CONTRARY to popular belief,
most people don’t look for just a job and a salary. They look for something
beyond that – growth and perhaps one day, the pinnacle of the pyramid. Each morning is a step closer to the
realization of this dream. “I will do
something for my organization today”. Is
the resolve of an employee as he mops his forehead and enters the portals of
the office. Many office workers even
humbly prostrate at the threshold and it is common to see employees, be they
workers or managers – put up a picture of their favorite deity in their work
place. All this affirms the fact that
people go to work with a sense of purpose which goes beyond just eking out a
living.
The tragedy of it is how
many retain this attitude? How long does
this enthusiasm last? How far does their
patience stretch? Why are there so many
disgruntled employees and dissatisfied employees and dissatisfied employers? Where does the cream sour and why? Somewhere, sometime, the employee changes
gears and toes into neutral from top. Who is to be blamed for this? The rot sets in from above. Someone at the top
does not care and this trickles down all the way. In many cases, there is a tremendous gap
between the Big Boss (BB) and the underlings. The BB operates from an ivory tower,
surrounded by his caucus – people who play his tune – thus putting a barrier
between what actually happens in his office and himself. He gets a filtered version of the activities
of the people outside his sanctorum from his chosen men and this very often is
peppered with personal biases and prejudices.
Having alienated himself, BB gets busy planning the organization’s
growth five years hence, totally ignoring the erosion occurring at present. The
style is soon adopted by the smaller bosses too. They are more interested in tuning up their
instruments to please the BB, leaving the staff under them to ‘use their own
initiative’ and work. Fair enough, if in
practice this is allowed. But what
happens is that at every step, to show his clout, the immediate boss wants to
have a say and above him, the BB wants to keep all the reins to himself.
There is no delegation of
authority – only an ad-hoc dispersal of responsibility. ‘The BB wants it this way’ is the motto of
the organization and everyone is supposed to come to heel. As for the BB, he has so many things on his
plate that he has no time to concentrate on any one item. So sanctions are
delayed, decisions are kept pending and the frustrations continue to pile up. ‘Give the BB what he wants’ is the indifferent
approach that creeps in and gradually, initiative is laid to rest. Cynicism takes over and the rot spreads. Setting the organization right is not the solution
to this problem. Only one person needs
to change his ways – the BB.
He must come down to earth,
take his eyes off the balance sheet and look around. He must mix with the
people working with him he must have time for their professional growth. He
must not become insular to their aspirations. Once he shows he cares, his attitude will travel
via the company conveyor belt to everyone – even the office peons. Just because the company is totting up its
profit figures, the BB cannot get away with ignoring the people whose combined
work has
generated those figures in the first place. In the long run, the motivated tea boy is
more of an asset to the organization than money -minded BB who saps the
enthusiasm of his juniors.
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