Meeting Local Challenges for Creating Global Opportunities

We all are experiencing a new kind of global war against the local enemy. Proactive forces in this world have to learn one important thing --- respect for the roots. By properly gravitating to the roots the world can morph into one global economy (maybe prepared, thereafter, to meet the economic challenges of the universe!!). However, there are some immediate challenges. Please read this note (The Seven Challenges) that I have written for a much larger audience. I know it needs some refinement, but your feedback will help me strengthen the ideas further. Thanks.


THE SEVEN CHALLENGES
(Prepared by Dr. Kaushik Sahu for various target groups)

Dear All,
We have people with enormous experience from all walks of life in this e-group. I am sure you will understand what I am saying here and get prepared to meet future challenges in the Indian Organizations.

Challenge#1: CULTURAL CHANGES POST-LIBERALIZATION. Indian Organizations are faced with a harsh reality, that of transformation from a Hierarchical Structure to a Flat Structure. While the former left the decision making with the head, the latter promotes decentralization. Thus, while obedience was a virtue to be extolled in the hierarchical setup, result orientation became less of a priority. The head got used to saying "I" rather than "WE" (I did this.., I did that... etc.). (Question to us: Should we not change?)

Challenge#2: HOW TO MAKE HIERARCHICAL ORGANIZATIONS MORE AGILE. This is one of the key challenges for the Management Scientists of India. Given the fact that the transformation from hierarchical to flat is not so rapid, what does one do in organizations where there is a distinctive absence of top management leadership? Surely, loyalty does not help when the organization starts getting hived off.
(Question to us: What should we do in the absence of top management leadership?)

Challenge#3: ARCHAIC CODES OF CONDUCT. Judging our judges. Who will do it? How? If one probes the codes one can tell how courts have become safe havens for people who do not want to encourage dissent. Note this: "Even truth cannot be used as a defense against contempt of court" (from the Big Fight dtd. 28.10.2001, ndtv.com, Star TV). In other words, even judges cannot point out the mistakes of the court. But then we find some silver lining as well, and social pressures are mounting to bring in some changes.
(Lesson for us: Let us review our own codes of conduct. Allow the young generation to question the status quo. Relinquish power and facilitate better coordination mechanisms. Encourage dissent. Discourage blind loyalty.)

Challenge#4: CREATING OPPORTUNITIES CLOSER TO THE ROOT. The American law does not allow jobs to be given to foreigners bypassing citizens who are competent for the same. However, because of some loopholes, corporate America was merrily surfing the waves that exposed the nation to tremendous threats culminating in the WTC disaster. Today the son of the American soil is rightfully supporting the Patriotic Act. Their Patriotic Law will be preserving the balance between security and liberties. However, things like detention and deportation of non-citizens and immigrants engaged in associational activities will bring frustration to many individuals working far away from home.
(Lesson/Question for us: Why not create opportunities for our children closer to our roots? Note the word "our".)

Challenge#5: BUILDING A STRONG ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE THAT CAN WITHSTAND TOUGH TIMES. It would be a good learning for many to study the organizational structure of the "Al Qaeda" network. It is designed to survive the holocaust. (In management lingo, "n-rootedness" gives it the ability to find alternative modes of survival).
(Question to us: Can good forces not re-think their own organization structures?)

Challenge#6: USE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO BUILD A STRONG NETWORK. Scientists from the Swiss Lab have given us the World Wide Web (watch out for their next revolution: "The Grid") that has shrunk the world into a global village. It has brought tremendous joy to many.
(Question for us: How to make the virtual space complement the physical space?)

Challenge#7: SEVERAL REDUNDANCIES OF OUR SOCIAL SYSTEM. One viewpoint suggests core changes at the grassroots level (say the family as an organization) to handle the challenges imposed on our country. That would mean learning the lessons and doing some soul searching by answering the questions above. That would lead us to highlighting the several redundancies of the Indian society. Without eliminating these redundancies we cannot compete globally.

I may not be physically present to spend time with you. But I am sure helping some of you while away your time thinking about my notes. If it is too much of a pain then please write to me separately. I will make sure not to include you in my distribution list. Thanks for your attention. (Please don’t forget to see the assignment below.)

Best wishes to all.............Kaushik (1 November 2001)

PS: Here is an assignment. [ ;-)..... That is me with a wink]
Take "X" as an organization and re-visit the challenges mentioned above. I don’t know how many have enrolled in this e-group, but I sure know that we can take the inputs from the various Politicians, Bureaucrats, Doctors, Technocrats, Business-Executives, Educationists, Consultants, Homemakers and Students that we know (I am living out the Tiny Tots. They will be our judges when they grow up. It depends what we can give them. Can we give them the American dream in our soil? Near our roots?)
NOTE: I have used the American dream as a benchmark worth achieving for all.


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Our Roots

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

I have been going through the e-mails of Alumni (some with very good suggestions and some sharing their concerns). I have also interacted with several of you at different times. I am glad to see all your collective abilities lending support to the image of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB). I request you to please try and understand what I have mentioned below:

It would be nice if we could accept the fact that we are all productive entities belonging to XIMB, which in turn is strongly rooted in the state of Orissa. The moment we say that we are entities rooted in XIMB and not in Orissa or the vice-versa, we are not contributing to make this tree (i.e., XIMB) grow mightier and mightier.

The founding fathers of XIMB had signed an MOU with the state of Orissa where they had committed themselves to be the caretakers of this Institute with support from the state. The MOU was formulated keeping in mind the needs of the state while not ignoring the needs of the Nation. Hence, provisions were made to serve the national interest by reserving one-third of the total seats for students not domiciled in Orissa. Unfortunately, our resource limitations did not permit us to cater to the needs of students belonging to different countries but having a certain interest in the general well being of this region. Today, thanks to the hard work of all the stakeholders, I am proud to say that XIMB is a premier B-School in Orissa and then in India. We have been also able to meet the requirements of some foreign firms. Most importantly, XIMB has been able to give a tough competition to other schools, which have a lot of funding support to be positioned as premier B-Schools of the Nation (not necessarily the region).

But there is a long way to go. We have not been able to fully live up to the expectations of the MOU. Let us all work towards it without taking any kind of a stance that is meant to divide us. My sincere request to all of you is to make sure that we do not do things that would sap the strength of XIMB. Please see that it grows as a mighty tree by ensuring that it is firmly rooted in its place of birth.

God bless XIMB, Orissa and all the allies.

Dr. Kaushik Sahu
(Joined XIMB in 1992)

Further Clarifications from Dr. Sahu (21 Sep 2001)

I want the stakeholders to see the spirit behind my above note. I don't want anybody to feel shy of their roots being in Orissa. Contrary to what some of you might believe, I think our alumni (as also the other stakeholders) can indeed be rooted in Orissa. However, they must first ensure that XIMB is properly rooted and nourished in its place of birth. Developing linkages with the rest of the country and the world is the next logical step. Despite our limitations we have already done a commendable work there. We do have our branches and leaves spreading all over the globe and bringing in good name to the Institute. But we want to improve further.

I would be happy if suggestions for brand building came taking all our existing limitations into account, i.e., suggestions that can strengthen our base. Please desist from suggestions that will lead to in-fighting and ultimately erode our base. There are some very good suggestions coming from the alumni. Please see the suggestions link in the alumni pages to see some constructive suggestions. My note is meant to unite these forces under one banner. I am sure you will be soon seeing the top management's commitment in uniting the differing viewpoints of various stakeholders under one umbrella (i.e., the mighty tree called XIMB).

Prof. Kaushik Sahu has indicated an article that might be relevant to the discussions on his note that appears above. The reader can obtain the fulltext of the article from him.

ARTICLE: Andy Haynes, Conway Lackman, and Audrey Guskey. (1999). Comprehensive brand presentation: ensuring consistent brand image (Journal of Product and Brand Management; 08: 4; pp. 286-300).

ABSTRACT: Introduces the concept of comprehensive brand presentation (CBP), a formalized approach to align manufacturing and communications functions in the business firm. The linchpins of CBP are total quality management (TQM) principles and integrated marketing communications. The CBP enhances success through synergistic execution of the manufacturing and marketing processes via increased focus on measuring customer response to both manufactured product and promotional efforts supporting that product. CBP defines the TQM principle of "out of control" as the variance between actual brand image and customer specifications as rated by the target customers. CBP's operational objective is to minimize that variance and, thereby, maximize the expected probability of product acceptance and subsequent target market brand loyalty.