Office Politics - Becoming Unmanageable

We all know that there is always some element of politics in office which helps in keeping all of us on our toes. However, in today's corporate world this has become seemingly unmanageable.

Why this politics? Politics is usually done by the people for their survival. When an employee does not know to deliver his job effectively, to sustain his position, he plays politics.

In the pre-liberalization days, promotions were slow and by the time people reached the top, they were completly equipped to handle the job. There were also limited opportunities outside, unlike today and hence people would wait for their turn to go up in the corporate ladder. This gave them enormous amount of experience and learning which makes them fit to deliver as they go up in the ladder.

The situation is completly different today. We don't need to wait for years to reach the top. There are plenty of opportunities in the market and when a person hops jobs, he can reach the top with vey less experience. Is this healthy? Largely, the corporates are also to blame for this situation. Whenever a hiring happens, the company does not evaluate whether the recruiter is capable to hire new recruits. Even if the recruiter is capable, the company is in a hurry to fill up the position, hence does not evaluate the candidate completly to find if he is fit to do the job and whether the candidate can scale up for future positions in the company.

This has resulted in corporates having a huge number of high cost employees who are absolutely incapable of delivering their role. These chunk of employees have to survive the corporate expectations which they cannot show in their delivery. Their only option left out is divide and rule. This is resulting in higher number of politics in the organizations and it is also driving away good employees to a corner. As a result of this, many capable employees either want to retire early or start on their own or they are thrown to a corner where their contributions and capabilities are not recognized by their organization.

This has become so rampant and unmanageable that it requires a major clean up in the corporate sector. Organizations cannot deny that their company is free of all this and make a fool of themselves. There has to be concrete actions to make workplace better and more enjoyable. Who is going to bell the cat?

Speed controls on vehicles

Today there was an order issued by traffic police in Bangalore about speed limits on vehicles; car should not drive beyond 60 kmph and two wheelers have a restiction of 40 kmph.

Why should traffic police restrict the drivers. Rather the government should restrict the manufacturers of these vehicles. The government has to publish an order stating that the manufacturers are not allowed to produce cars that can travel beyond 60 kmph and two wheelers beyond 40 kmph.

Alternatively, the government should charge very high road tax and sales tax for vehicles that are manufactured to drive at higher speed limits than the prescribed norms. This will automatically discourage people from purchasing such vehicles.

Government has to think different to resolve the speeding issue rather than just passing an order and expecting people to blindly obey it.

Quality of Communication in IT/ ITES Industry in India

India has grown as a largest outsourcing destination in the last 2 decades. It has invested heavily on building the skill including providing technical education, training etc. This investment has led India to dominate the outsourcing industry in IT/ ITES space. However in the quench of knowledge, India is fast losing on its strength of communication. Though, technical knowledge was given a boost, it should have also improved or maintained the communication strength for which India was a preferred destination for outsourcing.

Today, we are left with great technocrats who are unable to fluently speak or write a complete sentence in English without a mistake. It is pathetic to see that this is the state of many C level executives in most of the large/ mid-sized/ small organizations. Unfortunately, these are the people building the next set of managers for the company. It is terrible to imagine the legacy being carried to next generation and budding executives.

India has already received an alarm bell by way of losing Call Centers to other destinations. It is high time that we should look at overall development rather than just the technical skill. Apart from schools and colleges, it is important that written & spoken English has to be part of training focus in every organization at all levels. Organizations/ Managers should not shy away from accepting the fact that many of its senior executives are weak in this area.

Unless the industry accepts the reality and takes appropriate corrective steps, we would see the days where we have great technocrats who would not be able to communicate with the outside world.

Innovations possible in Car manufacturing

In today's fast growing Indian cities, it is quite common that every citizen own a vehicle, mostly a car. The traffic has increased exponentially that it has made driving quite tedious and tiresome. This means complete stress on the drivers leading to increased incidence of rash & negligent driving. It has resulted in frequent accidents (small or big) in which we can see most of the cars (brand new to older ones) with scratches on the body.

It is quite disturbing for the owner to see their cars with scratches and at the same time it is expensive and time consuming to repaint/ fix all scratches as and when it happens. If he starts doing this, he will end up most of his time commuting by other means of transport than his own vehicle. What is the solution to this?

It is not possible to do any of these:
- reduce the traffic
- stop people from buying cars
- ask people to do car pool since it is not a workable solution always due to various reasons
- ask people to use public transport since it is not available at our convenience
- ask people to work from home since it does not suit many profession

If nothing is possible, what can be done?

Reduce the cost of fixing the car. No, I am not saying that the repairers have to reduce their cost of paint or labor.  There should be an innovation in this space. Let me post a thought below.

There should be a body coloured rubber fixed on all sides of the car covering the doors. This has to be withstand to all weather conditions. If this can be done, we will not be able to avoid scratches, but this will definitely reduce the cost of fixing your cars. When the scratches are so high that it warrants a replacement, it is cheaper to replace the rubber cover than repainting the car.

Hope some manufacturer is watching this blog and picks up this innovation.