CORPORATE MANAGEMENT - THE NEW CORPORATE MANTRA

By Harveen Herr

What do Maruti, Eicher Consultancy, Pepsi and Mahindra & Mahindra have in
common apart from being profitable market-leading companies? A different approach to
the most significant and impactable resource—their employees

Corporate organizations have always had profit as their sole objective. A prerequisite
for profit is getting maximum results at the least cost of resources. The most profitable
companies are the ones, which do this best. It is not surprising then that in the muddle of
conflicting priorities, the human resource is largely taken for granted. In fact, in most
organizations, the role of the human resource development manager is more of a
compensation administrator, "body"-buyer and arbiter in case of conflict.

Development in real terms is largely confined to management doublespeak. That

really is myopic, considering that most people working in the corporate sector spend
practically all of their waking, conscious, productive and creative hours in their offices.
Moreover, stress is increasingly exacting a heavy toll. Says Dr. Bimal Chhajer, who runs
the SAAOL heart program in Delhi, India: "What multiplies stress hundred fold is the
fact that today executives are constantly working against time, creating an information
and time overload." Fortunately, market leaders are beginning to get wise to the need to
better utilize their existing human resources.

In the new global, competitive scenario where the old rules of the game have changed
faster than field hockey, the rules by which human resources have been looked after had
to change, too. Clearly only quality people can produce quality goods and services. To
that end, programs catering to the physical and mental well being of employees are
getting institutionalized. These include stress-buster plans, personal growth programs and
communication workshops.

This is obviously going a few steps beyond the standard medical expense
reimbursement and motivation workshops. Many of the new meditation and personal
growth workshops being tried out are New Age in nature. In fact, Deepak Chopra, the
USA based ayurveda proponent and best-selling author, commented that the first signs of
New Age consciousness in India first appeared in the corporate sector.

Opinion on the pace of change, however, varies. Lt. Gen. S.S. Apte, PVSM, a
consultant who strongly endorses the direct relationship between corporate health and
employee well being, doubts whether the corporate sector sees employees as a resource to
be nurtured. In the public sector specifically, Apte feels that frequent top management
changes hinder growth schemes from getting the required gestation period to take root.
Nurturing the employee takes many forms, for example, worker empowerment, facilities
for physical exercise, counseling and new approaches to the worker management
interface. The single most critical factor affecting productivity of workers is stress.
 Corporations are increasingly acknowledging it. As expected, they are looking to
traditional Indian systems such as yoga and meditation for inducing peace and relaxation.
The erstwhile DCM Co. of India, which is now trifurcated, has a long history of
introducing programs to tackle executive stress. Siddharth Shriram, CEO of SIEL, is
bullish about yoga—he turned an enthusiast over six years ago, and never misses his
daily yoga session. He is willing to sponsor his employees for memberships to clubs that
teach yoga.

More than the industry dowagers, however, it is the leading edge electronics and
telecommunications companies that are increasingly adopting the new approach. Weston
Electroniks chief Sundar T. Vachani is not only personally committed to yoga, he had
employed full time yoga instructors for the staff at his Kalkaji Headquarters in Delhi,
India.

Amul Behl, CEO of Logic Control, who follows Swami Parthasarathi in using
Vedanta in management, generously shares his farm with his employees, which is the
venue for regular retreats and workshops, open even to people from other companies such
as Vam Organics. Another transformed company is Himachal Futuristic Communications
Ltd. (HFCL), and not just because of the volume of team service business it has bagged.
As the company grew rapidly, so did the quantum of employee stress. Three years ago,
Vinay Maloo, a promoter of HFCL, introduced the meditative technique of preksha
dhyan, devised by the Jain Guru Acharya Tulsi, in the company.

The results reported by the management; greater teamwork and improved individual
effectiveness. Some years ago, DCM Shriram organized a series of workshops on
meditation, beginning with a common session for employees, followed up with individual
sessions that taught techniques of stress management. The response was tremendous. In
Bombay, employees of Benzer have been taking a 10-day break to learn Vipassana
meditation. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's transcendental meditation too, is in demand
because it is said to help boost productivity, cut down absenteeism as well as medical
bills. The Maharishi Institute of Management (MIM), which teaches the technique, has
set up a separate cell to deal with corporate development programs.

Tata Tea and Tata Chemicals have got the full treatment from MIM. Visiting
professors from the Maharashi Vedic University in Holland, conducted sessions at Tata
Tea headquarters in Calcutta, and then visited the company's tea gardens in Tamil Nadu
and Kerala, two Southern Indian states, for a repeat. ACC, the Oriental Bank, Indian
Petrochemcials Corporation and Reckitt and Colman are some other companies that have
called in MIM. Says N. Ramanathan, president TQM and People Development, SRF Ltd.
We chose the TM program to achieve well-balanced personality development. SRF
conducted TM programmed in its offices in Delhi, followed up with sessions at its plants
in Bhiwadi and Gwalior, other Indian towns. A preliminary session introduced employees
to the system, and they were invited to learn the technique along with spouses and
children.
 Employing systems with religious or spiritual overtones raises the issue of values,
not quite unwelcome. Says Anil Sachdev, Managing Director, Eicher Consultancy
Services (ECS): "The single biggest conflict for employees is their personal values
clashing with the values dictated by business practices. Often, ECS has willingly
sacrificed the interest of the company for a set of principles—something that every new
recruit may not be comfortable with. Humanity and ethics are the foundation of ERCS",
says Sachdev.

He believes that if the leadership of any company is willing to walk the talk, it
inspires everyone concerned. Personal growth, communication workshops, yoga, group
activity and meditation are very much in place in ECS but ethics remains paramount.
Management guru Mrityunjay B. Athreya is often described as having developed the
Vedic style of management. He recommends the universal principles from the scriptures
or principles that are consistent with our culture and ethos.

Professor S.K. Chakraborty of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, is

another guru who teaches a connection to Vedic principles in management. He heads the
Management Center for Human Values, a research center of management through based
on traditional Indian ethos. He says that only after reading several Japanese books on
management did he realize that Indians could turn to the scriptures for inspiration. The
research center is supported by the Tata Group , Union Trust of India, HDFC, the
Bhilwara Group, and Indian Oil. Like Athreya Chakraborty also points at a lack of
rootedness in the modern value system that leads to overwhelming stress.

A number of organizations have been lining up for the programs based on 18 years of
research. A unique stress busting program developed by him has been used by companies
as diverse as TELCO, Shriram Fibres, Salora and BHEL. The Japanese management
principles, too, are finding many takers in India. In today's push button existence, one is
reminded of the startling results of a study done by some Japanese auto companies. In
one plant, the assembly line system where one worker put in one component, was
changed. Instead, groups were formed where one entire crew completed the assembly of
one car.

The new system led to improved productivity, although logically this should not have
happened. It is well known that Maruti Udyog has tried to copy the Japanese
management ethos here. When it introduced a common canteen a few years ago, it was
considered revolutionary. But today, argues R Vasudevan its DGM Personnel in a new
company, the same step would be received in a more matter of fact manner. The standard
uniform code (gray) also prevails, which makes the employees equal and which is the
first, external symbol of a flat organization. The lower you are in an organization, the
higher the sense of satisfaction about commonality says Vasudevan. Similarly,
everybody, bar none, punches in the morning and punches out at the end of the shift.
 At the regular morning meetings, the supervisor or group leader also leads the group
for a few minutes of exercise. External faculty is regularly called in to conduct stress
management programs On the first Wednesday of every month, the plant is stopped for
one hour in every shift for small group activity a total of 600 groups meet to discuss
changes, improvements and solutions, in their area of work. Another company committed
to worker empowerment is Belgaum-based polyhedron, which manufactures hydraulic
valves. Its managing director, Suresh Kundre, was inspired by management books based
on Japanese principles.

Kundre tries to keep the company functioning totally transparent. The 120-odd
employees do not have to be assigned task, as they set their own targets, and handle
functions such as placing purchase orders without constant management vigil. Attitudes
towards propriety, personal and spiritual growth are changing widely. Earlier, the boss
had to be tough: the managers could not show that they were stressed or worried. Says
Swami Premananda of the Sivandanda Yoga Nataraja Center in Delhi: They had to show
that they were tigers in the filed. And 10-15 years ago, if your boss revealed a spiritual
side, or talked about yoga, he was a weirdo.

Today, these qualities and extra value to the person. The Sivananda Center has taught
asanas, pranayama, and meditation to companies such as NTPC and ABB. Swami
Premananda recommends yoga as the more holistic approach for, as he says. Allopathic
medicine will cure the headache, but not the stiff neck, not the root cause. You still wake
up with low energy levels. Another system, rarely heard of earlier in corporate quarters,
is reiki. To contain stress, the Bombay-based Mahindra & Mahindra uses the Rational
Emotive Therapy developed by the US psychologist Albert Ellis. It works on the precept
that a small crisis engenders negative feelings stress and turmoil soon balloon the
incident out of proportion. The system requires that the employees involved write down
their negative feelings.

Then, a contrary statement is also written down, leading to catharsis. Given the
demand, seminar leaders, counselors and consultants are moving in to work with the
corporate sector. One familiar names is Shiv Khera's who runs open house programs that
have proved popular. USA based Khera, who periodically visits India, has a three
pronged approach, to impact attitude, ambition, and action for the transformation of
people into Total Quality People in their professional as well as private lives.

Dr. Salim Sharif and Dr. Shakuntala David, who run Sandarshan in Delhi, started
counseling the corporate entity with BHEL, Bhopal, as their first client. They look at the
holistic health of the organization through counseling programs on personal growth,
interpersonal effectiveness, team building, and workshops in related areas. They have
worked with Escorts, Pepsi, Engineers India, DCM, Max Page, Shriram Foods and
Fertilizers, among others. Says Dr. David: When the company moved from the trader to
an organization, a lot of institutionalization had to be done, but does that mean that you
lose the organizational values that the Lala had?
 Sandarshan recently held a family communication and problem solving workshop
with the employees of Bluestar, and a workshop on counseling skills and human
resources with senior rung management of DCM Consolidated. The Company's brief was
that it wished to break the hierarchical style. Sandarshan also ran a program for Pepsi
Foods at its plant in Patiala, where the spouses of employees were involved in the
workshop. Dr. Vanit Nalwa, director, Empower-Counseling Psychologists, who had
worked in the UK, encourages companies to work towards developing the full potential
of their employees, even if it means completely relocating them.

She has found employees most responsive to workshops on parenting skills and
communication, followed by programs on assertiveness training. Says Dr Nalwa The
increase in output is incidental. We monitored whether the employee felt that he was
personally benefited. Programs to improve the physical health of employees have also
gone beyond providing for table tennis in the common room. Companies such as NIIT
and Cynamid have set up fully equipped gymnasiums at their corporate offices and the
facilities are available before and after office hours without any membership chargers.

A&M magazine and the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India were
quite open to the idea when employees asked if they could run aerobics classes within
office hours. A happy median was reached when the space was made available, and
employees in both organizations decided to forego their lunch break in favor of an
aerobics workout. It appears that there are today more innovative and progressive pro-
happy median was reached when the space was made available, and employees in both
organizations decided to forego their lunch break in favor of an aerobics workout. It
appears that there are today more innovative and progressive programs for employees as
the human resource function is given more teeth in the organization.

Most of these programs are designed to improve the overall life of the employee and
not just to improve a certain set of skills. Most companies do not see these as additional
costs when they do cost benefit analysis. Apart from this communication being so sharp
these days, if, an organization shows commitment to the all round development of its
employees, the good word spreads fast, good for PR. What remains true, however, is that
most of the new programs are usually confined to the top brass in a company. It is always
the top management that decides whether employees at lower levels too should under go
the same training.

Admits Anant P. Dehadrai, country head of Sumitomo Corp: Yes this movement has
to be top down, but in some instances, the top has no problem; it is the down that may not
be ready just yet. He quotes examples of companies where there is suspicion about such
moves being some sort of management drama, and the union has not been entirely
convinced of any benefits accruing to workers. In such cases, where the management is
committed, it will decide to start a program with only union committee members;
different kinds of stresses operate at different levels of work. At the other end of the
spectrum are some companies like NIIT, which try to impact the life of the employees
way beyond the work area. The company has evolved a personal effectiveness program
that allows each individual to prioritize and work on targets in all areas of life.
 Says Sanjiv Kataria, vice President, corporate communications: Feedback suggested
that a major concern was balancing work and personal life. The company has evolved
such schemes as the Granny Gratitude Day (because values are learnt from parents and
grandparents), since the stability of the individual at home is important to functioning
well in office. Unlike other companies, NIIT encourages employees to find a marriage
partner within the organization (We attract the best people, and they should make the best
partners too) and offers the couple two months basic salary as gift apart from interest-free
loans. Undoubtedly, companies have to become more sensitive to worker issues instead
of just paying lip-service. The momentum has to be sustained, and if the organization
takes a step in this direction, the employees have to ensure that it is nurtured. Growing
the employee will grow the organization but, like Kaizen, these cannot be one-time
inputs, they have to become a normal way of life.