The Reality of Being a Manager
By Manohar Man Shrestha
Everybody has a rosy picture of a manager: an organisation’s most powerful and the most respected
person with the highest salary and benefits. Yet like every rose has thorns, so is the life of managers – thorny.
Nine Thorns & One Rose
Many people reject offers to be a manager because it involves too much responsibility. But that is not the only reason why people refrain from being a manager despite big compensation packages. Listed below are nine problematic situations that managers do not sign up for but end up living with. Together with the problems, there are the solutions as well.
1. An engineer got promoted to a manager’s level. Now he is the chief of his department with about 100 staffs under him. He was supposed to be happy because it is the biggest accolade he could receive for his years of hard work and innovation. But it turned out that being a chief was nothing more than being a glamorized administrator. His day are spent signing papers (applications for leave and advances, memos, circulars), channelling orders from the top and entertaining people. This way, this new manager is lost in the heaps of documents.
Obviously, this manager has to learn about management and delegate work. He should designate a group of authority holders who will do his administrative chores so that he can focus on his actual purpose as a chief, which is to lead the department to glory of success. Yet it is easier said than done.
2. Back after a few days on leave, a manager opens his mailbox and is flooded with over 80 urgent mails to be replied.
However, not all mails are related to him. Most of them are related to the various departments under him while he should also delegate communication. Most of them will be forwarded through cc’s and thus will be noise. He should separate the music from the noise.
3. Being a manager is many times a thankless job. Everybody wants manager’s attention and favour and behave accordingly either by doing favours to him, offering him gifts, buttering him, slandering his enemies, whispering secrets in his ears, being his confidante, doing his dirty laundry (scolding others, giving news of firing or transfer), staying mum even when he violates rule and the like. Despite such efforts from all sides, each with different interests, the manager has the challenge of keeping his head straight and treating all fairly.
He can do this by not making decisions based on the story of one side only, but by checking out facts on accusations made, getting consensus and understanding office politics so as to alter the situation to positive direction.
4. A manager is the face of the organization. During differences with the community, political conflicts or while recovering loans from bad debtors, his life could be in danger. Yet he must not bury his head in the sand like an ostrich does when the problem arises. When the situation demands, he must be prepared to take the responsibility for the entire team’s intentional or unintended error.
4. A group of subordinates came to a workshop and said: ‘At our office, everybody is for oneself. If something goes wrong, it has to be someone’s fault. Therefore, all of us bow our heads in such a situation, first being the manager. But then, a scapegoat is generally managed whose head is offered on the altar of corporate justice. So, none of us in our office raise our heads. That means none of us think, innovate or take any risk.”
Clearly, when one is appointed as a manager, he must pledge to live with the following maxim: “When something goes wrong, I must take the blame. When something goes right, I must give credit to the staffs.”
5. It may seem the manager has never done enough. Staffs think of him or her as a know-all powerful person. So, when they don’t get recognition for something good they did, they think that the manager has ignored them and their work although he is fully aware of their impressive deeds. Little do they care for his head which is filled with enormous pressure arising from deadlines and budget constraints?
Thus, managers should praise good-doers generously and share with them the challenges the organization is facing. In this way, they will feel that the manager is acknowledging their good work and deem their problems to be small as compared to those of the manager’s.
6. Staffs look at the manager’s face and mood as if they are trying to forecast the weather. If the face is cheerful, the staffs behave confidently and in an excited manner. If the face is sombre, they behave cautiously like while walking on a field with landmines.
In most organisations, the managers are successful to bring sunshine in the workplace. When one visits offices of the an organization's office while the manager is out, the office looks as if it has no energy. Staffs behave differently than when he is physically present. They appear to run short of energy with less responsiveness, and less awareness of the surroundings. As soon as the manager returns, the staffs (even if they have not seen the manager come in) radiate a higher level of energy. The whole situation can be compared to having a baby at home and away from home. When a baby is at home, everyone at home feels happy, energetic, playful and innovative. But when he is sent to somewhere else (say to Mamaghar), everyone at home feels like taking rest. Thus, the manager is not only responsible for targets and budgets but also for the work-environment. When a manager fails to be like the ‘baby’ and can’t fill the environment with thrill and charm, he is labelled incompetent. Consequently, staffs start t o complain regarding salary, benefits, system, physical infrastructure, resources and other tangible issues. However, at the core, staffs want the manager to enhance the work environment.
7. Nobody thinks that the manager is a ‘human being too’: that he too can experience de-motivation. In a workshop, when it was being explained that staffs need motivation from the top, one manager shouted in despair: “Yes ok, but who is going to take care of me? Does anyone care whether I too need motivation or not?” Sadly, the answer was: “No. You are paid many folds more than the rest of the people. So, you must be motivated on your own. You have no way out.” Staffs generally anticipate motivation from their manager while don’t tend to care whether he is motivated or not.
Therefore, managers should follow the following principle: “You receive what you offer. If you motivate your staffs, in return, they too will give you reasons to be motivated.” A manager should communicate with his staffs concerning his desire to be motivated.
8. A manager must be well-dressed and possess a flamboyant personality. However at times, this may backfire when people only see the outer appearance ignoring the person inside. As a result, he or she is usually tried to be avoided and feared. Over-dressing scares most people off. It makes them feel inferior. They label manager as ‘too hi-fi’. On the other hand, if the manager under-dresses, he is not taken seriously because he looks too much like the rest of the staffs. It may seem a pointless debate but right-dressing is essential for managers—decent enough not to scare them off and trendy enough not to let them take you for granted.
The fantasies staffs have about a manager
Whether one likes it or not, has sought it or not, anyone who is promoted to ‘manager’ will be fantasized by his staffs as given below. It is up to the manager whether to live up to these fantasies or not. Most of them never materialize because managers have no idea that these fantasies exist.
1. The manager is the soul of the organization. If everything remains as it is and only the manager (soul) is changed, the organization can transform from rags to riches (and vice versa) in no time. All employees desire to be led by such a great soul or manager in their organisation.
2. He is a connoisseur when it comes to judging and dealing with people. He puts right person in the right place. Based on his decision of placement, promotions and career advancement opportunities are made. He is a demigod especially in the foundation stage.
3. He transforms amateurs into experts. Most staffs, when work without a manager feel disbanded. A manager acts like the sun, the gravitational force of which pulls the staffs into discipline and in perfect harmony.
4. He is the last word, the man of adoration. Most people in Nepal come from a patriarchal family. Staffs tend to replicate this model at work too, thus instilling the image of the manager as father figure in their minds. Accordingly, a natural form of reverence develops and his decisions are deemed to be the best.
5. He is the perfect teacher, the guide, the healer. Most managers reach at this level because they were good performers at the lower level. Though they may not be equipped with the best or any methods of knowledge transfer, it doesn’t stop the staffs to think that the managers are skilful trainers.
6. He will protect us from difficulties. He will fight for us. Staffs believe that since they work to please the manager, he will be compelled to stand up for them. Whether both sides of the equation are equal is difficult to say but again it doesn’t stop staffs to think it is. They believe the manager owes them protection.
7. He knows the existing external environment like the palm of his hands. Submersed in their work, staffs rely fully on the manager to be fully acquainted with outside environment, thus taking his judgments very seriously.
8. He is much more talented and intelligent than us. Otherwise why would the management choose him to lead us?
9. He can change our lives through his recommendations and decisions.
How to capitalize on these fantasies?
If a person dressed in a white dhoti, with a long white beard and a stick in his hand comes in front of us, we feel natural reverence. We think he is a spiritual man. Unless he screws up by shouting obscenity, or doing something indecent, we will treat him with respect by bowing down. We also become inclined to listen to him and believe in his words.
If this same person was dressed in jeans with a clean shave, would we give him the same treatment? Certainly wouldn’t.
Similar is the case with a manager. He is supposed to possess the above nine qualities by virtue, to carry the role of ‘manager’.
There are certain things he should not do that would otherwise shatter these nine fantasies:
1. Cut down benefits of staffs before cutting his own.
2. Appear to be biased.
3. Take phone calls from certain staffs in the night.
4. Scold staffs in public
5. Be unpredictable
6. Openly exhibit nervousness
7. Stay in the office only
8. Eat alone
9. Keep quiet during strategic level conversations
What a manager should do to keep the nine fantasies alive?
1. Conduct regular meetings and chair them. If he is not confident about conducting meetings, he should get help from a professionalcounsellor.
2. Sell dreams of possibilities.
3. Praise the staffs and express his visions for them.
4. Display his vigour to come to work everyday
5. Assess the strength and weakness of each staff and place them accordingly.
6. Be more concerned for the safety and progress of staffs than his own.
7. Set high yet realistic targets.
8. Be a cheerleader.
9. Have nerves of steel.
Now you can decide whether you should be a manager or not.
Conclusion
Being a manager should not be regarded just as a reward for high quality executive level performance. It is a totally different playground with different sets of rules. It is also the highest level in an organization - a sacred sanctuary. We enter a temple taking off our shoes and wearing clean clothes. While entering the level of manager, we should shed bad practices and adopt good ones. Let us not take our rise to managerial position lightly. Many people depend on managers. It is nothing but fair to give them the best one who will live up to their expectations.
CSR IN South Asia
By Purna Adhikari
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an agenda as old as enterprise itself. But globalization now appears to be encouraging a market driven cycle of CSR pressures that stimulate voluntary, environmental and ethical improvements at the firm’s level. This concept suggests that commercial corporations have a duty to care all their stakeholders in all aspects of their business operations. A company’s stakeholders are all those who are influenced by, or can influence, a company's decisions and actions, like employees, customers, suppliers, community organizations, subsidiaries and affiliates, joint venture partners, local neighbourhoods, investors and shareholders.
From the South Asian perspective, if we look at the dimensions of CSR, following areas of responsibility can be highlighted that are similar to the developed countries.
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Economic responsibilities required by society.
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Legal responsibilities, likewise, required by society.
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Ethical responsibilities expected by society.
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Philanthropic responsibilities desired by society.
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Being a good corporate citizen to contribute to the society.
One important event in South Asia CSR was held in 1965 when the then Prime Minister of India presided over a national meeting that issued the following declaration on the social responsibilities of business houses:
“…[A business house has] responsibility to itself, to its customers, workers, shareholders and the community. Every enterprise, no matter how large or small, if it is to enjoy confidence and respect, must seek to discharge its responsibilities in all directions and not to one or two groups, such as shareholders or workers, at the expense of community and consumer. Business must be just and humane, efficient and dynamic."
However, it should be noted that in South Asia, especially in Nepal and India, CSR is not a new phenomenon as it has been practiced for long.
On the economic and social perspective, companies feel that they are obliged to contribute something irrespective of whether the society is aware of it or not. Various research works carried across various companies have yielded interesting comments on CSR. For example, one company responded: “[The Company’s] social responsibilities include generation of employment opportunities, contribution to Gross National Product (GNP) and national wealth, control of pollution, providing a safe working environment etc. We strive to achieve these goals. There is of course room for improvement, which is possible through continuous awareness programs.”
Some other respondents referred to the contribution of their companies to GNP and national wealth as a part of their corporate social responsibility. For example, they said: “The primary social responsibility of a company should be to produce prosperity through creating value, which should, in turn, support social improvement.”
On environmental perspective, a respondent highlighted on corporate social citizenship and said: “What I understand is that as citizens of a country, we have certain obligation towards our society, the environment we are living in and what we are leaving behind for the next generation. Our company is committed to ensure a clean and healthy environment.”
Some senior-level respondents of the companies, especially working on social environmental sector, said: “The company, being a part of the society, has a responsibility towards society and environment. Capital expenditure has been made to ensure that all effluents and emissions are pollution free. Foliage and gardens occupy one third of the total factory area contributing to a green environment.”
Another response was like this: “Industrial houses plant trees and maintain parks thereby providing space for greenery. But they should also make proper arrangements for the disposal of their industrial waste. The black smoke belched out by the factories pollutes the environment and we are not aware how this problem can be solved. In our unit, we provide well-ventilated working place for our employees and ensure that rubbish is disposed without polluting the surrounding. The vehicles engaged for transportation of our products are regularly sent for Auto Emission Test and have the 'pollution under control' certificates.”
Another respondent mentioned the management tools related to corporate environmental responsibility: “[We] promote the use of management tools such as environmental assessment, life cycle analysis and total cost accounting to help organization to identify and select opportunities for improvement [and we] encourage transparency through corporate social and environmental reporting.”
On the legal responsibility perspective, there are a couple of legal provisions that must be complied by corporate business management. Some of them are related to health and safety of employees, the others are related to environmental protection and maintaining minimum standard at workplaces. For the effective implementation of CSR, guidelines have been enshrined from social, national and international best practices and awareness programs. On this perspective, some respondents mentioned: “In view of the painstaking, strenuous and sustained efforts undertaken by all of us, our units have become the recipient of ISO:14000 certificates.”
Other companies mentioned other regulatory norms. One said: “As a corporate citizen, [Our Company] is committed to ensure that our products produce minimum impact on the environment. Strict pollution control measures and monitoring systems are already in place as per international standard. Our organization is working towards greater awareness and implementation of EMS at our generating stations and other related areas.”
From the ethical point of view, CSR expectations depend on norms of social values and practices. Religious and social philosophical influences, beliefs and practices in society are also the key factors in CSR. On this context, one company stated that “[Our Company] is trying to fulfil social responsibilities which will help the weaker community of the society. In fact, it is like acting as a leader in the HRD management. We feel that in South Asia, particularly in India, the need for training has not reached the grass-root level. We have to do a lot on this issue." Another company, explaining how they were fulfilling their corporate social responsibility, said: “Our Company is engaged in various programs on regular basis. For the upliftment of the socially backward and poor communities of the society, we conduct trainings to develop skills required in our business and those showing good aptitude are absorbed by our company.”
Every society has certain desires on philanthropic as well as fulfiling corporate responsibilities which is done through the social programs of business houses and corporate business institutions on voluntary basis. According to one respondent, a company should ensure that “ordinary life is given decent place and environment.” Another company suggested that it has the responsibility to “observe what others do not see at first, be that in terms of producing goods or services or their distribution to improve the well-being of others.”
Several respondents, however, made more specific references to ways in which they contributed to social development through educational, health and social campaigns. “The social responsibility of any organization centres on consistent support to sectors like health, education, infrastructure development and self-employment generation. We have been providing necessary support by installing ICCU in a nearby hospital, eye camps, family planning programs etc. Apart from maintaining a secondary school, support is being extended to various educational development programs in various districts. Definitely there is a need for greater awareness on these issues in industries.” Furthermore, in the same perspective another respondent said: “… Create charitable trusts with the objectives to uplift the standard of living of the downtrodden and support and teach them them to sustain their livelihood independently.” Another company responded: “…The social responsibility of spreading awareness among the public regarding social reforms and practices is considerable to our company.”
The above statements show that the CSR is seriously adopted by various corporations and business institutions. Some institutions do not want to contribute to the society. For example, some respondents said: “Despite competition and increasing operating costs, our products undergo strict quality control measures. Nevertheless, our prices are competitive and we are paying all levies are per the law.”
But such views have been changing under growing awareness level, enhanced domestic and international standards, domestic regulation, public opinion and community group pressure to save reputation of the company.
Businesses will not benefit economically by investing in improving social and environmental issues because consumers as a mass are swayed by advertising. Perhaps more education is needed to increase the awareness of CSR for both businesses and consumers before there will be an incentive for businesses to get on board. The vague, impractical and poorly-monitored regulations, poor infrastructure, complex tax system and heightened bureaucracy are some obstacles. Ethical and moral values have not been given equal priority in every business house. Corruption and distorted values are some negative factors. One respondent said, “Penalties for non-compliance should be strictly implemented. This is to be done by flattening tax structure and reducing exclusive authority on government agencies.”
For increasing corporate social responsibility, corporate culture should replace the family business culture. Management should be positive and growth oriented. It is only possible if professionals start to handle businesses. Ethical business values are not on high priority due to the absence of corporate culture. This is an obvious obstacle to the CSR agenda. To overcome this problem, one respondent suggested, “Developing a culture for imbibing ethical values into our system, we can make a difference.” Overcoming these obstacles involves fundamental changes in business culture along with major changes in the educational system to build a strong ground for corporate social responsibilty in this region.
(Adhikari holds an MBA degree from Maastricht University, The Netherlands and currently, he is doing research on stock market issues in Nepal. This article draws from various research works on CSR carried out in different countries by different research organisations.)
The Power of Mind
By L P Bhanu Sharma
It is rightly said that the human mind has infinitely higher capacities than any super computer in the world. It is an infinite world of possibilities, creations, and also of destruction if we are not able to use it in the right way. We spend decades studying history, geography, mathematics and language; but, unfortunately, we rarely stop to find out what our mind is. We never pay attention to the most powerful and obedient organic machine embedded in us. New developments in psychology, hypnotic therapy and psychoanalysis have revealed amazing facts about it. And one of the most astounding facts is that these recent discoveries directly corroborate the statements made by our seers, sages and masters enshrined in our tradition.
Human mind can take one of the two directions: positive or negative. The positive state reflects the higher Self within us, while the negative state colludes with the lower Self. Creativity, productivity and confidence result from the positive mind. In order to channelize the mind in positive direction, we need to bring in some or all of the following traits in us: love, kindness, cooperation, courage, forgiveness, tolerance and peace. Similarly, there are certain harmful traits that push the mind into a negative state. They are envy, pride, sloth, greed, gluttony, lust, fear, anger and guilt. We just need to watch what types of thought our mind is producing at the moment to comprehend the state of mind. The mind has an innate capability of multiplying infinitely whatever dominant thought it has or given. Thus, a careful reining of the mind can make us successful to achieve the desired state.
Many of us fail to realize that a successful, creative, confident, and high performing person has no substitute for positive thoughts. Positive thoughts are the seeds we need to sow if we are to reap the fruits of success. They create a certain resonance or vibration in our mind so that the mind opens up and starts journey to the positive direction. Love is the greatest creative emotion of all because it is self-generating, self-nourishing and self-sustaining. The more you engage in love, the more love will engage in you, filling you with vibrant energy to generate positive feelings. This is the way to set the mind in self-motivation. Brian Mayne, the author of Goal Mapping, rightly argues, “In reality there is only one true form of motivation and that is self-motivation. All else is superficial”.
Negative thoughts create harmful resonance in our mind resulting into self-destruction. In fact, our thoughts form a vicious circle. They say, ‘as you sow, so shall you reap’. This is absolutely true with our thoughts. If we sow the seeds of envy, hatred and anger, they will destroy us before destroying somebody else. We can now understand why Gautam Buddha used to tell his Bhikkhus to generate positive wishes for everyone they meet on the way. Once a Bhikkhu asked Him why he wanted them to have good wishes for everyone and would this good wish or blessing reached the people who needed them. Buddha instantly replied, “It doesn’t matter whether your good thoughts or blessing reach the other people or not. They undoubtedly create a positive atmosphere within you and slowly purge your mind from all evils.” We need to learn how to convert our negative thoughts into positive thoughts so that our life takes a dramatic turn to fill us with warmth, joy, energy and wealth. The third and the most important dimension of the mind is ‘emptiness’, or ‘shunyata,’ using Gautam Buddha’s words. You can use your room to store good or joyful items, or can stuff it with destructive substances like poisons, arms and ammunitions. Alternatively, you can decide to keep the room empty. Using this analogy to the mind, the good items are your positive thoughts and the bad substances are your negative thoughts. If you choose to keep the room empty, it is the state of meditation or an empty mind. In the meditative state of the mind, we come in direct contact with our true Self as the ultimate essence of our existence encounters our mind when nothing clutters its serene space. In this state we are devoid of any thoughts, and get into the primordial state of self-awareness. Suddenly, our mind breaks all bounds and we come in direct contact with the reality. Joy, peace and love automatically start a radiating from us. All sorrows and miseries evaporate and the new sun of tranquility, creative potential and love just dawns onto us. No doubt, the human mind is a miracle machine. n
