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Boss Management

Dear Readers....

I have spoken to many of my friends and I can say that most of them had one thing in common and they all complained about their bosses in many ways. Few said things like " dude, am not able to manage my boss, he's not at all understanding, not at all caring, doesn't know anything. I know better than him in all the respect, I dunno what to do in these circumstances and all?????????? ". This has been a common issue particularly with Indian and MNC culture. There is clear cut gap between the two cultures and is clearly visible day in and day out.....

Today while chatting with a friend of mine, it struck me that I should write something on boss management. May be that will help at least to an extent of 10% to see-off the problems and issues of my friends related to their bosses.

In India, right from childhood, kids are brought-up in a very protective kinda environment, wherein parents, siblings, neighbours, relatives and teachers are all very protective towards the child. Even today, it may appear weird that parents go alongwith their kids upto the examination hall and if his kid didn't perform upto the mark, they will sob alongwith kids.............but its a reality. My friend in Europe, a RM in Sweden even laughed on hearing this !!!!!!!!!!!!!

When this kid grows up, parents think that "his kid will do wonders in job based on his academic records and all, his kid is the most matured one among the whole lot and all!!!!" All these assumptions are based on simple academic records and one or two social behavioural instances whenever kid has acted maturedly.I feel definition of maturity is very blurred........... As I look at it " Maturity is a state of mind wherein a person knows what to say and how to say any particular thing alongwith what to do and how to do any particular job". With maturity thinking process starts. People should start giving a pause of atleast 10 seconds before speaking anything and should speak things which make sense.

Now coming back to Indian condition parents think that "as my son speaks less and has good academic record, he's mature enough to understand and cope up in the job." I simply donot buy that kinda thinking because I feel communication is a two way process and the basic fact which distinguishes a mature and an immature individual is the essence of words said and the process of saying thing. Post this concept of maturity, let us come back to our hot topic boss management of which I feel maturity is also an important part.

Now when that Indian academician enters a job scenario, and start working in an MNC, he feels the absence of protective blanket and his boss becomes the biggest culprit (as he's interacting more with the boss on day to day activity) in the sense that "whenever that bugger talks, he means business....no personal talk...no caring....he's not the right boss etc."These all thought hovers around the mind of this new entrant.Even I had suffered the same. But one day while speaking to my dad on this issue, he said the most important line of my life " Your boss is not your wife". I took time to understand the essence of this statement. From that day onwards, I felt very little resistance from my mind related to the bosss' way of doing things. My view changed towards my boss and later on when I myself became boss,I truly understood the significance of my dad's statement. One particular sunday I spent some half a day, drooling over this particular topic and tried to understand the basic root of this issue and related it to way we all are groomed. "The fundamental reason is the way kids are brought up over here.We all need to be well averse of this fact that " bosss' are paid to get things done from us and not to droll over our personal lives". That is what is expected out of your boss. Now the ways and the means can be different. He may use " Saam, daam, dand and bhed" any of these four rules mentioned in Bhagvad Geeta to get things done in due course of time.And that is what we all use to get things done from our subordinates.

I have read in a book by a professor of Harvard Business School: There are three kinda bosses: positive, negative and neutral. A positive boss will always transmit positive energy and will enthuse the subordinate and get things done by assimilation technique. Thats SAAM in Geeta. A negative boss will always transmit negative energy and get things done by negative approach like shouting, yelling and all. Thats DUND in Geeta. These are feared category of bosses. But the biggest advantage of working with these kind of bosses are :

1) You will be aware of your shortcomings

2) You will also become aware of the fact that "what are things ought not to be done while heading that chair".

Then there are neutral bosses who are insecure by nature and do not interfere as such in the business of subordinate and try to get things done using saam and dund both. These category of bosses are worst one since they do not take any stand and just try to protect their own selves. Once you are through with this particular theory about bosses, you can easily categorize your own boss.

I still feel most of the people feels that there are many negative bosses. One-thing needs to very clear that out of one of us only, somebody is the boss or is going to be the boss. Then how come you are positive while in this sphere of chair and negative in the other sphere. Actually its all in our mind. We are all simplehearted individual and we all have nearly same upbringing style, then how come we behave differently in both the circumstances? I feel here I need to bring an altogether important word " Empathy: which means putting yourself in somebody's else shoes". If you are clear with this, I feel you can relate yourself more freely with your bosss' stand.

Then there is an important concept of EQ or emotional intelligence. It is a kind of intelligence or skill that involves the ability to perceive, assess and positively influence one's own and other people's emotions. EQ is much larger sphere than IQ or conventional intelligence. Infact I personally feel in todays' scenario EQ plays a much important role than IQ.Let me make you understand: What EQ comprises of :

1) Knowing your emotions.
2) Managing your own emotions.
3) Motivating yourself.
4) Recognising and understanding other people's emotions.
5) Managing relationships, ie., managing the emotions of others.

4th and 5th point relates to empathy only. Keep in your head that:

High EQ = Low insecurity = more openness. If you are through with EQ concept and work on it, I would say that half of your problems are solved. Boss management becomes an easy job once you start reading his behavioural pattern, his emotions, and his ways and approach.

In today's competitive environment boss wants every individual to start delivering from day 1, which pragmatically is not possible and hence, we need to read and judge the emotions of the boss carefully and articulate our liguistic style in such a way that we get things done from our bosses i.e. whatever information we desire which will be fruitful for us, we get that from him only.

In sales and Marketing where I am presently working, there is a saying " Your boss is your biggest customer and you first need to sell your ideas to him than your real clients".

In Geeta there are four mantras or ways of tackling any human being (who can be your boss also) Saam, Daam, Dund, Bhed. I am giving you the fifth mantra when all the above fails. It is " Sharmindagi" and that means "Embarrassment". Use this technique and check it yourself. Its going to work in all situations.

I hope all the people who read it will have something to add into this and will surely gain something out of it.

Your comments are welcome over here......

Regards

APJ

Dreams

Guys and Girls

"Dreams are not those which you see in sleep. These are those which will never ever let you sleep"

Hence, I request you to see dreams and fulfill it. Dont just day-dream it.

Regards
APJ

MBA Degree

Dear Readers,

I was reading an article by Mr. Shashi Tharoor, once nominated for UN Secretary post from India related to the significance of MBA in India.......where he rightly said that "MBA is an overtly hyped degree in India.Not even one-fourth of MBAs are employable". I feel that he's correct in that.

The reasons as I look at it are " Selection criteria : which is more inclined towards the knowledge base of a candidate rather than experience base". In any critical scenario or any decision making process, experience, knowledge, courage and attitude is what all matters. If you take the example of Management Guru "Arindam Chowdhury", he has rightly said "Any difficult scenario : its ASK theory which works that is Attitude, skill and Knowledge".

In India, we focus mainly on knowledge, lesser on skills and least on attitude of an individual.

Attitude comes with :

a) Family environment

b) School/College environment

c) Social-circle environment

d) Professional environment.

If you have grown independently or grown in a not so sociable environment, attitudes are different to a level of heaven and hell. B-Schools should take this factor into consideration, while selecting any individual. A positive attitude is a must for a successful entrepreneur.

Also the selection process which is more of an elimination process in India. I feel a candidate who has done brilliantly in his/her job should be selected based on (a) His/her profile (b) His/her marks scored in CAT or say any other MBA exams. How can B-Schools in India expect that people who have done exceptionally well in their respective organisations, will score as high as 99 percentile and then only will givea call for an interview ? I think, this is not justified. If IIMs want peoples who have the ability to take the right decisions at the right time and who have it in them to become a global leader, then the selection criteria should not weigh heavily on CAT result but also on his/her profile. Infact it should be 50% weithage to each, if not 30-70 ratio.

Also the hype created by the media for an educational institute should be minimised, so that people are in free mind while appearing for a test like CAT which tests not only speed but also the accuracy level, as it creates unnecessary pressure on an individual. Even parents at times become a victim of this hoopla!

I feel "any compensation or remuneration comes with a responsibilty". A person is or will be paid well based on the kind of resposibilty he/she bears. It is not necessary that people who has done MBA from top B Schools will be paid well, except the fact that their launching salary will be good. A career is never ever judged from a launching salary. It is always judged over a span of three decades. It is not necessary that a rocket will go very high and will succeed in its mission, if it has a very high launching velocity. It's only the escape velocity which matters most. I hope you have got the point. Every individuals career moves in either ways as shown in the figure below :

Now, You can clearly observe two ellipses. These are two career paths. You can clearly distinguish one from the other. In one path , you can observe that the rise initally is steep, but gains a constantcy in later part. In the other rise is slow and steady but at the later part its steep rise. Now thats my point. Remeber law of averages is valid for every career and not only for sportsmen! You have to chose between the two. A MBA degree will equip you to get a steep rise...post that its your hardwork, sincerity, courage and result-oriented decision which matters most. The point I am making over here is " career is like your own baby.You need to decide the process to groom your own baby."An experienced individual will rise steadily in career and with an MBA degree at later part of his/her career will take him above the rest. Because he/she could easily relate their own experiences with the case studies and will judge based on their experience in those circumstances and not what ideally should have been done, as mentioned in most of the books. An experience person will have more things to share than a fresher. Hence MBA becomes a value added kit for an experience person. Remember MBA is a course or you can say a tool kit, the more you could relate yourself with it, the better it is.

In order to be marketable in the present market scenario, you need to be well equipped with all the necessary tools, which a MBA degree will teach but only at a later part of your career, so that you can relate yourself with the case studies and become a right decision maker someday. Thereby you become more saleable.

Perhaps, if we develop these things and change the pattern currently used by Indian B-Schools, then I feel Mr. Tharoor will perhaps change his comment.

All the best!!!

Do give your comments...

Regards

APJ