TV Ramya

W Richard Scott (1981) Organizations: Rational, natural and open systems

2008-11-06T18:28:00.001+06:00

W Richard Scott (1981) Organizations: Rational, natural and open systems, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall: Chapters 1 to 5.

Summarized/Critiqued by Ramya T.V
1 Chapter 1: Subject is organizations

Organizations have a ubiquitous presence in modern industrialized societies and a wide reaching impact on society. According to Parson (1960), the development of organizations is the principal mechanism by which, in a highly differentiated society, it is possible to ‘get things done’, to achieve goals beyond the reach of the individual. Organizations also affect society in terms of influencing the psyche and personalities of its participants, even shaping the products and services they produce (“the medium is the message”), behaving as actors in their own right as ‘corporate persons’ and providing the setting for a wide variety of basic social processes.

Organizations as an area of study, while multidisciplinary, emerged within sociology roughly from the time of Max Weber’s seminal work on bureaucracy was translated to English in 1946-47 and became available to American sociologists. Robert Merton, Max Weber, Philip Selznick, Gouldner, Blau, Frederick Winslow Taylor, Richard Scott (author), Chester Barnard, March and Simon, Likert are some of the significant contributors in this field.

Organizations are studied for their common features and at the same time have important bases of specialization among the various disciplines. Levels of analyses vary; a social psychological perspective looks at individual behaviour within the context of organizations, a structural perspective looks at various subunits or analytical components that comprise the organization and an ecological perspective looks at the organization as a collective actor functioning in a larger system of relations. While early research focused on the social psychological view, Lazarsfeld and Menzel (1961) developed an innovative typology of measures defining the concept of “members” and “collectives”, which ushered in a new wave of studies with the structural perspective. The ecological view emerged in the late 1960s and continues to evolve.

Leavitt (1965) proposes a simple model of an organization, with 4 major elements: social structure, participants, goals and technology, which is adapted to include a fifth element of environment, all of which influence the each other in complex ways. Social structure comprises a normative component with values, norms and role expectations (“what ought to be”) and a behavioural component (“what is”) with activities, interactions and sentiments. When the social structure is explicitly specified in terms of positions and relationships, it is formal, else informal. Participants vary in terms of extent and intensiveness of their involvement, level of expertise/skills and consequently in power and demands for autonomy. Goals, which are conception of desired ends, which again are conditions that participants attempt to effect through their performance of task activities, are both important and controversial in the study of organizations. Technology, viewed as a mechanism for transforming inputs to outputs, can also impact structural features of organizations. Environmental complexity also tends to influence structural features, technology and participant involvement.

Finally, three views of an organization are introduced: rational, natural and open system, which are elucidated in further chapters. As per the rational view, an organization is a collectivity oriented to the pursuit of relatively specific goals and exhibiting a relatively high formalized social structure. The natural system view proposes the view that a collectivity whose participants are little affected by the formal structure or official goals but who share a common interest in the survival of the system and who engage in collective activities, informally structured, to secure this end. An open systems view is that of a coalition of shifting interest groups that develop goals by negotiation; the structure of the coalition, its activities and its outcomes are strongly influenced by environmental factors. In reality, one can see various aspects of all three models in today’s organizations.

2 Chapter 2: Varieties of organizations

Certainly there are a wide variety of organizations and an attempt to classify is towards understanding this complex animal. This chapter briefly reviews a number of typologies which analysts have devised to catalog the diversity of organizations. These typologies are classified according to the major element (as per Leavitt’s adapted 5 element model from chapter 1) identified as the basis for the proposed distinction. Eighteen such typologies are identified. In reviewing typologies, the chapter identifies variables which are viewed as significant by the analyst concerned in accounting for the differences between organizations. Table 2-1 in the chapter provides the mapping between the major element, typology and key variable, and a brief review of each is provided.

While typology based on goals, participants, technology and even environment mostly makes for an unsurprising list, the typology emphasizing social structure makes interesting reading. Max Weber’s model of bureaucracy, underscoring normative structure, makes a brilliant elaboration based on three types of authority- traditional, rational-legal and charismatic. Weber is so confident about his theory that he goes far enough to make a prediction on the stability and future of each of these types. A theory in the field of sociology meeting a Popperian falsifiability criterion is an unprecedented feat, and makes it an outstanding contribution.

The chapter later presents an extremely interesting shift from content to method, to evolve a set of principles for defining good typologies. Blau-Scott and Etzioni’s typologies are examined and used as examples to demonstrate certain principles to construct typologies.

a) Select a dimension or set of dimensions that will help account for important aspects of organizational structures or functions.
b) Define clearly the dimension(s) and specify how they are to be operationalized.
c) When two or more dimensions are utilized, they must be independent in the statistical sense.

Two empirically constructed typologies, one by Haas, Hall and Johnson (1966) and the Aston group employing multivariate analysis of variables are described. While an empirical approach heralded a new wave in the history of organizational theory, it has its limitations given that organizations are too complex and loose in their structural interconnections to yield to an empirical approach. How the organizational context can influence the relation between variables is not specified, and erroneous contextual variables can get picked up for analyses, these are two possible pitfalls.

The chapter ends with an alternative to constructing of typologies, with the emergence of the natural selection approach, where environments differentially select organizations for survival on the basis of the their fit, and goes onto discuss the work of McKelvey (1978) and the definition of the blueprint of an organization. When viewed as open systems, analysts also need to be careful in defining the boundaries of the organization, and also be aware of fundamental changes in the definition of the organization with time.

3 Chapter 3: Organizations as rational systems

“Rational” merely denotes a sense of efficiency in organizing and achieving the goals of the organization. The behaviour of organizations is viewed as actions performed by purposeful and coordinated agents. Rational system theorists stress on “goal specificity” and “formalization” to distinguish organizations from other types of collectivities. Goals could be irrational, conflicting and even vague at the highest level, but as long as operational goals are specific, organizations appear to function smoothly. Formalization has objectives of mechanizing the organization, make roles and relationships appear objective and external to the participants, which in turn has many socio-psychological implications.

This chapter briefly describes Taylor’s scientific management; attempts by Fayol and others to formulate administrative principles, Weber’s theory of bureaucracy and Simon’s discussion of administrative behaviour.

Frederick W. Taylor (1911) and others such as Frank and Lillian Gabreth, Henry Gantt et al insisted that it was possible to scientifically analyze tasks performed by individual workers in order to discover those procedures that maximize efficiencies.

Henry Fayol (1949), Mooney and Railey (1939), Gulick and Urwick (1937) formulated broad administrative principles regarding rationalization, and differed from Taylor in that it was a top-down approach rather than a bottom-up approach. Two types of activities: coordination and specialization were emphasized. The root of many of the modern day practices of unity of command, limited span of control, the exception principle can be traced back to this era! Criteria regarding departmentalization or specialization specified based on homogeneity of purpose, process, clientele and place remain valid to this day, just as the broad concept of line and staff. It is amazing to note that these widely accepted principles of today were greatly attacked at that time, for being mere “truisms” or common-sense pronouncements, having questionable assumptions and have no application guidelines! The learning here is that a theory maybe ahead of its time, and that what sounds ridiculous at a particular time maybe the order of the day at a later time!

Weber’s theory of bureaucracy needs to be viewed in its context of trying to make a distinction from the widely prevailing patrimonial form at that time. Weber provided an alternative practical solution to the ills of the patrimonial system and in that sense it was a brilliant and well studied contribution of that time. Weber emphasized on the type of authority relation that relates superiors to subordinates in the administrative structure. Traditional, rational-legal and charismatic forms are espoused in the proposal. Weber is criticized for confusing authority based on incumbency and technical competence (which may not have been distinguishable in the prevailing times) as well as for not demarcating definitions from proposals, both explicit and implicit. Udy (1959) was the first to suggest that Weber’s model was a starting point for empirical exploration following which a new surge of research got initiated. Weber is recognized as a master of organization theory and his research continues to inform.

Simon and March are responsible for many of the modern day concepts and practices about goals. Goals supply value premises, and are combined in decisions with factual premises. The entire idea of goals cascading down to various levels is completely a contribution from this space. March and Simon are also responsible for the concept of “bounded rationality”. Thompson summarises that “structure is a fundamental vehicle by which organizations achieve bounded rationality”.

The criticism about the rational system theorists is that they completely ignored the huge impact of the environment on the organization. The behavioural structure (actual behaviour) as against the normative structure (expected behaviour) was also left without much attention.
4 Chapter 4: Organizations as natural systems

This model was developed specifically in opposition to the rational system model, and was designed to correct the oversimplified rational model with its naïve conception of individual participants. However it also provides a novel and interesting view of organizations.

Natural system theorists disagree on the relevance of goals and the importance of a formal structure in organizations. Often stated goals are different from the real goals in action, goals are not sacrosanct, and meeting goals is only one of the various needs of the organization serving as a social system. The thrust of the natural systems view is that organizations are fundamentally social groups attempting to adapt and survive in their particular circumstances, having a larger, overriding goal of survival. The structure, a vehicle to achieve the goals, is therefore further questionable, with informal structures being observed in rampancy.

The structural-functional analysis model of analysis underlies natural systems and has been the dominant model from the 1930s to the 1960s. Showing that a given structure meets a functional need constitutes a functional explanation for the structure. Consequences are important, origins are not, and final causes are emphasized over efficient causes. The model also emphasizes that structural elements are mutually interdependent.

Three schools are discussed: Mayo and the HR school, Selznick’s institutional approach and Parson’s social system model.

Mayo (1945) discovered the remarkable (at that time) “Hawthorne effect” that proved that individual workers were not mere mechanical economic actors but were complex beings driven by motives and feelings. This spawned off numerous research and reform offshoots including studies on leadership, workgroup behaviour, employee personality attributes, job redefinition et al which are today flourishing fields.

On a sidenote, as an industry practitioner, it is interesting to note that several decades of research have demonstrated no clear relation between worker satisfaction or supervisory behaviour or leadership style or job enlargement or decision-making participation to productivity!

Philip Selznick’s institutional approach is a coherent work where he explains the non-rational dimensions of an organization as individuals who participate as “wholes” and not merely “roles” and that formal structure is only one aspect of the social structure that must adjust to the institutional environment. Selznick insists that the overriding need of all systems is the maintenance of the integrity and continuity of the system itself. He refers to “institutionalization” as the process through which an organization develops a distinctive character, “cooptation” a mechanism by which external elements are incorporated into the decision making structures of the organization. The institutional model seeks to explain changes in the goals of the organization, adapting to a hostile environment for its survival, although most of the literature focuses on deviant examples.

Parson’s AGIL framework is a schema applied to society as a whole with the organization being a subsystem, and opines that functional imperatives generate the fault lines along which a social structure becomes differentiated. He stratifies technical, managerial and institutional layers, and interestingly says that there exists a qualitative break at the two lines in between. Parson’s framework though comprehensive was not particularly popular or practical towards furthering the frontiers of research.

5 Chapter 5: Organizations as open systems

The “general systems” theory founded by Ludwig von Bertalanffy stimulated the birth of the view that organizations are loosely coupled systems, characterized by an assemblage of parts with relations among them that are interdependent and loosely constrained. Boulding identifies a hierarchy of nine system types with increasing complexity, with levels 3 and 4 (cybernetic and open systems) being of particular interest.

Cybernetic systems are capable of self regulation, and the goals of the system are provided by a policy center based on the demands of the environment. The shift in thinking here is that such feedback controlled arrangements are “goal-directed” and not just “goal-oriented”, since it is the deviations from the goal state itself that determines the system behaviour rather than predetermined internally set goals.

Open systems are capable of self maintenance on the basis of a throughput of resources from the environment. Boundaries play an important role in the definition of open systems. General systems theorists elaborate the distinction between open and closed systems wrt negative and positive entropy respectively. Open systems can consume energy from the environment for their maintenance and growth. Open systems are also subject to the law of limited variety, where the systems’ variety is limited by the variety in its environment.

Systems design approach, contingency theory, two environmental approaches and Weick’s model of organizing are dealt with in this chapter.

Systems design, with complex probabilistic systems, employing simulation techniques is discussed. The structure is irrelevant and instead operational workflow and information flow between basic black-box units of the system are studied. The challenge facing system designers is how to create structures that maximize the strengths of each of the participant system components while minimizing the impact of their weaknesses.

Contingency theory is guided by the hypothesis that organizations whose internal features best match the demands of their environments will achieve the best adaptation. Lawrence and Lorsch (1967) propose that this “best match” occurs on two levels, the structure of the subunits suiting the specific environment and the mode of integration suiting the overall organization environment. Galbraith (1973) connects environment uncertainty and information processing, and views structure as an information processing vehicle.

Aldrich and Pfeffer (1976) identify two subtypes of the environmental approach: natural selection and resource dependence model. The former argues that environments differentially select certain types of organizations for survival based on the basis of fit between organizational forms and environmental characteristics. Three processes are emphasized; the creation of variety, selection of some types over others and the retention of some of these forms. The resource dependence model stresses on the adaptation processes, under which managers or dominant coalitions scan the relevant environment, formulate strategic responses and adjust organizational structure accordingly.

Weicks mode of organizing refuses to acknowledge the organization as a noun, but rather as an “organizing” process. Although Weick’s definition is complicated, in short it says that the activities of “organizing” are directed toward the establishment of a workable level of certainty.

Summarily, the organization is a dynamic system. The open systems perspective greatly emphasizes the role of the environment. Unlike the rational system that ignores it, or the natural system that treats it as a hostile constraint to be adjusted to, here the environment is perceived to be the ultimate source of materials, energy and information that are vital to the survival of the system, and even seen to be the source of the order itself! The evolution of organizational theory has certainly arrived at an exciting point with this advanced perspective and throws open many nascent opportunities for greater research.

Charles Perrow: The short and glorious history of organizational theory (1987)

2008-11-06T18:26:00.000+06:00

“Charles Perrow: The short and glorious history of organizational theory”
in Wright and Robbins (1987) Organization Theory, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall

Summarized/Critiqued by Ramya T.V

Charles Perrow portrays the entire historical evolution of organizational theory as two interacting learning spirals occurring between the two main schools, the mechanical school where the organization is treated as a machine on one end of the spectrum and the human relations (HR) school at the other end where people rather than machines are emphasized. He terms these two schools as the “forces of darkness” and “the forces of light” respectively. The mechanical or scientific school began in the early twentieth century with simple injunctions to keep records and plan ahead, but factors of labour criticality, complexity of markets, environmental changes and changing concepts of leadership made these injunctions less relevant and necessitated change.

Chester Barnard in 1938 proposed the first HR theory of organizations as cooperative systems, stressing natural groups, upward communication, authority from below and the role of leaders as a cohesive force. This was further strengthened by studies at the Hawthorne plan of the Western Electric Company, published by Roethlisberger and William Dickson as Management and the Worker. Post World War II, this spawned an interest in identifying leadership traits, which focused more on the soft-skills and less on the job/technical aspects. The Tavistock Institute also studied that job simplification and specialization did not work under conditions of uncertainty and nonroutine tasks, and was followed by other conclusions, thus serving a blow to the scientific management school.

Max Weber in 1940 made available the theory of bureaucracy, which although received with hostility initially, actually turned out to be a celebration of its efficiency, considering the context in which it was proposed.

The observed aspects of power dynamics, legitimately conflicting goals and decision making processes were not logically explainable by either school. While the first two aspects were “explained” away, the aspect of decision making necessitated the next wave of change. Simon and March proposed the concept of “cognitive limits on rationality” and spoke of “satisficing” rather than “optimizing” approaches when individuals had to make decisions in an organizational context. Indirect ways of controlling decision-making with ‘premises”, along with devices to control the premises altered both schools of thought to accept a portion of each other’s views! While the HR school changed its locus from the individual’s unpredictable personality to responses to changing stimuli, the bureaucratic school began to recognize subtler and more complex elements of control.

Joan Woodward in her survey of 100 firms in South Essex pioneered the study of how the nature of the task (termed “technology”) affects the structure of the organization. While the HR school floundered in its response, the mechanical school took off on this finding with James Thompson spelling out different forms of interdependence among units, and Lawrence and Lorsch looking closely at the nature of integrating mechanisms.

With deeper studies on the nature of goals, and the influence of the environment on the organization, all the varied schools have begun to agree that organizations are systems, where everything seems to be related to everything else, and the psychological, sociological and cultural aspects of units interact. Organizations are extremely complicated and several decades of research has made a few small steps of progress in this fledgling multidisciplinary discipline.

As part of the class discussion, I would like to present my perception of three different organizations that I have worked with, in terms of aspects of these theories that I could relate to from this reading. One is a large sized India-based MNC, the second a large sized US based global MNC and the third a medium sized India based organization. This I hope will assist to some extent in confirming our understanding of the theories as well as in appreciating the realities and greater complexities of today’s organizations and their contexts.

Smith, A. (1776). On the Division of Labour.

2008-11-06T18:21:00.000+06:00

Smith, A. (1776). Of the Division of Labour.
In J. M. Shafritz, and J. S. Ott, (1987) Classics of Organization Theory (Eds.). Illinois: The Dorsey Press
Summarized/Critiqued by Ramya T.V

Adam Smith attributes the greatest improvement in the productive powers of labour to the concept of “division of labour”. As an illustrative example, in a small organization where ten men struggled to produce a single pin in a day, they could instead produce 4800 pins per person per day, if they were able to organize their work in a superior fashion. The “superior fashion“ essentially was to subdivide the pin-making activity into distinct steps, and for each worker to take care exclusively of one or more distinct steps, and then to coordinate these steps.

The advantage from the division of labour has many ramifications, including even the separation of various trades and employments. This separation is highest in “developed” countries, where there is a high degree of industry and improvement. Smith goes on to compare agriculture and manufacture, and opines that the nature of agriculture is such that it is not greatly amenable to subdivision of labour, owing to the seasonal nature of the tasks and therefore labour needs, and hence does not keep pace with manufacture in its rate of progress. As a result, nations are distinguished more for their superiority in manufacture rather than agricultural produce.

Three different reasons contribute to the increased productivity achieved through the division of labour. Firstly, the increased dexterity of every man resulting from a single minded focus on a simple activity/set of activities, results in a measurably greater efficiency on the job. Secondly, there is a switching-time between tasks which can cumulatively have a significant effect owing both to the lost time as well as inertia of starting on a new task, which division of labour considerably reduces. Thirdly, specialization also facilitates readier automation by those performing the task, which provides superior efficiencies. Automation can also originate from the makers of the machines or from philosophers in general.

Summarily Smith concludes that the opulence in output, as a consequence of the division of labour, spreads prosperity and abundance at all the different levels of a well governed society. This enables comfortable “accommodation” of members at all levels of society and the person at the lowest level of society in a developed nation maybe better off than the person at the highest level of an un-developed nation, where the development can fundamentally be attributed to the concept of division of labour.

Berle and Means book summary

2008-11-06T18:04:00.001+06:00

Berle A.A. & Means G.C (1932). The Modern corporation and private property, Harcourt, Brace & World Inc.

Primary focus

• The focus of the book is to study the phenomenon of the nature of private property ownership and control in the modern corporation.

Key concepts

• Most owners of firms do not manage and most managers do not own, and this trend is increasing in the American corporation.
• The atom of property is split in terms of ownership and control. Ownership is getting increasingly diluted, owners are becoming less active and more passive, and control in the hands of management is getting increasingly concentrated. The former is acting as a centrifugal force and the latter as a centripetal force.
• This trend challenges the fundamental assumption that the owner of the property will put it to the most effective use. However in this case, the owners are becoming absolved of any responsibility.
• Page 41, 45 summarise the main trends in terms of concentration of control and chart 2 on page 61 shows the trend in dilution of ownership towards those with moderate means, with the trend summary on page 65.
• Different types of control – complete ownership, majority, legal device (pyramiding, non-voting stock), minority and management control are described.
• Different types of stock and their legal history is traced. Regrouping of rights is possible through various mechanisms including altering the contracts of rights.
• The legal position of management and control are examined. Security exchanges play the role of appraisers and liquidators. Processes of flotation and disclosure are looked at in detail.
• The traditional logic of ownership of property meant that the owner was taking the risk of investing the capital, and also the responsibility for the management of the enterprise, and hence must receive the advantages accruing from the property. The traditional logic of profits says that profits act as a return for the risk taken by the owner to invest his wealth and as an inducement to effectively manage. Since owners are surrendering control and therefore no longer taking any risk, therefore only a fair return to capital must be given to the owners and the remainder should go to control as an inducement to efficient management.
• At a macro level, this has ramifications for the political (by the state) or economic (by corporations) organization of society, which is expected to dominate?

Learnings

• From the perspective of a researcher, this book is revealing in terms of the level of analyses, and also in making the connections between the levels. (Firm level to aggregates of firm having macro influence on society and the national economy at large)
• One of the fundamental questions that is proposed define the field of strategic management is “How do firms behave?” (Rumelt, Schendel, Teece, 1994). This book by Berle and Means makes a contribution towards answering sub-questions of this fundamental research agenda by looking at the structure of firms in terms of ownership and control, and indicating what could be the driving forces for their behaviour.
• Structure follows strategy as per Chandler (1962), but this book gives us insights as to the existence of control structures through the element of ownership and not necessarily only management rationale.
• The Barnardian view of cooperation or organizing being the reason for the existence of the firm, one needs to look at it in terms of how this concept is organized around both ownership and control.
• When we speak of the “theory of the firm”, the sense seems to be in terms of what are the boundaries of control (Coase, 1937) or administrative influence (Penrose, 1959). Does it make sense to contemplate on the theory of the firm from a perspective of ownership as well?
• If all firms (all modern American corporations) are exhibiting a similar pattern, can we view this from a lens of isomorphism and institutional theory? Can we identify what legitimacy reasons are driving the same?
• If we classify firms with similar ownership structures (Majority, minority, legal device et al) as populations of firms, can we study the macrolevel effects on society and economy at large from a lens of population ecology and explain the phenomenon observed by Berle and Means? The trends in page 41 and 45 seems to show that large American private corporations seem to be more dominant as a population of firms.

Idea: A unique IT corporate

2007-11-11T21:29:00.001+06:00

Here's my business idea towards an IT corporate in India which would have an USP for itself.

-A corporate thats actually an institution that integrates into its culture- the fine arts from India.
-Laid out on a nature-filled campus, virtually every other known art form in India must be taught and practised here.
-Talented artists from across the country are contractors/employees who belong to a support function just like HR/finance/admin.
-The regular software employees get to learn arts of their choice. They are recruited after an aptitude test for art as well.
-Both employees and artists stay on campus and function in a gurukul-like system.
-The best of facilities in terms of food, infrastructure, accomodation with family etc. must also be available to all.
-This would also give a great fillip to many greatly talented but underpaid artists all over India.

Firstly, why this idea only for IT?

-Because thats where you have knowledge workers, and you need to keep the brains well oiled to be creative and innovative. Art can greatly propel lateral thinking.

-Stress levels in this industry are high and the quality of life is fairly low, which can also be addressed through art for relaxation and an enriched quality of life.

-Being part of an exclusive institution like this could also arrest attrition and the proposal made attractive even with less pay. Most techies prefer a campus like lifestyle and value belonging to a reputed institution.

Sasken would have been one company who might have readily embraced some such idea. But unfortunately I think the timing of this idea may be wrong, as we are now a growing company having its own drivers.

Further thoughts...(after discussions with Chippu 'n' Dippie, 12-Nov)

-How could both art and business combine into a single company vision? (Remember theory of constraints, there is only one goal and the rest are constraints :-( ) So how would one guarantee that neither art or business gives way to the other at some point of time.

-Why restrict such an idea to a single company, why not expand the idea to an industry wide thing that many companies can benefit from?

-Art is only one aspect of life. Companies like google provide a multidimensional approach to work-life balance. Doesn't that have a greater USP?

-How many people would really be interested this? What if I'm a brilliant programmer and poor at aptitude for art? Can I get employed here?

-What kind of an existing organisation can morph into this? Perhaps not a startup as it requires huge investment and no assurance of returns, perhaps not a Microsoft as they already have their USP.

-Why would art necessarily contribute to better business results?

Any further thoughts to strengthen this idea are welcome.

Dream: India trip

2007-11-11T21:29:00.000+06:00

Well this one is my favourite dream and perhaps a lifetime one that I really yearn to do.

A long trip through unconventional and unknown places across the length and breadth of India. Perhaps spanning a year or two. A trip not merely for pleasure but with the intention of unhurriedly savouring the journey, making some kind of contribution (like even knowledge/awareness/technology -yet to be strategised) to every place visited, soaking in various cultures, preferably negotiated by rail and local means of commutation, and eventually at the end of it culminating in a grand vision to do something at the national level.

An incidental outcome of course would be a book (consolidating the everyday journals) :-) Publishers please note, bookings open from Dec 2007 :-)

Great leaders like Sri. Sankaracharya, Swami Vivekananda et al had made these India trips in their lifetimes. Even business leaders like Gurcharan Das have done it before they became cheerleaders for India Inc. In fact, I discovered that Israelis religiously take up year long India trips and know much more about our nation than we do! There's so much to learn from this great country with its vast spiritual heritage and I am certainly inspired to do this.

Poem: Summer holiday #2

2007-05-08T01:06:00.001+06:00

Time was away and somewhere else
When the hot afternoon sun was bright and beating
When the bigger children were at a light siesta resting
The street dog with its tongue salivating
Lying in the shade of the lonely mango tree, waiting

Time was away and somewhere else
When the mangoes were orange, ripe and inviting
An unread comic, lay awaiting
The neighbour's kid never tired of meeting
Unexplored toys and garden paths in waiting

Time was away and somewhere else
When the ice cream vendor with a dry parched call
Said it with a loud writing on the "Wall"
The familiar clamor of his cycle bell
Easily spoke volumes on the favourite icecream to sell

Time was away and somewhere else
No game could match it, be it on IBM or Dell
Those lovely times that we wished for so well
Alas, these days we can only dwell
On those innocent times, and the heart just swells

Poem: Summer holiday #1

2007-05-08T00:45:00.000+06:00

Not everybody's on a summer holiday
Doing things they always wanted to
So "let go" on a summer holiday
This my heart says is is true

We'll go where the sun shines brightly
We'll go where the sea is blue
We'll go tr-la-la-la-laa-la
Lets see if its true, eh?

Not everybody's on a summer holiday
Doing things they always wanted to
So "let go" on a summer holiday
This my heart says is is true

Poem: Frustration on project release night

2007-03-27T00:57:00.000+06:00

Helpless, tired and clueless
Weary and sleepless
We plod along, with half a heart
with mind and body, all apart

Amidst the dreariness, sparks of ideas
Around the cribs, twinkling thoughts
That fade as fast as they had twinkled
That elusive solution to a bug that humbled

Here comes Harsha, all ready to fight
And there's Srini, vanishing through the night
Jayasimha, like a lion, keeping watch
Aravind B'rother, with no 'test' match

We hope there is an end to the story
A simple, stable, release with no worry
So that we can take a little break in peace
And take a respite before the next release :-(

Travelogue: Hsinchu, Taiwan

2007-03-24T14:25:00.000+06:00

An offbeat trip into Hsinchu in Taiwan.

Hsinchu Science based industrial city is very much like any new IT technopark , except that Hsinchu is endowed with the natural beauty of a deadly combination of mountains, rivers and the sea.

Every normal tourist to Hsinchu knows about its wide variety of birds, the prospects of mountaineering and trekking and also about the famous universities of Hsinchu. Here is a report of an offbeat visit to a "Hakka" village on the outskirts of Hsinchu.

But before we begin, one must clear off any apprehensions about accomodation in Hsinchu. I was put up at the very decent Berkeley Business Hotel whose lobby and suite can be seen in the photographs. The best thing of course was the 24 hour free Internet access in the comfort of your room!

As you set out from the Berkeley hotel on the busy Kuang Fu road, this is what you will see:

"Hakka village" is famous for homemade "Hakka noodles", which are made of rice and dried in the salty breeze of the sea.

Article: Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva

2007-03-24T02:11:00.000+06:00

Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva

The simultaneity of creation, preservation and destruction

The ocean has been an object of ceaseless fascination for mankind over so many centuries. To describe it just as an unfathomable and enchanting body of water would be a definite understatement. The beach, where the notional boundary of the physical space of human existence ends and the mighty ocean begins, has been the inspiration for many a poet to muse on the mysteries of life. The relentless waves many a time appear to resonate with the emotions and passions of the human mind, ranging from powerful and ferocious to frivolous and gentle. The waves are also forever romancing with the rocks and the sands to simultaneously create, preserve and destroy innumerable works of art, many unseen and unappreciated. No wave pattern ever repeats itself, yet there is a spectacular sense of rhythm in this drama that has continued over millions of years, even before life itself came into existence.

Creating a film that tries to capture this complex tapestry of “nature’s theatre” within the technical constraints of the medium is undoubtedly a daunting task. The filmmaker R.V. Ramani has been able to do a fair amount of justice in capturing the engagement between land and water, life and death, creation and destruction and other multifarious confounding contradictions in life. Ramani has even gone one step ahead in his adventure, by also capturing a gamut of human emotions on the seashore, and also involved an artist in the whole experience. With the dexterous use of the video camera, he has seized many candid flavours of the human mind with the backdrop of the Chennai beach.

The first thing that strikes about the "story" is its sense of adventure. An artist, who is comfortable with the medium of clay, is faced with the challenge of doing something with sand -a medium with contrarian characteristics. The movie begins with a shot of the artist staring into the ocean, appearing to be confounded and searching for an elusive creative spark. Or perhaps one wonders if he is just awed at the very sight of the infinite entity and is at a loss as to what to do. Nevertheless he does make a beginning. The first creation is that of a few radially outward spiral arcs. One wonders if the artist is trying to rival the creativity of the waves by drawing a pattern that they had perhaps never created. Ramani's focus now subtly shifts from filming the artistic process to filming the happenings on the beach. One recalls that to be the nature of documentary, to capture action as it happens. One appealing scene is that of the young boy who stares into the camera for a long time and very gradually yields in to an unsure smile. Perhaps we as individuals also will similarly require time to overcome our baseless fears and smile away through life!

Ramani brings the focus back to the artist. A deep hole is being created very intensely by the artist, but to the children on the beach it is a joke to laugh about. Rings a bell on "different perspectives". The waves seem to now be competing and playing games with the artist and in one big sweep the whole thing is washed off. The artist laughs it off and possibly realizes that it is futile to compete with this giant and there is no way but to cooperate. Ramani's attention now seems to be zigzagging between the people on the beach and the artist. He captures the footprints on the sands, and how they are washed off with the tide, irrespective of whose footprints it maybe. Surely this is true of all achievement and fame too. Ramani also captures the diverse reactions of people to the waves. While some are apprehensive and do not dare to venture, there are others who joyfully plunge into them. People seem to come to the beach for different reasons, some come to remember, and some come to forget.

By now the artist seems to have finalized on an approach and has begun dumping buckets of wet sand that look like mini pillars. The first few are merrily devoured by the merciless and inevitable arrival of the waves. Or is it that the artist is making some initial offerings to appease the hungry beast? Ramani captures the artist's intensity and dedication in crazily churning out more and more pillars. There is great sense of purpose in the artist though the whole thing appears meaningless to passers-by. The waves play a game of destroying them partly and in the process creating new forms. The pillars now seem to resemble the ruins of some long lost civilization. Time and tide are undoubtedly great levellers.

The uncontrollable rage of the waves is greatly creative and at the same time greatly destructive. I wonder if all uncontrollable creative urges necessarily require a refining element to them to bring about beauty. If so, what was nature's check for refinement here? Is it the play of the low and high tides? I then wonder if it is fair at all to compare nature's creativity with human creativity. Perhaps both have entirely different purposes, or perhaps one already knows its purpose, and the other is still seeking the purpose.

Ramani once again meanders focus into the scene of action. A little fish has been caught and is gasping for breath. The innocent children are overjoyed at their little success, but it is a life and death situation for the unfortunate fish that yielded to temptation. Ramani makes the viewer uncomfortable about life's strange equations by acutely focussing on the imploring eyes of the fish and its last struggle.

Meanwhile the artist continues relentlessly with his offerings. A shy little girl smiles away selling a bunch of colorful balloons, jarringly in contrast against the silvery-gray dull background. The waves have now become boringly regular. I wonder that if there is so much of striking regularity and rhythm in everything in the universe, from the tides to the days and nights and planetary motions, why is there no sense of rhythm in our life? Events and experiences seem so disconnected, our plans never work and there are twists and turns at frequent points. Is it that we are riding on a single wave and are missing the big picture of the tide…?

All along the film until now, Ramani's focus is dominantly on the activities on the beach, attributable both to people as well as the waves. Suddenly towards the end, when the activities have become monotonous, one notices that the only sound all along has been that of the waves and occasionally of children's laughter. One becomes acutely aware of the ocean's existence all along. Ramani now wields the camera to slowly but surely make the sea look bigger than the activities on the beach. He succeeds in capturing some part of the majesty of the waves on the ocean, perhaps signifying its unfathomable depths, and maybe also those of human creativity. In one swift contrasting shot, Ramani refocuses on a single wave that is receding gently with the tide, and in great humility appearing to give way to the artist by leaving his creation intact. A quotation of Kabir occurs to me here: "All know that it is the drop that merges into the ocean, but few know that it is the ocean that merges into the drop".

The movie ends with the artist creating the form of a Shiva-Linga with the sand and the little children spoiling it playfully. The artist wears a satisfied look in the end, and there is a definite sense of completion. I imagine his ego has been humbled by his realizing the infinitesimal and transient nature of his contributions. In conclusion of this review, I reproduce here an overwhelming poem on the same topic of a beach by none other than the greatest poet William Wordsworth.

Evening on Calais Beach
By William Wordsworth
1770-1850

IT is a beauteous evening, calm and free,
The holy time is quiet as a Nun
Breathless with adoration; the broad sun
Is sinking down in its tranquillity;
The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the sea:
Listen! the mighty Being is awake,
And doth with his eternal motion make
A sound like thunder--everlastingly.
Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here,
If thou appear untouch'd by solemn thought,
Thy nature is not therefore less divine:
Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year;
And worshipp'st at the Temple's inner shrine,
God being with thee when we know it not.

Poem: Evening on a Calais beach: Wordsworth

2007-03-24T02:10:00.000+06:00

Evening on Calais Beach
By William Wordsworth
1770-1850

IT is a beauteous evening, calm and free,
The holy time is quiet as a Nun
Breathless with adoration; the broad sun
Is sinking down in its tranquillity;
The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the sea:
Listen! the mighty Being is awake,
And doth with his eternal motion make
A sound like thunder--everlastingly.
Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here,
If thou appear untouch'd by solemn thought,
Thy nature is not therefore less divine:
Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year;
And worshipp'st at the Temple's inner shrine,
God being with thee when we know it not.

Poem: Corporate context, a request to marketing

2007-03-24T02:07:00.000+06:00

O traveller! What news dost thou bring from far lands?
O'er the seas and across the mountains
And from the expo stands

The plains are weary for want of news
Of interesting events, of competitor ruse
Awaiting the trip update hues

The days are busy, and schedules hectic
Spare a minute, when it does permit
O'er a coffee or a lunch instant
And we’ll make the product tick!

Poem: A friend's engagement

2007-03-24T02:06:00.001+06:00

A little birdie sang to me
Of good news from a friend
And sang it did of his to-be
All I had were ears to lend

Of wedding bells that ring aloud
Of happy times and cheer
I ask him if he may be allowed
To share the news more clear!

Poem: Corporate context, campus recruitment

2007-03-24T02:01:00.002+06:00

Selection criteria
-----------------

They came in well ahead of time
And strode in self-assuredly
All questions solved, eager for more
The eyes they shone unabashedly

I saw in them that adorning spark
Of challenges braved, of hope and faith
The gracious confidence that makes its mark
When tickled potential meets its mate

Poem: The hotel room

2007-03-24T02:01:00.001+06:00

The hotel room
----------------

Not oft it is that one does get
The luxury of solitude
A space unique, for the mind, a treat
That the self expands with fortitude

Poem: Thumbi vaa

2007-03-24T02:00:00.000+06:00

Little butterfly, my dear friend
Will you fly with me to the hillock’s bend?
We’ll prepare a swing on the marigold’s bough
And sway it happily, high and low

The limitless sky beckons us to touch
With every humble thrust, as much
The golden borders of the carefree clouds
That speak to us of the end of bounds

Up and down, back and forth
Swing we shall in merry mirth
Melodious refrains to hum along
With which we create our own song

Swing and sing we shall in rhythm
Our hearts shall touch the gold that’s within
Until the singer, song and singing
In one final swing, become the being

Poem: View from the airplane

2007-03-24T01:58:00.000+06:00

View from the airplane
-----------------------

Behold the awesome sight, my friend
as we rise above the earth so dear
A thousand homes, a miniscule trend
Rivers, mountains, towns so mere

An alive map with no name-boards
Highways like arteries, canals the veins
Little people with lives so bored
Searching for life’s purpose in vain

In the night, the neon lamps glew
Of cities, they spoke with jazzy hue
The crescent moon came near my window
communed with my view, of the design below

Above the soft and fluffy clouds,
Amidst the dwelling of the gods
T’was a grand and majestic spectacle
And my little mind, the receptacle

Article: Learnings from conference notes...

2007-03-24T01:49:00.000+06:00

Well, its possible to learn from anywhere! Lets see if an old set of conference notes can still inspire!

The NHRD conference took place on the 19th, 20th, 21st of October/04 at the Tata auditorium at IISc. The theme of the conference was "Emerging Asia - An HR trend". Sasken was silver sponsor for this event. (The platinum sponsor was Reliance Infocomm, and there were many other companies as gold and silver sponsors.) Some of these companies had put up stalls at the venue marketing their services.

Sasken was represented by various members from HR and line managment. KSG Shankar represented Quality and Operations.

Day 1
-------
We started with registration and we were all given a kit containing various material which importantly included: -

1) 'Emerging Asia', a heavy book containing a compendium of papers by various contributors on HR trends in Asia. It includes a paper by Prof. Balaji, one by ex-Sasian Pallab Bandhopadhyay, and some by Prof. TVR Rao who is a very eminent member in this field and many others who are probably as eminent but not known to me. Sasken is a sponsor for this book and there is a writeup about Sasken on the cover.
2) 2 magazines: 'Human Capital' and 'Academy of NHRD newsletter' which contain various articles of interest to the current HR trends in India.
3) Statement of the 'Code of Conduct' for HR professionals. The code of conduct was released in this conference. This work on the code was triggered by reports about unholy nexuses between head hunters and industry HR professionals.
4) Some well designed marketing catalogues from 2 local management schools in Bangalore, who showcased the portfolios of their students. These students also played a big role in organising the conference and did a good job of it. It was a win-win arrangement and we could think of this if we are organising something.

The day started with an inaugration by PGR Sindhia, who is the Karnataka minister for industries and infrastructure. Contrary to general expectations of a politician's talk, his speech was extremely well planned and focussed. He urged the industry to come up with suggestions to stall the rural-urban exodus, make strategies to outsource work to rural areas, and also devise ideas for educational qualifications below the SSLC levels.

Dr. Santrupt Mishra, national president of the NHRD gave a crisp introduction to the why the conference: to understand the possibility of a leader in Asia, to appreciate the regional perspectives and enable a collective reflection on the issues. (My takeaway here was that the purpose of any conference is to enable collective reflection)

Som Mittal of HP Globalsoft fame, underlined 3 things that are happening in Asia. That the Asian economies have proved themselves to be resilient in spite of SARS, currency fluctuations et al, globalisation is a reality and demographics (which seems to be a hot topic common to many speakers) indicates interesting trends for the Asian population. He ended with a small story where a young student overnight works out unsolved math problems just because he didn't know they were impossible.

The Pathfinder award was conferred on ICICI head K.V. Kamath for his outstanding contributions in the field.

Gurcharan Das, spoke on 'INDIA'S FUTURE'. He called himself a cheerleader for India Incorporated, and that was what his talk was about too. He presented data on the economic, political and social growth indicators in India, mostly from the World Bank Research website. He explained his enthusiasm and vision for India's future, inspite of all the governments, this was very inspiring to hear and many of us were left with a great deal of feel-good factor about India after this. He compares East Asia to a tiger, China to a dragon and India to a Wise Elephant.
According to Mr. Das, every manager is an HR manager and should have only 2 items in the appraisal form: Produce results and Build the organisation. He recommended reading 2 books: 'From Good to Great' by Collins and 'In Search of Excellence'. I have more notes on his talk if you are interested.

Mr. Prasanjit K. Basu, is an Asian economist researching exclusively on Asia. He spoke in detail on the economic and business scenario in Asia. He had plenty of economic data to present about China, Taiwan, India and the rest of Asia and his insights were extremely interesting. Particularly he explained the trade related equilibria that existed between US-China, China-(rest of Asia) and China-Europe and also demonstrated why China would never go to war with Taiwan and how India would benefit if that really happened! He explained how China's short term financial outlook is that of 'financial feet of clay' what with more than 50% of non-performing loans as against 30% in India (going by most stringent standards). He called India a 'stealth miracle', because there is no record of a democracy with 150 mn plus people with a sustained annual real GDP growth of 5.9% over a two year period. Mr. Basu concluded with some demographics data on how China's working age group would reach a productivity peak in 15-20 years time, whereas Japan would consist of a lot of older people, especiall women over the age of 80, which meant healthcare is likely to boom there. In the Q&A session, he advocated that India should try to attract investments from overseas Indians in Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad, US and Europe where they were present in large numbers.

The afternoon session was woken up by Rajiv Narang's high-energy presentation on Innovation. He gave numerous examples of companies that faced extreme odds of 'mindset gravity' to achieve great results. The key to great achievements is by 'generating escape velocity by posing huge challenges'. One must look beyond traditional incremental goal setting to creative impossible-type challenges. In the Asian context, the greatest fear is that of personal risk, hence one must remove escape buttons and burn bridges that pull us down to normal mode. Some of the examples of companies he gave are Divya Bhaskar, India, that revolutionised the thinking on the newspaper market; Independent Liquour, New Zealand; Smart Telecom; Phillipines; Tanishq, India; Grameen Bank, Bangladesh which brought about a micro-credit revolution that a Citibank might never think of and ITC's e-chaupal initiative.

Key takeaway: Conformism and hierarchy are the two great mindset gravity factors for Asia which cause 'idea poverty'. We must remove these inhibitors if we are to innovate. Also, ideas do not get killed in Asia, they run the risk of dilution, which we must guard ourselves against.
Kandhavel P., a civil servant from the Singapore government showcased the Singapore government as an organisation that competes with the private industry in terms of professionalism and a high degree of responsiveness. He explained the HR policies for government employees, with significant aspects being variable pay tied to performance, 100 hours of training per year to ensure continuous learning, and a host of policies wrt rewards/penalties that encourage highly responsive behaviour.

Ravikant from Tata Motors Ltd, showcased the Tata-Daewoo story of in sequence of how they turned around to achieving domestic growth, international growth and to becoming a true multinational.

Introduction

2007-03-24T01:46:00.000+06:00

Hi,

I am a late and ignorant blog entrant. I wish to look back on my life with having done what I like most, writing. I hope I find encouraging readers and writers alike, through this medium. Thank you for stopping by and have a great day!

Cheers!
Ramya TV