Vol. 3 :: No. 4 March-Aapril, 2001 (Falgun-Chaitra)

Management

A Letter from a Jagire Manager

Who says that we, the Nepali managers, are not professional? We have been successfully managing cocktail parties, big-budget product launchings etc. And we have, what the politician friends from the Left call it, "democratic centralization" in the decision making process.

Nepali management doesn’t exist only at the top. Therefore, there is nothing like number one, number two, and so on in Nepali managerial hierarchy. The management in Nepal is comprised of number one and lot of number tens. The major decisions and most of the minor ones are never emanated from the bottom, be it deciding payment of 200 rupees bill, buying a tea-set or attending a seminar. Therefore, the idea of a number of managers at different levels is not for giving decisions and running daily operations according to a corporate policy.

The corporate objective is only a textbook thing to be read by MBA kids at KUSOM. In the office, the managers have to fabricate the ideas or decisions given by the top boss. It shows how professionaly disciplined the Nepali managers are. If you ask any manager why a particular decision has been taken, he will proudly point to the top management. Our role today continues to be like that of a Munsi of the landlords of yesteryears whose job was to get work done according to the will of the boss. Why should we bother about other things? We are honestly preserving the tradition of our forefathers.

Many people complain that Nepali managers have failed to develop professionalism in their functions. There is no point in saying so. In the past one would dream of demonstrating his talents to the King or Prime Minister and try to get Jagir as recognition. Then he could relax for the whole life, because he, then, did not need to work any more. He would also pass the Jagir on to his progeny. And we are also following the same golden path. Moreover, today we are associated with many professional associations and organizations. It is not the job of a manager to see whether the association exists only on letterheads. That is clearly the job of the respective government authority, not ours.

We know that managers are not awarded with different medals like Gorkha Daksin Bahu. These are for the film actors, singers, athletes, etc. It is not that we are not qualified for the award, we simply don’t expect it. Every year Management Association Nepal has been rewarding a manager from the corporate world. But we are not so enthusiastic about that award. Who has the time to go through the wrangles of filling the form saying that ‘I am a suitable candidate for the award’ as a would-be groom has to do in Terai belt and in India to get a wife.

Everybody knows that the managers of Nepal are the most educated illiterate breed that can hardly be found anywhere in the world. Therefore, most of us do not read newspapers and magazines. But of course we do not forget to make sure that we turn the pages and look at the pictures, provided that the papers are received as complimentary. That helps us to show that we have read it. Our problem is the lack of time to go and try to find some sense in the write-ups. Do you think that a manager should give priority to reading, playing weekend golf or knowledge-acquiring activities instead of managing other things like attending meetings, responding to telephone calls and giving time to relatives and friends? Since we have already become managers why should we go through books and papers with which we always had an antagonistic relations during our school and college days. Yes, if the organization sends us to participate in any seminar and cocktail party, we should not forget to go. Because we can learn in a few hours a lot more than what we did in many years of our professional career.

Do you not know the famous saying that in the not so developing world the last rater students go into politics and the second raters become economists and statisticians? Do you know where the first-raters go? Obviously they become managers. That means, we have already achieved what is to be achieved with our academic records like that. So we are already at the self-actualization stage of the motivational hierarchy. Why worry if the recently opening upper level professional jobs are taken up by our southern neighbours. No Nepali green-grocer has worried by the southern neighbours on bicycles taking up the vegetable trade. So why should we?

Tips On Motivation

Teamwork Starts with You

- By Ranjit Acharya

When a manager is struggling with a deadline or dealing with delicate decisions, the last thing he want to deal with is "people" or his staff. When the fight is really on and the battle is undecided, everyone wants his or her team to act co-operatively, quickly, rationally. No one wants an unsatisfied employee bitching about life, or a co-worker who avoids work. No one wants his/her secretary to get tired all day because the baby was crying all night or had to help son on his homework. But this is what happens most of the time, and as a manager everyone has to deal with it. Most common things which we Nepalis come across are our staff’s compulsion to attend wedding of close relatives, frequent visits to native villages or towns etc. Few "people problems" can be solved quickly, some are totally beyond our control and can only be contained; but we do have influence over many factors, which affect our people, and so it is our responsibility to ensure that our influence is a positive one. A positive approach towards any problem will bring in better results.

As the leader of a team, a manager has the authority to sanction, encourage or restrict most aspects of the working day of a co-worker and this places a manager in a position of power - and responsibility. In our case, where workers are not so professional as to give prior notice for leave, the manager’s role becomes tougher than elsewhere. The solution lies in motivation. But how to motivate? Let us briefly look at which type of behaviour or anything motivates people.

Consider our behaviour. Consider the effect we would have if every morning after coffee we walked over to Shyam’s desk and told him what wrong he was doing. Would Shyam feel pleased at our attention? Would he look forward to these little chats and prepare simple questions to clarify aspects of his work? Or would he develop hatred for coffee and be busy elsewhere whenever we pass by? Of course, we would never be so destructive - provided we thought about it. Many seemingly simple habits can have a huge impact upon our rapport with our team.

Take other examples: Suppose (as a good supportive manager) we often give public praise for independence and initiative displayed by our team, and suppose (as a busy manager) we respond briefly to questions and interruptions. What will happen?

Probably our team will leave us alone. They will not raise problems (we will be left in the dark), they will not question our instructions (ambiguities will remain), they will struggle on bravely (and feel unsupported). Our simple behaviour may result in a number of errors, mis-directed activity and utter frustration. So if we do want to hear about problems, we must tell the team so and react positively when we hear of problems. Here, the theory of 2 ears and 1 mouth could be applied. We could listen to them quietly giving them a chance to prove or convince before taking any decision on our part. By doing so we can ensure positive response from our subordinates even though our decisions could be negative for them.

When thinking about motivation, it is important to take the long-term view. What we need is a sustainable approach to maintain enthusiasm and commitment from our team. This is not easy; but it is essential to our effectiveness.

There are several factors identified in the past by all management gurus, such as salary levels, working conditions and company policy, which demotivated (by being poor) rather than motivated (by being good). For example, once a fair level of pay is established, money ceases to be a significant motivator for long term performance. The positive motivators identified are achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, and advancement. These are what our team needs; loads-of-money is nice but not nearly as good as being valued and trusted.

As the manager, we set the targets - and in selecting these targets, we have a dramatic effect upon our team’s sense of achievement. If we make them too hard, the team will fear a failure; if too easy, the team feels be-littled. Ideally, we should provide a series of targets, which are easily recognized as stages towards the ultimate completion of the task. Thus progress is celebrated with small but marked achievements. If we stretch our staff, they know that we know they can meet that challenge. These targets should be applied like keeping a ladder in front of them. They will feel comfortable in climbing up step by step with certain speed and this could lead to better achievement in best possible time.

Recognition is about feeling appreciated. It is realizing that what we do is seen and noted, and preferably by the whole team as well as by ourselves, the manager. In opposite terms, if people do something well and then feel it is ignored - they will not bother to do it so well next time (because "no one cares"). So it is our duty to ensure that they are well appreciated whenever they deserve.

The feedback we give our team about their work is fundamental to their motivation. They should know what they do well (be positive), what needs improving (be constructive) and what is expected of them in the future (something to aim for). And while this is common sense, we must ask ourselves: How many in our team know these things, right now? Perhaps, more importantly, for which of our team could we write these down now (try it)?

Our staff need to know where they stand, and how they are performing against our (reasonable) expectations. We can achieve this through a structured review system, but such systems often become banal formalities with little or no communication. The best time to give feedback is when the event occurs. Since it can impact greatly, the feedback should be honest, simple, and always constructive. If in doubt, we should follow the simple formula of:

1. highlight something good
2. point out what needs improving
3. suggest how to improve

We must always look for something positive to say, if only to offer some recognition of the effort, which has been put into the work. When talking about improvements, be specific: this is what is wrong, this is what I want/need, this is how you should work towards it. We should ‘never’ say anything as unhelpful or uninformative as "do better" or "shape up". If we cannot be specific and say how, then keep quiet. While our team will soon realize that this IS a formula, they will still enjoy the benefits of the information (and training). We must not stint in praising good work. If we do not acknowledge it, it may not be repeated simply because no one knew.

The work itself should be interesting and challenging. Interesting because this makes our staff actually engage their attention; challenging because this maintains the interest and provides a sense of personal achievement when the job is done. We must actually consider how interesting the tasks we assign are and how to deal with the boring ones. Here are two suggestions.

Firstly, we must make sure that everyone (including our self) has a share of the interesting and of the dull. This is helped by the fact that what is dull to some might be new and fascinating to others - so match tasks to people, and possibly share the worst tasks around. For instance, taking minutes in a meeting is dull on a weekly basis but quite interesting/educational once every six weeks (and also heightens a sense of responsibility). Secondly, if the task is dull perhaps the person given the task can change the method. This turns dull into challenging, adds responsibility, and might even improve the efficiency of the team. We must remember that sometimes giving opportunity to change the style of executing jobs can be most effective way to motivate a person to execute a so called dull job.

Dealing with problems no matter how small or how big they are, is also another motivational factor. Let us look at a simple system for addressing people-problems. In any group of people there are bound to be problems. As a manager, we have to solve or at least contain them. We ignore them at our peril. Such problems are usually described in terms like: "Sushil is just lazy" or "Kamal is a bad-tempered old has-been". On the one hand, such people can poison the working environment; the other hand, these descriptions are totally unhelpful. Being a manager, our duty is to make it sweet and acceptable as well as make it visible and understandable to the person who is concerned. For instance "Sushil is lazy" should be transformed into "Sushil is normally late with his weekly report and achieves less than Ram does in any one week". Thus we have a starting point and something which can be measured.

Before proceeding, it is worth checking that the problem is real - some "problems" are more appearance than substance, some are not worth our time and effort. So, stage 1 is to monitor the identified problem, to check that it is real and to seek simple explanations. For instance Sushil might still be helping someone with his old job.

Stage 2 is often missed - ask Sushil for his solution. This sort of interview can be quite difficult because we run the danger of making personal criticism. Now we may feel that Sushil deserves criticism, but does it actually help? Our objective is to get Sushil to work well, not to indulge in personal ambiguity. If we make it personal, Sushil will be defensive. He will deny the problem, blame someone else, blame the weather, tells us that he knows best. If, on the other hand, we present the situation in terms of the specific events, we can focus upon Sushil’s own view of the problem (why is this happening?) and Sushil’s own solution (what can Sushil do about it - can we help?).

Stage 2 will sometimes be sufficient. If Sushil had not realized there was a problem, he might act quickly to solve it. If he had thought his behavior would pass unnoticed, he now knows differently. By giving Sushil the responsibility for solving his own problem, we can actually motivate him beyond the specific problem: he may suggest on improved reporting system, or a short training course to deal with a technical short-coming. Finally, the demonstration alone that we are interested in Sushil’s work may be enough to make him improve. We should Never assume that we know better. Always ask first - then if no solution is forthcoming, proceed to ...

Stage 3 is the analysis stage and is based upon a simple model of behavior: every action is preceded by a trigger, and is followed by a consequence or payoff. Thus baby is hungry (trigger), baby wails (action), baby gets fed (payoff); or the report is due today (trigger), Sushil goes for coffee break "to think about it" (action), Sushil has a relaxing afternoon (payoff).

Sometimes, good behavior is blocked by negative payoffs. For instance, if every time Ram informs his boss, Mr. Pande, about a schedule change (action), Mr. Pande vents his annoyance on Ram (payoff), then Ram will be less inclined to approach Mr. Pande with information in the future. One of the problems with communication in Ancient Greece was that the bearer of bad news was often executed.

We have to be flexible with regards to personal problems. No parent is immune to the "joys" of a newborn baby, no one is unaffected by bereavement. When circumstances and the human factor impinge upon our ordered plans, adapt. Since we cannot change it, work with it. Focus upon the problem (say, schedule slippage) and deal with that in the existing situation. For instance if we sanction half a day’s "sick-leave" to see a solicitor, we might save a week’s worry and distraction.

On a larger scale, look carefully at the "systems" which exist in our team, at those work practices, which they and we follow through habit. Some of these can work against the team, and us. For instance, the way we hold team meetings may suppress contributions (at 4 o’clock on a Friday, say); the way we reward the exceptional may demotivate those responsible for the results.

We must take a long-term view. Constant pressure will eventually destroy our team members. If we acknowledge that a relaxed yet engaged workforce is (say) 10% more efficient than one which is over-stressed and fretful, then we should realize that this amounts to half-a-day per week. So why not devote half-a-day to peer-group teaching, brainstorming on enhanced efficiency, visits to customers (internal and external), guest lectures on work tools, or all four on a four-weekly cycle. We lose nothing if we gain a skilled, committed, enthusiastic team. Results, whatsoever we get from our team is solely due to our skills. To become a good manager the only quality we need to maintain or possess is the capability of motivating others, no matter how hard it is to motivate some pessimistic mind. A person who is fully motivated to execute a job possesses strong interest level for the particular job, shows full dedication towards the job, tries to meet the deadline, and is always in positive mind frame. This is possible only if he or she is fully motivated and fully charged up. This is where manager’s role lies, to ensure that each one of his or her staffs and subordinates is fully motivated to deliver the best possible output.

Finally, look carefully at how we behave and whether the current situation is due to our previous inattention to the human factor: we might be the problem, and the solution.

(Acharya is CEO Prisma Advertising, Management & Marketing)

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