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| The Management in practice and organisational efficiency : The Human factor | | |
( NIKHIL GUPTA)
The engineers working in large corporations always had a problem with manpower and its maximum utilisation for maximising the output . There was a time when the workers in a large organisation were looked down upon by the promoters and managers alike and were considered as just means for the production activities of the organisations . This had created a large gap between the management and the workforce and this caused lot of inefficiencies and resulted in poor results . Many of the engineers in the beginning of twentieth century tried to improve the performance of the organisations by inducing the workers to work more and thereby earn more . They devised the incentives in such a manner that the workers who could complete their jobs in time or before time were rewarded suitably . They also devised disincentives whereby the workers who performed poorly were punished for poor performance . And in the industrial sector of the free country of USA and free nations of Europe there was a hire and fire policy and there were no reservations for anyone and there was no spoils system . This system produced good results but still the innovators were not satisfied and many pioneering studies showed that there was large amount of inefficiencies in the output i.e. the output was not commensurate with the large inputs . Those times in USA and western Europe were the times when large capital intensive industries were there with a large workforce . A working engineer Frederick W. Taylor did large scale studies on the workers who were working in his organisation . He came up with a system of incentives and disincentives combined with a scientific approach to the work . He divided large work into smaller bits of work and found ONE BEST WAY of doing that small work . This way he thought that the efficiency could increase . Though the scientific management of Taylor improved the output but still the owners and promoters and scientific people were not satisfied with the output as they thought that the result was too meagre and was not commensurate with the huge input in the capital intensive and competitive industrial scenario . This new breed of managers took to applied MANAGEMENT in solving the problems and Taylor , Gilbreth and Emerson pioneered in the implementation of science in the management of industrial processes . An example can be cited where roller skates were given to workers who had to move from one end of assembly line to another end .
In the meanwhile Elton Mayo’s team conducted a number of experiments involving six female workers. These experiments are often referred to as the Hawthorne experiments or Hawthorne studies as they took place at The Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company in Chicago . Over the course of five long years, Mayo’s team altered the female worker’s working conditions and then monitored how the working conditions affected the workers morale and productivity. The changes in working conditions included changes in working hours, rest brakes, lighting, humidity, and temperature. The changes were explained to the workers prior to implementation. At the end of the five year period, the female worker’s working conditions, reverted back to the conditions before the experiment began. Unexpectedly the workers morale and productivity rose to levels higher than before and during the experiments. This led Mayo to conclude that workers were motivated by psychological conditions more than physical working condition. He also concluded that workers were motivated by more than self interest . He concluded that there is an unwritten understanding between the worker and employer regarding what is expected from them and Mayo called this the psychological contract. A worker’s motivation could be increased by showing an interest in his activity. Mayo concluded that work is a group activity and team work can increase a worker’s motivation as it allows people to form strong working relationships and increases trust between the workers. His team further concluded that "Work groups are created formally by the employer but also occur informally. Both informal and formal groups should be used to increase productivity as informal groups influence the worker’s habits and attitudes. Workers are motivated by the social aspect of work, as demonstrated by the female workers socialising during and outside work and the subsequent increase in motivation. Workers are motivated by recognition, security and a sense of belonging. The communication between workers and management influences workers’ morale and productivity. Workers are motivated through a good working relationship with management."
The work of Elton Mayo totally changed the viewpoint of the management towards the workers . The managers understood that the workers were also human beings with similiar feelings and psychology and that there was a need to look upon them with some dignity and respect . It is a fact that a large number of management concepts have evolved in the army organisation throughout the world because this organisation employs a large number of persons in various positions and the work of army is more or less like the private sector where the results matter a lot . For example in an encounter situation say in jungles of Kupwara or jungles of Tamil Nadu , there is not much difference between the Jawans of army and the officer commanding them because the bullet doesnot differentiate between them . In such situations , the commanding officer can expect the complete loyalty of the Jawans if he has treated them with some dignity in day to day work . The army officer who has treated his Jawans with contempt and shown his bossing attitude cannot achieve results in the encounter situations where the situation is volatile . The lack of psychological commitment on the part of either commanding officer or the Jawans can lead to many casualities or even failure of the encounter . I had an opportunity to talk to an army officer MAJOR SUMAN GUPTA many years back in his unit and I found that the officers in the unit were calling the Head of Jawans as "SAAB" . Later I realised that this was a way of giving respect to the senior most Jawan in that unit . The proper implementation of the management concepts makes all the difference between success and failure . I had cited another example of a very good leadership style that is for obtaining optimum loyalty and optimum results from the subordinates in an organisational setup . The example of Mr GUPTA as Police Commissioner of Delhi can be cited here who after successful capturing of the criminals in recent Dhaula Kuan rape case had appreciated his team of officers and this was a good way of leadership style . This boosts the morale of the officers . We dont need to go into case details but the real life management style can be seen here in this case . The efficiency of the organisation as a whole increases with such management oriented officers .
The work of Oliver Sheldon , Elton Mayo and Madam Follet inspired the management pioneers like Chester Barnard who was an active manager . The genius Chester Barnard came up with his classic " THE FUNCTIONS OF EXECUTIVE " that inspires young executives even now . Chester Barnard saw the organisations from different angles based on his experience and his classic book was the most inspiring book on organisation and management that was written by a practising executive. He emphasised on the " FICTION OF AUTHORITY " that established the presumption that individuals accept orders from seniors because they want to avoid making issues and to avoid unnecessary break up of relations with seniors . According to Chester , most people obey authority because they dislike the personal responsibility due to various reasons. The organisation that has people who dont take responsibilty for even a small work or even a small letter can't give optimum results and this is true even now . Chester Barnard dismantled the old concept of " ECONOMIC MAN " and applied the theory of Mayo and Madam Follet on the middle and top level of management in an organisation .
The views of Chester were taken to new heights by the genius Herbert Simon who emphasised the executive or manager as a "RATIONAL MAN " rather than " ECONOMIC MAN " and this proved that the monetory incentives to workers or managers dont inspire them beyond a certain point . There are a large number of other factors and most of them being psychological factors that are responsible for the behaviour of the workers and managers in an organisation . Most successful managers take decisions that are neither rational nor optimal and this is because the world is too complex and none can predict the future . As is often said about astrologers and their general predictions , the predictions are not always true and the successful managers never trust some predictions that are not based on empirical studies . Herbert Simon differentiated between different types of rationality that is exhibited by the managers and even people in their day to day lives . He totaly disregarded the concept of " Total Rationality " in human behaviour and came up with a novel concept of " BOUNDED RATIONALITY " . This concept of bounded rationality is extremely important to understand the behaviour of workers and managers and their decision making processes that impact the efficiency of the organisation as a whole . It is surprising to note that most people donot make rational choices while making decisions in their lives and this is also applicable to the people working in organisations . The government as a whole is also an organisation and people there also dont make rational choices with regard to the decisions . Herbert mentioned that the world is large and complex, and people do not have the capacity to understand everything . People also have a limited time in which to make decisions and are also limited by other decisional limitations. As a result the decisions are not fully thought through . Thus managers can only be rational within limits such as time and cognitive capability. Herbert Simon indicated that there were thus two major causes of bounded rationality i.e . Limitations of the human mind and the structure within which the mind operates . Most people make " SATISFICING " decisions that involves the choice of that course of action which is satisfactory or at least good enough . Not only the workers and managers but even the owners of large corporations and even the governments of countries are governed by the Bounded Rationality because of the same reasons that Simon emphasised . An example would be the Mumbai attack by terrorists and the inability of the Government of India to launch "punitive strikes " inside the terror mongering nation . Similarly the decision of USA to pull out of Iraq is also governed by the bounded rationality and USA took this decision because it considered this decision as SATISFICING . In similiar way the decision of workers and managers in an organisation is also governed by bounded rationality and all this effects the organisational efficiency. Those organisations are successful where the top management considers this aspect of worker's and manager's behaviour . Further the efficiency of an organisation is also dependent on the overlall culture of the organisation and the social system in which it is operating . Organisations that have an entrepreneurial spirit, always embrace change and listen to staff and devise procedures that are both beneficial to managers working in organisation and the organisation itself . Thus it is seen that the human factor is one of the most important factor in the optimum efficiency of an organisation and this applies to Indian nation as an organisation also . For Indian nation as a large organisation to succeed , it is necessary to have managers and officers like Major Suman Gupta of Indian army or Mr Gupta of Delhi police who give due recognition and respect to their juniors and who consider their organisation i.e. India in this case above everything and work with dedication and integrity .
The content has no bearing on any organisation or any person and the author is guided by the motto " THE ROYALE GUPTA WARRIORS never fight for themselves but fight for a bigger cause ." Vande Matram and Jai Hind .
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