of life, or acts as a deterrent to the perpetra-
heart to the head instead of vice versa, life is a manifestation of the divine and tors of violence, his act is as virtuous and
which could be a fairly useful state of mind therefore deserves to be treated with an spiritually enduring as that of a celibate
in this apparently loveless world. However, equal amount of emotional intensity and saint meditating in the Himalayas. Perhaps,
there is a lot more that yoga has to offer to compassion. While in Vedantic philosophy, in some respects, even more so.
the world than just the ubiquitous ideal of the purusha (the self), is considered sepa- The world of business presents its own
a bearded face peering through an assort- rate from the prakriti (the environment), myriad challenges which test the texture
ment of limbs arranged with the random- the purusha is encouraged to separate and and strength of the moral and spiritual
ness of a Salvador Dali painting. isolate oneself from the environment. But fabric that determines the pattern of our
While yoga has been riding the crest of in Tantra, both being manifestations of the lives. From a theological standpoint, tantra
a resurgent wave all over the world, the divine, are encouraged to converge and condones the intention that drives profitable
breadth of its potential still awaits sensi- emerge, entwined in the cosmic dance, businesses as long as the business repays its
tive comprehension and assimilation. Large each playing its merry part with integrity debts to society and fulfils its responsibilities
sections of society reject or disregard its and consideration. According to Tantra, as a social and financial leader by enriching
potential benefits because it purportedly the trials of life are the agents that temper the lives of those that surround the business,
rejects the twin fulcrums of all symbiotic character and purify the soul. and in various respects, contribute toward
and cultural evolutionary initiatives – con- Every action, therefore, that serves its growth and development.
flict and ambition. the purpose of life, serves the purpose of Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR,
Yoga however is not a unified philoso- spirituality and spiritual growth. For ex- its more popular acronym, is in fact pre-
phy but a confluence of thoughts, practices ample, popular perception might assume cisely that - a channel that offers a profit
and values which, in unison, aspire for a that celibacy ought to be a prerequisite for making concern, opportunities for invest-
common goal. Perhaps the most popular spiritual growth, the acts of soldiers and ments in building(and/or reconstructing, as
form of yoga practiced in the world today business executives are perhaps sure-fire the case may be) the social institutions and
stems from Vedantic roots. Popularized by one way tickets to hell, wherever that might organizations that support the foundations
Swami Sivananda, Swami Vishnudevanan- be. From a tantric standpoint though, no of progressive and prosperous societies,
da, Sri. Krishnamacariar, his students, Van- action deserves condemnation in isolation, without seeking monetary benefits. If the
da Sacravelli, B. K. S. Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois and the qualifying verb is ‘depends’. De- concept of Corporate Social Responsibility
and his son TKV Desikachar, the vedantic pends on the intention, which conceived were to become a conscientious movement
form of Yoga puts greater emphasis on the the action in question. and not mere lip-service, and if all profit-
concepts of detachment and Kaivalya. Celibacy, for example, isn’t necessarily able organizations were to focus on CSR
Conversely, Tantra, a much misunder- a virtue but a tool, which is voluntarily
stood and much maligned form of yogic undertaken to avoid distraction and dis-
expression which has spawned its own ar- sipation of energy during certain practices,
chipelago of yogic philosophies, has a very which in some cases could last a lifetime. A
different approach to life and its challenges. soldier, on the other hand, could be waging
Tantric philosophy is extremely comprehen- war for a variety of reasons. A mercenary
sive and offers a perspective about every is inspired by monetary incentives, a jehadi

There is a lot more that yoga has to offer to

the world than just the ubiquitous ideal of a
bearded face peering through an assortment
of limbs arranged with the randomness of a
Salvador Dali painting
August-October 2005 79 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication
 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Yoga helps one maintain and best nature, and more importantly, use
it effectively to counter the stresses of a
equanimity and poise competitive environment and not let it af-
that provides the fect either our psyche or our successes.
fortitude to keep us The profundity and beauty of yoga has
only just begun to dawn on our modern
anchored civilization, but it holds many wonderful
to the values and promises that could alleviate the suffering
attitudes that this world endures at not just an indi-
vidual or organizational level, but perhaps
even at a global level. Every yogic treatise
without flinching from the rigors of the holds out the promise of Siddhis, or mi-
task, not only would global societies benefit raculous powers, for instance. While many
tremendously from the movement, but even may choose to doubt the true potential
the businesses themselves would benefit of these powers, and question the valid-
from the broader market base that would be ity of these promises at a literal, physical
a natural corollary of the aforementioned The world of business has drawn hu- level, the truth remains, that even on a
social developments. man resource benefits from the practice metaphorical plane, the philosophy and
Yogic philosophy can obviously benefit of asanas and meditation techniques for practice of yoga can benefit our lives and
organizations and groups through spiritual over a decade now. Yogasanas, pranayama enrich the quality of our contributions to
and intellectual guidance and synergized and yoga nidra techniques have become de not just society and family but most im-
practices, but in essence, yoga is an indi- rigueur for stress management sessions in portantly, to ourselves.
ALTERNATE HR John Friend

vidual practice and its greatest benefits are boardrooms and recreation lounges from
reserved for the individual who can absorb New York to New Delhi. But the potential True yoga lies not in gymnastics, breath or
the quintessential spirit of this great and benefits of yoga and tantra go far beyond fate,
ancient body of work that has retained its the physical. In fact, the greatest benefit But the compassion that lives in the heart of
sense of purpose and relevance for thou- that a regular yoga practice could bestow every soul;
sands of years. on its practitioners is a profound under- For it is the ability to love in the face of hate,
standing of one’s sense of self and the abil- That makes a person complete and
ity to retain that sense of self in the face of whole n

extreme pressures that might consistently

challenge it. John Friend is one of the most charismatic
Every business executive and agent of and highly respected hatha yoga teachers
commerce has to face up to situations that in the world. Blending an uplifting Tantric
inspire negativity and aggression and con- yoga philosophy with an entertaining sense
front his faith in himself and his desire to of humor and a profound knowledge of bio-
remain faithful to his intentions of retain- mechanics, John’s teaching style guides each
ing his sense of self. It is under such trying student to live every moment fully from the
circumstances, for instance, when one has heart. Students often comment in amaze-
to counter rudeness, aggression, ineptitude ment that they can perform their yoga poses
or acute lethargy in those who share our under John’s guidance with a level of creative
immediate environment and impact it freedom and inner power. Above all, John
in ways that impinge on our sphere respects and honors his students with a great
of influence, that yoga helps one deal of loving-kindness and inspires them
maintain equanimity and poise to see their own unique beauty and divine
and provides the fortitude that goodness. In 1997 John founded Anusara
keeps us anchored to the val- Yoga to promote his innovative vision. Today,
ues and attitudes that define Anusara Yoga is one of the most popular
us and reduce the dissonance and fastest growing schools of hatha yoga in
between our attitude and our North America with an expanding presence
behavior. in the UK, Europe, Japan and Australia
Thus, a regular practice John Friend can be reached at www.anu-
will help us identify our true sara.com

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 80 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Success
Redefined
Meet the man behind India’s rising KPO sector, Ashish Gupta By Meghna Yadav

“B
y 2010, the KPO industry real challenge now lies in capitalizing on ing point of view to explain in this regard.
should touch a figure of 17 the first mover advantage that Evalueserve He says, “If there is no ambiguity that means
billion dollars globally; out of has acquired. Besides achieving excellence you have a set process, set system which
which India will have a lion’s share of about in providing quality research, Evalueserve people can plug and play. If people can
12 billion dollars. This is certainly a very recognizes the importance of leadership as plug and play then effectively you are not
high growth rate but yet the BPO industry is being the key driving force for the success managing anything. You are merely part of
going to easily surpass even these figures”, of any organisation. An enigmatic leader a system which is self managed. Whenever

LOCUS FOCUS Ashish Gupta

proudly exclaims Ashish Gupta, COO and himself having established the foundation you are managing something you necessar-
Country Head of Evalueserve. which Evalueserve proudly boasts of today, ily have to manage some uncertainty be
Ashish’s contribution to the off shoring Ashish believes that a leader’s thought lead- it clients, projects, processes, cash flows,
industry is exhibited by the fact that he ership coupled with his ability to lead by quality, technological obsolescence etc. So
has successfully created the third largest example and to be able to smell the smoke whenever you have to manage uncertainty
party KPO company in the world in a small before the fire breaks out is what makes you need to have that ‘thought leadership’,
time-frame of only four years. Today, Eval- him effective. that pre emptive nature, communication
ueserve is a globally acclaimed research ser- In Ashish’s view, all managers need to power while possessing that client servic-
vices organisation with over 750 full time be leaders but all leaders may not be good ing mindset.”
research professionals providing business, managers. He believes that in order to be a And it just does not end with Ashish,
market and investment research, data ana- successful manager, one needs to be a great because at Evalueserve, they believe in cre-
lytics and intellectual property to clients’ leader. In the corporate world, leadership & ating the right platform to further nurture
world over. management are irreplaceable. Ultimately leaders within every employee. A high level
Driven by a vision to achieve continuous what is leadership? It is nothing but the abil- of leadership potential in the employees
growth in the future, he believes that the ity to manage ambiguity! He has an interest- is an essential skill set at Evalueserve. Its
high growth rate commands the need for
self initiated leaders at every level and
therefore every Evalueserve employee is
required to take on leadership roles very
early. Thus, an ideal job fit would be de-
fined as self starters, who are able to take
on initiative and work in an ambiguous
environment along with the drive to chase
targets in a high growth environment. The
ability to break intellectual bottlenecks and
provide perspectives is what defines an
Evalueserve employee.
According to Ashish, there is only one
single bottleneck which is similar to any
company be it a BPO or a KPO and that
is its people. The industry does not suffer
from any regulatory constraint, techno-

August-October 2005 81 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

THE HUMAN FACTOR

to align quality in the strongest way pos-

The key parameters of an Evalueserve sible. According to Ashish, misalignments
team is transparency and teamwork i.e. happen when things go wrong. He does
everybody knows everything and at the agree that it is impossible to have a situ-
ation where things do not go wrong but
end, we want the team to win and not an then again it is only in such times that the
individual, within a team, to win. challenge of alignment is tested, i.e. how
to align the organisation’s objectives with
logical constraint or market constraint and Looking within ourselves, the things we that of its individuals especially while the
the value proposition is also very attrac- pride ourselves on are our meritocracy. The organisation is going through a bad phase.
tive. But it is only the people bottleneck way people are evaluated and the way they And Evalueserve ensures this is done by
which is so evidently visible right now and are promoted, its all based on one’s merit, having town hall meetings, giving constant
which has started surfacing recently. We therefore there is no other criteria other updates on the company’s performance to
will have a shortage of quality people in than performance which defines the exis- everybody, giving recognition to people in
the near future. It is unfortunate that even tence of any employee. At the same time, a public way, communicating openly with
though we produce 2 million graduates a another commendable feature at Evalue- the employees as to what sort of behav-
year yet 80% of them would not qualify serve is the growth path which it defines for ior is expected and what sort of behavior
as quality people, we produce 30,000 en- its employees i.e. how fast can they grow is rewarded. Evalueserve has systems in
gineers a year, same. We produce more as well as the culture of the organisation place where they encourage having career
than 100,000 MBAs a year but again it which assures a transparent relationship managers for their employees who are like
is difficult to find the right people. These between all and deep appreciation for friends, mentors and guides. Their key role
statistics lead us to an obvious implication people’s efforts in their daily work lives. is to make sure that the alignment is always
that there is perhaps something lacking in There is need to maintain a balance as on maintained i.e. if somebody wants to do
the way we nurture and train our future one hand, we can’t afford to have consistent something else or they are getting bored of
workforce. Ashish sees this is a big op- levels of bad performance but on the other a project such issues will get surfaced very
erational challenge especially at the back- hand, we also have to be realistic about quickly. Evaluserve boasts of its grandfather
end i.e. how do we get so many people how quickly a person can learn. system of mentoring wherein a person is
here at the backend who are of the right The key parameters of an ideal team the mentor of two levels under him.
quality?Quite unlike many, Ashish does at Evaluserve are transparency among the At Evaluserve, there are two impor-
not see China as a threat and he has his team members i.e. everybody knows what tant HR aspects to fight the Indian mind-
reasons. His views about China are per- is going on at all points of time which is fol- set of changing jobs every two years and
haps a little different from those who are lowed by teamwork i.e. we want the team it is surprising how 60-70% people make
so skeptical that the Chinese population to win & not an individual to win within career choices based on wrong or incom-
may overtake India even when it comes to a team. Teamwork cannot be successful if plete information or peer pressure. One
the KPO industry. However, the challenge there is no proper plan or framework and is to enforce their initial cultural training
from China in non-voice based processes continuous feedback forms the backbone program so that people see a connectedness
is a possibility but if you look at the BPO of an excellent team. Similarly, there are with the culture of the organisation. And
industry in India, more than 90% of it is project plans, deliverables which are pre- the second objective is to have leadership
voice based. So India really does not need defined by the individual and constant development for which they monitor the
to fear much from any likely threat from monitoring about how these deliverables performance of top 80-100 people in order
China. To put it simply, “I don’t lose my are being delivered, which ultimately to know as to understand what needs to be
sleep today because china is gearing up. ensures quality work. told to them to make them effective leaders
Another 10 years from now, maybe, but Today, the rat race for survival is to of tomorrow.
this is something we will have to address at become ‘global leaders’ and Evaluserve is With such futuristic plans in plan, Eval-
that point of time. The only thing we have already a very sought after name and has userve seems to be set for a superlative
to do is to maintain our competitiveness as an established global presence. They have growth and would perhaps grow at an
a nation which can be made possible only recognized that the one parameter which even faster rate than predicted. They are
by significantly beefing up our higher edu- needs to be aligned in the strongest way for definitely looking at a sparkling future as
cation system. And by significant, I mean them to emerge as the global leader is qual- a globally renowned IPO as Ashish Gupta
significant, not a minor improvement here ity. If they do it they will be able to grow would further reaffirm, “We strive to grow
and there. So if we are able to take care of fast and if the company is growing fast they successfully and profitably without any
those then things like threat from China will have much bigger and greater roles to compromise in quality standards that we
become a non- issue.” play in the future. They recognize the need have established” n

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 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Effective
Leadership
Avaya Globalconnect’s Niru Mehta discloses the power of
effective leadership. By Meghna Yadav

A
n alumni of the Wharton School in synchrony and also, how to swim back on to stay with Bell Labs even as it spun off
of Management, University of incase he gets dislodged from the canoe. from AT&T to become the R&D arm of Lu-
Pennsylvania, USA, Niru Mehta So automatically, the skills required are cent Technologies. He was also the pioneer
is today the man behind Avaya much more than that of the crew members in establishing Tata Telecom in India while
Global as it sets out to mark the ‘new Era of the giant ship. he was a member of the Lucent Manage-
of Intelligent Communication’. The Manag- He emphasizes on the fact that the dy- ment Team which took on the responsi-
ing Director and Vice Chairman of Avaya namics of business having changed, it is bility of defining a joint venture with the
Globalconnect Ltd and Avaya India Ltd. important for us to own every piece of the Tatas in India. His priceless contribution
Niru Mehta is the bridge between the glob- puzzle that needs to come together for the to the world of communication is his book
al technological leadership of Avaya with organisation to have a complete picture on hardware development practices called
Avaya Globalconnect’s extensive domestic and operate successfully. “Hardware Inspections”.

LOCUS FOCUS Niru Mehta

presence to bring world communication for A master of perfection, Niru Mehta As much he has established himself as
Indian business. identifies the need to change perspectives an expert in the world of IP telephony and
And the secret behind his continuous suc- and leadership styles while operating in an communications, Niru Mehta’s secret of his
cess is his belief in the power of effective environment in India or abroad. His success success and popularity lies in his expert un-
leadership. He sees leadership more as a tool is reflected in his expert ability of having derstanding about the human factor and its
for inspiring confidence and re-emphasizing a super coordinated understanding of his behaviour. Although he agrees there are situ-
the vision of the organisation. As a leader people as well as his business. His mantra to ations where it is essential to have watertight
himself, he describes his role in Avaya as initiate excellence in his people’s efforts lies job descriptions, he would rather that his
being the inspiring confidence in his people. in the leaders’ ability to know what excites people own up to the end objective, instead of
Considering the growing importance of IP and motivates employees in the geographi- merely owning up to the means to the end.
telephony, Avaya today stands on a very un- cal area one is operating in. A challenging personality ever ready
predictable growth path. In such a scenario, And to understand what does it take to make things happen despite all odds,
it becomes imperative for each member to to meticulously manage such a growing Niru Mehta personifies passion, dedica-
be prepared to lead the organisation out of venture so successfully, we have to look tion, commitment and the drive to create
all probable crisis situations. into what all has gone into creating this excellence. n

According to Niru Mehta, the scenario ‘Getafix’ in the world

today has much changed from being one gi- of IP telephony. Much
ant ship where one person was the captain beyond his academic
and everyone else had their own defined background, he has
roles to play, to being the days of canoes gained much a lot
which are going down the stream and everything during
where all members have to row together his many years in
and in synchrony. Niru’s differentiating the industry across
view of how an organisation should func- the globe. He joined
tion today in order to survive in the midst AT&T Bell Labs in the
of unpredictable competition and growth, USA in 1982. He led
is to form an organisation of people where the development of
each have the necessary skills which are the latest platforms
not restricted to a particular job. The rower for cutting edge-com-
should first of all know how to row, how munications solutions
to keep pace with the other canoes and be for 15 years and went

August-October 2005 83 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Leadership
Ensemble
Lessons in leadership inspired from a ‘leaderless’
TOOL BOX Leadership Ensemble

orchestra! By Rajlakshmi Saikia

I
t is a fascinating breakthrough as Lead- ‘one leader’. Likewise, an orchestra is a cians’ which is a radical innovation in the
ership Ensemble reflects how music band of musicians usually being led by world of orchestra.
seeks to draw parallels with the cor- ‘one conductor’. Musicians need the space to bring out
porate world. While the world of business Orpheus is a system which reflects the excellence in their artistic expression. And
and management tries to figure out the importance of democracy at work. Un- quite contrary to this need is what forms
right concoction for a good leader, the Or- like other orchestras where a conductor the backbone of an orchestra where a con-
pheus Chamber Orchestra tells us how the takes the lead, Orpheus has a strong and ductor seldom leaves any such scope for
corporate world could perhaps learn more deep rooted democratic tradition which creativity beyond the musical notes that he
about effective leadership from this unique believes in giving each musician a right deems right. Quite like in an orchestra, the
concept of a conductor-less orchestra. concept of leadership in the corporate
Through Leadership Ensemble, Harvey
Seifter, Executive Director, Orpheus
At the Orpheus world has been misunderstood many
a times. Although most organisations
Chamber Orchestra and Peter Econo- Chamber recognize the need for good leadership
my discuss the lessons in collaborative on organisations in order to achieve
management from the only conductor- Orchestra, each excellence, there are still many which
less orchestra in the world. member takes on are yet to create the right environment
The concept behind Orpheus to nurture leadership. It is like asking
Chamber Orchestra is reflected in the responsibility a musician to create music and at the
its renowned popularity as being a
leaderless orchestra. But not having
upon himself same time giving him the exact notes
to play.
a conductor is not as astonishing as to create high The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
the fact that this ensemble actually
leaves its reins in the hands of ‘all to
quality music has developed an alternate model
which prevents an orchestra from
lead’ and create quality music. being the antithesis to a musician’s
Leadership is about giving a directional to voice his/her opinion and initiate their ability to showcase his artistic talent. Lead-
pathway to others and as we all under- individualistic patterns of creating music. ership Ensemble brings forth ‘The Orpheus
stand, in a team there is place for only The system focuses on ‘empowering musi- Process’ which defines the concept of or-

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 84 August-October 2005

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

chestral leadership which seeks to eliminate leadership responsibility in response to the can make optimum utilisation of the cre-
the role of the conductor and divide the organisational (Orpheus) needs and the ative talent that thrives in an orchestra.
responsibilities among the twenty-seven unique demands of each piece of music. The Orpheus process has undergone
members of the orchestra. The Orpheus The process is such that each member is layers of refinement while carving out its
process nurtures many leaders within required to become a leader at a given point three-decade success story. It has tried
an orchestra where individual musicians in order to ensure that the Orpheus Cham- to keep itself open and unrestricted so
constantly rotate formal leadership roles ber Orchestra is able to create and sustain as to make the most of the vast creative
while others spontaneously take on ad hoc a unique ‘multi-leadered organisation’ that talent and to consistently and efficiently
transfer the collective creativity of a
small, four-piece chamber
music group into the much
larger setting of an orches-
tra. The orchestra works
on a very meticulously laid
down process involving clear
identification of the various
means for developing leaders,
strategies, the music (i.e. the
product), perfecting the prod-
uct and finally delivering the
product (the Music).
The focal point of the Or-
pheus process are the musi-
cians themselves. The work of
this system is defined by the
tremendous power and author-
ity enjoyed by the musicians
throughout the organisation,
rather than by the absence of
a conductor. Here, the musi-
cians call the shots and each
one is as responsible for run-
ning the orchestra as they are
to create music. The structure
of Orpheus reflects the power
of musicians throughout the
organisation. The members
of the orchestra elect rotat-
ing representatives who serve
in the management structure
and on the board of
trustees.
The Orpheus
process and the or-
chestra’s success are
founded on eight core
principles which draw
parallels with the way lead-
ership works in corporations.
Interestingly, what defines the
success story of the Orpheus
Chamber Orchestra is the fact
that it works as an organisation

August-October 2005 85 | An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication

 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Seek Consensus (and Build Creative

Orpheus emphasises the Structures that Favor Consensus)

importance of passion and The Orpheus process identifies the impor-

tance of having a clear and an unanimous
how passion is the key drive for path or manner of getting things done. If
there is consensus among the members
every musical and every business of the organisation, it is half the battle
won. It highlights the significance of main-
decision made taining a clearly defined path or the role
of a process-chart to undertake any task
of people which emphasizes the role of Create Clarity of Roles along with effective mechanisms in place
people and human behaviour in the success This principle strives to remove the one to counter deadlocks.
of any task at the hands of an organisation. element in organisations which often hin-
The authors have studied and defined how ders growth and success, that is, employee Dedicate Passionately to Your Mis-
these eight core principles which drive the conflict. Orpheus proposes the principle of sion
Orpheus process can also form an integral creating clarity of roles so as to extract all Quite apparent to us simpleton, it takes
part of an organisation’s success today. probable ambiguity from the system and more than mere skills to create such worthy
The book progresses as the authors therefore create an organisational environ- work of art, and likewise excellence in any
try to unfold the eight principles followed ment where each member knows what is endeavour requires one to be passionately
by Orpheus which could perhaps form a expected of him/her. involved with the task. Orpheus emphasizes
platform for nurturing leaders even in the the importance of passion and how passion
TOOL BOX Leadership Ensemble

corporate world. Having worked with or- Share and Rotate Leadership is the key drive for every musical and every
ganisations like J.P Morgan Chase, the Ritz- A unique principle which is the core dif- business decision made.
Carlton Hotel Company, the San Diego Zoo ferentiator for Orpheus and the reason be- A laudable feature of Leadership En-
and Intel, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra hind its tremendous success is that Orpheus semble is that the authors have not only
shows how implementing these principles encourages every member to lead at some given us the principles derived from the
can lead to creating efficient world class point in time. It believes that every member world of a conductor less orchestra, but
organisations.. has some value in him/her and therefore by they have also successfully established con-
The eight Orpheus principles which sharing and rotating leadership, organisa- nections between the two worlds of music
have been the secret behind so many suc- tions can benefit from the unique skills and and business in their quest to enable us to
cess stories so far are: experiences of each individual which most invigorate the much required passion to
often gets left behind and unnoticed. excel. Orpheus, besides its three-decade
Put Power in the Hands of the People long experience in defining its principles
Doing the Work Foster horizontal teamwork and its methods of working, has already
Just as the best music can be produced Orpheus works on the principle of cross proved its mettle by successfully bring-
when each musician is given the power and organisational teams which enables the ing about revolutionary change in various
freedom to express his/ her creativity, an system to foster a wide range of personal world class organisations.
organisation also needs to create an envi- expertise as well as individual responsi- Finally, the Orpheus process is a sys-
ronment which will allow it to realize its bility. Over time, Orpheus has discovered tem that has demonstrated its capacity
creative talent to its optimum level. Power how teams with individual as well as group to sustain dynamic equilibrium between
and decision making authority is exercised authority reduces the time taken to make individual freedom and the imperative of
throughout Orpheus thereby unleashing informed decisions and thus ensuring that cooperation in a variety of challenging en-
a great deal of energy onstage as well as each and every member works in a condu- vironments. It has been able to evolve a
behind the scenes. cive manner to achieve the organisation’s system which is conducive to the real time
collective goals. need where all organisations need to deal
Encourage Individual Responsibility with the one constant, i.e. change and the
Quite talked about in the management Learn to Listen, Learn to talk challenges that accompany change! n
world, the importance of individual re- Orpheus defines how an organisation can
sponsibility along with authority has been be successful if it learns to listen actively This article is a summary of the concepts
re-emphasized by the Orpheus. At the Or- and speak directly and with honesty. At brought forward by Harvey Seifter, Executive
pheus Chamber Orchestra, each member the Orpheus Chamber, the power of ‘open Director of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
takes on the responsibility upon himself to communication’ is identified as the key to and Peter Economy in their book “Leader-
create high quality music. achieving organisational excellence. ship Ensemble”.

An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 86 August-October 2005

THE HUMAN FACTOR

rethink edify delineate

IIPM - Think Tank

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Who we are.. What we believe.. What we do..

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An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | August-October 2005
 THE HUMAN FACTOR

But, Seriously...
By Annu
BUT SERIOUSLY

Is the net-work-ing?!!!
An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication | 88 August-October 2005
 THE HUMAN FACTOR

THE INDISPENSABLE FACTOR

THE HUMAN FACTOR

August-October 2005, Volume 2 Issue 1 Rs 250 www.iipmpublications.com

TEAMS
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