Dr Vispi Mehta, senior gynaecologist of Orient Hospital, was on the phone with Tara. “Tara? All well?” “Mostly,” said Tara, more out of utter exhaustion. “My patient Saiba Williams has come back without her scan images, dikra! Soo thaiyoo? This is unlike you! Saiba needs that surgery done by this week, we need the images to save the baby trauma!” Dr Tara: Dr Mehta, I have been having the worst time of my life.....And Tara narrated her woes to Dr Mehta, her mentor during her post-graduation studies.Dr Mehta: This is very unfortunate! Whatever Company A is up to dikra, you cannot afford to jeopardise your work! Would you like to talk to Company B? I know Vatsal Parikh, MD of Company B and he will have his boys set up their BS-232 at your clinic in no time! We cannot have downtime, dear girl!Dr Tara: No, Dr Mehta. There should not be need for that. The service people at A have promised to set things right.Dr Mehta: We are doctors and we cannot hang on ceremony and pointless detail like brand loyalty. Every scan not done could put a life in danger. Tara and her husband Shiv had been up all night with the service team of Company A. Awasthi, the regional sales head, and Aman Yadav, the service engineer, had arrived at 5.30 p.m. on Sunday evening (her weekly holiday), to reinstal the software, a major exercise lasting over seven hours. But not without theatrics and drama.A quick recap: Company A had sold to Tara their older AA-SW13, which after much hardship continued to work even if whimsically while Awasthi had simply said that ‘it will settle with time’. A year into the SW13, Company A proposed that Tara upgrade to the SW15 (which would set her back by another Rs 25 lakh) with a buyback on the SW13. Tara upgraded only to enter a new phase of frustration. The SW15’s touchscreen failed to work, the printers malfunctioned and the machine hung right during a patient scan. Tara’s nightmare had begun a year ago with the purchase of A’s SW13, a Rs 63-lakh ultrasound machine. But like most people used to shoddy service, Tara too expected that the reputed SW13 would be smarter and hardier than its handlers and will quietly fall in line and start working. That did not happen. And Tara continued her calls to Awasthi and he continued to dodge her. One day, he suggested that she upgrade to the SW15 offering her good price offs on the SW15. An unsuspecting Tara, poorer by another Rs 25 lakh, discovered within minutes of the shoddy installation that the SW15 too had serious problems: the images froze or disappeared, the printers went unresponsive, and above all, the machine took to restarting right in the middle of a scan! Tara had called Awasthi several times but the man had pretended to be busy. Why was Awasthi dodging?Tara was a repeat customer and her problems with the machine were uncannily repeating and, most gallingly, Company A’s behaviour was also repeating! Worse, Tara had repeatedly reported the problems since the SW15 had begun to give trouble. But Awasthi had simply rolled over and played dead. Was Company A simply revealing its mental construct or was it hiding something? This was Shiv’s question.So, this Saturday — her busiest day — when the machine hung even as a patient was being scanned,Tara realised the road had ended. That was when she had no recourse but to stop work and wait all day for Awasthi to return her call. Matters had reached such a state not because Tara had not complained in time. She had logged in each and every problem as it occurred. She had recorded all her complaints on the toll-free number. She had then escalated her complaints to the regional service head, Yadunandan Bisht, and even spoken with the regional head, Sameer Sequeira, who had originally sold her the machine. But nothing got fixed. Finally, Tara moved all appointments to Sunday, and called Awasthi and Aman in turns, but to no avail. That was when Shiv left a menacing message for Awasthi promising to put up the SW15 on Pinterest with this caveat: Don’t trust this machine. Within minutes the duo arrived and spent all Saturday evening until midnight reloading the printer drivers, test running and checking. The change was not significant, but did print some reports. A relieved Awasthi left, promising to bring in more help early next morning (Sunday). Tara arrived at her clinic on Sunday morning, soon after that chat with Dr Mehta. She waited. And waited. Saturday’s patients who returned on Sunday had to be sent back yet again. Finally, at 3 p.m, Shiv who had had enough, called Awasthi, “How much longer do we have to wait?” Awasthi: Sir, we have a case to attend before your’s today; as soon as we finish that we will come to you.Shiv: But you were supposed to come in first thing this morning; our complaint has been lying unaddressed since yesterday morning! How does your ‘other call’ today take priority over us?Awasthi: No, sir, it’s not like that, we are just finishing and will come. Just one more hour, I promise you.Shiv: You know what, I don’t trust you anymore. Can you give me your India Customer Service Head’s contact numbers and e-mail IDs? And before you think of lying to me, understand I know how to get it off LinkedIn.Awasthi: Ok, ok, I will get Mr Tambe’s number....Shiv took all of ten minutes to write to Prashant Tambe the all-India customer service director. Describing in bullet points the three problems the machine had, right from the week of installation of the new AB-SW15 machine, he underscored feeling let down and abandoned by a brand they trusted. Also that they had been logging in their complaints and didn’t know why there had been no redressal so far. All this for a machine that was brand new, top-of-the-line, expensive, and within warranty. Finally that the clinic work had stopped since two days and they had no idea when they could restart. Shiv copied Aman, Awasthi, and Bisht, the regional service head on the mail as all of them had been aware of the situation at Tara’s clinic.Seven minutes later Shiv got a one liner back from Tambe’s BlackBerry, “We have received your mail, requesting national service head Sunil Chelaram (copied here) to look into your matter.”Half an hour later, Chelaram called from Bangalore and said he would ask Bisht to get personally involved. Then, Bisht called. Rather hot under the collar, he said mournfully to Tara, “Madam, if you had such a problem, what was the need to go anywhere else – we would have certainly helped you.” Tara: (putting her phone on speaker) I think that is why I called your teams seven times in the past four weeks, that my problems were not being attended to. There are more than a dozen of my service requests pending. Maybe we could take a look at the complaints log together? Bisht: No problem Ma’am, I will come and see you tomorrow, Monday morning at 9 a.m.Shiv: Tomorrow, Mr Bisht? Your team has kept us up all night,...Read Analysis: Vineet Kapoor and Debabrata Mukherjee break-page-breakTara: My patients have been coming back and forth since Friday. ‘Patients’ means they are in need of medical assistance. They know no Sunday or holiday. I did think Mr Chelaram intended for us to get the help we need, today. But if your best is tomorrow, then...In 30 minutes, Aman and Awasthi arrived and after some checks declared they would have to reinstall the entire machine core software. Shiv and Tara were intrigued. Why core software? But Aman gave an estimate of 3-4 hours for the job, in reply! The next thing he did was plug in his headphones and call someone in headquarters who spoke with him for almost an hour while he made notes. For the whole hour, he understood what he had to do and how. It was after that that he actually got started. As he worked, he kept speaking to his HQ and it was clear he was doing this for the first time. Shiv was amazed by the irresponsibility — Company A’s service engineer was here to reinstall the core software, learning on the job! Wow, the blinding power of an MNC brand! Around 2 a.m. on Monday, Aman finished the software reinstallation and restarted the machine. Bleary eyed and tired, Aman showed Tara that the machine was starting and the printers were receiving inputs. On the touchscreen issue, he said he would discuss with Bisht in the morning.When Bisht arrived at 9 a.m. Tara had to explain everything one step at a time — the problems as if ‘surprised’ him. It was as if he had never seen the call logs, never spoken with Tara about these. Aman had nothing to say. Shiv chose to be present, having taken a half day’s leave from work. One would have thought at this stage, Company A — if it honestly believed that the SW15 was as amazing as they had made it out to be — should have been fair, taken back the faulty machine and supplied a new one, thus saving face and importantly patients’ time. But the story goes on...Bisht, uniquely, suggested that Tara should ‘observe the machine’ to see if it hung again. Tara choked in disbelief. Next, Bisht also blamed the Dustin Dempa printers for the patchy printing. But Tara said, “Many other Ultrasonologists use exactly this printer brand and model.”He had no answer, but even suggested she use a different photo paper, “Maybe this brand is the problem, who knows?” Shiv groaned audibly and deliberately, “No, not that again, please. We have already tried three brands of photopaper, including the most premium brand. We have also bought a new brand of printers as suggested by Aman. What else may we change, let’s think, the clinic?”So that was the end of that line of reasoning from Bisht.Something was not adding up. Increasingly Tara and Shiv both felt the problem was different. Even fundamental.Glad that the machine was responding, the printers printing, an exhausted Tara bid Bisht goodbye and set about printing Saturday’s backlog. That was also when Chelaram called to check status. Tara told him that the touchscreen issue had not been addressed even by Bisht. Chelaram promised to get that fixed immediately .Shiv was also scathing in his comments about Aman and Bisht. “There is a lot of shooting in the dark. Neither has a logic to his suggestions. Only diversions. Very disappointing, really! ended Shiv. Three days later Company A sent a new touchscreen, with another service engineer, Brijender, who replaced the old errant one. Now the SW15 began working perfectly. Tara had a moment of déjà vu. “This is exactly like the faulty keyboard on the old machine and how Paul Anand waved his magic wand. Looks like this organisation’s customer support is completely personality-led, and complaint logs, etc., have no meaning for them. I don’t think they use the logs to study trends and understand...”Brijender was different. The machine hung twice in that week, but he was quicker to reach than Aman.Until, the machine hung twice on one day. Tara was devastated. “What is going on?!” she lamented. Read Analysis: Vineet Kapoor and Debabrata MukherjeeWhy was the machine software still hanging? This time, Brijender painstakingly collected the data and keystroke logs just preceding each hanging incident (which was recorded in the machine’s memory). He sent it to the HQ, and in two days, he came back and said something that shook the ground under Shiv and Tara’s feet.Brijender: See, the version of the machine software on the SW15 is due for change.... some bugs are being fixed... so, you may as well wait for the new version?Shiv was sure he heard wrong. “What do you mean?” he asked.Brijender: Aisa hai, you know that the SW15 has a new software and a faster processor? Now, the software that was reloaded on your machine on Sunday night was the recently debugged and documented new version. The global tech team has been working on it since six months. The difficulties that you and some others have been facing were fed to the global tech team in Virginia where the software is being debugged and a new version is being developed. The new version will solve the machine’s hanging problem, which has also now got documented for implementing the fix.... It will be available in two weeks...You will have to wait, ok?”Shiv felt an unusual sense of anger. “So, was this some kind of experimental software,” he asked.Brijender: I won’t say that....Shiv pressed on keenly, “In computer parlance, this is called a Beta version. Was this what we were subjected to so far?”Brijender’s silence was both eloquent and embarrassed as it was evasive. Tara picked up Shiv’s phone and found the call from Tambe in Bangalore and dialled it. Introducing herself she said, “This SW15? It is a life saving equipment, Mr Tambe, but your organisation sold it to me like it was a juicer. Do you realise these are equipment that determine life decisions for ill patients? And all this nonsense about debugging and version change, etc., you do not think is downright unethical, worse when you wilfully conceal it from me the doctor ? You Mr Tambe knew all along that you were using me as a guinea pig to test your software. You put my patients’ lives at risk?This is breach of customer faith, Mr Tambe! This is breach of your fiduciary relationship with me because I trusted you to know what healthcare is about. I am hopping mad now Tambe. You have betrayed unsuspecting patients!” casestudymeera@gmail.com (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 16-06-2014)
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The Kalpana Case' is an example of how an organization refuses to use it heart and how an employee refuses to use her head. The facts starting from Kalpana's inability to read the writing on the wall and going through into the organisation's inability to manage people issues, are fraught with dissonance. Here are a few questions I have for the senior managers of the bank.Why did you deal with Kalpana in this manner? What was your issue? Why such a cloak and dagger approach?Why did you allow Sundari to play games?What is the real story behind sacking Kalpana?What is your policy with regard to treating pregnancy, and medical emergencies?What are your core values which govern the way you will conduct yourself in good times and bad?I get no clear answers. Instead, I see a management that is indulging in inexplicable behaviour. Sundari's conduct is despicable and the behaviour of the Country Head and National HR head is pathetic. (All the men in this case were really disappointing in their complete lack of sensitivity and courage.)David Ogilvy once said, "Rules are for the obedience of fools and guidance of wise men." I see no evidence of adherence to policy (whatever it might be) nor evidence of any wisdom guiding the decisions. I am not surprised though. This is how most organisations, MNC or otherwise, behave. There are, of course, exceptions. It may be argued that men don't understand pregnancy or women's issues. But in this case, two senior managers (Sundari and the lady director on board) did nothing different either to show that women would have handled this situation better!Why does this happen? It is not because there are no clear policies. It is because the organisation does not have a clear set of values that guide them in good times and bad. It is probably impossible to frame policies to cover all possible situations. In such cases the organisation should be guided by values than by policy. "What we believe and how we behave".I don't believe this organisation suffered from any recession. It suffered from a bankruptcy of values.My next concern is Kalpana. She did NOT know her priorities. "What is more important? Having the baby or the career in the bank?" Right in the beginning when Sundari told her "You need to have your options clear and take a call between your professional and personal priorities", why did Kalpana keep quiet? Should she not have said "My baby first, you can keep the job"? By dithering there, she allowed herself to be pushed around. The other point is that she should have stopped to think "why did Sundari say that" instead of getting upset about "how dare she talk to me like that" or "if this is what she does to me (who is so senior), imagine what she would do to someone junior".She made this into a women's issue before exploring the various angles as to what is happening to her. She should have adopted a more strategic approach to tackling this problem.I also noticed that she reacted to situations impulsively rather than respond carefully. You could easily provoke her and get her to say the wrong things. My biggest shock is that after all the insult, unfair treatment, and being sacked - when the country head and and national HR head ask "What is it you want?", Kalpana's reply is "My job". Why would Kalpana ever want go back to such an organisation? Beats me. That is why this is a classic case where the organisation did not use its heart and the individual did not use her head.Does Geffel have a hope in hell? Can we salvage the company now? Can it rethink its approach? What should they have done, when and how? Geffel does have a hope in heaven, if they wish to be there. But much depends on what their focus is and what their genuine people philosophy is. It must stem from the top.Good companies know how to handle exceptions. In the service industry they use something called service recovery when something goes wrong. These are the broad steps they follow:1.Acknowledge that there is a problem/mistake.2.Apologise for what happened to the person affected.3.Think of ways to redress and turn the situation around. 4.Put your best foot forward to implement the solution.5.Check with the affected person if the problem has now been sorted out to their satisfaction.6.Capture learning and ensure it is part of the organisation experience, knowledge and folklore "What worked, what did not."7.Make this way of thinking and working a regular way.8.Start at the top and set an example; lead the way.9.Be tough on people who do not comply with company values (not easy). 10.Never let people forget who we are, what we are. Celebrate heroes and heroines who follow the values no matter what.The author is an innovation coach, a CEO coach, and creator of TickleMeThink (an iPhone app), an aspiring writer, a speaker, and former director Ogilvy & Mather India
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I’m as fierce a mum as the next milk banking ‘lactivist’ but when it comes to postnatal career calls, I believe it is solely a mother’s prerogative. I may not agree with Marissa Meyer’s cab ride to work straight from the labour room but back-fence nattering and column inches given to discussing the same are all too astounding. Either people want such women to fail or cannot get over the success of it all, haven’t a clue, but what gets me all hot and bothered is if tears, pain and joy belong to the mother, then surely the first domino tumbling in that complex trail of decisions ‘to go or not to go’ must be for her taking too. Companies have to trust that the woman they hired, to make critical decisions for the firm, can make this one soundly enough.Not that they should expect the same woman to come back to her job, breast pads under business suit and unlikely to have changed one bit. Far from it! Mothers return to work ridden with guilt, hormones, pressure, emotions, desire to prove that they are indispensible and can outdo their last stint, and sure enough they multitask and make it work with the baby compartmentalised snuggly in their mental folio. Should we not then be viewing maternity leave as a leadership development course that equips women even better for their workplace? Wouldn’t the best and most productive employers be those who see the complete person, kids and all? I am gobsmacked that an MNC bank recruiting high-flyers like Kalpana, who have taken advantage of the best education, would actually encourage them to abandon their careers (and contributions to the bottom line) in favour of changing nappies at home!Growth in aspirations, wages, average spend, lifestyle and inflation coupled with a decline in family incomes across India are all putting many more Kalpanas in this position every time they decide to take up their ovaries on the offer. Whether they go back to give meaning to their lives or simply to collect a paycheck, children are still conceived to enrich lives not enslave conscience.Kalpana’s boss reminds me of erstwhile Margaret Thatcher who was so tough on new stay-at-home mums, that she was reluctant to give them tax breaks for she thought they ‘lacked get-up-and-go and gumption’. Need I remind, that was the eighties. I for one went back to work almost a year after my child was born and still found it challenging to serve as a director across European, West-Asian and African markets whilst juggling childcare, pick-ups, flight delays and traumatic hours away from my little one. I took my call to take a sabbatical, based on my set of considerations. Neither husband nor company persuaded me into doing so, hence I am at peace with it. For Kalpana, that decision wasn’t hers – which is what makes all of this is so unfair!The issue is complex, subtle, difficult to tease apart for there may well be a rich collection of anecdotal reports or 'company policy' papers on gender diversity. There is virtually no hard data clearly outlining issues getting in the way of women’s progression. Be it structural issues (policies and work practices) that create those barriers or personal ones (values, beliefs, stereotypes, responsibility of making marriages work, having kids on time) that bias perceptions about women’s ability to lead effectively — either way qualified women often simply opt out.Sure it doesn’t apply to Kidwais, or Sandbergs, in my opinion they are outliers, and while their actions may make splashy headlines, their situation doesn’t apply to the Kalpana Dixits. They can hire cooks, nannies, nurses, drivers, dog walkers and personal trainers, or set company policy to allow infants at work or buzz back everyone early from maternity leave as Meyers just did, does it matter? 'Lean-in' all you want, the playing field is neither the same, nor as even.Kalpana, who was senior enough to manage clients, surely should have had her sense and wits about her, or have alarm bells go off long ago, based on the discussions she was constantly having. She should have known better to catalogue any discrimination, note sidelining tactics, save emails, references, dates and details of phone calls, and kept a timeline of events, should it be needed for a tribunal or case. A strongly worded letter with her timeline, for instance, could be a good start in reminding a company of their legal obligations. When a company breaches a code of trust — trust that the employee will be dealt with fairly come what may – it is asking for trouble. But it is upon the employers to challenge that culture and attitude, with the same 110 per cent that they give to their work.No wonder large reputable companies have taken to employing the services of maternity coaches to advise on family-friendly compromises and to mentor women returning from maternity leave. Business psychologist Ros Taylor, in her book Confidence at Work, suggests women can appoint an amenable peer as a "buddy" before they go on leave. "They can keep you in touch with what's going on at work and, just as important, gossip too, so that you don't feel cut off when you return." If possible, it may help to go out for occasional drinks or lunch with your colleagues or ‘buddy’ every month or two, so that you keep abreast of any management changes that could affect you. In addition, female employees can set up an informal support group and senior managers harness it to promote the recruitment, retention and progression of women. Top companies nowadays offer workshops for women about to go on maternity leave, support during their absence and mentoring on their return, to ensure most of them join back – not only does it make better business sense over employing fresh starters but is a no-brainer when it comes to higher returns. Geffel’s a leading bank but seemingly, not so good at common math.Kalpana not only faced discrimination and constructive dismissal, but also became a "victim" in the process. Where she should be enjoying motherhood or work or both, she is now consumed by the injustice of what had happened. Sometimes, a promising career elsewhere is the best way to get even and get ahead. Maybe, Sundari did Kalpana a favour who knows, but Sundari sure did herself none.The author was brand director, Hewlett-Packard, EMEA, at Publicis London. Now based in Chicago, USA, she is guest faculty at ICSC European Retail School, and an examiner at the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), UK
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As Kalpana’s story moves on, we establish without doubt that her bank is a discriminating organisation. My criticism of the individual players was explicit in my previous analysis. Let me focus on the larger issues this time.How can organisations that form a part of discriminatory societies be aloof from the reality around them? Our society is a violent and an unequal one — women are killed before they are born, women are more likely to be malnourished, women drop out from school more often than men, women are sold for sex, organs and labour, and women from middle-class families report domestic violence and sexual abuse to the extent of 50 per cent of the population. Can then Kalpana expect her organisation to be any different than her society? Can one create a value-enhanced diverse oasis? An organisation that is equitable and respects and includes all people in the larger desert of discrimination and exclusion, is a rarity.We also live in a society where very early on in his life, the male child recognises that he is the protector. The women in India have recognised that they have the right to be equal. They have also recognised that this right will be infringed upon more often than not and they will have to fight for it. Given the ongoing vulnerabilities of violence, and of being dismissed and spurned, women have learned that to survive in male bastions, they have to be like men. The culture of silence pervades and institutionalises the discrimination and violation of women. This happens to the extent that Sundari as a woman does not recognise that to please the male determined cultural norms she has become discriminatory herself.In such a stark socio-cultural reality, there is an expectation that the organisations will be able to create a world of equality. Is that possible? Is it even attempted? Is Corporate India gender friendly? Or are the women still invisible and silenced in the boardrooms? There is unfortunately limited research or evidence on the issue. The organisational effort for ensuring gender equity is not documented. The best practices are not highlighted. The human resource policy does not have measurable indicators or audit processes. This heightens the risk of organisations living under the illusion that they are ‘gender friendly’ while the discrimination continues right from recruitment to leadership succession.This affects the culture of the organisation, its productivity and its ability to retain the best people for the job. It is also a reflection of institutionalisation and normalisation of such discrimination in the larger society.Some will have you believe that it has already been achieved and no gender-based discrimination exists in India Inc. Such is the level of collective denial that one has to question the intent that allows the delusion to prevail. The Bank in the said case is definitely suffering from the delusion that it respects diversity! I hope this challenges it to question itself and its team members.Given the lack of evidence on the gender dimension in corporate India, there is need to provide tools and methods to managers in the Indian context so as to enable them to be champions of engendered and diverse processes. There is a need to build capacity among managers to identify discriminatory events or processes. There is need to develop methods to measure the impact of gender equity and also the impact of gender discrimination on the organisation and the individual manager. There is a need to develop and reward best practices that can be rolled out to the larger corporate world. The idea of gender equity has been accepted to some extent there is a need to make it behavioural and measurable.In the meanwhile, one can only hope that Kalpana finds the courage to continue to challenge those around her to treat her as an equal. The battle does not end even if you change the organisation. The characters change, rules, unfortunately, do not! The author is Senior Consultant Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist, Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi; and chairperson of an NGO named Saarthak(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 21-10-2013)
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Essentially, in my mind, there are three parameters around which the dilemma to ‘serve the chicken or throw it’ revolves. Evaluation partly fuelled by education, evolution triggered by the milieu in which one lives and economic impact.Let’s begin with education. Broadly speaking, anyone who spends two decades of his life ‘learning’, is expected to be more discerning between ‘right’ from ‘wrong’. It can also be concluded that an educated individual will likely do more ‘right’ than an uneducated person. Right? Not exactly.The basic problem here is that there is no fixed parameter to define ‘right’. So, while the current education system certainly helps develop lenses through which one can tell ‘right’ from ‘not so right’, the problem is that what one person considers ‘right’ may not be so for another person. Ironically, the barometers for defining ‘right’ vary from society to society, by time, and indeed by social strata. Besides, there are extraneous factors overriding the inputs delivered or expected to be delivered by the education system. Every child in the country is encouraged by his elders to be the best in his class, and since success is based on a comparative scale, the general tendency among most educated Indians is to benchmark themselves against fellow mates. Ironically, the elders giving advice to these children are being coached to be good team players in their workplaces. No wonder one often hears in global corporate circles that Indians are excellent individual contributors but poor team players. Therefore, to just blame the education system for the ‘dilemma’ may be fashionable but not comprehensive. Societies evolve over time. More importantly, governance mechanisms mature with time. The critical thing to note here is that human behaviour is dynamic and generally improves over a period of time as the benefits of mutualism become visible.And finally, it is all about the economics of the choices to be made. For most situations, sheer common sense and some basic education is enough to differentiate ‘right’ from ‘wrong’. However, in most cases, the decision is more around the economic impact of the choice. Vatsa, with his high ethical standards, may have compromised on the quality of the bigger lot to achieve the economies of scale but he might have satisfied his ethical ego by rejecting a smaller unfit lot.The jury is still out on drawing a correlation between standard of ethics and degree of fulfilment of physiological needs. So, while being coached to maintain high ethical standards in life, many of us have seen our role models stutter, stammer and falter in high-impact situations.I think that as every child grows up to take on the world, besides the education system, which within its own limitations is expected to convey the acceptable ethical and moral standards, there are several external situations and interventions that exposes the child to the dilemmas of the real world and, in some sense, sets their value systems. It is the same education system and society that created both, a Kundu senior and a Vatsa.The concept Raman brings out on inculcation of dealing with ‘grey zone’ is an interesting one! I think it is time that our pedagogy evolves to the next level of teaching through experimentation and explorations. So, while the young citizens are taught the societal extent of acceptability through textbooks, they are also made aware that life is all about making the choices and living with them.I do agree with Raman on his theory of evolution. I think as our democratic system of governance matures, ‘realism’ would tend to get closer to ‘idealism’ as the community gets exposed to the benefits of honesty, trust and faith in each other.I believe a lot of it is also linked with our economic situation. As the country prospers with better schools and improved literacy standards, there will come a day very soon when our college students would throw the dropped chicken in the garbage bin because at that point everybody would be doing the same. Inshalla! The author is a CFO for global applications business for CSC . He has over 20 years of experience, including at GE and HUL(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 26-08-2013)
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The idealism of education is not about having one’s head in the clouds but about being fully mindful of the goings-on in the larger society. Not supporting them, but just being aware.The search for the truth, or the search for precision in whichever domain of study we undertake, ensures that we continue to evolve and reach higher rather than lower levels. If people become cynical about learning, then who will provide the engine for the future? The belief that education must be moderated by a large dose of reality means only that our students need to be better informed about the legacies that are constantly in the making by opportunists and the short-sighted, and the price they are likely to pay in future.There is a fundamental ‘sleight of hand’ involved in this story. Organisations can play around with their standard ‘tolerance ranges’. The idea that “schools should bring in reality” puts the entire blame on the so-called idealism of schools. The issue is not the school but the people in organisations who want to take short cuts to maximise their gains. If schools do not have ideals, how can the future be an advancement of the present?We are all aware of how progressively standards can get eroded. Pieces of chicken falling on the floor to be picked up and used without a care or tweaking quality standards to pass sub-optimal products, or whatever else, over time results in a very different product with less defined standards than was perhaps envisaged at the start of the operation. The insinuation that the youth have their heads in the clouds or that those responsible for education are being unrealistic is getting the facts all wrong. Perhaps, the kids need to ‘tour’ the reality of the adult ‘sleight of hand’, the so-called grey zones, or rampant opportunism, as evidence of what is actually happening, and then perhaps reflect about what is appropriate and right. Education, like the judiciary, needs to maintain its impartiality for the truth. A corrupted judiciary will result in the absence of safety and a degeneration that will go uncontrolled. Over time there will be anarchy or the absence or disregard of the law. A corrupted education system will result in people who will have no standard for the truth at the heart of all disciplines. Anything will be considered right and acceptable. Where will we stand in the world stage?It is not just about providing more and more mindless people as part of the workforce. This case study makes it appear as if those with falling standards in the world of work are trying to co-opt students to turn a blind eye to what is happening and appreciate the ‘grey’ as a necessity and not as a form of corrupt or unethical practices. Take an instance from our not too distant past: Are we saying that the standards broken for the disastrous Commonwealth Games are really acceptable? That’s the reality of the world and we have to accept it? To hope for something aspirational, better, more vibrant, more inspiring is idealistic? Do we want our children to become cynical and taking short-cuts at every step of the way? What will this do for us as a nation?Old Mr Kundu, Punya’s father (of Part 1), seems to think that his own helplessness as a professional should translate as moderating the idealism of students. Granted that he had a lot of reasons why he was helpless but to think that his constraints should be a lesson for education makes it sound as though he is displacing his anger away from where it really belongs. Idealism is about aspiration, growth and evolution. One cannot grow by not looking at the facts. Our leaders, with their failings or virtues, have to be seen as they are. The objective has to be of going beyond them, and not fitting into their definition of the game. Those in education who are truly promoting excellence through enquiry and reflection are the real heroes — they have the courage to do so inspite of a large group that treats the process like a factory for cogs in the proverbial wheel. The author is a consultant at the Centre For Creative Leadership, Asia-Pac(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 26-08-2013)
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Why should a cricketer not cheat, particularly when the most visible entities, individuals and corporations, skate on grey and sometimes positively black areas? Then there is the comment: ‘How greedy can one get?’ Is a desire for ‘more’ a bad thing? Who is to define the difference between ‘need’ and ‘greed’? Should one not be free to define this? And are there limits or boundaries that we must ‘respect’ as individuals living in a society? Isn’t our society built on pushing boundaries, which is the cornerstone of human endeavours?Is this chase for the more, higher, better, not embedded in the educational process, conversations between parents and children, and peer exchanges at hangouts? How to avoid taxes, give and receive kickbacks, bend rules? Are not our heroes those who recognise no barriers — physical, social, economic or moral?Are not these old questions that erupt in our midst with amazing regularity? And challenge us to find answers not only to answer the questioner, but also the sacred places in our beings, where questions shelter? We hear two languages — of doing practical functions, and the other of being, a recognition of where we stand, and how? Often, these point in different directions.Studying at a British government recognised school used to be a source of valuable employment. The Depression years had sealed this perception. School, eligibility and employment became an inseparable amalgam.Schools are places that hear echoes of young voice; where this cauldron is stirred, of aspirations and lived truisms. When many gather and interact, cultures grow. But the dominant culture can be very strong and cannot be denied easily.The accent on employability that one hears from students in the case study is pernicious. Their voices echo the truth that examinations seem to determine worthiness. But with an inclusive global perspective, worthiness cannot be left to the mercy of high-stakes examinations. Equipping children for life requires attention to the fuzzy zone of attitudes, feelings and individual effort. The challenge is as much how to value diversity as to coexist intelligently and sensitively. Adult voices are often timorous, weak and do not reflect life choices. For far too long have adults spoken one thing and done another. Society wants security for its young but has not cared about the how.Talking cricket, here is an anecdote. Garfield Sobers, fielding in first slip, took a low catch off Nari Contractor’s bat. There were loud appeals, and the umpire gave out. But Sobers signalled ‘not out’; that the ball had touched the ground. The match continued. Only Sobers knew! But it was important for him to be fair, decent, and to strive hard, truthfully. Sir Garfield Sobers is not only recognised as a specially gifted cricketer but also as a human being who played fair. Is such a thing conceivable in today’s cricket? Has the space for truth and decency vanished with the bright colours, glitz, prizes, money and advertisement sponsorships? Is it surprising that the young are internalising abandonment to the marketplace where success equals money?The younger generation unerringly catches the discord between uttered words and lived actions. Adults quiver and wonder what to point towards — Sobers saying not out? Gandhi and Mandela saying non-violence? Or the glitzy, glass-walled offices, shiny cars and success? Money, a lot of it, as soon as possible?The ends-and-means discourse has always been acute. Possibly, we don’t speak to our children enough. Possibly, the language of success is louder, clearer and more definite. One may ask, as Janardhan David does in the case: do we care enough for the new generations? Or, should we listen to Chief Seattle’s more disturbing words: ‘He walks on the graves of his forefathers and does not care! He tramples on the rights of his unborn children and he does not care!’? The author is director-secretary, The Chennai Education Centre, KFI, Pathashaala & Outreach. He is a former principal of The School KFI(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 12-08-2013)
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