Right Business or change required
The analysis of “the business” is not yet complete and Management still has to ask: “Are we in the right business or should we change our business?
Of course, many companies get into a new business by accident; they stumble into it rather than steer into it. But the decision to shift major energies and resources to new products and away from old ones, the decisions, in other words, to make a business out of an accident always based on the analysis: What is our business and what should it be?
A successful Midwestern insurance company analyzing the needs of their customers came up with the conclusion that traditional life insurance leaves unsatisfied a major want of the customer: a guarantee of the purchasing power of his dollars. Life insurance and annuities, in other words, need to be supplemented by equity investment by means of a “package” containing both standard life insurance, or pension in dollars, and an equity investment. To fulfill this want the life insurance company bought a small but well managed investment trust and now offers its certificates to the holders of its insurance policies and pension contracts as well as to new customers. The company has not only gone into the business of managing equity investments; it has gone into the business of merchandising investment trust certificates.
Another example is the shift from sales focus to service focus recently made by a business publisher. This company, which publishes reports for businessmen on economic conditions, taxes, labor relations and government regulation, underwent tremendous expansion during World War II; and the expansion continued at first in the postwar period. But while new sales continued to rise year after, total business volume began to stagnate around 1949; and profits began actually to go down. Analysis showed that low renewal rate was to blame. Not only did the sales force have to sell ever harder to keep total volume from slipping; the high cost of selling renewals threatened to eat up the profits from new sales. What was needed was actually a complete shift in management’s concept of the nature of the business from one of selling new customers to one of keeping old customers. This required a change in objectives; where new sales quotas had formerly been dramatized, emphasis is now on renewal quotas. It required a shift in major from selling the customer to servicing him. It required a change in organization structure; the regional sales managers were converted into managers primarily charged with renewal responsibility and with both a sales and a service manager reporting to them. It required a complete change in salesman compensation, in the criteria of selection and in the methods of training salesman. It required changes in the editorial content of the publications with more space given to long range economic trends and long range business planning.
Changes in the nature of the business arising out of innovation are too well known to require much documentation. All major enterprises in the engineering and chemical fields have largely grown by projecting innovation into new businesses. The same is true of insurance companies; the growth of the successful ones is largely traceable to their ability to develop new business on the basis of innovations in insurance coverage. The recent almost explosive growth of health, hospitalization and medical expense insurance is an example. Productivity considerations, too, may demand a change in the nature of the business.
A small wholesaler of Christmas toys added an entirely different business, the wholesaling of beachwear, to employ all year round his major economic resource: his trained sales force. Here utilization of time demanded adding a new business.
To improve the productive utilization of his resources another small manufacturer decided to give up making machine tool parts entirely and instead confined himself to being a consultant on welding problems and techniques. His manufacturing, while profitable, was no more so than that of hundreds of other small companies.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Criteria of performance for the operations management System
Criteria of performance for the operations management System
Three objectives or criteria of performance of the production and operations management system are:
The case for ‘efficiency’ or ‘productive’ utilization of resources is clear. Whether, the organization is in the private sector or in the public sector, is a ‘manufacturing’ or a ‘service’ organization, or a ‘profit making’ or a ‘non-profit’ organization, the productive or optimal utilization of resource inputs is always a desired objective. However, effectiveness has more dimensions to it. It involves optimality in the fulfillment of multiple objectives, with a possible prioritization within the objectives. This is not difficult to imagine because modern production and operations management has to serve the so-called target customers, the people working within, as also the region, country or society at large. In order to survive the production/operations management system, has not only to be ‘profitable’ and/or ‘efficient’, but, must necessarily satisfy many more ‘customers’. This effectiveness has to be again viewed in terms of the short and long time horizons (depending upon the operations system’s need to remain active for short or long time horizons) – because , what may seem now like an ‘effective’ solution may not be ‘all that effective in the future. In fact, the effectiveness of the operations systems may depend not only upon a multi-objectives satisfaction but also on its flexibility or adaptability to change situations in the future so that it continues to fulfill the desirable objectives set while maintaining optimal efficiency.
Typically, what are the different decisions taken in production and operations management? As a discipline of ‘management’ which involves basically planning, implementation, monitoring, and control, some of the jobs/decisions are involved in the production and operations management.
The production and operations management function can be broadly divided into the following four areas:
This is primarily an aspect pertaining to the long term decision with some spillover into the intermediate region. Although it is not immediately connected with the day-to-day short term decisions handled in the plant, it is an important problem to be addressed in an age of spectacular technological advances, so that an appropriate choice is made by a particular organization to suit its objectives, organizational preparedness and its micro economic perspectives. It is a decision that will have a significant bearing on the management of manpower, machinery, and materials capacity of the operations system and also on the type of disturbances it can create within and outside the system by generating (i) undesirable effects of deterioration, (ii) potentially harmful waste by-products, and (iii) potential risk, to the users and non-users alike, due to a variety of reasons. A technology decision is closely linked with the capacity and system maintenance areas.
The capacity management aspect once framed in a long term perspective revolves around matching of available capacity to demand or making certain capacity available to meet the demand variation. This is done on both the intermediate and short time horizons. Capacity management is very important for achieving the organizational objectives of efficiency, customer service and overall effectiveness. While lower than needed capacity results in non-fulfillment of some of the customer services and other objectives of the production/operations system, a higher than necessary capacity results in lowered utilization of the resources or, in other words, lower efficiency of the conversion operations. There could be a ‘flexibility’ built into the capacity availability, but this depends upon the ‘technology’ decision to some extent and also on the nature of the production/operations system. While some operations systems can ‘flex’ significantly, some have to use inventories as the flexible joint between the rigidities of a system. The degree of flexibility required depends upon the customers demand fluctuations and thus the demand characteristics of the operations system.
As the product variety increases, the systems of production/operations change. In a system characterized by large volume low variety, one have capacities of machinery and men which are inflexible while taking advantage of the repetitive nature of activities involved in the system; whereas in a high variety (and low volume) demand situation, the need is for a flexible manufacturing system even at some cost to the efficiency. It may be noted that the relationship between the flexibility, capacity and the desired system-type holds good even for the ‘service’ industry.
Scheduling is another decision area of operations management which deals with the timing of various activities – time phasing of the filling of the demands or rather, the time phasing of the capacities to meet the demand as it keeps fluctuating.
System Maintenance: The fourth area of operation management is regarding safeguards – that only desired outputs will be produced in the ‘normal’ condition of the physical resources, and that the condition will be maintained normal. This is an important area whereby ‘vigilance’ is maintained so that all the good work of capacity creation, scheduling, etc is not negated.
Three objectives or criteria of performance of the production and operations management system are:
- Customer satisfaction
- Effectiveness
- Efficiency
The case for ‘efficiency’ or ‘productive’ utilization of resources is clear. Whether, the organization is in the private sector or in the public sector, is a ‘manufacturing’ or a ‘service’ organization, or a ‘profit making’ or a ‘non-profit’ organization, the productive or optimal utilization of resource inputs is always a desired objective. However, effectiveness has more dimensions to it. It involves optimality in the fulfillment of multiple objectives, with a possible prioritization within the objectives. This is not difficult to imagine because modern production and operations management has to serve the so-called target customers, the people working within, as also the region, country or society at large. In order to survive the production/operations management system, has not only to be ‘profitable’ and/or ‘efficient’, but, must necessarily satisfy many more ‘customers’. This effectiveness has to be again viewed in terms of the short and long time horizons (depending upon the operations system’s need to remain active for short or long time horizons) – because , what may seem now like an ‘effective’ solution may not be ‘all that effective in the future. In fact, the effectiveness of the operations systems may depend not only upon a multi-objectives satisfaction but also on its flexibility or adaptability to change situations in the future so that it continues to fulfill the desirable objectives set while maintaining optimal efficiency.
Typically, what are the different decisions taken in production and operations management? As a discipline of ‘management’ which involves basically planning, implementation, monitoring, and control, some of the jobs/decisions are involved in the production and operations management.
The production and operations management function can be broadly divided into the following four areas:
- Technology selection and management
- Capacity management
- Scheduling /Timing,Time allocation
- System maintenance
This is primarily an aspect pertaining to the long term decision with some spillover into the intermediate region. Although it is not immediately connected with the day-to-day short term decisions handled in the plant, it is an important problem to be addressed in an age of spectacular technological advances, so that an appropriate choice is made by a particular organization to suit its objectives, organizational preparedness and its micro economic perspectives. It is a decision that will have a significant bearing on the management of manpower, machinery, and materials capacity of the operations system and also on the type of disturbances it can create within and outside the system by generating (i) undesirable effects of deterioration, (ii) potentially harmful waste by-products, and (iii) potential risk, to the users and non-users alike, due to a variety of reasons. A technology decision is closely linked with the capacity and system maintenance areas.
The capacity management aspect once framed in a long term perspective revolves around matching of available capacity to demand or making certain capacity available to meet the demand variation. This is done on both the intermediate and short time horizons. Capacity management is very important for achieving the organizational objectives of efficiency, customer service and overall effectiveness. While lower than needed capacity results in non-fulfillment of some of the customer services and other objectives of the production/operations system, a higher than necessary capacity results in lowered utilization of the resources or, in other words, lower efficiency of the conversion operations. There could be a ‘flexibility’ built into the capacity availability, but this depends upon the ‘technology’ decision to some extent and also on the nature of the production/operations system. While some operations systems can ‘flex’ significantly, some have to use inventories as the flexible joint between the rigidities of a system. The degree of flexibility required depends upon the customers demand fluctuations and thus the demand characteristics of the operations system.
As the product variety increases, the systems of production/operations change. In a system characterized by large volume low variety, one have capacities of machinery and men which are inflexible while taking advantage of the repetitive nature of activities involved in the system; whereas in a high variety (and low volume) demand situation, the need is for a flexible manufacturing system even at some cost to the efficiency. It may be noted that the relationship between the flexibility, capacity and the desired system-type holds good even for the ‘service’ industry.
Scheduling is another decision area of operations management which deals with the timing of various activities – time phasing of the filling of the demands or rather, the time phasing of the capacities to meet the demand as it keeps fluctuating.
System Maintenance: The fourth area of operation management is regarding safeguards – that only desired outputs will be produced in the ‘normal’ condition of the physical resources, and that the condition will be maintained normal. This is an important area whereby ‘vigilance’ is maintained so that all the good work of capacity creation, scheduling, etc is not negated.
Employees or customers
Employees or customers
Paucity of talent coupled with high rate of attrition has forced corporate companies in India to give higher priority to employees than the customers sometimes to ensure their top and bottom lines continue to improve.
Cutting across sectors, employees both in new age and brick and mortar companies are today in the enviable position of choosing their employers, contrary to the dictum of chasing a job. With this reversal in trend companies are thriving to become “employer of choice”.
Finding the right talent has become much harder in today’s world and the employers need to create brand value for themselves among the job seekers. Employers are now working in a small field with very few quality candidates and finding right person is three times harder than it was ten years ago. Employer branding comes as a rescuer in such a scenario.
Waking up to the need, a number of companies, from IT firm HCL to tires to pharmaceutical group Apollo International, are projecting themselves as employer of choice, while valuing their workers more than customers.
At HCL a strong message is conveyed to employees that customers come second to the employees. This imbibes a feeling in the mindsets of employees that they are the priority for their organization. This creates a sense of belongingness and employees on their part feel a sense of responsibility for the organization.
Apollo wants to be known as the most preferred employer of choice mentions a top HR director of the company. The branding is the need for the day, be it for a product, a person or a company. An “inside-out method” is followed, as per which internal branding compels value proposition for external people as well as current employees.
The industry players believe the new focus is helping the companies not just for hiring new as well as right talent, but for also retaining their existing employees. With the companies having a better brand value than others, the existing employees stay on for longer recognizing the brand promise and new candidates are also attracted. In addition, the exercise also saves on hiring and related costs.
The tool has helped up in significantly cutting cost per hire. High reputation in marketplace helps in attracting specialist talent in the present difficult market. This tool fosters employee productivity and helps to retain and attract employees.
However, the rule is not the same for each and every company. To create a brand value, the company first needs to be good at its original business.
Firstly a company has to be successful at its business. Also, they should walk their talk by running an organization which has a sense of purpose and which treats employees fairly based on the current market value.
The dividends reaped, however, are significant for the companies that have successfully implemented this model.
A fastest growing IT corporate company in India is projecting itself as a young dynamic company with a workforce that could pay a leading role in the information technology sector, and this projection has helped with the company becoming the fastest growing IT company in India, managing to be in the top five slots for the last few years.
Here we would like to clarify that customers are not neglected for the sake of employees. It is while customers are given certain privileges the same benefits are also passed on to the employees subject to feasibility and practical possibility. For example in case of 5 star hotels the facilities given to their guests is even extended to the employee and his family members subject to the rules even guests may have to follow. In case of a IT company a club facility meant for top management and their high value customers is noe being extended to employees beyond a certain grade. Another IT company provided a chauffeur driven car to an employee of Assistant manager and above category on his or her marriage anniversary day at company’s expense.
Paucity of talent coupled with high rate of attrition has forced corporate companies in India to give higher priority to employees than the customers sometimes to ensure their top and bottom lines continue to improve.
Cutting across sectors, employees both in new age and brick and mortar companies are today in the enviable position of choosing their employers, contrary to the dictum of chasing a job. With this reversal in trend companies are thriving to become “employer of choice”.
Finding the right talent has become much harder in today’s world and the employers need to create brand value for themselves among the job seekers. Employers are now working in a small field with very few quality candidates and finding right person is three times harder than it was ten years ago. Employer branding comes as a rescuer in such a scenario.
Waking up to the need, a number of companies, from IT firm HCL to tires to pharmaceutical group Apollo International, are projecting themselves as employer of choice, while valuing their workers more than customers.
At HCL a strong message is conveyed to employees that customers come second to the employees. This imbibes a feeling in the mindsets of employees that they are the priority for their organization. This creates a sense of belongingness and employees on their part feel a sense of responsibility for the organization.
Apollo wants to be known as the most preferred employer of choice mentions a top HR director of the company. The branding is the need for the day, be it for a product, a person or a company. An “inside-out method” is followed, as per which internal branding compels value proposition for external people as well as current employees.
The industry players believe the new focus is helping the companies not just for hiring new as well as right talent, but for also retaining their existing employees. With the companies having a better brand value than others, the existing employees stay on for longer recognizing the brand promise and new candidates are also attracted. In addition, the exercise also saves on hiring and related costs.
The tool has helped up in significantly cutting cost per hire. High reputation in marketplace helps in attracting specialist talent in the present difficult market. This tool fosters employee productivity and helps to retain and attract employees.
However, the rule is not the same for each and every company. To create a brand value, the company first needs to be good at its original business.
Firstly a company has to be successful at its business. Also, they should walk their talk by running an organization which has a sense of purpose and which treats employees fairly based on the current market value.
The dividends reaped, however, are significant for the companies that have successfully implemented this model.
A fastest growing IT corporate company in India is projecting itself as a young dynamic company with a workforce that could pay a leading role in the information technology sector, and this projection has helped with the company becoming the fastest growing IT company in India, managing to be in the top five slots for the last few years.
Here we would like to clarify that customers are not neglected for the sake of employees. It is while customers are given certain privileges the same benefits are also passed on to the employees subject to feasibility and practical possibility. For example in case of 5 star hotels the facilities given to their guests is even extended to the employee and his family members subject to the rules even guests may have to follow. In case of a IT company a club facility meant for top management and their high value customers is noe being extended to employees beyond a certain grade. Another IT company provided a chauffeur driven car to an employee of Assistant manager and above category on his or her marriage anniversary day at company’s expense.
Examples of Items You Can Use for Employee Recognition
Examples of Items You Can Use for Employee Recognition
Employee recognition is best approached creatively. While money is an important form of employee recognition, ideas for employee recognition are limited only by your imagination. Use the following ideas as you approach the provision of employee recognition.
Money
Base salary
Bonuses
Gift certificates
Cash awards
Written Words
Handwritten thank you notes
A letter of appreciation in the employee file
Handwritten cards to mark celebratory occasions
Recognition posted on the employee bulletin board
Contribution noted in the company newsletter
Positive Attention From Supervisory Staff
Stop by an individual’s workstation or office to talk informally
Provide frequent positive performance feedback – at least weekly
Provide public praise at a staff meeting
Take the employee out to lunch.
Encourage Employee Development
Send people to conferences and seminars
Ask people to present a summary of what they learned at a conference or seminar at a department meeting
Work out a written employee development plan
Make career development commitments and a schedule
The Work Itself
Provide cross training opportunities
Provide more of the kinds of work the employee likes and less of the work they do not like
Provide opportunities for empowerment and self-management
Ask the employee to represent the department at an important, external meeting
Have the employee represent the department on an inter-departmental committee
Provide opportunities for the employee to determine their own goals and direction
Participation in idea-generation and decision making
Gifts
Company logo merchandise such as shirts, hats, mugs, and jackets
Gift certificates to local stores
The opportunity to select items from a catalog
The ability to exchange "positive points" for merchandise or entry into a drawing for merchandise
Symbols and Honors
Framed or unframed certificates to hang on the wall or file
Engraved plaques
Larger work area or office
More and better equipment
Provide status symbols, whatever they are in your organization
Employee recognition is best approached creatively. While money is an important form of employee recognition, ideas for employee recognition are limited only by your imagination. Use the following ideas as you approach the provision of employee recognition.
Money
Base salary
Bonuses
Gift certificates
Cash awards
Written Words
Handwritten thank you notes
A letter of appreciation in the employee file
Handwritten cards to mark celebratory occasions
Recognition posted on the employee bulletin board
Contribution noted in the company newsletter
Positive Attention From Supervisory Staff
Stop by an individual’s workstation or office to talk informally
Provide frequent positive performance feedback – at least weekly
Provide public praise at a staff meeting
Take the employee out to lunch.
Encourage Employee Development
Send people to conferences and seminars
Ask people to present a summary of what they learned at a conference or seminar at a department meeting
Work out a written employee development plan
Make career development commitments and a schedule
The Work Itself
Provide cross training opportunities
Provide more of the kinds of work the employee likes and less of the work they do not like
Provide opportunities for empowerment and self-management
Ask the employee to represent the department at an important, external meeting
Have the employee represent the department on an inter-departmental committee
Provide opportunities for the employee to determine their own goals and direction
Participation in idea-generation and decision making
Gifts
Company logo merchandise such as shirts, hats, mugs, and jackets
Gift certificates to local stores
The opportunity to select items from a catalog
The ability to exchange "positive points" for merchandise or entry into a drawing for merchandise
Symbols and Honors
Framed or unframed certificates to hang on the wall or file
Engraved plaques
Larger work area or office
More and better equipment
Provide status symbols, whatever they are in your organization
Shortage of talent - higher compensation
Shortage of talent - higher compensation
Many IT companies in India have offered higher salary increases during the increment season of this year, compared to what they did the year before. The increases appear to be particularly high at mid levels, where talent scarcity is becoming pronounced. More so in smaller companies, for whom retaining talent has become extremely challenging.
"i-Gate" has announced an average increment of 16% this year against 13% last year. TCS has increased it by 15% this year, 4 % points higher than a year ago; HCL has hiked it by 15% as against 12% last year. Mid-sized companies like Subex Systems have been giving 20% hikes across the board for the last two years, while its top performers have got a 30-35% increment.
But despite the high pay packet structure in MNC companies, India still offers a low cost arbitrage which in turn has forced Indian biggies to push up their salary levels.
Infosys’ average hike this year is said to be roughly the same as last year, at 12-15%, but the hikes for the top performers is whopping 30%, against about 8% at lower levels.
HR head of Infosys explains this difference on the grounds that ‘supply to the entry level remains god, but the supply of mid-level people is challenging. Wipro, which will announce its increments only later this year (it had given an average hike of 12% during Q3 of last fiscal),is expected to follow a similar strategy . HR head at Wipro, says when there are constraints on the budget, it’s important to differentiate top performers from the average.
While most employees are likely to rejoice at such salary increases, companies are far from enthusiastic. The issue now is how long they will be able to maintain these levels of increases. The general cost factor is becoming a concern said a COO of another company. In the salary game, everybody is a loser considering particularly that billing rates have not gone up dramatically.
HR managers in the biotech field appear to have realized that they would not be able to attract and keep top talent if companies do not open their purse strings long and wide. Some surprisingly pleasant facts expressed by the concerned top management personnel are,
A Rs. 2.5-3 lac package is now not foreign to the sector even for a fresher and in a year he is able to scale up to a Rs. 4-6 lac bracket. And the scene is getting all the same, especially for those who add to their qualifications on a regular basis, given the rapidly evolving technologies.
At the team leader stage the salary often crosses the Rs. 10Lakh mark, and the project head can look forward to pocketing a Rs. 25-lakh annual sum.
At the senior levels there has never been a cap . Senior biotechnologists whose skills are difficult to replace with get paid handsomely. In a company of India called Biocon alone there are at least four people who earn more than Rs. 1 cr ($ 250,000) per annum.
The biotech sector has money It’s only a matter of companies wanting to part with it. That can only happen if they find an exceptional talent. Companies seem to have realized the need to take care of the fresh candidates. In case of IT its becoming difficult between retaining employees and clients as the billing rates have not gone up to meet recurring increases in compensation to employees.
Many IT companies in India have offered higher salary increases during the increment season of this year, compared to what they did the year before. The increases appear to be particularly high at mid levels, where talent scarcity is becoming pronounced. More so in smaller companies, for whom retaining talent has become extremely challenging.
"i-Gate" has announced an average increment of 16% this year against 13% last year. TCS has increased it by 15% this year, 4 % points higher than a year ago; HCL has hiked it by 15% as against 12% last year. Mid-sized companies like Subex Systems have been giving 20% hikes across the board for the last two years, while its top performers have got a 30-35% increment.
But despite the high pay packet structure in MNC companies, India still offers a low cost arbitrage which in turn has forced Indian biggies to push up their salary levels.
Infosys’ average hike this year is said to be roughly the same as last year, at 12-15%, but the hikes for the top performers is whopping 30%, against about 8% at lower levels.
HR head of Infosys explains this difference on the grounds that ‘supply to the entry level remains god, but the supply of mid-level people is challenging. Wipro, which will announce its increments only later this year (it had given an average hike of 12% during Q3 of last fiscal),is expected to follow a similar strategy . HR head at Wipro, says when there are constraints on the budget, it’s important to differentiate top performers from the average.
While most employees are likely to rejoice at such salary increases, companies are far from enthusiastic. The issue now is how long they will be able to maintain these levels of increases. The general cost factor is becoming a concern said a COO of another company. In the salary game, everybody is a loser considering particularly that billing rates have not gone up dramatically.
HR managers in the biotech field appear to have realized that they would not be able to attract and keep top talent if companies do not open their purse strings long and wide. Some surprisingly pleasant facts expressed by the concerned top management personnel are,
A Rs. 2.5-3 lac package is now not foreign to the sector even for a fresher and in a year he is able to scale up to a Rs. 4-6 lac bracket. And the scene is getting all the same, especially for those who add to their qualifications on a regular basis, given the rapidly evolving technologies.
At the team leader stage the salary often crosses the Rs. 10Lakh mark, and the project head can look forward to pocketing a Rs. 25-lakh annual sum.
At the senior levels there has never been a cap . Senior biotechnologists whose skills are difficult to replace with get paid handsomely. In a company of India called Biocon alone there are at least four people who earn more than Rs. 1 cr ($ 250,000) per annum.
The biotech sector has money It’s only a matter of companies wanting to part with it. That can only happen if they find an exceptional talent. Companies seem to have realized the need to take care of the fresh candidates. In case of IT its becoming difficult between retaining employees and clients as the billing rates have not gone up to meet recurring increases in compensation to employees.
Living to Work or Working to Live?
Living to Work or Working to Live?
This is a question that most professional managers end up asking themselves somewhere along their careers. Of course, there are no easy answers but it may be illuminative to take a look at some of the responses to this question that thinkers have come up with in recent times as also in the past.
Modern economists try to seek answers to the question through a framework of a theory of market forces and Game Theory and while this ends up including the issue of mate selection and marriage as well, the primary focus is on the market factors that regulate the trade-off between work and leisure. The basic model is known as the backward bending supply curve of labor.
This approach leads to the conclusion that as a particular society or economy develops, more and more people spend more time on leisure, or, in other words they can be said to be working to live than living to work in such societies.
Statistical studies seem to bear this out, or at any rate, the researchers who did the studies claim that they do so. For example, a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, January, 2006, found that over the period 1965 to 2003 leisure for men increased 6-8 hours a week while for women the increase was 4-8 hours a week which translates into 5 to 10 weeks of additional vacation per year assuming a 40 hour week.
Similarly, a separate study (the results are not exactly comparable but captures the trend) in 2006 by the Leisure Economics Research Center of the People’s University, Beijing found that over the past 20 years, leisure had increased by about 5 hours a week for men while for women the increase was more at 6-7 hours a week.
In India, the reverse seems to be happening. More and more people seem to be spending more time at the office, less time with their families, less time for vacations and less time for themselves. While this may be true for certain sectors of the economy, which may be intrinsically more stressful, any overall study of work and leisure across the entire Indian population may show that the Indian economy too confirms to this direct correlation between development and leisure. Other indirect measures captured by the human development index would suggest that this is so.
Be that as it may, modern companies recognize the issue as a management problem that should be addressed. And what better way to address it but try and blur the distinction between leisure and work? Concepts such as “work as fun” cover many types of activities that managements, leaders and HR managers can adopt to help reduce the existential angst that day to day stress generates in most employees.
The so-called “casualization” of the workplace, in terms of dress code – more formal wear giving way to less formal wear, behavioral norms – superiors trying to be more accessible than in the past, etiquette – more informal ways of interacting with colleagues, has been a direct result of conscious attempts to blur the distinction between work and leisure.
Many new age organizations relying heavily on information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been able to introduce flexi-timings and grant employees the freedom to work from anywhere including from home. This again tends to blur the distinction between work and leisure.
To most employees, however, it always seems as if the owner of the business can have all the leisure while employees do all the work. The ownership issue is certainly important. Many companies, therefore, have an employee stock ownership plan which seeks to address this as well, to the extent possible!
Whichever way we may look at it, in modern day meritocracy there is no escaping from this existential angst.
Ultimately, it is a matter of individual circumstances and choice: how much leisure can you afford now in the trade-off between work and leisure? It may always be more prudent to get back to work now and think of leisure later, especially now that you have finished reading this article at leisure!
This is a question that most professional managers end up asking themselves somewhere along their careers. Of course, there are no easy answers but it may be illuminative to take a look at some of the responses to this question that thinkers have come up with in recent times as also in the past.
Modern economists try to seek answers to the question through a framework of a theory of market forces and Game Theory and while this ends up including the issue of mate selection and marriage as well, the primary focus is on the market factors that regulate the trade-off between work and leisure. The basic model is known as the backward bending supply curve of labor.
This approach leads to the conclusion that as a particular society or economy develops, more and more people spend more time on leisure, or, in other words they can be said to be working to live than living to work in such societies.
Statistical studies seem to bear this out, or at any rate, the researchers who did the studies claim that they do so. For example, a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, January, 2006, found that over the period 1965 to 2003 leisure for men increased 6-8 hours a week while for women the increase was 4-8 hours a week which translates into 5 to 10 weeks of additional vacation per year assuming a 40 hour week.
Similarly, a separate study (the results are not exactly comparable but captures the trend) in 2006 by the Leisure Economics Research Center of the People’s University, Beijing found that over the past 20 years, leisure had increased by about 5 hours a week for men while for women the increase was more at 6-7 hours a week.
In India, the reverse seems to be happening. More and more people seem to be spending more time at the office, less time with their families, less time for vacations and less time for themselves. While this may be true for certain sectors of the economy, which may be intrinsically more stressful, any overall study of work and leisure across the entire Indian population may show that the Indian economy too confirms to this direct correlation between development and leisure. Other indirect measures captured by the human development index would suggest that this is so.
Be that as it may, modern companies recognize the issue as a management problem that should be addressed. And what better way to address it but try and blur the distinction between leisure and work? Concepts such as “work as fun” cover many types of activities that managements, leaders and HR managers can adopt to help reduce the existential angst that day to day stress generates in most employees.
The so-called “casualization” of the workplace, in terms of dress code – more formal wear giving way to less formal wear, behavioral norms – superiors trying to be more accessible than in the past, etiquette – more informal ways of interacting with colleagues, has been a direct result of conscious attempts to blur the distinction between work and leisure.
Many new age organizations relying heavily on information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been able to introduce flexi-timings and grant employees the freedom to work from anywhere including from home. This again tends to blur the distinction between work and leisure.
To most employees, however, it always seems as if the owner of the business can have all the leisure while employees do all the work. The ownership issue is certainly important. Many companies, therefore, have an employee stock ownership plan which seeks to address this as well, to the extent possible!
Whichever way we may look at it, in modern day meritocracy there is no escaping from this existential angst.
Ultimately, it is a matter of individual circumstances and choice: how much leisure can you afford now in the trade-off between work and leisure? It may always be more prudent to get back to work now and think of leisure later, especially now that you have finished reading this article at leisure!
Types of communication problems
Types of communication problems
Many writers do not identify the communicating functions as a separate managerial process; all emphasize controlling a distinguishable function. In this article we are discussing the communicating functions because they are, in fact, closely related. Both distinguishable function and communicating function are also closely related to the emerging importance of managing information and computers.
Communicating:
Managers spend major percentage of their time transmitting ideas to others, orally and in writing. They most often use the symbols of their language but also employ mathematical symbols, code, sign their ideas. Other managerial functions, especially controlling and organizing, involve communication problems. Communication serves as a link process by which parts of a system are tied together. The subject has received the attention of many specialists, including the technical communications engineer, the linguist, the psychologist, the sociologist, and the organization theorists.
Communicating as used in this article is a managerial function because it represents a basic human characteristic required by all managers in performing their jobs. In fact all managerial functions involve human element. Today managing information is centered on computers and non-human devices and thus is distinguished from communicating and other managerial functions. The interface between human beings and computers is an intriguing issue for the present, we assume that managers will continue to manage computers rather than be managed by computers.
Types of Communication Problems:
All communication problems can be treated in three basic groups:
Cybernetics has contributed new insights into answers to the first group of problems. The terms in this new discipline have precise meaning to the communication engineer but may be confusing to the manager. Several important distinctions made by the communications engineer will provide an introduction to this interesting subject and will hint at some fundamental ideas of use to manager in transmitting messages.
In cybernetics information has nothing to do with the meaning (the subject of the second group of problems). It is quantitative measure of the amount of order in a system and is related not to what you do say but what you can say about a matter. If the system is highly disorganized, a message can say a great deal. Information is a measure of one’s freedom of choice when one selects a message. If there is no freedom of choice there is no information. If “Q” is always followed by a “U” in a language, “U” is perfectly predictable and, therefore, no information is added. The more probable is the message, the less information it gives. If a subordinate always sends his superior a message “Things are fine”, the superior can predict the message before he receives it and thus receives no information. The more disordered the situation is, the more information is required to describe it completely.
The idea of noise in information includes the undesirable uncertainties in the transmission process. “Snow” on television, “static” on the radio, or any interference in the receipt of a message increases uncertainty. Redundancy is used to help combat noise and insure against mistakes. Redundancy is anything that makes the transmission more predictable. Redundancy provides some structure (the opposite of randomness) that will increase the probability that the message will be received. Because all transmission of message is subject to the “loss of information” through noise the sender of the message should be conscious of the need for redundancy and the minimization of the number of times that the message is to be retransmitted.
Many writers do not identify the communicating functions as a separate managerial process; all emphasize controlling a distinguishable function. In this article we are discussing the communicating functions because they are, in fact, closely related. Both distinguishable function and communicating function are also closely related to the emerging importance of managing information and computers.
Communicating:
Managers spend major percentage of their time transmitting ideas to others, orally and in writing. They most often use the symbols of their language but also employ mathematical symbols, code, sign their ideas. Other managerial functions, especially controlling and organizing, involve communication problems. Communication serves as a link process by which parts of a system are tied together. The subject has received the attention of many specialists, including the technical communications engineer, the linguist, the psychologist, the sociologist, and the organization theorists.
Communicating as used in this article is a managerial function because it represents a basic human characteristic required by all managers in performing their jobs. In fact all managerial functions involve human element. Today managing information is centered on computers and non-human devices and thus is distinguished from communicating and other managerial functions. The interface between human beings and computers is an intriguing issue for the present, we assume that managers will continue to manage computers rather than be managed by computers.
Types of Communication Problems:
All communication problems can be treated in three basic groups:
- The technical problem of how accurately the symbols can be transmitted.
- The semantic problem of how the symbols convey the desired meaning.
- The effectiveness problem of how meaning affects the desired results.
Cybernetics has contributed new insights into answers to the first group of problems. The terms in this new discipline have precise meaning to the communication engineer but may be confusing to the manager. Several important distinctions made by the communications engineer will provide an introduction to this interesting subject and will hint at some fundamental ideas of use to manager in transmitting messages.
In cybernetics information has nothing to do with the meaning (the subject of the second group of problems). It is quantitative measure of the amount of order in a system and is related not to what you do say but what you can say about a matter. If the system is highly disorganized, a message can say a great deal. Information is a measure of one’s freedom of choice when one selects a message. If there is no freedom of choice there is no information. If “Q” is always followed by a “U” in a language, “U” is perfectly predictable and, therefore, no information is added. The more probable is the message, the less information it gives. If a subordinate always sends his superior a message “Things are fine”, the superior can predict the message before he receives it and thus receives no information. The more disordered the situation is, the more information is required to describe it completely.
The idea of noise in information includes the undesirable uncertainties in the transmission process. “Snow” on television, “static” on the radio, or any interference in the receipt of a message increases uncertainty. Redundancy is used to help combat noise and insure against mistakes. Redundancy is anything that makes the transmission more predictable. Redundancy provides some structure (the opposite of randomness) that will increase the probability that the message will be received. Because all transmission of message is subject to the “loss of information” through noise the sender of the message should be conscious of the need for redundancy and the minimization of the number of times that the message is to be retransmitted.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)