Sawant was a brilliant performer
in his college. In the premier institute of technology, he was recognized for
his innovative approach to his projects and critical appreciation of some of
the prevailing concepts in his subject. No wonder, he got a placement in an
automobile international as an engineer with specific directive for
interventional remediation in processes. The shop floor he worked was
controlled by certain standard operating procedures and he found that he had to
just follow the lines in the procedural outlines given to him. A fortnight
after he joined, he remarked to his boss “I think the shop floor is too noisy
because of the noise from the huge exhaust fan and something needs to be done.”
The boss replied “I have been living with it for a decade, you need to get
accustomed.”
Sawant studied the problem and
returned to the boss saying “I think the load on the fan is too high because of
its placement and there are two ways we can solve them.” The boss smiled and
said “Have you gone through the SOP given to you? Just follow that. Don’t worry
about other things. Being too smart might land you in a problem.” Sawant felt
humiliated. He thought he has got into a wrong place. “No one wants to think
differently. Rather they are not allowed to. The focus is only on maintaining
production line and ensure defined delivery levels.”
Sawant is not alone in such
professional predicaments. There are a number of organizations with closed
systems, closed thinking, exclusive focus on routine maintenance and they don’t
let innovative and enterprising people to demonstrate their competencies.
The story of Leena is not much
different. Leena was a team lead in the backend of an investment bank. Her job
was more like the leader of a watchdog group looking at market trends alongside
input offers given to the managers of companies who had investment interests in
the company. Her boss had excellent PR
qualities and commanded leadership and respect among the clients. “Leena, you
are a baby in the business. Just wait and watch things for a year or two. You
will learn on the job. The most important thing is – don’t question what your
seniors are doing and deciding.” Leena was very uncomfortable with this
suggestion as she was looking for challenges and always wondered ‘why not the
other way?’
A month later, Leena approached
Frederick, her boss “Fred, you know there is a bug in the system. The discount
collections by this method over the last few years doesn’t appear to be in tune
with the logistics. If you work it out, the company would have lost nearly a
million dollars. Can you have a look at it?”
Fred laughed so much which was almost
insulting to Leena. “Leena. Loss of a million dollars? That too, under my supervision?
Listen, if any one had noted such a thing at any level, I would have lost the
job. Listen, don’t waste your time on such investigations. Think forward.”
Persistent approaches of Leena to
other levels revealed that she was right and the method applied had overlooked
some inputs and hence the loss the company could have suffered was a few
million dollars. But the organizational hierarchy was so rigid that Leena
didn’t even get a word of appreciation, but soon was transferred to another
department.
Many organizations do not value
the challenges to established procedures and systems, especially if it comes
from the new comers.
Organizations need to have a well
laid out table for periodic review of existing processes, procedures and
practices by a team – with a good blend of the experienced and the challenging.
Newer perspectives, integration of emerging technologies, optimization of
resources, management of waste, re-engineering of the administrative mechanisms
– are but a few ways an organization grows in changing world dynamics.
Shweta’s classrooms were always
engaging. The students enjoyed her classrooms and were indeed looking for her
presence. “Shweta, Just follow the lesson plan given to you. You need to
complete the syllabus.” The school Head
remarked. “But madam, the children are just enjoying while they learn.”
“Sorry. You don’t have a degree
in teaching. You will not understand. Children have to enjoy what we do, and we
need to follow the set procedures. “
The burden of theories learnt by some
bosses and their past experience outweighes the pragmatic approach of others in
a number of cases. In many organizations, the belief system that wisdom always
hangs around those with experience and hence any new entrant with a different
paradigm of thinking is considered incompetent or out of focus. Organizational
dynamics needs to be infuse fresh paradigms of thinking from time to time, by
facilitating non-linear thinking into conventional modes, of course, with built
in safe-guards for sustained growth.
Welcoming new thoughts, new human
resources and new paradigms in any organization calls for an open mind ready
enough to change.
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