Rethinc , livre ebook

Random House Publishers India Pvt. Ltd. - Ram Mohan T.T.

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133 pages

English

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Corporations are crucial to society's well-being. Yet, not many have chosen to adapt themselves to the expectations of employees and society at large in the times in which we live. In Rethinc, Prof. Ram Mohan identifies the three main problems that ail companies and proposes ways in which these can be combated. Most companies are still run from the top and make next to no attempt to involve employees at the lower levels in decision-making. Executive compensation has spiralled steeply in recent years because the process of determining it is seriously flawed. Boards of directors are ineffective and have abetted the cult of the charismatic CEO who is expected to work wonders. Rethinc contends that the solution lies in the near-total dismantling of hierarchy or the creation of a 'bossless' organization. In such an organization, the structure is flat, employees operate through self-driven teams, there is peer review, freedom to express oneself, power rests on one's contribution and not one's title, and the organizational purpose goes beyond the making of profit. There are limits on variable pay linked to performance and pay is more egalitarian. Board effectiveness is ensured through a very different process of selection of independent directors. The office of the CEO is demystfied, and it is the system that is the star, not the individual. Once all this is done, we will have an achieving organization that is also a humane organization-an organization in which the employees are raring to get to work every day.

Sujets

Sociologie, société et politique

Service innovation

Strategic management

Economics

Social

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Publié par	Random House Publishers India Pvt. Ltd.
Date de parution	24 mai 2015
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9788184006988
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0550€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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T.T. RAM MOHAN

RETHINC
What s Broke at Today s Corporations and How to Fix it
Foreword by M. Damodaran
RANDOM HOUSE INDIA
Contents
Foreword
1. Bad Company, Good Company
2. Bottoms Up
3. The Boss Stops Here
4. Dangling the Carrot
5. I m the Boss, I Set My Pay
6. Who Will Guard the Guardians?
Author s Note
Notes
Acknowledgements
Follow Random House
Copyright
Praise for the Book
It takes courage to take on Holy Cows, and conviction to state a contrarian view. Prof. Ram Mohan lacks neither. In proposing radical changes to the way corporates function, the author calls out that the Emperor has no clothes. The truth is often embarrassing and uncomfortable.
The book captures the thrill and beauty of a prosecution case, expertly put together by a brilliant lawyer, with relevant facts and compelling circumstances. The book makes you think, which, in the final analysis, is what any good book should do. Prof. Ram Mohan deserves to be complimented for an excellent effort.
R Seshasayee
Executive vice chairman, Hinduja Group India, and former vice chairman, Ashok Leyland Limited
The book probes important issues: Can corporations be democratized? Should they be democratized? It presents both sides of the coin in a scholarly but reader-friendly fashion. Provocative and engaging, the book should be read by all who are groping for a better society through more humane corporations.
Prof. Pradip N. Khandwalla
Well-known management scholar and former director, IIM Ahmedabad
To all the employees at the bottom of the organizational pyramid whose efforts go largely unsung and unrewarded
Foreword
The problems of the corporate world-caused more often than not by corporates rather than by the outside elements that they seek to blame-are too numerous to be adequately dealt with in one book. Professor Ram Mohan takes a hard look at some of the fundamental failings of the corporate world. In a no-holds-barred style that is appropriate for the task at hand, he asks tough questions to impart clarity, while providing company-specific information in anecdotal fashion.
The non-participative leadership style, which some corporate chieftains profess to be a necessary virtue, has led to companies performing well below their potential. Workmen, who see themselves as pawns on a chessboard and are bereft of a sense of ownership over their work, go through the motions of performing the assigned tasks, while excessively paid chief executives seek to convince the world that the company s performance is necessarily a function of their extraordinary leadership. Boards that are peopled with elements that are either decorative or disruptive destroy value on a continuing basis.
One may not entirely endorse the strong views that Prof. Ram Mohan articulates in seeking to set right the system. What he clearly succeeds in doing is asking relevant and topical questions without pulling his punches. This is a wake-up call to the corporate world in general and corporate India in particular to walk the talk on corporate governance, or perish as others prosper. A compelling read for corporate chieftains and observers alike, this book is certain to make both participants in the corporate world as well as students of management sit up and take notice.
M. Damodaran
Former chairman, SEBI, and former chairman and managing director, UTI Mutual Fund and Industrial Development Bank of India
1
Bad Company, Good Company
* Corporations are not great places to work at * The corporation in a democratic society * Peter Drucker s lofty idea of the corporation * The corporate reality-James Hoopes s critique of Drucker * Why Drucker s idea must prevail *
Great Place to Work Institute is an organization that helps companies improve and become great places to work at. 1 It surveys employees in several countries to produce lists of the best companies to work for. It puts out a list of the World s Best Multinational Workplaces. It also produces lists of the best companies in different countries.
A great place is defined as one in which employees trust the people they work for, have pride in what they do and enjoy the people they work with. In ranking companies, Great Place Institute evaluates them on two principal dimensions: trust and culture.
In 2014, in partnership with the Economic Times , Great Place produced a list of the best companies to work for in India. Here are the top ten: Google Intel Marriott Hotels India American Express SAP Labs Adobe Systems Godrej Consumer Products Intuit Ujjivan Financial Cactus Communications
The top six in the list, you will notice, are all foreign companies. Only one Indian company figures in the list. Not one of the big names in manufacturing, nor the stars in banking, nor the IT companies that are household names find a place-Godrej Consumer Products belongs to a well-known group, but it s not a leader in sales or profits. It could be that many leading companies didn t participate in the survey. It s hard to see why they wouldn t want to-the Great Place list enjoys a high profile, so being included in it has its uses.
Might it just be that many of the leading names in the Indian corporate world are not great places to work at?

If you re reading this book, chances are that you work for a company or want to work for one. You might have spent or will want to spend your working life at a company or at several companies-the latter is more likely. Your company is a home away from home for you and for millions others.
If you re working for the typical company, you re unlikely to find it is a great place to work at. And you re not alone. For many, perhaps the majority of the employees, working for a company s not a pleasant experience. For some, life in the company can be a living hell-a place where arbitrary decisions are the norm, intrigues abound and people are forever in fear of losing their jobs. A friend of ours, a highly placed executive at a foreign bank, said to us some time back, I hate having to go to the office. I literally have to drag myself to work every day. I can t stand the politics any more. I know she s not the only one to feel that way.
Corporate executives often pay a heavy price in terms of physical as well as mental health. We re all familiar with executive stress, the ailments it can give rise to and the huge industry that exists to treat it. We know that the tensions of corporate life lead to wrecked marriages and dysfunctional families. A hefty bank balance and a nice house are poor compensation, if at all.
There s one telling indication that most companies are not great places to work at. Employees don t seem to care much for their company or the work they do. According to Gallup s 2013 The State of the American Workplace report, only 30 per cent of employees are actively committed to doing a good job. A whopping 50 per cent of employees merely put their time in, while the remaining 20 per cent act in ways that are harmful for the company. 2 The annual reports of companies commend the commitment and dedication of employees-employees know that this is just hot air.
There s something wrong with today s corporations, because of which employees don t see them as great places to work at. Working for a company may be lucrative, but it s not enjoyable. In this book I argue that the fundamental problem with companies is that they are not democratic in character. (In the values of a democratic society, I would include a certain level of equality.)
I venture to suggest that by making them more democratic, we can make companies great places to work at. We need to do this not only so that employees feel good about them-although that s important-but so that companies can perform in the long run. In the chapters that follow, I discuss how we might go about doing so.
Here, I begin by exploring what a corporation s all about and where it stands in relation to society at large.

The modern corporation sits oddly in a democratic society. Democracy confers on us great privileges such as free speech and the right to choose our rulers. The corporation withholds these privileges and asks us to settle for something far less as employees.
In a corporation we re effectively ruled by those above us. We take orders from our bosses. We can t question decisions unless we want to risk losing our jobs. We may feel we ve been treated unfairly in the matter of promotions or other rewards, but there s nothing we can do about it.
A joke doing the rounds on the Internet goes something like this: at a company meeting, the boss cracks a joke. Everybody laughs except for one executive. The boss asks him, How come you re not laughing? The executive says, I don t have to. I have landed another job. The humour is not far-fetched. Picture a typical meeting in a typical company. Think of the boss, the expressions on his face, the tone of his voice. Now think of those around the table, their body language, the way they express themselves. The nervousness and the eagerness to please are palpable.
Can you think of many instances of meaningful dissent? Of a decision being seriously challenged? I m not saying this is true of all companies . But it s common enough to be worrisome. In some companies, the exercise of authority may happen in a refined way; in other places, it may be crude. But there s no getting away from the reality of the boss and the subordinate. It s the boss who calls the shots, and decisions flow from the top to those below.
To be sure, that s not how corporate bosses see themselves. They would like us to believe that they are all model democrats. They appear on TV shows and in newspaper interviews and wax eloquent about the culture and values of the companies they preside over. They talk loftily about how they like to involve people down the line in decision-making. Empowerment, delegation and decentralization-the buzzwords roll easily off their tongues. The reality, we all know, is pain