The Black(X) and White(Y) shades of Grey

"Nothing is black or white, they are just different shades of grey"

I wish I had read about Mr. Douglas McGregor's theories during my childhood. It's astonishing to see how everyday people around us are using his theories even without ever getting to read them.

My parents are experts at the maneuvers of X and Y, so were my beloved teachers. And fortunately, it did not stop there, I was yet to meet my managers at work. The beauty of the theory is that it doesn't preach. It lets you choose your own right and wrong. The feature to customize the theory as per your assumptions, makes it all the more appealing. The virtue of seeing the shades of grey is invaluable to a manager.

X-Y

Theory X

Theory X assumes that employees are naturally unmotivated and dislike working, and this encourages an authoritarian style of management. According to this view, management must actively intervene to get things done.

Theory Y

Theory Y expounds a participative style of management that is decentralized. It assumes that employees are happy to work, are self-motivated and creative, and enjoy working with greater responsibility.

Similarly the workers can be clubbed into the two categories of lazy and non lazy workers. Hence the combinations so obtained are:

1) X manager lazy worker.

2) Y manager lazy worker.

3) X manager non lazy worker.

4) Y manager non lazy worker.

The best combination from the above mentioned is clearly the one where manager is motivating(Y) and the workers are non lazy. It's a recipe for innovation and excellence.

But what if the workers are lazy? Would you prefer being a manager who is an authoritarian and keeps the variables that might lead to discrepancy in check or would you prefer a more liberal environment for work? The choice is yours to make.

Parents and teachers have set examples of balancing between the two shades in order to get the maximum out of their children. Human behavior is full of complexities and hence the subjective nature of the matter requires improvisation.

Generally larger organisations with huge labor force prefer X style of management. It's easier to set process and make the masses follow it. The probability of error is reduced but so is the opportunity for innovation. On the other side of spectrum the new start-up and small scale companies prefer to follow Y style of management to promote innovation and individuality. The decentralization of management in such cases have produced great results.

Hence in my opinion, the theory requires a deeper understanding and further improvisation by managers in order to customize their approach for specific cases in order to extract the best from their employees.

Cricket's tryst with Organisation Management

Place: New Delhi                            Date: 31 January 1999                             Time: 7:03 AM

The Sunday morning had a peculiar chill to it. Miles away in the arena of Chepauk stadium Chennai, the Indian gladiators were to face the Pakistani stalwarts on the last day of the test match.

As the sun burned away, history was written, some important management lessons were on offer. But I was left with a broken heart(90's the beautiful time when more heart breaks were owed to Indian cricket than to pretty women). Mr. Sachin Tendulkar with a breathtaking 136 was man of the match despite the fact that India had lost!

The Master

Place: Mumbai                                 Date: 19 June 2013                                  Time: 9:05 AM

After a series of heartbreaks, I have decided to put it all behind. Its time to find answers, if not to all the heartbreaks, then to at least why India lost.

In my opinion, building an innings is comparable to building an organization. Taking a cue from scientists studying universe by focusing on the behavior of the smallest building blocks i.e. atoms, we decided to understand the dynamics of an organization through a basic tower building activity.

Question 1: How many people would you require to build a tower of 6x6 cm cubes?

If your answer to the above problem is 1, you are ready to begin with learning the process of how an organization is formed. Unity is a reflection of craftsmanship. Craftsmanship although high on skills and heroism, lacks in organization management and is reluctant to change. It's devoid of well defined processes and is a collection of a number of meaningful and important jobs.

The essence of an organization lies in breaking a task into simpler and more basic processes. The objective is to define the responsibilities associated with each role and making the process more meaningful by innovating and removing the redundancies associated to it while maintain a clear chain of communication. Likewise, the tower building can be further sub divided into defining the objective, procuring the resources, technical research, market for the product etc.

Revisiting the India's loss to Pakistan, it's evident that the loss had more to do with the lack of management than to the lack of skills. The lone man army of 90's depicted craftsmanship and randomness. After 14 years of refinement we have better defined roles and responsibilities within our cricket team. Experienced players like Sachin are anchoring the innings, Kohli provides the required strength and momentum, Yuvraj and Sir RJ provides the balance whereas Raina and Dhoni are the finishers. It's like a well oiled machine where every part has a specific job and a common ultimate objective.

Question 2: Does the no change, how many people would you require now to build a tower of 6x6 cm cubes?

Is it a vague number? Increasing the variables leads to increase in complexity. "Too many cooks spoil the broth". The organization management is about striking the balance between the complexity and unity. As far as the roles are meaningful, well defined and indispensable the fragmentation is welcomed else it leads to conflicts.

The current balance of the Indian team is enhanced as Dhoni besides being the skipper, takes up the mantle of wicket keeper batsman. This removes redundancy and hence makes the Indian team a more efficient and effective organization(team).

Takeaway: The India industry is based on craftsmanship. The tailors, cobblers, small merchants etc. constitute the major chunk of business activities in India and majority of them lack organization management in their approach. Through management, we can link the scattered craftsmen together, define and streamline their process and hence can eventually attain higher productivity by striving for excellence through efficiency and effectiveness.

PS: Special thanks to Mr. Sachin Tendulkar.

The-Beginning

The amalgam of Philosophy with Physics is like a rendezvous with a woman having beauty and brains. And for clarifications, if any of you are wondering, no I did not mean that its fictional. Add a pinch of Management(panache) to it and the molecular formula so obtained may well define the atomic configuration of an angel(a dream job).

Its human behavior to look for analogies around us, to create connections and co-relations. When Dr. Mandi advised our friend to follow his passion by writing poems for metallurgy, I pondered and wondered about the possibility of talking in a language we like, about the things we love and hence here I am looking into the world holding a lens I love.

Physics is enlightening, beautiful but brutal. Right now I am revisiting Newton's first Law with a pen in my hand. As if troubling me with differentials and integrals during my school days wasn't enough fun for Mr. Newton, the knowledge of his first law is making me realize how the concept of momentum and inertia applies even to the act of writing.

As future managers, we all have much to share and many to inspire, still our(my) reluctance to begin is a reflection of the wisdom Mr. Newton applied to the mechanical world. We needed an external force to make a start and I am hopeful that the Law will hold true even after we gain the momentum.

The first day, we all had aspirations, some of which took a hit because of the skewed gender ratio we have at NITIE. Breakfast missed because my room mate snores till 8:30. Still I was ready to put it all behind. I am a conveniently religious(though always spiritual) man. So while sitting in the class, I closed my eyes to pray, I prayed to god for a mentor. I prayed for what Chanakya was to Chandragupta and Aristotle to Alexander(also for a miracle to improve the gender ratio and rains to stop, but that's a story for another time).

The-Beginning

When I opened my eyes, I found a ball flying towards me. I instinctively calculated its trajectory, reached out and took a catch that "in my opinion" should make even Virat proud. When TRUTH replaced VANITY, I came to senses and the realization of unorthodox nature of my surroundings struck me. It was my first POM class and it only got better from there. Dr. Mandi had arrived!

In my opinion, "To Think", "To Hope" and "To Act" are the three sacred duties a man must do. Dr. Mandi in his own unorthodox way explained the phenomenon and the reasons for us to begin with above mentioned. Be it the Idea of "Learning by Earning" or "Inspiring and Educating the masses through blogs". The objective remains to bring about a change.

The activity of listening to "another brick in the wall" reflected the thought process of a young revolutionary he has in him, picturing a better world.

By the end of the class, my grey cells were happy, skewed ratio didn't matter, rains seemed fine and I was left hungry for more learning.

PS: Special thanks to Mr. Newton.