Troubled times

Amid today's impressive technological innovations, business leaders sometimes forget that work is—at its core—a fundamental human endeavor. During the days of uncertainty the only factor that keeps organizations active and competitive in the markets is its 'employees'. As Maslow once said 'A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization. … It refers to man's desire for self-fulfillment, namely to the tendency for him to become actually in what he is potentially: to become everything one is capable of becoming'. The same holds good for organizations, after all, these institutions are made up by people like you and me.

Lets get back to the topic 'troubled times'.During these days of financial uncertainity,job losses, redundancy- off shoring companies seem to be only concentrating on the need to survive this downturn. The need for being successful has diminished or holds little or no value. The junkbond crisis, Dot com bubble burst and then Lehman brothers have got Newton to act on all of us and the gravitational force is keeping all of us on the ground (9.8 also seems to be quite a hand full now!).The start of off shoring brought in a lot of opportunities that were first unheard of in the sub continent. Youngsters were given more than they could chew and liquid cash could be seen everywhere. The government also went on to change the basic education system to suit the needs of the industry. BPO/IT...ITeS. Half baked or semi literate individuals were out in the market vying for roles in MNCs doing graveyard shifts, speaking the language of the West, smoking cigarettes and drinking beer. The west culture was slowly creeping in.

Individuals out of college now never had a thought or intention of studying any further. They could make a fast buck anywhere. call centers which existed in window less offices was the talk of the town. everyone wanted to be a part of it. Selling bra's, airline tickets, printers, comps, and financial data was the so called domain expertise. Major players in the software industry also joined the bandwagon.

This inturn created a lot of jobs and easy money. the number of Pubs in Bangalore has tripled. The average beer consumption also went up. The number of divorces also went up. the number of abortions went up. The number of people in the rehab centers also went up.The number of car sales also went up. The number of personal loans taken also went up. the number of housing loans also went up.The number of flats and builders in bangalore also went up. Loans were given upto 100% of the house value. everything was fine! A 24 year old was capable of owning a house for 24L INR. paying a monthly EMI of 20K, the rest of his money on cigarettes and pubs.The loans kept increasing.

The relationships no longer exist. For me the growth of any organization is simply the accumulated growth of the individual relationships that constitute it. And relationships largely are influenced by a lot of external factors.

Relationships are all there is. Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship to everything else. Nothing exists in isolation. We have to stop pretending we are individuals that can go it alone especially during these troubled times. Spider webs are both the strongest and the most fragile structures in the world. Pound for pound, spider webs are stronger than steel, yet they can stretch to nearly 40 percent of their length. They can also break with just the touch of a finger. The construction of spider webs is an apt metaphor for relationships long before the World Wide Web became our new medium for meeting and greeting. Relationships can be resilient or tenuous. They can stretch when tested, or they can break at the first sign of heavy winds.

Our traditional organizations are designed to provide for the first three levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: food, shelter, and belonging. Since these are now widely available to members of industrial society, our organizations do not provide significantly unique opportunities to command the loyalty and commitment of our people. The ferment in management will continue until organizations begin to address the higher order needs: self-respect and self-actualization.

Most economists think of employees as "units of production," customers as "units of consumption," and investors as "units of investment." I came to realize that there is no one unit of production because employees are influenced by their motivation, capacity, and the tools we've made available to them, and their results are a function of these influencers. Similarly, not all customers or investors approach their relationship with a company in the same way. In sum, many business observers view these "units" as fixed commodities (like steel) when in fact they truly are flexible (like a web), depending on how these relationships have been nurtured or "spun."

Human capital, unlike other assets, does not depreciate over time. Like good wine, it actually improves with age.