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Human side of business

Power Through People and Principles

By Vipen Kapur

Publishers: Tata McGraw-Hill

Price: Not mentioned.

THE management of human resources in corporate organisations is probably the trickiest and most difficult among all management functions. If Infosys is today an international success story, it is as much a tribute to the man-management skills of Narayana murthy and his colleagues as the company's technical expertise in software. Thus, when an organisation's physical and human resources fire smoothly on all cylinders, the result, as Vipen Kapur points out, is that one plus one is not just three or four, b ut eleven.

The book is organised into four parts. Part A is titled `Corporate Culture and Values'. It deals with the changing times, comparing the somewhat laid-back approach to management till the 1970s, which characterised the British-owned banks and companies, w ith the result-orientation of the Americans.

There is an account of the change process in Sinar Mas, the Indonesian conglomerate. This group weathered the collapse of the Indonesian economy and the Asian crisis in 1997-98 with relatively little damage. The proximate cause for Sinar Mas' ability to survive the storm was the Management Innovation Programme, which it had begun in 1995 on the author's initiative with full support from the group's owners, the Widjaja family.

The objective was to convert latent potential to performance. This effort arose from the feeling that there was a `motivation gap' among employees, which needed to be closed. A combination of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives was used to perk up especiall y the profit centre heads in the group. These were embedded in the overall application and test of quality in every activity purchasing, manufacturing, marketing, customer service, employee relations, etc.

Motivation is the key to high individual and corporate performance. Trust and empowerment are important. Extending these to teams takes us to the need for shored vision and goals in organisations. This is perhaps the most complex challenge of management. The book covers these adequately.

The reviewer's favourite in the book are the chapters on mentoring. The practice of mentoring is only now getting institutionalised in the MNCs, but seems to have long been part of the corporate culture of British companies, as the author testifies from his experience in Grindlays Bank. Indian companies with high and global aspirations would do well to adopt this.

Part B deals with `Teamwork and Leadership'. Power exercised through force is contrasted with power through example and charisma. There is also a discussion on `born' leaders and `rule' leaders.

`Business Minus People = Zero', which is Part C, says it all in the title. The importance of building loyalty to the organisation compared to loyalty to individuals, which marks feudal management, is emphasised.

The last part of the book has the enigmatic name `Whispers in my Heart'. Personality traits such as the ability to be humourous, enjoy humour, weltanschauung, involving a holistic view of planet earth and the environment -- in essence the spiritual dimen sion of management -- find a place here.

There are plenty of lessons in the book for corporate India. But one almost despairs of the prospect of proactive change. Barring few exceptions the mindset is still rooted in a feudalistic approach to management. And Government and the public sector are no exception.

S. Balakrishnan