We are living in an exciting time.Technology has taken us to that height which was looking incomprehensible some time back.So magical & enticing is the devolopment that sometimes it makes us to lok at the devolopment & make so many predictions which may not come true completely.It is like though we know where we are heading to but the picture is still unclear.In our over enthuisiasm to see the trend & predict something new we tend to forget the fundamentals that shape the human beings,the society & the organization.
Let me site two trends which have caught the imagination of everyone, and reams of paper & loads of webpages have been written on them.
The first & the most glamorous of these is undoubtedly the e-commerce or doing business online.The basic premise on which this concept is that if you have a net connection,a desktop which can help you to go online, you can do commerce on line.You can buy & sell everything on the net even if you don't have the requisite infrastructure.
But sometimes it is amzing how simplified we have made the process of going to a mall & shopping there & comeback.Is buying & selling all about going to shop,see the product to buy,choose,pay???Does it happen so linearly or sequentially????Is it so automated ?? What about the intangible factors that contribute to this process like the ambience of a mall,the chatting of people all around,the feeling that someone gets when he or she tries out a new pair of clothes,the pampering of the cutomers by salespeople, so many to count about.
But that is not the case.Common sense tells us that shopping is not at all an automated process wherein everything is done sequentially.You may go to a shop but in place of buying clothes as the next action you may meet an old friend & then get into a long converstaion or you may go to a section which is not meant for you.
Take another example of a trend which was predicted to change the way we build organizations,change the way we work.It caught the imagination of the futurists so much that the doomsday for the huge organization was predicted to be very near & the future organizations, it was hoped will be built of people who will be mobile,who will work from home or any place they feel like working from.
But contrary to all the predictions, still we have huge organizations where people go to work daily.Still we don't find much people taking an intrest in this HOT DESKING concept wherein if you have a gadget to connect to your office network, you are no longer required to come to office.You can always work from home or any place for that matter.
What is it that is missing in the above cases????If online retail was & is the future, why do we have so many huge companies investing so much on opening big malls?Why a large crowd everyday throngs the mall.Why in the morning you find people waiting in the bus stop with laptops to catch their office buses.They could have very well worked from home.
A little bit of closer look & the most important thing that will be glaringly visible is that while predicting the future & understanding the trend of the devolopment of technology & it's impact on society we have missed out an important aspect of the way we human beings live which has to do with our social activeness.No one goes to a mall only to buy or sell.People go to malls to mingle with the crowd,to get a feeling that they are not alone on this earth.Same is the case with people going to work.No one works because of the work only,but because they get a recognition in society ,they get to mingle with people,they get to build a social network of their own.
The moot point here is that when ever we have a new technology coming up we tend to look the other way & ignore the social dimension of those activities for which the technology is meant to be used and indulge ourselves in predicting the trends.It is great to find out the trend & predict acordingly,but we have to be very careful accordingly,else we may take some fads to be the trends.
No one denies the place of technology in our growth story.But to be sure about our future let technology devolop taking into acount the social aspect of the activities.Let a hundred technological devolopment blossom,but let there be a part for social aspect also.Let both the social dimension & technological dimension compliment each other,then only we will have a clear trend which we can be confident to predict.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Salaam Mumbai
As soon as the flight takes off for Mumbai I always get an unknown pleasure which is sprinkled with little bit of anxiety.No, it is not for the reason that maximum of the time I go to a client's office for sorting out some technology related issues.Whether it is to a client site visit or some personal related works,journey to Mumbai is always something very unique.It always arouses within me a feeling that is beyond description.Always someone inside me gets anxious to get near her as soon as possible but does not want to stay with her for long.It is as if an adolescent venturing out to a mistress' place in night.
Yes, Mumbai to me looks like a mistress.with her buzzing crowds,hustle & bustle of fast paced life she entices me.I look at awe to the crowd in the local train, to the people who are always focused on a decent living & to people who makes the struggle to live look so easy.
With her busy life Mumbai won't give you a lazy time.She never sleeps.Even at 3 O clock in night one finds full traffic in suburbs.What to talk of the centre of the city.And what to talk of the dhabawallahs & vada Pav sellers in the city.Anytime they will give the MNCs of the world a run for their money.
But the only thing that I felt lacking is the intimacy of people towards each other(Notwithstanding the show of strength of Mumbaikars to help each other in recent cyclone & blasts). Everyone tries to save his/her own turf.No place for sympathy.If you are not able to catch up with the pace of leaving then you are bound to be run over.If you put your unquestionable faith on someone you are bound to be disheartened.When it comes to living, everyone is on his/her own.But why to talk of Mumbai does not it happen in every place???
But with all it's shortcomings Mumbai rocks.She is simply superb.She makes a man out of a kid.She makes people value the cost of life.She does not force you to love her.But you never know when you fall in love with her and would lopve to come back to her again and again
Yes, Mumbai to me looks like a mistress.with her buzzing crowds,hustle & bustle of fast paced life she entices me.I look at awe to the crowd in the local train, to the people who are always focused on a decent living & to people who makes the struggle to live look so easy.
With her busy life Mumbai won't give you a lazy time.She never sleeps.Even at 3 O clock in night one finds full traffic in suburbs.What to talk of the centre of the city.And what to talk of the dhabawallahs & vada Pav sellers in the city.Anytime they will give the MNCs of the world a run for their money.
But the only thing that I felt lacking is the intimacy of people towards each other(Notwithstanding the show of strength of Mumbaikars to help each other in recent cyclone & blasts). Everyone tries to save his/her own turf.No place for sympathy.If you are not able to catch up with the pace of leaving then you are bound to be run over.If you put your unquestionable faith on someone you are bound to be disheartened.When it comes to living, everyone is on his/her own.But why to talk of Mumbai does not it happen in every place???
But with all it's shortcomings Mumbai rocks.She is simply superb.She makes a man out of a kid.She makes people value the cost of life.She does not force you to love her.But you never know when you fall in love with her and would lopve to come back to her again and again
Friday, March 16, 2007
IT TAKES A LOT TO BE A MAVERICK
How do u rate an enterprise that is run by unconventional rules,Unconventional people who does not leave a single chance to go aginast the well laid down rules to run a business.A workplace that boasts of all the unusual ways in which the business is conducted.Unconventional methods they say, never yield results always and if you want to achieve that magic notion of being called as a successful organisation, obey all the rules,obey all those techniques those are created out of research but don't ever dare to go against them even if they go against the common sensees.But this stroy shows you how an organization going against all the rules has been so successful.
So much for the introduction.The book, starting from it's title (MAVERICK) is really an encyclopedia of unconventional rules & practices that amazes the reader from page one itself.This book tells the story of Semco( A brazillian Organization) which is run by Ricardo Semler who turned this family run business(Once upon a time being run by his father) into a profitable organization in a very short span of time.The story forces you to sit and take cognisance of the fact that a great business is about a little common sense being put into practice in a big way like being friendly to the important stakeholders(It's employees),democratizing the decision making at work place,empowering the employees to take the charge of their work & giving them the ownership of the bottomline.
Some of the gems worth collecting from the books are
1-Treat all the amployees like adults.
2-Show the employees the big picture and let them realise how the business is run
3-Practice democratization not on paper but in spirit also
4-Empower the employees to take their own decisions.
Though the book gives all the positive aspects of democratizing the workplace ,how feasible it is for a lrage organization to practice whatever the book is advocating.Take for example how feasible it is to find out what each employees like their places of work to be painted with.How feasible it is for the organizations to put the salary of the top people in front of their employees.A lot of aspects the author has advocated may sound very Utopian,but it is only Utopia where everyone likes to go.
Not withstanding the minor glitches this book stands apart in this crowded business-books' market as a distinguishable product with it's lucid style & concise chapters which does not bore a reader with all the minor details.
Thoroughly enjoyable & enlightening .Read this book & you will not be let down.
So much for the introduction.The book, starting from it's title (MAVERICK) is really an encyclopedia of unconventional rules & practices that amazes the reader from page one itself.This book tells the story of Semco( A brazillian Organization) which is run by Ricardo Semler who turned this family run business(Once upon a time being run by his father) into a profitable organization in a very short span of time.The story forces you to sit and take cognisance of the fact that a great business is about a little common sense being put into practice in a big way like being friendly to the important stakeholders(It's employees),democratizing the decision making at work place,empowering the employees to take the charge of their work & giving them the ownership of the bottomline.
Some of the gems worth collecting from the books are
1-Treat all the amployees like adults.
2-Show the employees the big picture and let them realise how the business is run
3-Practice democratization not on paper but in spirit also
4-Empower the employees to take their own decisions.
Though the book gives all the positive aspects of democratizing the workplace ,how feasible it is for a lrage organization to practice whatever the book is advocating.Take for example how feasible it is to find out what each employees like their places of work to be painted with.How feasible it is for the organizations to put the salary of the top people in front of their employees.A lot of aspects the author has advocated may sound very Utopian,but it is only Utopia where everyone likes to go.
Not withstanding the minor glitches this book stands apart in this crowded business-books' market as a distinguishable product with it's lucid style & concise chapters which does not bore a reader with all the minor details.
Thoroughly enjoyable & enlightening .Read this book & you will not be let down.
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