Digital CV

Here is my digital CV. I have covered my background, my learning and my future aspirations. Go through it and provide your feedback.

HENRI FAYOL’S 14 Principles of Management

1. DIVISION OF WORK: Work should be divided among individuals and groups to ensure  that effort and attention are focused on special portions of the task. Fayol presented work specialization as the best way to use the human resources of the organization.                                                                                                                   
2. AUTHORITY: The concepts of Authority and responsibility are closely related. Authority was defined by Fayol as the right to give orders and the power to exact obedience. Responsibility involves being accountable, and is therefore naturally associated with authority. Whoever assumes authority also assumes responsibility.                                                              
3. DISCIPLINE: A successful organization requires the common effort of workers. Penalties should be applied judiciously to encourage this common effort.                                                                              
4. UNITY OF COMMAND: Workers should receive orders from only one manager.                                                                                              
5. UNITY OF DIRECTION: The entire organization should be moving towards a common objective in a common direction.                                                                                                        
6. SUBORDINATION OF INDIVIDUAL INTERESTS TO THE GENERAL INTERESTS: The interests of one person should not take priority over the interests of the organization as a whole.                                                                                                                                        
7. REMUNERATION: Many variables, such as cost of living, supply of qualified personnel, general business conditions, and success of the business, should be considered in determining a worker’s rate of pay.                                                                                                  
8. CENTRALIZATION: Fayol defined centralization as lowering the importance of the subordinate role. Decentralization is increasing the importance. The degree to which centralization or decentralization should be adopted depends on the specific organization in which the manager is working.                                                                                                                  
9. SCALAR CHAIN: Managers in hierarchies are part of a chain like authority scale. Each manager, from the first line supervisor to the president, possess certain amounts of authority. The President possesses the most authority; the first line supervisor the least. Lower level managers should always keep upper level managers informed of their work activities. The existence of a scalar chain and adherence to it are necessary if the organization is to be successful.                                                                                                    
10. ORDER: For the sake of efficiency and coordination, all materials and people related to a specific kind of work should be treated as equally as possible.                                                                          
11. EQUITY: All employees should be treated as equally as possible.                                                                                                                 
12. STABILITY OF TENURE OF PERSONNEL: Retaining productive employees should always be a high priority of management. Recruitment and Selection Costs, as well as increased product-reject rates are usually associated with hiring new workers.                                                                                                 
13. INITIATIVE: Management should take steps to encourage worker initiative, which is defined as new or additional work activity undertaken through self direction.                                                    
14. ESPIRIT DE CORPS: Management should encourage harmony and general good feelings among employees.

Muhammad Yunus - A true socialist with a vision

                    History has given us true heroes but we sometimes fail to recognize the heroes of today. It has been decades that we have been hearing from governments of all countries that they are working for the poor. But as it was destined to, an individual stepped forward and made a significant difference. For all those who know Muhammad Yunus, you might be knowing about his achievements in rural upliftment. For those who don't, you are at the right place. The coming paragraphs would enlighten you with the contributions made by Muhammad Yunus.

                    Muhammad Yunus is an Bangladeshi banker, economist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient. 
As a professor of economics, he developed the concepts of microcredit and microfinance. These loans are given to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. In 2006 Yunus and Grameen Bank received the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts through microcredit to create economic and social development from below". Yunus has received several other national and international honours. He was awarded the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal in 2010, and presented with it at a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on 17 April 2013.

                    The Idea that changed lives -

                    In 1976, during visits to the poorest households in the village of Jobra near Chittagong University, Yunus discovered that very small loans could make a disproportionate difference to a poor person. Village women who made bamboo furniture had to take usurious loans to buy bamboo, and repay their profits to the lenders. Traditional banks did not want to make tiny loans at reasonable interest to the poor due to high risk of default. But Yunus believed that, given the chance, the poor will repay the money and hence microcredit was a viable business model. Yunus lent US$27 of his money to 42 women in the village, who made a profit of BDT 0.50 (US$0.02) each on the loan.

Grameen Bank -

Grameen Bank is founded on the principle that loans are better than charity to interrupt poverty: they offer people the opportunity to take initiatives in business or agriculture, which provide earnings and enable them to pay off the debt.

The bank is founded on the belief that people have endless potential, and unleashing their creativity and initiative helps them end poverty. Grameen has offered credit to classes of people formerly underserved: the poor, women, illiterate, and unemployed people. Access to credit is based on reasonable terms, such as the group lending system and weekly-installment payments, with reasonably long terms of loans, enabling the poor to build on their existing skills to earn better income in each cycle of loans.

Grameen’s objective has been to promote financial independence among the poor. Yunus encourages all borrowers to become savers, so that their local capital can be converted into new loans to others. Since 1995, Grameen has funded 90 percent of its loans with interest income and deposits collected, aligning the interests of its new borrowers and depositor-shareholders. Grameen converts deposits made in villages into loans for the more needy in the villages (Yunus and Jolis 1998).

It targets the poorest of the poor, with a particular emphasis on women, who receive 95 percent of the bank’s loans. Women traditionally had less access to financial alternatives of ordinary credit lines and incomes. They were seen to have an inequitable share of power in household decision making. Yunus and others have found that lending to women generates considerable secondary effects, including empowerment of a marginalized segment of society (Yunus and Jolis 1998), who share betterment of income with their children, unlike many men. Yunus claims that in 2004, women still have difficulty getting loans; they comprise less than 1 percent of borrowers from commercial banks (Yunus 2004).The interest rates charged by microfinance institutes including Grameen Bank is high compared to that of traditional banks; Grameen's interest (reducing balance basis) on its main credit product is about 20%.

Learnings -

1) Support Talent

One key learning is that talent should not be wasted for want of money. Many people give up their passions because they cannot sustain them. As an individual or manager, one should support such causes.

2) Reward Deserving Candidates

Proper recognition and reward to deserving candidates urges them to perform better the next time. As a manager, one should be able to recognize and vocal about good work.

3) Success comes the hard way

As is evident from Muhammad Yunus's example, there are no short-cuts to success and that should be made clear to everyone in the organization. One should be prepared to work hard for long term success and recognition.

                    I hope all those who weren't aware of Muhammad Yunus have finally understood the significant contribution of him towards the upliftment of the poor. Such inspiring stories keep me striving hard to achieve more and I hope it motivates millions around the world. Happy learning, happy blogging !

Excellence

Excellence can mathematically defined as -

Excellence = effectiveness X efficiency

First thing I understood was a counter intuitive concept that excellence is not in exclusivity. We often think of excellence as something possessed or commanded by a few and is often at disposal of only a few. But actually excellence is in something thats accessible to the masses. Excellence enriches the society at large. examples of excellence are many like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Delhi metro, Bandra-Worli sea link, Xerox and nature itself! (etc..)

Efficiency as defined by Peter Drucker is "doing things right" and effectiveness is " doing the right things". Efficiency is basically output divided by input. Efficiency impinges on the techniques and methods followed. Efficiency depends on the way you choose to achieve your goals.

Effectiveness is, on the other hand, the decision of the destination itself. To decide on a particular sequence of operation in order to minimize throughput time can be called as effectiveness. If i have decided to carry on a punching operation before bending operation to maximize usage of the sheet of metal and minimize tool change time, i am making (or rather designing) an effective process.

 But my machines will still have to be efficient. They will still have to be maintained to prevent breakdown and to ensure that the produce minimum unacceptable parts. My machines have to achieve a production rate at minimum tool wear. Thus we can see how important it is for a shop floor to be designed effectively and to make sure individual machining units are efficient.

Its important to remember that excellence is not a destination but a journey. Nothing is 100% perfect right? so there is always scope for improvement. Its also important to remember that what is excellent today might or might not be excellent tomorrow. Ex. Re 1 call at the advent of this millennium was considered to be excellent but today its not.

Hence for an organization to be able to maintain a sustainable competitive edge its leaders have to strive to make its processes and people more effective and efficient. Thats the only way to ensure continued excellence.

I believe 'Toyota' is one of the most inspiring stories of excellence. It did not only revolutionize auto manufacturing, but almost all kind of manufacturing done all over the world. Even its competitors accept this as a fact and have a lot of respect for toyota and its production systems which have become a norm in the auto industry.

Goal Setting

Often it happens that whenever we choose to pick up a specific task or choose a particular option out of the given options, we fail to analyze this choice on a personal level. That is why ‘Goal Setting’ is one of the most important, significant and effective aspects of our lives.

When we are surrounded by thousands of options, possibilities and opportunities to choose between, it is extremely vital to know ourselves and our capabilities on individual levels, so that we can set optimally achievable goals for ourselves.

SMART Goals

We learnt the SMART goals through the ‘Tower Challenge’ wherein the rules were:-

Three people, a Manager, Owner and a Worker play

Worker has to follow the instructions of the Manager

Owner can interfere in the Work planned to achieve the goal only in worst conditions

Worker has to be blindfolded

Manager has to give the proper instructions to the Worker so that he puts the cubes one on top of the other in a manner that the tower does not fall

Build a tower of maximum possible length

Once the tower falls, game ends

Given: A tower of 17 cubes was built in the past

Specific Goals were determined by sorting out these 3 important aspects of the task:-

The first, and fundamentally the most important factor in Goal Setting is to realize that WHY do we want to or WHY should we set a goal. The moment we get an answer to this ‘WHY’, it acts as a thrust in the remaining process of Goal Setting. As soon as we realize the needs or the wants behind setting these goals, we recognize our own competence and ability in establishing these goals. The ‘WHY’ acts as the triggering factor for it. Eg. if I am told that I have to make a tower using cubes, I might not get enough answers from my conscience, that act as a boost to take up this task, i.e. my insight is still hazy about the ‘WHY’ of this task. This might inculcate laziness and procrastination. But if I am told that I have to make a tower using cubes along with the fact that some other person (who was in my shoes at some point of time) managed to create it as long as 17 units, then it gives me a sense of confidence, determination, and competence because I know that it is achievable and maybe I might be able to outstand this task if I concentrate on my abilities and perform optimally. This inculcates a sense of purpose and direction. It also increases desire, passion, motivation and certainty.

Once we realize ‘WHY’, the next step is to think on a broader scale that WHAT do we want to achieve. As soon as we realize it, we have just sought our vision. But this vision is to be divided into smaller goals in order to accomplish it. These smaller goals are nothing but the missions to be accomplished which aid in achieving the vision set in the beginning. Eg. a task of building a tower of maximum height by keeping cubes one over the other is a larger goal. This goal is further divided into smaller goals wherein each smaller goal is a task of putting one cube successfully over the previous cube.

The next step is to figure out the ‘HOW’ part of it. Here is when the managers need to apply their managing techniques wherein the conceptual skills come into picture. The towers, cubes, how to create, what it will be in the end, is a big gamble. So how one brings in the Conceptual aspect in the planning, the execution and the changes is what makes the Big Difference.

Measurable Goal: It should be maximum possible, atleast 17 cubes. The measurability of a goal is indispensible for the management of actions required to achieve the goals.

Attainable Goal: Previously, a tower of 17 cubes was made, so the target of 18 cubes was attainable.

Relevant Goals: This aspect is like a check point. We try to go back to the above three goals and verify if our goals are realistic or doable.

Time-Bound Goals: This aspect sets a timeframe for the goal. E.g.The completion of tower building within the lecture timings.

Tower Builing : Blind Folded

         While working I never realized the great perspective of how tough it is for all the stakeholders of an organization to work together for the success of the organization. It was showcased very clearly in our class. We did an activity called tower building. It took courage for 3 of our fellow mates to pitch in by the process of bidding where they kept money at stake and went on to participate in the event. The learning I had from it is "to be confident of achieving it and go ahead without worrying about the failure which is the most important element of entrepreneurship.

           The activity brought out the work and stress involved in every process. It was about building a tower using cubes. The person who builds the tower will be blind folded and has to use only his left hand to build it. He is synonymous to any other employee of the organization. He will be assisted by another person who will be his guide and gives direction to the person. He is synonymous to the manager of the organization who has been entitled to manage a set of resources under him and given targets to accomplish. Finally, there was one more person who will be the watching the entire activity and interfere in the process occasionally to guide them and give them suggestions. He is synonymous to the top management of the company.

             The top management was very curious when the builder was building the blocks and he interfered many a times often causing confusion. It was clear from this that the top management will be curious of each and every move their employers take. The person who gave instructions had to take care of every small needs of the employee. He is very cautious of the work.

Thus it showed the organizational structure in very simple manner.

3 Idiots crossing the Valley

When several workers come together to achieve a high common goal , thereby giving more significance to collective success over individual gains, then that is called team-work.


Since prehistoric times, man has been working in teams to realize dreams that would have been impossible for him to go alone.

Ants working in a team

The Situation at the Valley

Team work v/s Individual work

This problem was presented to us in the class while discussing about team-work. The message was self evident and beautifully depicted.
3 people have to carry a payload(a log in this case) and deliver it to the destination. But there is a problem, there is a valley like gap in between where each member has to rely on other two to cross. 
Would this have been possible had it been a single individual? No. 
What makes the difference now? Its the TEAM. Each of the member can now hang on while crossing the valley from the other two and also provides support when his team mates are endangered.


This is how the entire activity will get completed:

Observations:

• Each team member is fully safe once and half safe twice i.e. the risk is distributed.
• All of them will have to safeguard each other when they get into a risky situation i.e. the work is equitably distributed.
• All of them have to ensure instantaneous communication and cooperation to finish the task.

These 3 key points can be applied to any scenario of team-working.