Built to Destruct
Built to Destruct
Immoral, Deceitful, Ignorant – the modern day managements are setting themselves up for destruction.
Man has achieved enough knowledge to destroy himself at the click of a button. Man has achieved enough knowledge to destroy himself physically, emotionally and morally.
Advances in behavioural sciences through ‘conditioning’ has turned the man into a machine that is run by manipulation of fears and emotions, without values and beliefs, without compassion and pride and without humanity altogether.
These machines are the work force of our organizations. An average human being today is more guided by fears and insecurities than by compassion and humanitarian values.
Managements today are aspiring to be the largest in the world. They aspire to be in the top notch of power and success. They aspire to be the biggest in their areas. Lets just for a moment take a look at what do some of them do when they do become the biggest –
Executives of AIG were scheduled to receive $ 165 million is bonuses after AIG received $ 182 million in the form of bailout funds from the treasury of United States. Merrill Lynch accelerated payment of bonuses to employees prior to its merger with Bank of America. Rick Wagoner, CEO of General Motors, along with fellow CEOs Robert Nardelli of Chrysler and Alan Mulally of Ford, flew to Washington in private jets to plead for tax-payers money to rescue the automobile industry.
Starting right from Harvard to the IIM or the one round the corner in your city - The legacy of business school training in managerial reliance on financial models as the sole criteria of success is an indication of percentages and numbers being discussed over morals and values. Without a moral reference point (and the sad part is many of us reading this might not even know what that means) executives are unlikely to act in a responsible way toward people, customers or public. They are especially unlikely to develop the potential within their own people. A sure way to self-destruct.
The reason behind this is that managers are daily questioned on results, sales figures and numbers. CEOs take pride in market capitalization and bottom lines. Boardrooms discuss return on investments and shareholder value. Thus largely to achieve these increasing goals, a corporation hires more people. Human beings thus become merely a means to an end, rather than the end itself. The purpose of the management in the modern day thus is not development of the being. It has more become the use of the being to development of the ‘bottom-line’. This is as sick and immoral as we can get.
Though most organizations have some sort of ethics code in their mission and value statements – it is currently mostly just plain theology that the boardroom uses to remain in denial of reality.
Bribes and malpractices are not the only sign of immorality. In my mind the discrepancies in remuneration between the top most and lower most levels that actually sweat it out, is a far greater sign. Most corporations have the words of honesty or integrity or ethical practices inscribed in their documents. Yet almost all of them today find it absolutely acceptable to bribe for large orders (may be governments) or bribe the purchase managers in companies or hide behind the ‘mask’ of bribing through distributors and agents. Everyone does it. EVERYONE.
The assumption being of course that if my organization doesn’t do it, the other one will and hence it is industry practice so why lose out? It is logical though examine the repercussions even one such instance in the organization have – it has been now proven that this practice prevents he human being from innovation. He or she is no longer compelled to find new ethical ways of existence. The human brain is manipulated into seeking more such relations and opportunities. The more he seeks, the faster he grows. So does the organization so where’s the danger?
You see eventually you will grow to a size. Buoyed by the assurgency of these dealings and combined with your ‘percentage’ ambitions, you will invest more. As I said earlier you will hire people to reach you to an end and not vice versa. You will leverage your balance sheets. Suddenly you will discover, if you haven’t begun to already discover, that goals are larger than abilities. You have everything – people, structure, and finance – the works! Yet you don’t have the desired results. Organizations over a period of time begin to run out of answers as well. It becomes like one of those frustrating puzzles that one encounters as a kid – one that you just cant put together.
That’s what happens when knowingly or ignorantly the immoral values and greed over take us. The human being becomes a means to an end that is ever illusive.
A recent report (will be published soon in your dailies) points out that 34.3% of private-sector-working time is effectively wasted. Wasted at the hands of useless and unproductive requirements of the senior managements. These are unnecessary delegations, unproductive data, tasks related to appeasement rather than growth. In a world where the global GDP is around $ 50 trillion, this is $ 15 trillion on the table and up for grabs. BUT where do these requirements rise from – they rise from insecurity and frustration of the irritating puzzle.
The human being has to be the end not the means. The moral values have to be non negotiable. Only then will progress be based on true innovation and strategic customer centric models, which will then lead the organization to be in abundance of solutions and ideas. Human brain is capable of delivering anything, yet, it can be rendered obsolete by the culture in which humans operate. The being guided by fears and insecurities will NEVER question the culture. It will very quickly conform. That’s what managers want anyway, don’t they?
Peter Drucker in one of his most remembered addresses wrote this:
A man might himself know too little, perform poorly, lack judgment and ability, and yet not do too much damage as a manager. But if he lacks in character and integrity – no matter how knowledgeable, how brilliant, how successful – he destroys. He destroys people, the most valuable asset. He destroys spirit. And he destroys performance.
Economist made an assessment that we are living in a perilous moment, as 40% of the world is living in ‘flawed’ democracies. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, an unprecedented number of people (2,508,845,187, according to Economist) are living in quasi-democratic, quasi-market-oriented nations.
Too many of the people who are found and might be in some ways the creators of these situations are the products of our leading MBA programs. Much more are found in politics, if you need to feel a bit better! In needs a serious correction. I hope one is on the way.
There is a lesson for the organizations as to the way forward – the largest student activity at Harvard Business School is no longer venture capital or investment banking programs. The youth itself is sick of it I think. The largest activity today is for social entrepreneurship organization. May be an indication of things to come.
Will you adapt in time a return to moral values, not just on paper, but non negotiable in practice so that we can direct the use of power created by intellectualism to serve the interests of human being and thus automatically of the corporation? And not the other way round. The other way remains the way of destruction – may not be immediate but is for sure.
yours,
Chetan Walia
Comments