Product development involves five per cent effort towards getting it to work and the remainder 95 per cent towards converting it into a useful device that will meet someone else's requirement.
R. Sunder
Partner Founder
BiSS(P) Ltd.
"Pain and Excitement of Taking Technology to the Market"
Vikalpa
October - December 2004
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Reward not for Brilliance but for Providing a Solution
The market does not reward anyone for his knowledge or brilliance. Rewards await only those who have a solution to offer that meets specific existing requirement.
A student can be rewarded for his knowledge and his brilliance because his sole responsibility is to learn.
Customer satisfaction needs to be the focus of development activity if rewards or appreciation is to be expected.
R. Sunder
Partner Founder
BiSS(P) Ltd.
"Pain and Excitement of Taking Technology to the Market"
Vikalpa
October - December 2004
A student can be rewarded for his knowledge and his brilliance because his sole responsibility is to learn.
Customer satisfaction needs to be the focus of development activity if rewards or appreciation is to be expected.
R. Sunder
Partner Founder
BiSS(P) Ltd.
"Pain and Excitement of Taking Technology to the Market"
Vikalpa
October - December 2004
Monday, July 28, 2008
Work Culture - Bhagavadgita
An effective work culture is about vigorous and arduous efforts in pursuit of given or chosen tasks. Sri Krishna elaborates on two types of work culture – “daivi sampat” or divine work culture and “asuri sampat” or demonic work culture.
Daivi work culture - involves fearlessness, purity, self-control, sacrifice, straightforwardness, self-denial, calmness, absence of fault-finding, absence of greed, gentleness, modesty, absence of envy and pride.
Asuri work culture - involves egoism, delusion, personal desires, improper performance, work not oriented towards service.
Mere work ethic is not enough. The hardened criminal exhibits an excellent work ethic. What is needed is a work ethic conditioned by ethics in work.
It is in this light that the counsel, “yogah karmasu kausalam” should be understood. “Kausalam” means skill or technique of work which is an indispensable component of a work ethic. “Yogah” is defined in the Gita itself as “samatvam yogah uchyate” meaning an unchanging equipoise of mind (detachment.) Tilak tells us that acting with an equable mind is Yoga.
(Bal Gangadhar Tilak, 1856-1920, the precursor of Gandhiji, hailed by the people of India as “Lokmanya,” probably the most learned among the country's political leaders. For a description of the meanings of the word “Yoga”, see foot of this page.)
By making the equable mind the bed-rock of all actions, the Gita evolved the goal of unification of work ethic with ethics in work, for without ethical process no mind can attain an equipoise. The guru, Adi Sankara (born circa 800 AD), says that the skill necessary in the performance of one's duty is that of maintaining an evenness of mind in face of success and failure. The calm mind in the face of failure will lead to deeper introspection and see clearly where the process went wrong so that corrective steps could be taken to avoid shortcomings in future.
The principle of reducing our attachment to personal gains from the work done is the Gita's prescription for attaining equanimity. It has been held that this principle leads to lack of incentive for effort, striking at the very root of work ethic. To the contrary, concentration on the task for its own sake leads to the achievement of excellence – and indeed to the true mental happiness of the worker. Thus, while commonplace theories of motivation may be said to lead us to the bondage or extrinsic rewards, the Gita's principle leads us to the intrinsic rewards of mental, and indeed moral, satisfaction.
M.P. Bhattathiri:
World Management Lessons from India.
The Internet Journal of Alternative Medicine. 2005. Volume 2 Number 2.
http://www.ispub.com/ostia/index.php?xmlFilePath=journals/ijam/vol2n2/mind.xml
Daivi work culture - involves fearlessness, purity, self-control, sacrifice, straightforwardness, self-denial, calmness, absence of fault-finding, absence of greed, gentleness, modesty, absence of envy and pride.
Asuri work culture - involves egoism, delusion, personal desires, improper performance, work not oriented towards service.
Mere work ethic is not enough. The hardened criminal exhibits an excellent work ethic. What is needed is a work ethic conditioned by ethics in work.
It is in this light that the counsel, “yogah karmasu kausalam” should be understood. “Kausalam” means skill or technique of work which is an indispensable component of a work ethic. “Yogah” is defined in the Gita itself as “samatvam yogah uchyate” meaning an unchanging equipoise of mind (detachment.) Tilak tells us that acting with an equable mind is Yoga.
(Bal Gangadhar Tilak, 1856-1920, the precursor of Gandhiji, hailed by the people of India as “Lokmanya,” probably the most learned among the country's political leaders. For a description of the meanings of the word “Yoga”, see foot of this page.)
By making the equable mind the bed-rock of all actions, the Gita evolved the goal of unification of work ethic with ethics in work, for without ethical process no mind can attain an equipoise. The guru, Adi Sankara (born circa 800 AD), says that the skill necessary in the performance of one's duty is that of maintaining an evenness of mind in face of success and failure. The calm mind in the face of failure will lead to deeper introspection and see clearly where the process went wrong so that corrective steps could be taken to avoid shortcomings in future.
The principle of reducing our attachment to personal gains from the work done is the Gita's prescription for attaining equanimity. It has been held that this principle leads to lack of incentive for effort, striking at the very root of work ethic. To the contrary, concentration on the task for its own sake leads to the achievement of excellence – and indeed to the true mental happiness of the worker. Thus, while commonplace theories of motivation may be said to lead us to the bondage or extrinsic rewards, the Gita's principle leads us to the intrinsic rewards of mental, and indeed moral, satisfaction.
M.P. Bhattathiri:
World Management Lessons from India.
The Internet Journal of Alternative Medicine. 2005. Volume 2 Number 2.
http://www.ispub.com/ostia/index.php?xmlFilePath=journals/ijam/vol2n2/mind.xml
Operations-related Senior Managerial Roles and Competencies
Operations-related Senior Managerial Roles
1 Implementation of policies
2 Implementation of changes and innovations in area of jurisdiction
3 Setting of short-term tasks and targets for area of work
4 Fair allocation of the work to members of the staff
5 Seeking suggestions and help from ‘clients’ in order to improve the services provided by his/her department/unit
6 Operating an appropriate control system for the department/unit
7 Providing periodic feedback to staff and helping them review their performance
8 Rewarding/encouraging good performance
9 Anticipating and/or mitigating crises
‘Core’ Competencies for Operations Roles at Senior level
Competencies having correlations of 0.50 and above with
operations roles
1 This person can be counted upon to play his/her part in getting
jobs done
2 This person has a fine sense of timing when it comes to
introducing changes or innovations
3 This person is great at spotting and seizing opportunities that
are beneficial to the organization
4 This person puts out his/her best and expects to come out
way ahead of others
5 In getting jobs done, this person has a knack for doing the
right things at the right time
6 This person seeks and accepts personal responsibility for
getting a job done
7 This person has a knack for mobilizing the necessary
resources for a task even when resources are scarce
8 This person has a knack for making very persuasive
presentations for proposals for new projects or activities
9 This person has a knack for building an effective team for
implementing a new project or activity
Pradip N Khandwalla
“Competencies for Senior Manager Roles”
Vikalpa, October-December 2004
1 Implementation of policies
2 Implementation of changes and innovations in area of jurisdiction
3 Setting of short-term tasks and targets for area of work
4 Fair allocation of the work to members of the staff
5 Seeking suggestions and help from ‘clients’ in order to improve the services provided by his/her department/unit
6 Operating an appropriate control system for the department/unit
7 Providing periodic feedback to staff and helping them review their performance
8 Rewarding/encouraging good performance
9 Anticipating and/or mitigating crises
‘Core’ Competencies for Operations Roles at Senior level
Competencies having correlations of 0.50 and above with
operations roles
1 This person can be counted upon to play his/her part in getting
jobs done
2 This person has a fine sense of timing when it comes to
introducing changes or innovations
3 This person is great at spotting and seizing opportunities that
are beneficial to the organization
4 This person puts out his/her best and expects to come out
way ahead of others
5 In getting jobs done, this person has a knack for doing the
right things at the right time
6 This person seeks and accepts personal responsibility for
getting a job done
7 This person has a knack for mobilizing the necessary
resources for a task even when resources are scarce
8 This person has a knack for making very persuasive
presentations for proposals for new projects or activities
9 This person has a knack for building an effective team for
implementing a new project or activity
Pradip N Khandwalla
“Competencies for Senior Manager Roles”
Vikalpa, October-December 2004
Senior Managerial Roles in Strategic planning and implementing
Senior Managerial Roles in Strategic planning and implementing
1 Formulation of policies
2 Planning of changes and innovations in area of jurisdiction
3 Securing critically needed information and intelligence for formulating goals
4 Setting of long-term objectives for area of work
5 Securing an understanding of the nature of the organization’s vendors, competitors, etc.
6 Articulating a vision for the future activities/impact of his/her unit/department
7 Contributing to the growth and diversification of unit/department
8 Procuring scarce financial, human, technical resources for the unit/department
9 Building up the image of unit/department
Competencies Highly Correlated (0.50 and above)
with Strategic Roles
1 Puts out the best and expects to come out way ahead of
others
2 Often comes up with original solutions to difficult problems
3 Carefully maps out all the steps of a solution or a course
of action
4 Has a knack for making very persuasive presentations for
proposals for new projects or activities
5 Has a fine sense of timing when it comes to introducing
changes or innovations
6 Is great at spotting and seizing opportunities that are beneficial
to the organization
Pradip N Khandwalla
“Competencies for Senior Manager Roles”
Vikalpa, October-December 2004
1 Formulation of policies
2 Planning of changes and innovations in area of jurisdiction
3 Securing critically needed information and intelligence for formulating goals
4 Setting of long-term objectives for area of work
5 Securing an understanding of the nature of the organization’s vendors, competitors, etc.
6 Articulating a vision for the future activities/impact of his/her unit/department
7 Contributing to the growth and diversification of unit/department
8 Procuring scarce financial, human, technical resources for the unit/department
9 Building up the image of unit/department
Competencies Highly Correlated (0.50 and above)
with Strategic Roles
1 Puts out the best and expects to come out way ahead of
others
2 Often comes up with original solutions to difficult problems
3 Carefully maps out all the steps of a solution or a course
of action
4 Has a knack for making very persuasive presentations for
proposals for new projects or activities
5 Has a fine sense of timing when it comes to introducing
changes or innovations
6 Is great at spotting and seizing opportunities that are beneficial
to the organization
Pradip N Khandwalla
“Competencies for Senior Manager Roles”
Vikalpa, October-December 2004
Indian Companies - Quality
To compete globally, we need to have global orientation. There should be no export quality versus domestic quality; it should all be the same quality.
Jagdish Sheth
"Making India Globally Competitive"
Vikalpa, October-December 2004
Jagdish Sheth
"Making India Globally Competitive"
Vikalpa, October-December 2004
Theory of Comparative Advantage
David Ricardo strongly advocated the theory of comparative advantage - even if you can make a product cheaper in England, you should not do it if you can add more value with your resources (in some other way). You are better off buying from other countries even if it is more expensive because you have better alternatives for your resources such as capital, knowhow, people, land etc.
Ricardo was perhaps the first economist to champion what we call 'outsourcing' today.
This is how the British economy became global. In fact, htere has never been globalization in the world historically except for the British Empire.
The British also outsourced the manufacturing of two major industries: textile and steel, steel to America and textiles to India. This is one reason why even today India has a very large textile industry and America became one of the largest steel producers of the world.
Jagdish Sheth
"Making India Globally Competitive"
Vikalpa, October-December 2004
Ricardo was perhaps the first economist to champion what we call 'outsourcing' today.
This is how the British economy became global. In fact, htere has never been globalization in the world historically except for the British Empire.
The British also outsourced the manufacturing of two major industries: textile and steel, steel to America and textiles to India. This is one reason why even today India has a very large textile industry and America became one of the largest steel producers of the world.
Jagdish Sheth
"Making India Globally Competitive"
Vikalpa, October-December 2004
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