Dear Mr. Thakur : Nice one.
If I may ask what course are you pursuing at IIM (L) ? Regards Milind Kotak On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 9:26 AM, Amitabh Thakur <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Friends, > > Recently, in a lecture at IIM Lucknow, our Professor came up with a topic > that I think is relevant to one and all. He was talking of inter-personal > relationship between the senior and junior members of any organization. > He began by narrating a very interesting episode. As per him, a meeting was > going on in some organization. There suddenly out of blue the senior officer > asked one of the junior officers, in a rather offended tone- "How have you > done this to me?" The subordinate officer got completely surprised by this > statement as he could not think of one single thing he had done that might > have been taken adversely by the Boss. So he asked his superior officer- > "Sir, I can't really understand what you are saying?" Immediately came the > curt, this time loaded with visible annoyance- "My wife could not understand > me in the 42 years of my married life. How dare you even think of trying to > understand me?" The subordinate understood that the boss was unfathomable > and in the course of his service, he also came to understand that bosses > have to be unfathomable. > The Professor followed up this incidence with another hilarious but > thoughtful story. This was about a boy and his uncle. The boy was a sharp > and intelligent one and was also confident of his abilities. One summer his > uncle came to his house. During the course of their interaction, the uncle > asked the boy how his studies were going on. The boy said that they were > going on fine. To this the uncle said if he could ask a question to > cross-check his level of studies. The boy replied in the affirmative. The > uncle's question was- "You go to your school every day. Now tell me how many > pillars are there in your school building?" The boy was completely > dumb-found. He had read so many things and felt that he kept himself quite > abreast through TV and newspapers even about the latest happenings. But he > had never even thought about the number of pillars in the school. When the > boy kept mum, the uncle said rather coldly and sarcastically- "So, you don't > know even such a simple thing. Very bad." The boy felt really bad. He got > humiliated. But he kept his confidence. The very next day when he went to > the school, he counted all the pillars. He also did very good in the > subsequent exams. When his uncle came the next year, the boy was eagerly > waiting for interaction so that he could answer his question. The time came. > This time again, the uncle asked the same question. And the boy replied with > great enthusiasm- "Sixty seven". This time the uncle's response was no less > noteworthy- "So, you go to school not for studying but for counting pillars. > Very bad." This uncle, the Professor said, was a representative of a typical > Indian boss. > With the above two examples, the Professor extended his thoughts by saying > that many of the Indian bosses believe in playing the game of "hide and > seek". They don't want to let the subordinate understand what exactly they > want. Thus most of the time and energy of the subordinates gets wasted only > in trying to find out- "What exactly does the Boss want?" > He also said that many of these bosses are very fond of saying- "Tu jaanta > nahi hai, main cheez kya hun." (You don't know, what sort I am) > Finally the Professor concluded that such tendencies and such styles of > functioning are surely detrimental for the proper functioning of any > organization. He was of the view that there shall be frankness in the > relationship between the boss and the subordinates. And mutual trust. Thus > if the boss, instead of playing the game of "hide and seek" comes to > properly reveal himself, his objectives and priorities, then things would > start running in a much smoother way. > I personally felt as if he was speaking related to my own parent > department. Though I am sure, many of you might also have faced such > situations and such organizational behavior even in social sector > organizations? Civil societies. > > Amitabh Thakur > IPS, > IIM Lucknow > # 94155-34526 > > >
