Root Rot

Last Saturday [i.e., 25 June 2005], I saw one partially uprooted tree next to our block in XIMB. Even though it was a big tree, it had not been able to withstand the slight wind load the previous night. I suggested the gardener to use props to ensure that the tree gets rooted once more. He refused saying that it is because of "root rot" and that nothing can be done about it. The tree had to go - "mercilessly axed out of existence".

The next day, I saw one article in the Indian Express (26 June 2005) - The banyan tree that "lifted itself". This happened in the Mupkal village of Andhra Pradesh. I was quite heartened to see this article. But I had a sad feeling about the tree next to my flat.

This also reminded me about my article titled "Our Roots" that I had posted few years back. XIMB can still be that banyan tree.

A Survey Based On Distorted Perceptions

INDIA TODAY B-SCHOOL SURVEY

A SURVEY BASED ON DISTORTED PERCEPTIONS

This survey provides "CUSTOMER DRIVEN RATINGS" (as claimed by the Magazine)

THE METHODOLOGY:


MY COMMENTS:


NOTE:

PERCEPTIONS ARE FORMED BY THE INFORMATION WE RECEIVE

THE SURVEY ADMITS THAT MOST B-SCHOOLS DO NOT PROVIDE CREDIBLE INFORMATION AND FIELD VISITS ONLY BRING THEM CLOSER TO STRETCHED TRUTHS (But, in my opinion, that does not justify publicizing surveys based on half truths.)

PUBLICIZING PERCEPTIONS FORMED BY DISTORTED INFORMATION CAN ONLY LEAD TO "POPs" (The "POLITICS OF PERCEPTIONS")

LET US COUNTER "POPs" BY HAVING A CREDIBLE INFORMATION SYSTEM IN PLACE (meant for publicizing TRULY our several CORE BENEFIT PROPOSITIONS)

[GROUND REALITY IN XIMB:

MOST OF OUR OWN INDIVIDUAL PERCEPTIONS ON SOME OF THE ABOVE 8-PARAMETERS WILL CONTINUE TO REMAIN DISTORTED TILL WE SEE THE NEXT ANNUAL REPORT]

Comments/criticisms may be directed to kaushik@ximb.ac.in (please do correct me if I you find flaws in my interpretation of the survey.

Ensuring Transparency in the Private Sector

[Portions from my note to The Vice Chairman, Transparency International, India]

A series of events had led me to draw the following caricature (next page) of the state of affairs as related to the whistle blowers act. I had posted it in our community notice board on 22 Dec 2003. I was, therefore, surprised to find the monthly bulletin (Dec-2003) of the "Lok Sevak Sangh" in my mailbox last week. As you know, I have not yet applied for membership with the Transparency International (TI). This bulletin incorporates the monthly newsletter of Transparency International-India wherein the pertinent issue of the Whistle Blowers Act has been raised. What a coincidence! I will discuss the series of events that led to this caricature when time permits. My intention (in this caricature) is not to hurt the sentiments of entities that are sincerely working towards bringing in good governance. The idea is only to discourage entities from paying mere lip service to transparency by using various platforms.

As I had mentioned to you earlier, there is a more urgent need for these acts (Right to Information Act, Whistle Blowers Act) in the private sector than the Govt. sector. How do we go about making the Private sector more accountable? Since Orissa is undergoing reforms, entities like World Bank and DFID are setting their own terms and conditions while forwarding structural adjustment loans. Privatization initiatives are being taken up to satisfy some of these conditions. But do we have watchdog Institutions monitoring the NGOs and the private sector? The consumers will be better served if we have strong regulatory bodies (or mechanisms) efficiently and effectively regulating the private businesses (be it health, education or any other). We need effective mechanisms to support the voice of dissent in the private sector.

I am enclosing a note that I had written to DFID for your kind information (Click here). The same was also sent to the Chief Minister’s Office (Subj: Regulatory mechanism for the private sector). I have only received acknowledgement and thank you notes for my suggestions. But I am yet to know what developments have taken place to make these funding agencies and the NGOs more accountable to the public. It would be nice if TI-India looked into this aspect more closely. I also request the TI-headquarters to impress on World Bank and DFID to maintain transparency while disbursing loans through the private sector.

The Whistle Blowers Act

Click on the image to enlarge:

Corporate Governance

22 August 2003
To: The Delegates, AIMS Convention 2003
Dear Friends,
I request you to kindly see the following viewpoint. It was posted last week on the Prime Minister's Electronic Discussion Forum in response to a query on the subject of "Corporate Governance". I would be happy if my doubts are proved baseless.
Regards,
Kaushik Sahu
=======================================================================================
17 August 2003
In response to PMO's query:
Corporate governance is in the news these days. What steps and measures do Indian companies need to take in this direction?

Kaushik Sahu responds:
Dear Sir,
The theme of the AIMS National Convention 2003 (22-24 August 2003) is "Corporate Governance and Corporate Citizenship: Challenges for Business & Management Education." It will be held at the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar.
The best way of supporting Corporate Governance initiatives is by "walking the talk" rather than by "talking the talk". I doubt if this convention will be ever able to showcase good models of leadership by examples. Corporate Governance in India will get a fillip only when management schools start to sincerely adopt ethical business practices. To be able to showcase such models, Indian B-Schools have to learn a lot from people like Mr. Narayana Murthy. The corporate governance policies of Infosys, which has taken note of the recommendations made by the Kumar Mangalam Birla committee, can be adapted to a certain extent for effective Education Governance. The main idea is to learn some of these best practices and then develop and adopt even better models of Governance as a Management School involved in training future managers.
It is high time the Business surveys stopped measuring a B-School in terms of the number of MNCs turning up for placements. There is no point in glorifying MNCs having poor governance track record. The focus should be rather on the number of companies that adopt good Corporate Governance models while doing business in India. The focus should be on companies that insist on good governance models in Educational Institutes. All things that are necessary for a public sector organization to stand up to public scrutiny should be also applied to the private sector. The citizens’ right to information need not be limited only to the public sector. Efficient and effective IT-enabled regulatory mechanisms are needed both in the public and private sector to stimulate good governance.
Organizing and hosting conventions without following it up by actions may not give the boost to Corporate Governance in India.
Regards,
Kaushik Sahu, Ph.D. (Massachusetts),
Professor, Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar - 751 013, India
(http://home.ximb.ac.in/~kaushik/default.htm)
=======================================================================================

Civil Society and DFID

To: Department for International Development, 17 Forest Park, Bhubaneshwar 751001, Orissa, India [By e-mail To: dfid-bhubaneswar@dfid.gov.uk cc: r-sharp@dfid.gov.uk]

Dear Sir/Madam,

This has reference to your advertisements in Dharitri and The New Indian Express dated 17 August 2003 on "Expressions of Interest for Civil Society and Poverty Programme". It invites expressions of interest from Orissa-based Civil Society Organizations for developing partnerships with DFID inorder to help strengthen the capacity of poor people to articulate their needs and improve the policies that affect them. DFID wants to support advocacy, training, capacity-building and research initiatives for strengthening decentralised governance.

Decentralised governance is a lofty ideal and the Indian Government has already started taking adequate measures to ensure greater devolution of power. These actions are quite commendable and one can see the instances of the same through various programs trying to strengthen regional Institutions. See for instance the advertisements related to Science and Technology issued by the GoI in the above dailies. Several other Govt, initiatives can be also highlighted where the focus is shifting towards eliminating regional imbalances. DFID is nowhere close in matching up to these efforts made by the Govt. of India (GoI). By targeting poor states like Orissa, does DFID realize the damage it is doing to the people? Does it realize how it is taking away the freedom of our people by making them economically dependent on the DFID aid? Instead of making the people self-reliant it is making them highly dependent.

DFID's role in promoting organizations advocating "limited government" by seeking "economic, social, and cultural independence from the Indian state" may go against the people of our State. Recently I had seen a notice announcing a seminar on Liberty and Society initiated by one Centre for Civil Society at the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar. This organization was advocating on similar lines. It has been often observed that DFID reposes greater faith in the disbursement of funds through the NGOs and other private organizations.

May I know what standards are being used in ensuring greater transparency and accountability from the private sector? Does DFID uphold the same standards for the private organizations as it advocates for the Govt sector in matters related to the Freedom of Information? These are serious questions and cannot be ignored by agencies like DFID and World Bank.

It would be nice if you could respond to these concerns coming from an Orissan who is deeply interested in good governance in all sectors. For all you know, the Civil Society that you may be supporting might be stifling the genuine voice of dissent.

The Indian Democracy has allowed several watchdog Institutions to scrutinize the actions of Govt. functionaries. But do we have strong watchdog Institutions for private organziations? If so, are they doing their jobs properly? Under the liberalized regime, we have not been able to set-up effective regulatory bodies for checking the exploitative advances of the private sector. The poor consumers are the sufferers.

Has DFID ever thought of supporting Civil Societies to set-up regulatory bodies in the private sector? Be it Health, Education or Social Sector development (by NGOs) Orissa needs efficient and effective regulatory mechanisms to safeguard the interest of the common people. The central Government is trying hard to bring in these mechanisms. But, is DFID willing to take up this challenge?

Sincerely,
Kaushik Sahu

=========Your Advt. taken from the DFID Website is attached below===========
PS: This note is marked to a few other stakeholders of Orissa who are perhaps equally unhappy about certain standards being adopted by the partners of DFID in Orissa.

A Necessary Condition, but is it Sufficient?

The recent change in our (XIMB) academic system for not awarding specialization has only fulfilled a NECASSARY condition. However, unless some SUFFICIENT conditions are met, we cannot see significant changes taking place in the right direction. The ground reality is that we are still creating conditions that encourage turf war between various functional areas of the Institute. Compare this scenario with the world-class benchmarks of value chains competing with other value chains. Here are some facts about the new world order:
1. Companies are both downsizing and also looking for new recruits at the same time
2. Retaining top performers is a big challenge
3. MBA recruiting now starts at the first year of the two year program (TNIE dtd. 24.12.2001)
4. GE focuses heavily on internship and co-op programs to identify talent (TNIE dtd. 24.12.01)
5. GE "forced" XIMB to evolve a well-considered selection criteria to find the best candidate for their scholarship

As I understand, we moved away from awarding specializations in order to support the future (or shall we say futuristic) needs of the Corporate World. This move was warranted by the requirement for having cross-functional teams supporting the all round development of an organization. However, by merely removing the specialization tags from the transcripts does not mean we have moved to a system that fully supports the cross-functional requirements of the Industry. There is an urgent need to question some old rules that do not fit into the practices of the new economy. These old rules do not create the sufficient conditions necessary to move XIMB to achieving its new goals. Here are some of the old practices that need to be questioned collectively by the Faculty Council of XIMB:
1. Awarding area medals
2. Areas imposing requirements on the minimum number of electives
3. Unknowingly falling into a trap of highlighting the job offers made (or not made) by companies under various functional heads. (This leads to all kinds of in fighting at the end of the placement week.)
4. Not having a formal feedback system and, therefore, failing to properly communicate the company feedback to the right area (and/or person)
5. Forcing jobs on students not having the aptitude
6. Offering electives without assessing the market demand

Such practices have led to all kinds of unhealthy turf wars in the past. Let us rethink how we can integrate the expertise from various functional areas in lending effective support to the whole organization.

Summary:
OBJECTIVE: To effectively support the future objectives of the Corporate World
NECESSARY CONDITION: No Specialization to be awarded by XIMB
SUFFICIENT CONDITIONS:
-Have a robust feedback mechanism (not just the existing course feedback system)
-Eliminate area medals
-Eliminate list of toppers
-Eliminate over-dependence on CQPI
-Move away from a competitive grading system (as it hurts the team culture)
-Create measurement systems based on criteria specified by clients
-Encourage clients to specify selection criteria and not just tags (Dissuade clients from promoting tag values)
-Discourage the use of "tags" within the Institute (Discourage areas from aggressively marketing function specific interests within the Institute)
-Encourage areas to extend domain specific expertise in special cases where global objectives are ultimately satisfied. (Assist companies by seeking out ways for better cross-functional participation in their projects)
-Encourage participative models for finding the right fit with the companies (as regard to our products and services).
-Instead of finding customers for our product let us find the product for our customers (not having the right fit may land under-performers in
-Market the entire batch as being equally good (calls for a overhaul of our admissions process which currently has a significant over-reliance on XAT)
-Go for placements throughout the year (dampens the year-end hockey-stick phenomenon and releases the stress burden on the students along with several other advantages)
-Encourage companies to maximize returns from co-op and internship programs
-Do not blindly emulate other B-Schools (be a trend setter by evolving strategies specific to XIMB)
-Use information technology for quick dissemination of information
-Use IT to cut down the transaction burden and support effective policy formulation.

Acknowledgement:
The title has been adapted from one business novel by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt (The TOC Guru and the author of business novels, such as, "The GOAL" and "NECESSARY BUT NOT SUFFICIENT")

===========================

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.


=============

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.

Should we specialize?

My Views
On
The minimum number of credits needed to Specialize

Having an area of specialization leads to all kinds of turf wars and the
unsuspecting student is the final victim. Besides, let us face the facts.
Let us say we decide that by taking 5 or 6 extra course in a certain area
will make the student a SPECIALIST. Now from my experience I have
found that number of courses do not guarantee specialization. I think the
quality of input is more important than the quantity of input here.
Besides our basket of courses may be different from what other
Institutes may have to offer. Now a specialist in Operations from XIM
will therefore be different (Academically) from a specialist in Operations
from IIM or IIT or MIT. Needless to say that some of them do not award
any specialization. For some of them their program is, therefore, oriented
towards satisfying the needs of their own customers. This irons out the
Academic difference.

For us it has to be different. Since we do not have any definitive
information about what our customers (i.e., the Companies coming for
placement) want from us, I suggest we make them more involved in the
placement screening process. This can be achieved by removing the
specialization tag (from the Cover Page of all resumes). This way the
companies will be made to probe in depth to find out the caliber of our
students. They will be then forced to take part in shaping our young
managers right from the beginning. I have also seen how (for various
reasons related to uncertain market forces) students remove these "tags"
to apply for jobs in Areas where they have NOT specialized. By
removing specialization, the student will be made to present his/her own
attributes in a more thoughtful manner (there are ways of presenting
attributes in a single A4 size paper at the PGDM level). It is then left to
the student to best convince how he/she can deliver the goods. Besides,
there is an added advantage of absorbing the uncertain market forces.
Several time in the past it has been an unpleasant experience for all of us
to see our finished goods inventory (of various majors) NOT MOVING.

Also if we look at the corporate world, there is a serious concern for
breaking down all kinds of departmental barriers. So why take so much
trouble for awarding a specialization. As such, please note that our
decision to award the requisite number of courses is based on the
availability of faculty (which is sometimes done on an adhoc basis).

These are my views. Maybe my colleagues might have their own
experiences to share on this.

Also please see these articles (available with Prof. K. Sahu):
From the Alumni Archives: XIM 2001 & Beyond(http://home.ximb.ac.in/~kaushik/place/Alum2k1.htm)
Placement 2001 - Suggestions
Reengineering the Placement Process