Sujoy Mitta read the news item in The Eco Times with surprise. Old memories came back cascading. His ex-boss at Kippol India Arjun Sinha was back in the news.Sujoy was the country manager of Arcola & Co, a firm of management consultants. Arcola had set up shop in India recently headquartering in Delhi. The firm had also hired its second partner, Kapil Raman, who was to look after the marketing vertical.Heading Arcola's HR activities in India was Duleep Singh, who had been with Sujoy at Kippol. Calling him now, Sujoy said, "Did you see the Eco Times today? Arjun has been acquitted in the sexual harassment case. Unprecedented and unusual judgement too… Yes, it's on page 4. Gosh! Five long years and it ruined his career! Oh.. nothing in the report. But I am told she was inconsistent in her allegations and the defence swung using that as handle. But I also know that there being no serious law on sexual harassment (SH), the case must have fizzled out. Can you come over? We need to talk..."Entering, Duleep said, "A moment of emotional aberration cannot be dissected with the precision of logic or law. Do you recall Parvati Marar, the audit trainee at Kippol? GK was her boss. He used to play word games with her on email, send her five words daily and ask her to explain their meanings to him. She said, one out of the five was invariably a sexually provocative word. She had shown me the mails." Sujoy: Wow! GK? I didn't know! What did you advise her?Duleep: I asked her to kill him, but she decided to quit. But seriously, she took it up with Nazneen Shroff, the head of internal audit. But Shroff was too shocked to move on it. Parvati said, "Nothing's to be had screaming murder. And if this is Shroff's response, I don't see a future for Kippol. I am a happy person and don't waste time with life's perversions!"Sujoy: This is the problem. Kippol's systems do not inspire confidence. Men, too, need to know that the system is fair. The key word is ‘fairness', Duleep. My brother's colleague, chap called Hemant, in marketing was sacked. The wife of another colleague, Dasgupta, complained that Hemant made a pass at her at an office party. Nobody believed it. Hemant, they said, could be accused of many things, but not of making a pass at another man's wife! There was no process that he could resort to for support and defence.This news about Arjun today has opened old sores and I have been thinking. When Arjun's case happened, Kippol panicked. Kippol did not conclude the case simply because the company had no thought, let alone a policy on SH. Asking Arjun to go was easy because: a) it helped project Kippol as a gender-sensitive organisation; and b) Arjun had no process to take support from —and this part is very critical. The environment is usually willing to give the woman the benefit of the doubt.If Kippol had a policy, it would have already communicated a certain expectation of behaviour from its employees. Therefore, I feel even more strongly that a start-up, like ours, which is committed to clean practices, must define its ethos upfront. Management of the business demands governance of the resources too.It is clear now that with very little in terms of litigation support, both victim and aggressor have to rely on company policy and procedure.Arcola needs to begin by promulgating on the behaviour of women as well. In a world that had until now left the onus of proving purity on the man, Arcola can say: If you do not report even a doubt of sexual harassment within the day of its occurance, we, as an organisation, will not address it. So I want us to fix the malady at two levels: a) Defining harassment, and b) Window within which the SH matter should be addressed or reported.I am redefining SH drastically. It does not have to be only about even an allusion to favours or an attraction... it can be as simple as harassing the gender using social conditioning and traits. For example, a woman can be harassed by being made to work late knowing that it will come in the way of her duty to her infant or children... yes?Duleep: Yes — it stems from this desire to dominate.Sujoy: Correct. Then I am also saying that it is not just the action, but even a perception of an action (and never mind the intention) as being sexually oppressive or offensive can constitute harassment. So, if an action of an individual is perceived as harassment, then that makes it so. What this means is, we operate a little ‘sooner'. Take the case of Parvati Marar that you mentioned today. GK can take the stance that he was not intending to sexually harass, but if Parvati perceives that his actions or words were sexually harassing or offensive, then it will be declared sexual harassment. var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') } Duleep: Let's get Kapil on this as well, since he has just come on board. Kapil, who headed Arcola's marketing practice, mulled over Sujoy's suggestion, but felt that this kind of strict directing was going to restrict healthy camaraderie and free play among teams. "What that does then is that everyone has to weigh his words, watch what he is saying… No?"Sujoy: Yes; it's time we brought caution into our thought, word and deed. Then again, this is about those people who loosen their tongue to test or tease the waters, if I may say so.Kapil: I agree, Sujoy. Now I look at it from Arcola's image point of view, what does a sexual harassment suit tell about us, the company? Not a secure working atmosphere for women, no sensitivity in management towards women.Duleep: There is a lot at stake here. The PR debacle that is bound to follow when a SH suit comes out in the open — think Penguin Publishing, think HP, think David Jones!Kapil: And the loss to the brand image! We will be known as the consulting firm against whom a SH suit was filed, and not as one that produces great strategy or solutions! It is an unpleasant diversion in the brand image.Duleep: Let us ask Amai in on this ideation. A woman's perspective will give the policy the right balance...Amai, a senior consultant, was amused. "See, everyone wants gender sensitivity and whatnot, but understand it takes a lot of emotional and spiritual stamina to be gender sensitive. "Most companies think ‘taking care' means opening doors for her or offering her a chair. Taking care only means being inclusive. Organisations have built-in callous attitudes when faced with a woman with a difficulty: ‘you were the one who wanted to go to business school, you wanted to get into sales, now you put up with it like a ‘real man'! "Even at interviews they ask: ‘Are you sure you can handle sales?' Hey, you want me in sales, make sure you create an environment that is appropriate for me. Companies, that is, men who make up companies, think they should rough up their women to justify her recruitment, to turn them into ‘strong men'."So, yes, there is confusion in gender treatment. Organisations begin with wanting diversity, gender sensitivity, but wring their hands when women refuse to be changed into strong men! The general approach is this: ‘Rough her up, send her to tough markets and make her take state transport buses…'. Of course, we can do all that, but how does that prove anything to you? That's my question. So a SH policy? Only if we have men with guts of steel, please."Sujoy: I have seen how unproductive and wasteful and stupid it is to spend your energies fighting a man who may or may not have harassed a woman. Now if he has, then I am going to have to jump up and down to appease the woman and make her see that we are a women-friendly and a safe organisation, which, in any case, after one SH episode, I won't be able to prove... Then again, if the man has not harassed the woman, I will have a horrendous time proving to the media and the internal audience that, no, this guy is clean. Kapil: Bluntness is what is needed. Sack the man, give the lady a written apology, compensation, apologise to her and all the female employees in your organisation, to all your consumers, shareholders — tell them what action you have taken; hire a reputed consultant for a company policy on SH, take all employees through a week of training, invite other women to come forward if they felt harassed in any way, ... stuff like that.Sujoy: Correct, so I am deciding that we will place responsibilities where they belong.Kapil: It is about taking responsibility and making that aspect into a marketing initiative, Sujoy, like J&J did with Tylenol. So, you bite the bullet; but go through such a drastic transformation that you stand to become the most friendly workplace for women! It is a matter of great joy for a large corporation to take accountability and change itself with the very same efficiency that it conducts business.Sujoy: Yes, but would I ever know which of the two parties are speaking the truth? And should I be spending time on laundering my employees' personal perversions? What I would rather do is make it clear that if there is even a perception of harassment, out goes the man. Ditto for the women: if any action of yours or words you speak are perceived as dishonestly made, or based on perception and conditioning and not facts, out you go too. Thus, no man will act before thinking; and no woman will accuse a man of something just to nail him.Amai: That means hiring the right kind of people — the operative word here is ‘right'; and knowing ‘right' is an art and a science! A woman can even sense potential violation from a distance; it is so easy to tell that leery look, that smile — it makes your heart sink! A man's eyes speak his mind.Duleep: Are we getting over-reactive? What if we end up sending the wrong messages that are contrary to gender balance and gender sensitivity? Women may choose not to join Arcola.Sujoy: It is finally about choices, Duleep. Yes, women are at risk; yes, some men are adventurous. But at the end of the day, we have a business to do and my approach is simple: if something obstructs the running of a healthy, happy business, get rid of it. No need to negotiate, navigate, litigate. Have you seen what organisations go through in such situations? Why just SH, even crime, domestic violence, road rage... when these make headlines, the reader first wants to know where the criminal works! And from there they cogitate about the organisation's culture, ethos, sanskaar... It is such a terrible image issue as well! var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') } Therefore, as Amai rightly points out, it comes down to hiring the right kind of people. We will ensure we are taking people who wish to face professional challenges and who have their values in the right place.Kapil: It is important to examine that in most SH cases, the ladies filed complaints rather late — six months after the event. I seriously think a demand must also be made on women to act ethically. There should, for example, be a validity period for filing a complaint. If not, it is tantamount to cunning.Amai: I second that. It is like you did not keep your end of the deal; I waited long enough. Now the trump card is with me. I can invoke it when I realise that it's all ‘give' and no ‘get'. Most cases of delayed cries are deals gone wrong. Yet, technically speaking, she is not ‘wrong' because if after all her offerings, the ‘contract' is not honoured, then it is harassment in disguise. So, it is disgusting behaviour using company resources. Both must go, I agree.As a candidate I will choose Arcola as the policy is very fair and square. So, if I am sexually harassed, I quit or I report immediately, not after six months. I agree; a delay of six months stinks.Sujoy: I am not worried about the corporate image and the ‘aftermath'. I am saying, I am not interested in saving the image. I am interested in creating the image and sustaining it by following process. (‘Saving image' is unethical if you have wronged, by the way.) Kapil: I disagree, Sujoy! We need to worry about the aftermath image as well. By sending out a message that we care enough to go the whole hog, we hold the image of having good governance!Sujoy: Are we in this business to build image? If yes, then we must go for it. But we are not here for that. So let us define who we are and how we wish to be seen. Then we will be all that. If, say, an allegation of SH challenges that position, then the onus of cleaning up will lie between the aggressor and the victim, and the firm will give a very short window in which to resolve it.The point I am also making is that people have to learn to make choices, learn to steel their hearts and bring closure. If Arjun Sinha's case were to happen at Arcola, the rule would deem that the complainant should report the SH within 24 hours of it occurring. If you don't, it does not exist; if you come back after six months and say, ‘but he did that to me', it won't work.Amai: What's with the 24-hour deadline? I will take at least a week to think straight after being sexually harassed! Sujoy: That's what I am saying. You, the victim, has to be able to steel your heart and ask yourself: as a woman, I am vulnerable to attack; but as a woman, do I have to be helpless and break down? Arcola is saying: knowing this, you have opted to work in a mixed gender environment. So being shocked and shaken is natural; but being paralysed and broken is out of character. Be prepared: you will get propositioned and harassed, get leery looks; come and report it. We will sack the fellow. If you are devastated and, hence, wish to keep silent; then endure it, deal with it in the head, cast it off, and keep moving.At HR, we, in turn, create classifications of complaints: every lady employee can get three chances to report. Each complaint against the same man can be collected against him such that a woman who comes and says ‘he looked at me with bad eyes' can also say ‘but I do not wish to escalate this complaint but merely record it'. HR can collect complaints and the minute they have two complaints against a man, he goes.On the flip side, if a woman has made five complaints against different men and each of those men have only one complaint against them from her, she must see a counsellor.Also, let us say there is an assessed case of SH. The two parties get a month to bring closure, during which time, they will have to be absent from work. At the end of a month, the one in the wrong should quit.Amai: Fine. I have to report it within 24 hours, but who to? I must get assurance of confidentiality — and no impact on my career! Sujoy: Perfect! We will hire a firm of lawyers or a psychologist who will receive and record complaints and will be bound by a fiduciary clause and they will advise the company on the way forward. Amai, we will set up a consultant lawyer firm. So if a lady knows that this is the environment for her to work with, then she is already comfortable. She knows that rules are in place and they will work with precision, just as there are rules for salary, increments and LTA. Kapil?Kapil: Just that all this is a branding initiative, though it overlaps into HR. I feel this is about creating a brand that treats people fairly and offers an environment of support. So yes, we must have a policy on sexual harassment, but if poised on HR, it will reflect the organisation as built on rules, dos and don'ts. If poised on branding, we deliver a clear image always. Branding speaks for you and your product; HR is grim in appeal.Sujoy: Fascinating! So tell me, how is my brand of consulting going to be impacted when I make this a branding initiative and my brand of services — if I opt for the HR initiative?Duleep: If you chose the HR option, you are going to be seen as a risk-averse organisation, or, at the other extreme — a very rash organisation. Because your staffers are going to be seen as frightened, careful, not-flighty people; they will be seen as people who cannot think differently for fear of being misunderstood...Kapil: In terms of branding, you are saying: I take care of my employees; I clean up my mess in the best possible way; it speaks of humility and a trustworthy personality.Amai: It says that when I encounter something unpleasant or potentially harmful, I don't abandon it and run away or turn my back to it.Kapil: I have taken sexual harassment redressal to a level that most of my competitors have not gone to. So this makes me better than my competitors in a sense — I am more enlightened than them; it is about intangible leadership.Duleep: I just feel rotten about making capital of everything. Sexual harassment is a serious disease in human beings. To leverage that to build equity, feels incorrect. It is ugly and must be regulated, not bandied about like a medal!To be continuedClassroom DiscussionIs the exertion of power weak? Is that why sexual harassment is always covert?casestudymeera at gmail dot com var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') }
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Principal Robert Thangaiah stopped briefly outside room 63. It was 6 am and the boys should be heading for the shower. The exams were to begin at 8 am. Ninth grader Manas Mehta was leaning against his window, his room unlit and quiet. Thangaiah knocked on the open door and stepped in just as Manas turned to look, his eyes red and tearful.Thangaiah sat him on the chair just as Namdev Tripathi, a senior board member of the Green Foundation School, also arrived. Both had read the morning papers. Vaibhav Mehta, chairman of Gimm India, had been arrested in the middle of the night for financial laundering. And there was a picture of Mehta being led away… Manas had mercifully not seen the papers, but he had logged on early morning to do some online math tutorials and saw the Aaj Tak breaking news ticker. In panic and shock, he had run down to the warden's room to call home, and his uncle confirmed the news. Manas had broken down and the warden had called the Principal and Tripathi.Thangaiah searched his heart for words that would make sense. There was a script for loss of a near one, for failure in exams, for a broken heart, for losing a match. But what would you tell a student whose father had been arrested?Sobbing now on seeing his favourite teacher, Manas said to Thangaiah, "Sir, my father is not like that." In the same breath he said, "Sir, is it true that with age one crumbles and yields to corruption? If so, then I want to die young..."Thangaiah's heart lurched in fright, even as he felt the stab of pain that only a son can feel for his father, when Tripathi spoke: "You should not take such a pessimistic view of life. Business is like that. Often it ensnares and traps you, but your father will be OK; the system that he belongs to will provide a way forward." Thangaiah looked Manas in the eye and said, "This moment is going to expect great strength from you. It can diminish you a lot, but it will also come with lessons. Just think of Karna when he learnt of his mother's identity. Some truths liberate us, some truths strengthen us, and some truths prepare us for greater tests. There have been times I felt like dying, much as you do now. But, out of this dying is the higher living. Speak to your mother and give her strength. If she needs you back home, we can work on that. For now, son, gather yourself and continue the day. Take time off to pray."Thangaiah was sad. Such pain and at 14! All he wanted was that his students should have strength of character to be able to withstand all kinds of moral pressure. All those people out there, who manage industries, money markets and banks, have passed through the portal of schools and have been shaped by teachers. Oh God, why does it not sustain!Later in his room, Manas's words assailed him. "Is it true that with age one crumbles and yields to corruption?" How does a school teacher look at a student in later life — on the wrong side of right? I know life holds many a temptation, but is not 12 years under a teacher strong enough to hold the soul together? Do I pray for my students to be protected or do I pray for the world to be safe? Who am I to look at how far my teaching goes? var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') } Thangaiah wandered to his colour-coded post-it board. The number of pinks denoting ‘thoughts to think', far outweighed the yellow ‘things to do'. The greens were ‘hope', which were thoughts experienced by his students. Asked Shantum Tigunait, class IX: "Sir, is punishment meted out to alleviate the anger of the law or to bring about reform? Bernie Madoff has been sentenced to 150 years; what does that accomplish apart from expressing the intensity of the law's ire? Would the world be better off or if his able body was left to rot in jail or if his remaining years are applied to community service? People like Ramalinga Raju, Madoff, the Andersen partners, the Enron people should these intellects not be applied to community work? Is not that a better route to reform? Should punishment necessarily humiliate and diminish? Sir, what are jails for?" Voices from the green post-its spoke all at the same time. Principal Thangaiah could not ignore that the world of business was encroaching upon the young far earlier these days. At 14, Shantum's vision of correction and punishment was healthy, but an ideal given the world outside. This was also Thangaiah's world where he had to contend with various approaches to education. The key bug was an attitude, called pragmatism. Thangaiah shuddered every time he encountered it... which was everyday. "This was also Thangaiah's world where he had to contend with various approaches to education. The key bug was an attitude, called pragmatism. He shuddered whenever he encountered it."Like this morning's sparring with the basketball coach Gabriel over suspending Shibi Kar of the ‘A' team for willful head-butting and then refusing to shake hands with the winners. Gabriel said, "Sir, young boys need to express to get in touch with their feelings. It's natural!" In Gabriel's response, Thangaiah sensed a dissent with correction itself, than with the methods. Whereas the teacher for business studies felt that expression must also be tactical. And in a most ungainly manner he told Thangaiah, "The students need to see the world as it is and know that there needs to be a middle path as well." Last week, pragmatism paid them a covert visit. The day boarders of class XI were camping at school. At dinner, discussion veered towards the four, who were to attend the Model UN in Istanbul. One of the students had a passport that was expiring in a month, so would not get a visa. Now came the father's text message, "It is fixed! PP being organised in a week. A small gift to agent took care!" The students argued: "The system makes it imperative that you bribe! If he did not ask, I would not have to give... I don't want to, but sometimes I am forced to." Another student Vaishnav, contested this: "I feel both are equally responsible". Goswami, the history teacher, offered balanced words: "Don't be extreme, be practical and sensible. It is not necessary to always be idealistic. Ask your parents... You will tie your hands if you take such a position. Gobhi's father did that so he can go to Istanbul… think!"The heady wine of pragmatism was offered to students as a moderate, balanced voice of sanity, observed Thangaiah in his diary. The challenge is immense: should I drop colleagues and stick to my position? Or should I too drink the heady wine? It reminds me of the death certificate when my father died… the corporation office worker wanted money. Baba's body there, me here, the goblet of pragmatism in between, without takers…Thangaiah remembered the desperation with which parents offered him air conditioners, home theatre systems and other expensive products in exchange for an admission. Here stands a little soul of four years clutching his father's hand, and the father speaks the language of pragmatism to me, "We will equip your computer lab…" How does the little soul grow? Would you see your son or daughter grow up unbending to temptations or negotiating at every stage?Now pressing down the green post-its he wondered, are we, as teachers, supposed to teach pragmatism or right conduct? My own teacher said, "Don't be corrupt. Don't live if that is what it means. What is wrong with being poor?" Is there room for us to dilute this? And what is my script for Goswami? Should I not be invoking leadership here? Was Manas's father a victim of pragmatism? Can education teach pragmatism? Cost-benefit analysis, give some take some, trade offs, leverage, is there hope? var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') } Thangaiah glanced at the yellow post-its, hoping for relief from ethical debates. "Laxman Jhula Annexe, plead with officials." This annexe was being planned for an elaborate art and music school. The simple roadblock: the power allotment. The chief accountant, Bhrigu Hedda, had applied but the application went into freeze. Acquiring 40 acres, registering the land, getting permissions, etc. was no mean feat. Bhrigu spoke to administrative officers, block development officers, tehsildars, but no luck. Bhrigu would not ‘pay': "Art and music cannot be born on the lap of speed money," he reasoned. But the board was impatient: "Anyone who launches a large project has to do all these things. After all, we are doing it for the school!" Bhrigu stood his ground. He was never superior, but also never servile. He did not blame the officials either. Instead he asked, "What is the procedure? What do I need to do?" The board was uneasy with the delay, as various big names had donated money to have the different music halls named after their family. But now the matter had hung. Col. Roy had called him and said, "Sometimes we have to set aside our views for the sake of progress. I had to pay for registering my house. The man wanted Rs 2 lakh, but I managed with Rs 40,000. What to do? I have a family. Please go and make him an offer. He will settle for less... Once in a while, we have to compromise." Was Manas's father a victim of the once-in-a-while? What was the difference between Mehta and what was being proposed? Just scale, thought Thangaiah. At lunch, he asked the mathematics teacher Babu Joseph what he thought about this. Joseph said: "No, no, no! This is not about ethics. This is simpler; far simpler. You get to honesty when you are faced with dishonesty, you see. This is different. This is the bypass. So far your brain had a binary quality, 0 or 1. Now a 0.5 is introduced; you are given a menu to shift on that axis and saunter around 0.4, 0.7… such as a cow tied to a pole; it can wander around the pole limited by the radius the rope proffers. Here, the radius is pragmatism. ‘Adjust', ‘accomplish', ‘manage'… These performance parameters are for the mind's continued delusion. Not for your higher intellect." "Was Manas's father, a victim of the once-in-awhile? What was the difference between Mehta and what was being proposed? Just scale, thought Thangaiah."Principal Thangaiah had a tough job. He was of the view that emotional intelligence is what schools need to work with, the rest will fall in place. But since the mid-90s, he had been unable to shepherd his students or his teachers. The former because many of the latter were more oriented to the middle path — believing that living is an art, and the art is about negotiating. As for the management, it had become bottom line-driven, and hence top line too. This meant admissions were sometimes given in exchange for corpus fat. Thangaiah, in fact, had no viewpoint on donations. He only had a viewpoint on integrity, and even that he had become wary of expressing to his management, saving it for his students. As Bhirju would observe acerbically, "You don't give tonic to a dying man, but to the growing!" There were points where student management met operations. An eminent businessman's grandchildren needed admission in the middle school. He sent his emissary offering to pay Rs 2 crore for four halls in the Laxman Jhula Art School. Thangaiah had sent back the application with sincere regrets to the board, "Class VI and VIII are full; 19 students in the waiting list." The Board called him, "You need people who will support you. And people who support you should not have to wait in queues and lists. Do you want the art and music school or not?"How does one retain purity? We are not in business but in education! The rush to be in the top 20 list, the rush to have better exam results, the rush to have a Hall of Fame with names of students who made it to Yale and IIT… Thangaiah considered this unnecessary. "What am I bringing up the kids for? To be victorious in the IIM-IIT race? That cannot be a school's expectation. May be the parents' expectations. Certainly not my vocational intent. (This is like the heart surgeon who wanted Rs 5 lakh under the table for baba's bypass surgery! Is there not a difference between a calling and commerce?)" But Thangaiah couldn't blame the board either, after all the businessman had asked them, "How many of your kids make it to Ivy League colleges?" Bhrigu, who was present, had said, "We don't keep track of that, but for sure, none of our ex-students have been accused of breaking the law, for fraud, for swindling the tax department, for disrespect to women or the country, for drugs, not even for traffic violations."And there was Vaishnav's verdict, "According to me, both are equally responsible." Thangaiah had asked them how they would feel if their parents had paid money to get admission into the school. They were sure, they would feel bad. And how proud would they feel about their school if they heard that the school took money for some admissions... They would feel ashamed. var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') } They had then veered to the kitchen where they would all wash the dishes and dry them and stack them away. The rota was an essential part of GFS's schooling. This helped team building, goal setting and sharing simple tasks. It broke squeamishness about essential things including gender conditioning. Karsan Divakar said, "We have a dishwasher at home, and I have wondered about why some of us have life easier than others." Soon they were all talking about privileges, and as they got into a line for their dessert, Thangaiah asked them if they would stand in queue or take the quick shortcuts. Amrita said it would be most tempting to take the shortcut. Particularly, if it harmed no one. "What is wrong with that, sir?" Thangaiah had said the answer will come, let us wait. The answer came four days later when they put heads together to examine the Right to Information Act. Names like Arvind Kejriwal and Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, Shankar Singh came up. Studying the bio-data of these people, the students went silent. "Why would someone turn away from a life of privilege?" they asked. What made them turn away from a life of privilege and comfort to lead difficult lives? Thangaiah connected with privileges and paid admissions, and said, "If I have the privilege of jumping a queue, then it means that others are less than equal. And if I have to wait, irrespective of money or power, then I surrender privilege for all-round dignity and respect. Walking like everyone, eating the same quality of rice, washing dishes like everyone... just that some people have the courage to surrender privileges and some people fear the loss of privileges. We come back to making choices." "Life produced humans; as a teacher he scrubbed them and let them see their individuality. Performance and results were the concern of parents and businessmen," he thoughtTripathi called. "The board met to discuss the budget deficit. It has been agreed that it makes ‘pragmatic' sense that we increase our class size to 35 from the next session." Thangaiah stepped out of the dining room to the verandah, and argued helplessly, "Green Foundation was always meant to be a small school and our key to quality education is the class size." Tripathi continued, "Next, Manas Mehta and also what you said at the PTA last week. Parents came back annoyed asking, "Is GFS not performance oriented?" Our students have to leave school one day and take on the world. We need to build achievers. And to top it your stance on promoting Manas to class 10 despite him having missed his exams is worrying me."At the PTA, Thangaiah had said, "What marks children get is no concern of mine. We do good academics, but we also have diverse children. I would like to see that no child contemplates suicide, no child feels he or she is useless and also that no child should leave school feeling the world is poor in possibilities. And if the school delivers this, I would have done my job for your children." (This was the same PTA where Ashutosh Kailash, an ex-student and now operations head of an MNC, had said, "Many who have been students here are in an unwitting time warp. We are incapable of viewing our principal as another manager trying to shine the brand equities of 1,000 students or grappling with management issues, money issues! We continue to think of him as a teacher who got annoyed with spelling errors or manners!) Thangaiah had seen that the board was distanced from the daily decision-making and deciding on issues regarding students, hence unable to relate to students' contexts. So, he said to Tripathi, "We see the child, his context, his inner potential, his drive and his intelligence. And translating all this to a good looking table of marks is often difficult. In Manas's case, even unfair, given his circumstances. Yes, I am aware that his term exams were not top drawer, but his subject scores in the sciences are very good. Besides, I teach him ethics and knowledge, I know his mental construct. The lad is very good. And please recall Ashit Shenoy, who barely passed his languages through high school, topper in chemistry and biology always… Isn't he one of India's leading surgeons?"Tripathi: Robert, these are boys who need to go out and face the world that demands performance and performance only. Mollycoddling will make them soft and unfit for society. He needed to have taken his exams!Thangaiah: What is the purpose of schooling, sir? Is it to shape the students to fit into society? No. It is to help them realise their potential, their intelligence and then apply it to living.Tripathi: If you are doing exams to evaluate, you have to produce results. If results don't matter, you should get out of this business.Thangaiah faced the night as he had many times before. The tension between their two positions was eternal. Life produced humans; as a teacher he scrubbed them and let them see their individuality. Performance and results were the concern of parents and businessmen, he thought. He wondered now if the abolishing of class X board exams would appease or fuel these tensions.Classroom/syndicate discussion We are not value-driven because our teacher failed to teach us, or because we chose to keep him out of our workplace?casestudymeera at gmail dot com var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') }
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Is it a sin to take a break?" asked a young mother of 27, at I-WIN, where we profile women just like Shipra, Sangati and Anu. Anu is a 'Profile C' I-Winner. Starting with aspirations that go with good education, Anu invested the first 20 per cent of her life at home, since her family assumed that work and life did not mix. Returning to work at an age when most hit middle management, Anu brings generational diversity to the workplace — her peers are probably 15-18 years younger than her. She is also someone who will add a different perspective to a decision. Her employer can be assured of consistent productivity, and the only thing which matters to Anu is how far she can go now.Sangati, a ‘Profile B' I-Winner, is a resolute ‘career' woman — one who hopes to fly beneath the radar of full-time career focus and emerge an able balancer. She is keen on not just the intellectual stimulation, but also continuity. Her resume will probably have several short assignments before she reaches a stage of relative autonomy from her home care duties. Her employer can convert her into a life-time employee with a bit of tweaking of her role, for Sangati is one to relish the challenges of flexi-working.Shipra is a typical ‘Profile A' woman professional — a top-tier graduate, a fast-tracker, highly valued by her MD. She is capable of mentoring, talent transformation and leadership — respected by all her colleagues. Even at the verge of making the cut to top management, Shipra dares to take a break — confident that she will succeed in identifying the road back. She believes that her future is not entwined with Carre Hindustan (she could do as well in any arena), and leads with a dynamic mix of raw intellect, emotional intelligence and domain expertise.So, to answer the opening question, opting to work or not is an independent choice made by an informed adult. But, when a woman such as Shipra takes that decision to give attention to another facet of her life, it is received with ill concealed "I-told-you-so". Further, when a woman manager prefers flexible working, like Sangati, there is the lurking suspicion that all the while, when training and other investments were being made on her, she was a closet-housewife working only for a temporary tenure. Why do companies react like this? Let's face it: the policies which granted women entry into a predominantly male club, were designed for men by men. Ergo: they only ended up force-fitting women within the ‘clockwork of male careers' — a term coined by sociologist Arlie Hochschild. The truth is the road taking talented women to the top is often a non-linear one.Creating career paths for women who view professional pursuit as an essential part of their self-image is the organisational challenge. Analyze that as: a) creating career paths; and b) for women who view professional pursuits as essential to self-image. Now, let's dive deeper.How do companies create women-empowering career paths? First, by accepting that a woman views her career differently; and then enabling different routes to her career destination. This could be achieved with flexi-working arrangements for women like Sangati, a broad-based recruitment programme for women returnees like Anu, and a new job description which ensures managers like Shipra are retained.Companies that do not enable coping strategies often end up losing the time, effort and money invested in making experts out of their women managers. But do all companies need to enable all women all the time? This is where we come to the second part of my statement. Being able to identify those women managers, who view career advancement as fundamental to their own sense of completeness, becomes critical for organisations seeking to invest in them. It is important not to presume that every woman in your workplace is on the road to the pinnacle of career actualisation. It is equally crucial not to broad-brush all women as ‘Eve-The Uncertain'. Both are career women who will populate our workplace, but with very different expectations on their end point.It is indeed the rare woman professional who emerges from a break unscathed, her career growth opportunities still undamaged. This is the vital change which is required — customisation of career paths — based on a deep understanding of each woman employee's career anchors. This realisation combined with a far- thinking inclusion policy will ensure that a career woman's dreams and aspirations can be transformed into reality without her paying the penalty for also being an efficient partner and parent. This is surely not a luxury, but a dire necessity in times when productivity and employee engagement are the best form of investment.Saundarya Rajesh is founder-president, AVTAR Career Creators, and works at creating activitybased flexible careers.She can be reached at sr at avtarcc dot com var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') } (This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 20-07-2009)
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Don't let someone else define who you are… (because they'll put you into a box of stereotypes)… My advice is, do what you love and forget the rest of it"— Condoleezza RiceLet us face it. No one has prepared the working woman of today to negotiate her way in a corporate world, predominantly defined by men. With gender roles within the family changing all too slowly, and demands at the workplace increasing manifold, she has to walk the tightrope balancing workplace with family."There is no book… no formula exists on how to make these trade offs right," says Indra Nooyi, chairman and CEO of Pepsico, and a source of inspiration for me. In most cases, attending the PTA meeting or looking after the sick child will be the responsibility of the working mother and not the father. This friction can cause a role conflict, and force women such as Anuradha to leave in anger, or even influence a high potential employee such as Shipra to take a break.Which prompts the question: is the woman any less brilliant if she decides to leave? Is it her personal circumstances or is it the lack of a viable alternative that prompts the decision? Unfortunately, too many organisations shake their heads in resignation at seeing yet another woman call it quits, without working to provide scope for workplace flexibility. With rising attrition rates, these strategies are becoming more relevant from an organisational perspective. Despite this, there will be women like Shipra who will leave on their own accord — and they should not be ostracised for doing so. Senior leaders at Carre Hindustan seem to be undoing all the goodwill and commitment for Carre that Shipra had. Lack of women representation within organisations makes ‘women-friendly' policy changes difficult to implement. With only 5-6 per cent of women in the payroll on an average, and less than one in 20 women in senior positions in companies across India, this seems unlikely to change in the near future.As an increasing number of women join management institutes (IIM-A has 16 per cent women in their current batch as against 6 per cent earlier) and companies professing to be "equal opportunity" employers in more sectors, the issue is not so much about inducting women into the workforce as it is about retaining them. Refocusing of priorities and a demanding workplace prompt many women to take a break, and most women do not re-enter the workforce later. Taking a break early in the career in order to have children poses a challenge to young women like Sangati, who may not have enough work experience or family support to make a successful comeback later in their lives. Most young mothers leave at the prime of their career-building years, only to find it increasingly difficult to return. This is where organisations have an active role to play by facilitating an easy comeback for women who would like to return to full-time careers.Take my example. I took a career break after almost nine years of working. It was a deliberate decision influenced by the relocation of my husband overseas. I took that opportunity to have my second child, pursue my hobbies, travel and even learn a new language. The career break was like my personal adventure camp, to explore and to embrace new experiences. However, through it all, I made an effort to stay in touch with my previous organisation, and also updated myself professionally through an e-learning course until I rejoined work. When I returned to India after working abroad for a few years, I was welcomed back into my previous organisation, albeit in a new role. Did I lose out professionally? Did I compare myself with ex-colleagues? These are the demons that I had to exorcise before my decision to return. But it was made easier by my company which was fair to recognise and value my total work experience.Women who are passionate about their work, yet choose to put a brake to their careers for personal reasons should work at keeping professional connections alive. A life-stage challenge for women could well be an opportunity in disguise. Who knows Sangati may actually learn and grow much more as a professional working for the equity blogger two hours a day, than she was in a full-time job, and she would presumably be happier doing that. It is ultimately about the woman taking control and responsibility of her life and doing what she truly wants to. So while organisations need to offer choices, it is for the woman to ‘find her way home'.Organisations must actively prospect the female talent that is waiting to re-enter the corporate world with renewed interest and commitment. It won't be long before we admit that women are the managers and leaders of the future given their unique skills to multitask, handle ambiguity and change, and build support networks within and outside the workplace.Alpana Kapur Titus is executive vice-presidentmarketing, Pepsico India. The views expressed here are her own var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') } (This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 20-07-2009)
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Shipra Goel was confused. she had resigned as marketing manager last month from Carre Hindustan, but Hemant Johar, the managing director, had been unhappy with her decision. Shipra, who had made the decision after a lot of thought, now felt unsure. Shipra's husband's job profile had changed, and his new regional responsibilities were going to keep him in Europe three weeks a month. She felt her children would need a steady, accessible, 24/7 parent as would her husband seek that assurance for the kids. Shipra and her husband were both MBAs, they were a nuclear family, were committed to living well, and to being sensible parents. So, the decision to pause her career had of course caused her to miss a few heartbeats, but not in a manner that made her miserable. "In India, organisations even today view your CV with disdain if you have a list of employers, and the image gets worse if you explained that with maternity or spouse."Sitting with her aunt Anuradha Jaiswal at Barista, she said, "Way back when we were students, it was Tushar who supported my MBA fees by doing two jobs - so that I could climb some more ladders. Today, my being 'available' on call will help his career and give him peace of mind. Also, with him being in Paris for almost the entire month, our kids could get disoriented with a single parent who is preoccupied. And I know, Tushar will be in this job for at least three years till the legal matter is resolved. So, in a single sentence, 'I am pausing my career to transfer energy to the other belt which is on a difficult schedule'. Anu: Then what is bothering you? If you are clear about your decision, why this looking back and fretting?Shipra: Last week, Hemant met Nandita, a consultant at Heads Up, who has been talking to Hemant about Carre creating a flexi job policy for me. Hemant is so taken in by the idea. But the idea of flexi working has raised a lot of dust and debate. Ever since Hemant sent out his email on flexi-jobbing, CCs are flying around with everyone's perceptions and feelings. Suddenly, I am seeing that men who were my buddies until last week are not sounding inclusive and encouraging, but nterrogative and sceptical. Maybe I am being sensitive, but now the conversation is about 'what can we give her to do?' I worry Anu. I fear they would saddle me with work that I may not be happy doing. If I wanted to work, would I not have found a solution? Anu: I understand. In my opinion, eight out of 10 times, organisations are unhappy letting their women go; but 10 out of 10 times they do not know what to do about it. I feel if organisations had a meter to know a woman's mind during her career pauses, they will not be fretting.Shipra: I might argue that, Anu. But wait, Hemant's daughter Sangati is also joining us. Sangati is also taking a break and Hemant is very upset. She is a level-headed girl and it will be nice to know where she has derailed. When Hemant told me he was getting Sangati to examine the flexi option, I thought it would be nice to hear her story too.Sangati joined them and Shipra did the introductions.Sangati: Hey, thanks for this invitation! I am very happy to meet you both. My dad praises you so much Shipra, I had to meet you one day. Shipra: These praises become expensive, because they somehow seem to comin an idea of what is 'brilliant'. Consequently, brilliance does not include one who wants to make choices away from mainstream career!Sangati: Yes, I know that dichotomy. I need to pause my career, and my immediate boss is giving me 'that' look, which I read as 'I should not trust women to hold on to a job'… I don't know if you feel what I feel; but I am deeply into equity analysis and am trying to attain greater heights in the field. So for me, it is not about 'holding on' to a job; if it's not Millichamp Tay (M-Tay), it well could be HSBC or ADB. Dad, however, feels I should value my position at M-Tay and get my position back. Frankly, I don't see how that matters. Yet, I can see where his anxiety lies. var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') } Shipra: I tend to agree, but then in India, organisations even today view your CV with disdain if you have a list of employers, and the image gets worse if you explained that with maternity or spouse. Yes, if you are determined to find your spot under the sun, you will find it, sceptical employers notwithstanding! I only wonder how you plan to do justice to building your career away from the field. Sangati: I am hopeful of being able to work with an equity blogger. The experience is terrific. It's two hours a day just to do his spreadsheets and analyses. That I can never learn in an MNC bank. Because this blogger has a huge fan following who are not placid sorts; they argue his analyses, and I am supposed to vet all that and develop his arguments for the blog… see? I also have an offer from an ad agency to do some corporate finance advertising ideation for them. I will be honing my skills, feeling self actualised, in great touch with the equity market, reading Mr Men books and, God willing, soon Little Miss books as well, if all goes well!Shipra: (laughing) Yes, sure. But how do you plan to get back to mainstream? You know they won't touch you for the meagre experience that all this provides! Then again, why waste a good break doing so much for so little? "Yes, a number of women give up in suppressed anger; but I feel if you really are passionate, nobody can stop you, not even your anger. Not even debating colleagues and discouraging bosses."Sangati: Just yesterday Nandita called. Her team has suggested that I could get a senior role at The Grinch Bank in Delhi working twice a week. Now that could be interesting. But I also wonder, why should the relationship work? Grinch's MD does not know me... why should he believe in my credibility? The way I see it even as an employer myself, a new company would never create a position for a part-time employee, especially at a senior level. Would my dad? I am not sure… Shipra: I guess that is where my staying on as a flexi gal at Carre can be easier. But flexi-jobbing at my employer's has led to lot of debates among my colleagues such as: If they give part -time to one, they will need to give everyone; how is Shipra herself going to deal with a diminished image? Then she won't be senior management by definition. Is she ready for this? And when she comes back after 5-6 years, will the management then connect with her greatness? After all, management teams and contexts change; will it be fair to hold them to a commitment made in the past? My point is how much fretting is happening over procedure and process and almost nothing about 'is this in line with the individual's dreams?' Anu: Yes, employers will continue to look askance at a gap of 4-7 years and make all kinds of allusions to your commitment. But then that is why Sangati's interim career plans are valuable. And I am suggesting the same to Shipra too. Look, there are all kinds of women. If you have that fire in your heart, all that is needed is to keep stoking it. Two hours a day of working for the blogger? Sounds terrific. It is enough to be able to come back to changing diapers with a lovely smile. I think the most important thing is to be happy about whatever you are doing. Hence, I like your operative word: choices. Today, you are at a strange crossroad: where choices and conveniences are tremendous, but uniquely, the employer fraternity has not recalibrated its mindset. And till the time they see you pulling it off well after few years, they will not be able to recalibrate their mindsets, perhaps because of their past experiences. Shipra: Are we allowing for organisations to remain insensitive?Anu: Look, if I see the workplace from the standpoint of the woman worker then yes, it does seem like they are insensitive. But, from the standpoint of an employer, I see the woman as being unpredictable! All relate to one's experiences. I have seen that men who have hardy wives tend to see other women as tough and hardy; and these men usually create solutions. today, with all the technology out there, it would be shocking if we insist that the only committed woman worker is one who trips over her baby's milk bottle and lands up at work at 9 am! Sometimes, it is necessary to look at deliverables too.Shipra: You had a bad time too Anu, and it is a wonder you managed so well. I didn't complete the introduction Sangati. Anu is 54 and got married during her articleship with a firm of chartered accountants and her husband was, well… 'not enabling'.Anu: (smiling) There was, let us say, passive aggression. We being middle class also means we have illusions about who we are. Yes, I got into a mess for a bit. My husband travelled every week. The family insisted that I should accompany him. So, we had a problem. Now, this is my point: Back then, 'choices' was not an option. My downslide came as a function of my bitterness. I said: 'very well, then I will do nothing!' Anger is justified, but should not be nurtured, you see. But I thought I would prove a point and soon everyone would come and make it all right. var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') } I was angry with my parents for the family I was married into, angry with my husband, angry with life, angry that nobody was helping… and I said, 'Fine! I won't work. Go, take that!' And I thought I had punished them all. Truth was nobody got punished except me. And I spent 14 years angry, bitter and frustrated. It was my 13-year-old son who prodded me. He had watched some documentary on Anandibai Joshi, India's first woman doctor in 1886, and said, "How are you worse off than she was, ma?" And that in fact woke me up. I went back to my firm, worked one year, completed my articleship at 38, and started working from scratch!Sangati: Yes, a number of women give up in suppressed anger; but I feel if you really are passionate, nobody can stop you, not even your anger. Not even debating colleagues and discouraging bosses. If you chose not to pursue your career, it is because you did not deeply want it. That is why I want the world to stop making a big issue about pursuing a career. I think we need to start becoming accepting of people who do not want to hold on to a career. That will make it easier on them. Automatically, the number of women on the system truly chasing their careers will reduce to a manageable lot. Shipra: And that in turn will help sharp focus on developing a career policy for the others. She has a point. The thing is that HR does not sift according to psychographics. I for one am not fickle. But I believe life needs me now to attend to other aspects of my life. Just because I choose to step off the rollercoaster, I don't become 'un-brilliant'. A system that worships me for staying on, not giving up, and decries me for stepping off, cannot be a dependable system. I love my husband, my kids, my career and my hobbies - quilting and photography. I am not anxious to prove anything. But it annoys me that line management at Carre is discussing my capability and brilliance in the context of my decision.Anu: Many people are uni-dimensional and that causes them to respond in the only way they know, Shipra. Are you hurt about having to take this break?Shipra: No. I know what I should do now. But I have been associated with Carre for nine years, and we have had a great time together. As long as I was there, I never once felt discriminated or judged by gender. Today, when I am leaving, all the talk is pointing to a gender debate. But it never was so in the past - not even when I had to leave work early, take a day off, nothing. It is just now that the flavour is different. Sangati, how have you dealt with this transition? Sangati: I am the boss of Sangati Inc. I control my time and my energy. On a day-to-day basis, I decide when to attend to my family, my garden, my work, my reading. I think I am wise enough to know my activity units. I would be an idiot if I had to give 80 per cent of my time to career and 20 per cent to my family. If I am imbalanced as a human, how do you think I would be as a manager? So if I am taking a break, it means that I have thought it through and not pausing on impulse. Yet, I am being labelled and judged as whimsical! Please note, no one is saying so in words, but you can hear! Anu: It is not important to be known as resilient, professional, brilliant, efficient or versatile. It is more important to be all this. And if you are passionate about your career, you will keep cutting your path as you go along. And if you are not passionate about your career, it is ok… women need to feel ok about all this. Somehow these definitions have all got warped by the media definition of who a successful woman is.Just stay in touch with your function, refresh, renew, upgrade, build new skills. When you are ready to return, the organisation will know your goodness. You won't need to market yourself. Good organisations have the knack of being able to tell. But one caveat: when you move from being full to flexi - be prepared, numerous issues crop up. In my case, as I was already on a weak wicket at home, the office scenario was double whammy, and I was depressed for a very long time; for example, stuff like being left out of daily chatter, or they would forget about me during office celebrations, or they stay in touch only related to work. var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') } Working flexi is in fact tough on the mind - you get isolated. At home, the demands increase, you will be seen as 'she is keeping herself occupied'. No one will come on time; memsaab aap to ghar pe hi ho na! I had to tell my AC service man: "I work out of home for my convenience, not yours!" At work, they ignore you because you are out of sight. And the strange thing is everyone thinks you are sitting at home and having fun. So, if you ask for 10 days off, your boss will gripe. If you are thinking flexi, know this: women who wish to work flexi need a lot more skills than regular working women.Sangati: I think organisations should develop a policy for hiring women, and then the inner rules for career paths. Next, do a serious exit interview with women managers to establish why she has chosen to step off. Is it baby nurture time? Is it time off to recharge? Is it boredom? Is it inability? Next, create a track for those women who they would like to invest in, and let them know that they would like to have them back. "It comes down to wanting solutions. A lot of companies are waking up, but then the effort they are willing to put in is directly proportionate to the number of women they have at senior levels."I am not sure an deal with 'it is ok to not want to pursue your career'. Organisations are career machines, not humans. So, if you are not career committed they are not going to gush. But - and this is my modification of your statement - even during a career you will take time off to sort life out. Organisations have to create the flexibility in their own expectations to factor this in. I am not allowing anyone to stick bills on me. My boss's opinion is more to do with his prejudices. Eckhart Tolle says, "Prejudice is remaining identified with a concept, not with the human being." The concept that the woman lacks commitment needs to go, and it will when organisations are willing to zero base their opinions about their women managers and not randomly extrapolate. Shipra: (laughing) Likewise, a lot of preconceived ideas about 'commitment' also need to go. Like working late is commitment, and so forth. But it will pass. A lot is getting redefined out there. But your point is valid, that organisations should have a policy for shepherding the careers of some kinds of women. What I find is at Carre, Hemant is committed to developing a path for such women, but not the line managers. They come with their litmus papers developed in the 16th century and pass verdicts.Anu: This is an arduous path. It requires passion, determination and conviction above all. No organisation is going to hit pay dirt in the first round. Developing a policy on women is not like instant CSR that you see these days. It requires a lot of study on women, and their circumstances and the minds of your star lady managers. And then have a one-to-one dialogue, share mind and values, offer support, state expectations… and then put it down as policy. It is a lot of struggle! And I say this: organisations that do not have the strength or stamina to struggle to find enabling solutions, cannot become institutions. Sangati: Spot on! It comes down to wanting solutions. A lot of companies are beginning to wake up, but then the effort they are willing to put in is directly proportionate to the number of women they have at senior levels, which is not saying anything, now is it! Anu: My mother would say 'Some struggle is good for building character'. I say that organisations that are willing to struggle to enable their women will by example, build better men along the way. Because struggling to enable will become a way of life, a religion.Classroom/syndicate discussionIs ‘intelligent woman' an oxymoron outside the precincts of the workplace?casestudymeera at gmail dot com var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') }
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The discussions in the case study clearly reflect the varied points of view about the very idea of what constitutes sexual harassment (SH) and the best ways to deal with it, especially in organisational contexts.When we accept that SH exists, the debate sometimes starts swinging towards "whose fault is it anyway?" Maybe it was the fault of the woman because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time — dressed or acted provocatively. Maybe she wanted to exploit the seeming opportunities she perceived in the situation. This is of course completely unjust to a victim of SH. The dynamics of SH all through history has less to do with the particular woman, than the ‘object' that she can be seen as — in the context of expressing "power and aggression". This is obvious when, for a moment, we look at SH outside the workplace.All parents of young girls just moving into their teens know the sudden feeling of responsibility which descends heavily on their shoulders. The possibility that a young girl who has not yet even realised that she is moving from being a happy child to turning into a young woman, has already been ‘eveteased' at some point or the other — whether she is in a school uniform or walking through a bazaar with her parents — is pretty high. The restrictions start right from parents responsible for the ‘safety' of their daughters, and equality of opportunity takes a hit right there.So coming back to the workplace, how fair is it to point at individuals and tell them to take responsibility for everything that happens in their lives? Clearly, women need to be assertive and bring it to other people's notice if they are being harassed. If we sweep it under the carpet as Indira suggests, branding such complaining as whining and griping, we fall into the trap of being passive victims. When Amai talks about having had the good fortune of having worked in excellent places where zero tolerance to SH was role-modeled by senior managers, it is obvious that this could have not happened without some very strong policies and their implementation forming the back bone of that culture.Radha highlights how difficult it is for a woman to complain to HR about SH. In that context, the whole debate about how necessary it is for the woman to complain within 24 hours of the incidence, becomes a tough discussion. On the one hand, it makes sense as a way of empowering the woman to not take it lying down even for a couple of hours. On the other, there does not seem to be any concession made for the psychological confusion and trauma that a woman experiences in such circumstances. While this rule can make the organisation look good, the problem itself would have fallen through the cracks.Mini's story highlighting the difficulty of standing up, even together, against a systemic ailment, makes us look like Don Quixote tilting at wind mills. Most of us as individuals do not make these strong choices. And when we do, we definitely pay the price by, at the least, being labeled and, at the worst, being penalised.Therefore, it becomes important for us to move this whole discussion from individual responsibility to organisational and societal responsibility, and towards providing a safe environment for half our population to enjoy their constitutional rights of liberty and equality. The inherent threat of SH hangs over every decision a woman or the people around her ‘responsible for her safety' make — how far from home she can travel to study, what kind of jobs she can take, whether she can travel on work or not, whether she can take on challenging managerial roles taking those late night meetings and sudden travel plans in her stride.When we invite women to study in schools and participate in the workplace, we also take on the responsibility of providing them a safe environment where they can focus on their education or work, rather than having to worry about how somebody is interpreting their every expression and action from a sexist perspective of whether we are behaving appropriately as per the roles allocated to us as ‘women'.When we look at SH in the workplace — I personally feel it is excellent discipline to look at ‘sexist' discrimination as a starting point to ensure the dignity of the woman. If this kind of rigour is ensured in the work environment, it will be that much easier to get a handle on the more grievous SH challenges.Between having a policy, sufficient laws, institutional mechanisms and an organisational environment that clearly signals to every employee that no indignity or discrimination will be tolerated, and the individual standing up for herself and saying no to any form of indignity, if we consciously work together at every level, we may have a safety net for all women — enough for women to be a major contributor to the family, organisation, the economy and society.Usha Raghunath has worked for many years in the corporate and the not-for-profit worlds as a development consultant, trainer and executive coach var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') } (This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 08-11-2010)
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When you come to a fork in the road - take it" said Yogi Berra, a major league baseball Hall of Fame player and coach. I'm reminded of this as I sit down to analyze this case. Life is about making choices. It is no different for the women in the corporate world today. On one hand she can choose to keep quiet and act like Sexual Harassment(SH) cannot and will not happen to her; she can chose to make a noise after it happens or she can choose to quit and fade away because she couldn't take it. On the other hand, she can proactively demand an environment which will discourage SH from happening. Ultimately the choice is for her to make. Time and again women make the mistake of joining wrong places, facing issues and then feeling trapped with no choice but to quit or toe the dominant line. This has led to disastrous consequences for career women. Any number of studies have shown that women quit from the workforce in large numbers between 25 and 35 years of age as they find their employers do not have any policy to help them tide over their short term need to spend more time with young kids. A recent *McKinsey study titled "Women Matter" talks of how 87% of the women in middle and senior management chose Work Environment as the single most significant factor affecting their career decisions while only 49% chose Family Circumstances. So if women are serious about building careers they either have to change the environment or they need to choose organizations with the right environment. The presence or absence of SH surely is one of the biggest indicators of the quality of work environment for most women. But how do you know where an organization stands with respect to SH and many such uniquely gender specific issues such as flexi-time, work sharing etc? The best way to determine this is to be very alert for the subtle and not so subtle messages that the organisation is sending out through its external façade.A company which is dominated by men at executive levels, hardly has any board representation of women is willy nilly telling you that it has not found the need to promote gender diversity. It is communicating very openly that if you want to come and work for it you need to adjust to its culture and its norms, which so far have failed to be "women-friendly". Such companies if at all they had SH policies would still fail to implement them in letter and spirit. On the other hand there are companies, which will have more than a sprinkling of women in their ranks because they have recruited, retained and promoted women proactively. A very prominent example is of course ICICI in India. Such companies will demonstrate zero tolerance for any behavior at any level which would lead its women employees to feel anxious and uncomfortable. This is what HP's board demonstrated loud and clear when it asked its best performing CEO to leave. This was not a knee jerk reaction. It stemmed out of HP's long-standing commitment and conviction around gender diversity. It is a well-articulated corporate strategy, which was kick-started by its ex-CEO Lew Platt to stem the high turnover of women managers in the '80s. Now in the 21st century HP, roughly one out of three department heads is a woman, and two of the top five executives were women during Carly's time.There is also a bigger driver here. The same McKinsey study quoted earlier showed that companies with a higher proportion of women on their management committees are also the companies that have outperformed their sector in terms of Return on Equity, PBIT and stock price growth! So more reasons for talented women like Amai, Radha, Indra, Mini and Megha to choose a company, which is actively looking to provide the right framework to protect women against any discriminatory practice like SH. In this context, Sujoy's words should be music to their ears as it reassures them that they are in the right place. His actions clearly show that he wants to create a working environment, which is equally welcoming of men and women. He wants to be equitable and fair so that he has the best chance to retain Amai as well as Kamal. His earlier experience at Arcola has taught him that SH cannot be brushed under the carpet and it will rear its ugly head in completely unexpected quarters. Putting in place a policy and process for dealing with SH is therefore a no brainer for him.If I were in Amai's place I would see Sujay's proactive stance as a symbol of his superior leadership qualities. I will work with him to ensure that SH and other such progressive HR policies that would help me perform better and build a career in Kippol are put in place sooner rather than later. Mini gets it right when she says that as women we have to stand Tall. We need to have the self-confidence and belief in ourselves to choose how we will live and work. We can and should demand a work environment, which would make us feel comfortable and help us give our best. If it is not available where we work we should vote with our feet and go work with companies, which do care to provide for our specific needs. Or else even start our own firm. Today's woman will not whine - she will walk out, head held high for she knows her worth. She is ready to take the fork. *McKinsey Study "Women Matter" is available at http://tinyurl.com//34kz16 var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') } (This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 08-11-2010)
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Amai Mankad reached the conference room later than appointed. Team Blanca was already in discussion. Amai had been held up by the call from Sujoy Mitta to join him and the head of HR, Duleep Singh, in a discussion on policy on sexual harassment (SH). What was meant to be a rough consultation, had dragged on for longer, and Amai joined her team late for the meeting. Amai was a senior consultant with Kippol India, a firm of management consultants that had set up shop in India less than a year ago. Sujoy, the country head, had proposed that Kippol institute a policy on SH where the victim was under compulsion to report a perception of SH within 24 hours of such occurrence; later reporting would not be entertained. Additionally, the woman could choose not to escalate the complaint but merely report it. Equally, men who collected more than one complaint against them would be fired. And lastly, women who had made several such complaints against different men would need to spend time in counselling if they wished to keep their job at Kippol. (See Crossing All Boundaries, BW, 25 October)Amai: It was an unusual meeting guys. They want to fix policy on SH; very good. A lot of what Sujoy says is fine it seems, but I wonder... Team Blanca's seven members were all senior consultants or upper junior consultants, who now buzzed with their thoughts and surprise that Sujoy was reacting so sharply in defense of his ex-boss.Akshay Vaidya: He must have been a very close friend and watched this play out and, hence, carries the angst much more. Besides, he has a point too. It is extremely difficult to prove that the woman did not silently consent to the advances; I have seen abusive behaviour from males that women tolerate. Very simply, even a voice raised in admonition, which men think is their right, and women unwittingly accept as daddy too raised his voice with mummy and it was okay! Just the other day, Kapil got upset with Nitya, his secretary; whatever the reason, raising his voice was not an option, please! Amai: I have known women to get flustered between ‘is this wrong' and ‘is this nice'. It has been my experience that between the loneliness of life and need for attention, the security of a strong alpha male attention makes women ignore many ethical questions — Is this right? Do I really want it? — and silently become parties to the potentially dissonant behaviour.Meghna: Tony Blair's book, A Journey, makes a sharp observation on this choice. He talks of the suspension of responsibility, the creation of a moment or hour or day of abandoning duty and propriety as being very enchanting. He even says people are tired of being responsible. "Suddenly you are transported out of your world of intrigue and issues and... the serious piled on the serious and just put on a remote desert island of pleasure, out of it all, released, carefree... the desire to escape. And it's nothing really to do with how happy or otherwise your marriage is. It's an explosion of irresponsibility in an otherwise responsible life..."So you see, I can see this happening to anyone. Especially the higher you go. It is just a mesmerising trip... and then bingo! You wake up, career gone... and then the lawyers!Given all this, Sujoy's suggestion of a window of six days within which both aggressor and victim should conclude the allegations and name calling outside the office is sensible.Amai: Again and again the moot question is: how is the organisation a party to this? This is the whole point. If a man sexually harasses a woman, how is the organisation a party to it? I know of an organisation where the Board threatened its CEO with his life; there was no recourse within the ambit of the Companies' Act and all that he could do was file an FIR at the local police station! So, is this bigger because it involves sex and is, hence, slushy? Let us be reasonable. How is an organisation ever, ever a party to it if a man misbehaves with a woman?Rajan: Because he is an officer of the company and by law of estoppels he holds out that his conduct is that of the company's.Amai: Great. And once we see that the company as an entity can never hope to sexually harass anyone, by law of deduction, we can see that the harassment was by man upon woman and consequently, the company is sequitur non qua. Is it okay? When a manager holds out to the world that he is a senior officer of Arcola and slaps the airport manager for a flight delay, does Air India, for example, sue Arcola or jail the manager? Does Arcola plead to Air India or sack the manager summarily? Doesn't the same thing apply?In every SH case, I have been stunned by the role attributed to the company. SH is individual, not corporate. So any promises you hear, are individual. Your boss made promises? Please know he cannot make any promise for tender that is not based on a performance appraisal. And any woman who believes that it is enforceable is not intelligent enough to work in an organisation. And any man who makes such promises is culpable of fraud and must be sent home with a pink card that says in three languages that he lacks ordinary intelligence. var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') } Meghna: Compensation is also a function of this easy penalising of the company. How else do we justify a Kristy Fraser-Kirk slapping $37 million punitive claim against her retailer employer David Jones, its directors and its CEO Mark McInnes? Why 37 million? Isn't that because McInnes is CEO? Because David Jones, the retailer, is high-profile and blue chip? Isn't that why in every high-profile SH case, the women in question slapped unheard of amounts as compensation? Is this a function of what the traffic can bear and the fragility of the corporate brand name? SH happens in small shops and tiny industrial galas too. I am saying the temerity is commensurate with the financial net worth of the aggressor so that SH appeals are usually seen at that level where the victim can really extract a bigger pound of flesh. SH is now an opportunity to earn, not a moment to punish.Amai: Similarly, the whole business of coming back with a complaint after six months. Companies are over-anxious to give women the benefit of the doubt. That is why we entertain her complaint without an expiry date to it! I was speaking to an activist and he said: "Legally, you cannot put a time limit to when a lady can complain." I was amazed. Why not? Why really not? No wonder then, in at least three cases, the ladies came back after six months and said they were harassed. What is the argument in her favour then? This is not about the aggressor, but about the mindset possible for ladies to adopt. In the process of trying to ‘cure' men, are we exposing women to a new virus? So here is a question: why are SH cases usually among the financially wealthy where the suit brought upon the individual is in multiple millions of dollars? Rajan: Monetary compensation is a part of all heinous crimes — death by drunken driving, marital violence, etc. — so why should SH be different? It's just that it gets more media attention.Radha: Are we, as a society, beginning to associate the entry of women into mainstream with SH as a by-product? That would be rather nasty and unpleasant. Because women in the workplace must come to be seen as equals and any policy must also be such that it effortlessly purges all men who use domination and power to offend or harass a woman, and all women who use coquetry and cunning to get ahead.Indira: Policy is dumb. You will never make it big here with policy, trust me. You want to make it professionally, then don't ask for policy, don't ever complain about harassment; just watch out for yourself and keep moving.Amai: You surprise me... what do you mean?Indira: Think. It is this whining, this griping, pleading and posturing that is keeping women in the limelight. You are getting attention because you are constantly in the news about your difference, your special condition, your multiple roles and whatnot. Have we women been in the news because we are darn good like coffee? Either it is a demand for diversity, or flexible careers, or maternity or safety or SH. Can we take over? Think. Can this become a woman's world where men are found? No, na? All the time we are asking for allowances, and who from? The very perpetrators of bias and harassment! This is so pathetic.Whereas, we need to form some kind of national-level organisations that protect women of all kinds in the workplace; groups that take care of our ageing parents and in-laws, our little babies in the crib, our menopause dilemmas, our teen kids crises, our stress and breakdowns, our late night travel safety, our environment and maybe even our ‘can someone tell me how to whip up a gourmet meal for two with a stick of ridged gourd?'We women are seemingly relevant for all the wrong reasons! I do think we must stop Sujoy from framing any policy. There is no need for a policy! We can do it!Rajan: It may work for some mindsets, Indira. Maybe you could ask for an option to not be a part of policy. But there are entry levels in mindsets, regardless of grades, who need policy.Amai: Indira actually has a point. There is no need for policy. I have had the good fortune to work in some truly excellent workplaces. We did not need huge posters stuck on the walls declaring it a zero-tolerance workplace. The seniors set the right example by conduct! Yet, I also know of places with posters decrying "harassment at the workplace" and yet no one ever picked up the phone to call HR. The combination of power, aggression and harassment can be deadly, my friend!Radha: Sujoy's design... how many women will call HR? It's like registering an FIR! What is the kind of exposure you want as a professional? Why would a woman want to throw herself open to the indignity of having to prove that she is being SH-ed? Can she expect ‘equal opportunities' when these words are associated with her? Just think... you, Amai, heading banking vertical, you slice through strategy effortlessly, yet you ask to be protected from SH. Are you saying you don't know how to handle it and be safe? It is not all about qualifications, experience and abilities. It is about comfort in working together. And ‘women' are still seen as different enough to need ‘special care' — not as easy as just having the guys hang out together and making things happen! Why?Mini: Let me tell you a story about a lady colleague at Teffer. Let us name her Tara. Over time, she had the following labels stuck on her by various people she worked with: difficult, severe, serious, uptight, stuck up, annoying. So that her labels spoke for her much more.She started getting the glad eye from her boss's boss, the number two in the organisation — we will name him ‘Man'. She didn't realise it because she had come to fear the various labels on her. He would call her to discuss the brand, or promos, jumping her boss. Then he would talk to her about a movie he saw the night before. Soon he began shutting the door when she came in. She would often say, "It will be good to have my boss in on this discussion", but he would say: "Sometimes it is good for me to deal with you directly! How often I have seen that the boss is deaf to a subordinate's point of view and, as a result, the company loses a great pathbreaking idea!" Idiot! Soon he was brushing past her, and then one day he was all husky and hands.Tara was shaken for three days and on day four went to HR. The HR manager was taken aback and asked her to be quiet till he got back. The big bosses met, conferred and slapped heads. Then they called her for a counselling session, where — now hear carefully — they told her that she had a personality problem and was seeing more than there was, reading more lines than the author had written. That "he was not like that"! Whereas a 360 on her had thrown up repeated words like "difficult", "complex" and "poor inter-personal skills". What do you say to that? The combo of aggression, power and harassment. They could not afford to have the number two in trouble and on the front pages as he was the driving force behind a huge merger, which was high-profile and pathbreaking! Worse, I learnt later, the senior men declared among themselves that they did not see anything wrong, that they too indulged in mild "talk" with the secretaries and such like; it was "just natural and harmless"! var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') } Having convinced her so, they put a report on her file without referring to the incident. And six months later, they hung her with the same rope with which they had tied her into silence — "poor 360-degree appraisal revealing poor people skills". Tara was shocked. The sad part is she believed the verdict. None of us knew anything till at a small farewell lunch she broke down, truth spilled and all of us who had each stuck post-its on her — ‘weird', ‘uptight', ‘difficult' — regretted it real hard.When we stick labels on people, it is often done innocently to classify a person for future reference — ‘slow', ‘will crib', ‘will not deliver', ‘risky' — not to rubbish them maliciously. Little did we realise that those post-its would also be her epitaph. Then one more lady gulped and said Man had behaved funny with her too. ‘Have dinner with me honey, and we can fix that housing problem'. But she thought she lacked the sophistication of modernity and maybe he was just being stylish! So she never mentioned it!Rajan: What a horrible story. Wish I had not heard this...Mini: More follows, Rajan. Four of us quit along with her, without a job. We sent a joint resignation to HR. Of course, I must confess we were scared stiff! Stupid, but we were not used to all this! Our exit letter read: "Having dissected the antecedents to the departure of Tara, we have decided to be with her than with the organisation, which seems to lack clarity of values." It was too brave; they hounded us; told us they would blacklist us with all placement agencies. They did so too. But the placement agencies, the top three, were wiser than we credit them.Akshay: Aha! When you gals were saying ‘company cannot be a party to this crime', I was wondering... now I see Tara's case is 100 per cent perpetrated by the company formed by men with loose morals and lacking the maturity to manage an organisation. In that case, the company is clearly a party to the SH case and must be sued out of existence. Meghna: Therefore, Tara needed to have filed a suit against the company. She lacked the confidence to stand up. That environment of zero-tolerance is created when she is surrounded by seniors and peers who understand the nuances of SH, and will not tolerate even the mildest forms of disrespect shown to any woman on the team — irrespective of role, contribution or labels.Mini: These are not things that are ensured by HR policies and frameworks. These are what are ensured in a workplace where the dignity of every human being is more important. All organisations need to make sure that managerial power is balanced by other ‘watchdog committees' — mini juries — recognised for their respect for human dignity and with the experience to back it.Akshay: Harassment and abuse happens when the aggressors feel more ‘powerful' than others — this could be because they are very intelligent, qualified, efficient, and highly achievement-oriented and, therefore, consider themselves ‘indispensable' to the organisation. Organisations that support or keep rewarding such ‘high achievers', knowingly send out a clear message that they are not serious about implementing anti-harassment policies. I am enamoured with Mini's idea of a mini jury that is made of four men and four women who will hold office for two years and who will judge all cases of SH. We will call this ‘the committee for human dignity'.Meghna: Tara's story has shaken me. It reads like a treacherous science thriller. I think we must have this committee or jury and it will work for all-round benefit. Sujoy must be told this: that core to all this is understanding why women will not step forward unless they are sure they will not be penalised or ‘labelled' for bringing the issue out into the open. Can a woman truly continue to work in the same organisation with the same or better opportunities after a case of SH has been filed by her? Will other men in the organisation continue to treat her with respect and not brand her as a ‘troublemaker'? Will she be marginalised, because peers do not want to associate with someone who has taken a tough stand?Amai: I am not sure we have a solution yet, Mini. Who will have answers to these questions? What men in an organisation answer these?Mini: Oh no. Not the men, never! The answers lie with women. The woman has to mine these answers, for they lie within her. And face them and make very clear choices. It is finally all about choices, nothing more or less. Finally, her mind is the world where she lives. The answers will arise out of her selfappraisal, conviction, courage and a decision to live fearlessly. And this pans all grades and levels of women — junior-most front office receptionist or vice-president. Bottom line, girls, is this: sexual harassment is about an emotion called, "I can hurt you so badly..." She has to choose to live fearlessly, that's all!Classroom DiscussionDo organisations have a policy for murder, physical assault or stealing? Why not? Then why SH?casestudymeera at gmail dot com var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') }
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