The Middle Management Syndrome

Globally, the shine of middle management is fading fast for all bad reasons. Irrespective of numerous management perspectives about the middle management by different schools of thought, the real problem of middle management is more inward than outward. In any organization, the real success story is not engineered by the middle management. Here lies the twist of the story. Take, for example, the meteoritic fall of Enron. Although what happened to the company is history now, still business schools take it as a classic case study of how the middle management failed to diagnose the dire consequence of irregularities of the company, and the entire episode was sandwiched between false notions and ineptness of middle managers. Rather than triggering a transparent approach to the issue, the managers tried hard to hide the facts both from the employees and different stakeholders, which ultimately slapped on the face of top management. In most organizations, the top management blindly rely on the hijacked conduits of fact representation by the middle management. This inherent attitude of of the top management worsens any situation, and the sad part is that the top management has to pay heavily for the misadventure of the middle management. Why does this happen in any organization? Primarily, the camaraderie among middle managers in any organization oozes the greatest woes for the organization. Apparently, all middle managers invariable believe in passing the buck either to the lower strata of the organization or to the top management thereby escaping from the responsibilities. This creates a vicious circle in the integrity of information from one level to another level. As the junior management and the executive strata of any organization don't have any channel to push the fact to the top management, the middle management plays a bad game. Moreover, the limitations of middle management are that they don't execute any task directly rather than facilitation. And more over the planning is done by the middle managers without considering the views of junior managers and executives, which impacts the success of any project. Also, sometimes, the middle managers are not competent enough to analyze the risks in the optimum way, and this hits them back hard. In a fast changing open economy, the middle managers need to keep them abreast of the changes happening around and also they should improvise their skill sets to live up to the expectations of their juniors. Transparency, integrity, core competency, and a great attitude could only help this band from this professional roadblock.

Mob Justice

India is experiencing a deja vu of prehistoric social movement of late. And the worst part of this movement is that people are becoming intolerant and barbaric to justify their cause. From tribal settlements to urban hot spots, people have become the dispenser of justice in raw sense. They have taken the law of this land into their hands and have displayed the gory face of a civil society in an impudent way. Let me remind you that despite howsoever the grossness of crime, no common man be the dispenser of justice to the victim. We have a judicial system in place to provide justice; we have an executive system in place to facilitate the delivery of justice. But despite all such wings people feel the system is the most lethargic in way of its operation in logically concluding any case. Here the problem lies with us. Rather than complaining about the system, get into the system and transform it into an efficient one. Nobody can stop you from doing that. But sitting at your drawing room and getting incensed by the kaleidoscopic views of media report and supporting the mob justice would one day metamorphose this civil society into a barbaric society. If this continues the fabric of civil society would be destroyed one day when the muscle power of society would rule the roost. Lest the irrelevances of mob justice strike us on our face, lets change the system first so that the future generations would take pride in being a part of that system.

Fighting Global Terrorism

After six years of 9/11, the masterminds of the terror plot are still living like king size and now they have surfaced up challenging the state power of the US. The defiance of super power emerges one single fact that the perpetrators of global terrorism are equipped with better intelligence and the support of few other nations, which empower them with the courage of ripping apart the super strand of global consciousness. Now that post 9/11 a number of incidents have haunted the countries across the world, it's now imperative to take a different look toward the modus operandi of terrorists. Rather than simulating an extrapolation of incidents and methodologies deployed by terrorist groups, the first and the foremost task before the world nations to initiate an international body to enact some universal policies and ensure all the nations are signatories to those anti-terror laws. Any country that doesn't abide by the rules, let the rest throw up their weight to make the defiant country extend coordinated support for this global cause. Unmistakably, this effort will bear fruit. Why? The prime reason that the history of terrorism worldwide is a reflection of some countries crooked foreign policy. Terrorism is by far an extension of state support of sundry countries trying to disrupt the progress of other nations and create roadblocks to their overall development. If an international apex body would preside the anti-terror mechanisms, the burgeoning regional differentiations among global neighborhoods would be minimized and a consorted effort would help weaken the financial backbone of terror camps. Consequently, the terror camps would feel the heat of their dire operations. A global force should be chartered with appropriate participation from all the countries to represent the body. This way the risk of failure will be reduced and the chance of winning the game will be multiplied. Any leader listening?

Deal 123

The brouhaha over the recent nuclear deal has taken many twists and turns in different domains. I think, the saddest part of the story is that the Left still believes the pseudo intellectual image that it carries for long would divert the general perception of Indians as a whole. The time has changed in toto. People are well aware of the hypocrisy of the Left over the period. Now, it's the high time for the Left to amend their perception about the state of affairs and at least learn from the successes of other communist countries. Rather than showing their irrational side of argument, they should be proactive and cooperate the government in making the nuclear deal a historical achievement for the future generations. What the Left points out the dangerous proposition in making the deal is more dangerous that unmaking the deal. The fear psychosis of the Left is not really the reflection of their concern what they propagate through various channels, but the real fear lies in somewhere else, which suffocates them for being a part of a program that challenges their neighborhood fraternity. Perhaps, the double whammy nature of the Left would one day downsize them to a nut. The days are not far ahead. The way the world is changing and the utilitarian international relations are emerging, the danger for this world won't be the nuclear war, but a highly strategic financial blitzkrieg would take over the notion of third world war. And certainly, toll would come heavily on the nations, which are still dogfighting over frivolous issues, rather than finding the middle path to lead the rest.

The Obvious Culprits

When I opened the envelope

With a binge of curiosity in my head

My eyes stretched to the bottom line—

The outline of my strenuous labor

I paid through the sizable part of a year.

But the fine print revealed some implausible facts

That dissected me into splinters of throbbing pain

And I sensed the devil’s hand in the pattern

Though I refrained from divulging to public.

For a moment, I garnered my sensibility

To console my fiery emotions

That soaked my heart and mind.

Then in complete sangfroid

I acknowledged the painful truth

Someone’s pain is but a part of someone’s pleasure

In transitioning the whole truth

Into a gimmick of handiworks

Of those obvious culprits

Who in all disguise frame a mirage

Around the stark reality

To impress others as angel

Though they are the obvious culprits

For perpetuating all evils in this world.

Chak De India

Finally, Yashraj Movies has sent a strong message to Indians across the globe. The movie which I watched yesterday is a complete package of management principles embedded on celluloid. And SRK's new incarnation as a mentor, unlike the romantic heart-throb, has placed him on the hyperplane of huge success. I wish him great success ahead being a part of India shinning dominion. The fact of the matter is that making a movie on women's hockey is a powerful step toward the emancipation of women irrespective of the social strata that women of India possess. But after 60 years of independence the glass ceiling still differentiates them from the mainstream. What I wish that if the women of India take a cue from this movie and implement it in their life, probably the face of Indian women would see new heights in whatever pursuits they embrace. Most interestingly, the team spirit shown in one incident while they are on outing for dinner is a reflection of women empowerment. Some pseudo intellectuals may call this savagery or mob justice, but in the core of my heart I feel this a fitting solution to burgeoning crime against women. I am sure many women are still not ready to accept this challenge, but I am double sure if they would drag this scenario to real life, the crime against women would drastically reduce. Just a thought, what's your take on this?

Sting Operation

The Indian electronic media is now passing through a serious face saving exercise. Last week, when a small time television channel aired a sting report on "Prostitution Racket Run by a School Teacher", the insane mass went berserk and damaged huge public properties and above all roughed up the lady teacher in the most barbaric manner. This episode, perhaps, is the worst case of media insanity in telecasting a concocted story to skyrocket their TRPs. Firstly, I don't buy these chip versions of journalism, although once upon a time I was an integral part of media. Secondly, the journalists or editors who take this route in the name of public interest to prop up their TRPs are the absolute morons in a civil society. Either they are misfit for such a responsible job or they have taken journalism in a casual way like taking junk foods from the street side to solace their hunger. The crux of the matter is that here anybody and everybody wants to put him or her into the shoes of journalist and any business house desires to taste the flavor of media irrespective of their core competencies. What I would suggest the leaders in media to ban these chip journalists or channels for carrying out such shoddy activities. Lest a single fly can dirt a can of pure milk, let the consciousness of media awake. Long live media sans these creepy creatures!