BW Communities

Hearticulate Purpose

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[Fascinated by the Socratic dialogue between Acharya Vineetji and the class of curious students, I could not help coining a term, ‘hearticulating', for Acharya's drawing parellels from Vedic management goes beyond articulating! The scene at Parmeet's company is a classic case of Dilbert's comedy at work — the roles of CEO, Parmeet's manager and HR well representing the Dilberts, Dogberts and the Catberts! Thankfully, Vedic scriptures offer solace and solutions, if only modern managers care to seek wisdom from them. That the dharma at work is neither well understood, nor aptly practised is evident from the discussions on performance management. Vineetji simplifies the dharma by breaking it into simple components when he says, "a yagna is a collective effort to make an offering to the Gods, either to just give or to also get". This brings home two key lessons for those in management — (a) synergy is possible when all of us bring our knowledge and skills into doing our duty; and (b) we can accomplish a lot more when we do not worry too much about "who gets the credit". Vedic management as explained by Vineetji also clarifies the need to understand the goal, the role and the contribution from time to time. Unfortunately, modern organisations have veered away for various reasons from building performance on these foundations! First, appraisal ratings are not curved at the organisational level, but usually at the departmental level which then shapes the organisation's curve. Second, line managers are not expected to share the ratings with their direct reports until normalisation is completed. Foremost, employees should be helped to understand the difference between absolute and relative performance towards the larger goal of the team. And finally, the annual pay raises are not always a function of ratings, but several other factors including the criticality of employee, current penetration into the salary band, etc. Finally, what caps it all is Parmeet choosing to sue the company, which is rarely ever the case even in today's litigant society and mercenary employer-employee relationships that we witness everywhere. Good organisations provide an escalation procedure for employees to air their dissatisfaction and flexibility is often built in to accommodate an extra outstanding rating. What is evident from the discussion is that as Vineetji points out, there seems to be "perfect clutter" and not an "iota of clarity" on how the performance management system is administered in the company. We see no Vedic management, but wasteful mismanagement! When Vineetji expands the horizons of our understanding saying, "duty is also enabling perfection through our inner attitude and integrity", we appreciate the need for creating the engaging organisations through right HR systems and managerial mindsets. When leaders own the accountability for creating the right climate, employees move from ‘willing compliance' to ‘cheerful cooperation' and finally to the pinnacle of performance characterised by ‘creative excitement'. This needs beyond systems that measure performance (what people can't do or don't do), to systems that measure contribution (what people can do and are capable of doing). As Vineetji points out, ancient kings had the benefit of wisdom of the rishis. In modern organisations, HR leaders have this responsibility to design safeguards just in case the systems are circumvented to the disadvantage of the conscientious contributors by either the uninformed or malicious managers. In either case, the impact is on the employee, whose motivation gets substantially sabotaged. In the corporate world, the punishment follows right away in the form of a talented employee choosing to leave the manager and the organisation, and invest his efforts elsewhere. It is also interesting to watch the dialogue where a student asks "who decides what is expected of you" and another quips, "from whose standpoint is expectation measured". Vineetji's response is equally philosophical when he says: "If you are in the right place and you are there consciously, actively, having chosen to be there, and you know why you are there, then there is a certain expectation that devolves upon you by virtue of your being in that spot, in that coordinate of time and space." This has enormous implication for people in organisations as this puts the onus on each of us to choose where we want to be and once we have chosen and found our place, to do our best as our dharma. The message is loud and clear — be aware and be responsible. Dharma is to be fully engaged and delivering our very best, not stay on when we recognise we are actively disengaged. C. Mahalingam is executive vice-president & chief people officer with Symphony Services Corporation (This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 02-01-2012)