Friday, December 28, 2007

Adieos 2007, Bienvenida ... 2008


I started blogging in 2006, but started to make them public, only in November 2007. When I started to blog, I had the hope of inspiring people to pursue their passions and dreams, whatever they may be. However, I realized that I have been floundering and not flourishing! May be because, I am still working to hone my blogging skills.

It has been a difficult decision to make, but I have decided to block out of my mind the number of visitors that I see other sites getting, because it only creates frustration. May be, I should find out how to generate traffic for the blogs and write a blog on it. The idea definitely sounds interesting. The problem is, blogging takes time, Everyday. The question remains however, am I just showing different facets of myself, or is there no unity to the self?

Well, it’s almost the end of the year. Another year is at it's dusk and many of us should be thankful we are seeing its conclusion. 2007 brought bad luck to many and they just wish for this year to end. For others, it was a year of luck and wish that the year just goes on and on. Probably, in many industries it’ll be fact finding, endless lists and resolutions for a new beginning.

On December 31st, when the clock strikes midnight, there will be celebrations and fireworks. We bid adieos to 2007, and the promise of a New Year will light up the night sky. That's right - another year has come and gone. It's time again to welcome January and bid farewell to the last 365 days.

There is no doubt that this is that time of the year when one looks back at gains and spoils, and starts contemplating the plan of action for the New Year - a moment to reflect on the lessons learnt, count our blessings, revisit some fears and gear up for the year ahead. Let us then look at what 2007 taught us, offered us and also, take a moment to be aware of some fears that lurk around in the alleys. It is also a time to look forward in our lives and make a plan for the upcoming months.

I believe that there is no better place in the world to celebrate New Year, than one's own home. Perhaps, I would not be able to celebrate New Year at home for years to come. Hence my new year would start at home. I am not sure where I would be on the forthcoming New Years Eve.

There is lot more to write about my plans and thoughts on 2008, somehow the flow of thoughts tend to be dried up for the moment.

As the days become shorter, we grow longer on hope, kindness, trust, family, and a host of other ideals that have come to symbolize this time of year. Wish you all, a wonderful and prosperous new year.

Do something good... “Loka samastha sughino bhavanthu”.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

The Enemy Within : Internal Politics

I have been thinking about writing something on Internal Politics in an organization. Inspired by politics at my work place, I had many faces coming to my mind when I started to write this blog. I would be doing injustice to my organization, if I publish this blog with their names. Hence, I am withholding the names. I guess, people who are concerned would understand when they read this.

For describing people, I have made use of the word ‘him’. This doesn’t mean that only men are into it. Please read ‘him’ as ‘her’, wherever applicable.

Many a times we see a lot of employees leaving their jobs because they find the work place politics affecting their normal life. Internal politics involving the people at work place not only affects the normal working, but also makes employees migrate to other organizations. This results in lose of human resource of an organization. To get good people for working in the organization in itself is a difficult task. However, ignoring the internal politics at work place can cost the companies dearly.

People usually want to remain in their own group; they do not like others to invade their territory. Hence, we can find a lot of groups in any office. The Groups try to promote the people in their group more, over others. Sometimes they try to let down the people from other groups. This creates inter group rivalries. The Groups tries to hinder the working of other groups, even forgetting the goals of the organization. Many a times, groups are also based on the region and language(s) people speak.

Many people try to be smart and play with the emotions of others. Now, these guys are not part of any Groups, but all the Groups think that he is their man. I wish to call them words starting with A or *, but my civilization and upbringing does not allow me to do so. These people can be called as Friend to none, Foe to all. They aim at and succeed in creating misunderstandings between the people. They also succeed in making their rivals look bad by destroying images (you know what I mean). These cowards never fight their enemies directly, but provoke others to take revenge for them. They most often isolate their main enemy from others, mostly through speculation. When the rival feels that he is all alone, this guy steps in. Master Tacticians… The next step is to make the lonely person confide in him and then use the secrets for individual benefits at the right time. This enables them to deal with the rival without fighting him directly. This can be called as the most dangerous phase of internal politics as it is difficult to know what others are plotting against us.

Even people who are not part of the internal politics are not safe. Most of the times, members of some or the other group try to woo people and if they don’t succeed, they tend to bend on destroying them.

It would be unrealistic to assume that any organization would be totally immune from politics. There are generally several reasons why politics exist and how much politics exist; however, politics is often ignored and viewed as a necessary evil. People split into factions, pull their organizations apart, make gaps to charge through, and generally act in ways that show a total lack of emotional intelligence.

Politics within an organization can be compared to several forces pulling in different directions as opposed to these same forces all pulling in the same direction. Anyone with some background in physics is aware that forces pulling in the same direction are additive while forces pulling in different directions are subtractive. The end result depends on the intensity of the forces at play and how well they are aligned and how badly they are misaligned.

Realistically, it is difficult to imagine that forces within an organization would always be perfectly aligned. However, it is management’s responsibility to monitor the forces at play and to jump in whenever these become too misaligned.

Internal politics seems to be present in very small organizations too. There might be fewer forces at play, but the intensity and depth of rivalry can sometimes far exceed what can be observed in larger organizations.

What can be done to minimize politics?

At this point, the solutions that can be put in place to minimize politics should be fairly obvious, i.e., they should be just the opposite of the behaviours that allow politics to exist. To summarize quickly, the following are some of the required steps to create an environment with minimal politics:

Creating and sharing vision.
Creating a shared mindset.
Hiring people with the right attitude.
Having people in leadership positions that can lead and be role models for the rest of the organization.
Having and executing a proper communication strategy.
Creating a proper organizational design to serve the best interests of the organization.
Aligning reward systems to make sure that they support the objectives of the organization.

Why do politics exist in organizations?

There are a variety of reasons explaining why politics exist within any organization and the intensity of the politics that exist. These can be classified in a number of ways; i.e., leadership, cultural and organizational issues, staffing, communications.

Leadership

Obviously, most issues that exist in organizations can be traced back to some form of failure at the leadership level. It is certainly true of internal politics. I look at politics as the failure of leadership to convince people to set aside their own immediate good for the good of the organization. In the absence of a compelling cause being shown to them, people create their own departmental, divisional or personal cause and this is what they fight for at the expense of the organization as a whole.

Politics are also the failure of leadership to sell their vision to the rest of the organization. Obviously, this assumes that a compelling vision exists in the first place. Whether it is that the vision is not communicated or people don’t understand the vision or people don’t buy the vision, the end result is the same, i.e., you have people in the organization not focused on company objectives and leadership must be accountable for this.

In order to have an organization moving in the same direction and performing as a single entity, there needs to be cohesiveness, and for cohesiveness to exist, there needs to be a shared mindset within the organization. This is what leadership gets paid to do; to create a shared mindset to optimize performance.

Interestingly enough, some leaders create internal politics voluntarily by creating tensions in the organization; this is done with the belief that internal rivalry is good to get the best out of people. I suppose it can work in some environments; however, to me it is similar to playing with fire. It can be fun, but once it is ignited and out of control, it can quickly become a big mess!

Cultural and organizational issues

Sometimes politics may be the result of faulty organizational design resulting in lack of clarity and accountability. People end up fighting to clarify what management has not clarified for them through proper organizational design.

Sometimes people don’t feel empowered and there may be a culture of not accepting mistakes. So people become calculating. They avoid taking risks and make sure they cover their tracks in case something happens. In that type of environment, people are generally quick at blaming each other for mistakes or underperformance, as opposed to focusing on recovering from mistakes and learning from them.

Closely associated with the previous point, some organizations don’t encourage and reward entrepreneurship and creativity; hence, people learn to become good bureaucrats and learn to become survivors as opposed to contributing to their full potential.

In many organizations, there is an imbalance between the so called ”staff jobs” looking after corporate type functions versus operational functions. People in staff jobs often initiate and/or execute projects that have not been planned for by people in operations. Then, it becomes an ongoing struggle between staff people who are trying to achieve their goals and operational people who are trying to get out of these unwanted projects and focus on the day-to-day operations. Not surprisingly, one might say that this is also a failure of leadership: to get everybody on the same wavelength, to avoid having people at lower levels slugging it out in an environment charged with politics.

Finally, one should never discuss politics without considering incentive compensation systems and their impact on politics. A number of incentive compensation systems are there to ensure that total pay is competitive, but ignore the damage that can be done to an organization when mixed messages are being sent through faulty incentive compensation arrangements. That is, if incentive compensation arrangements are in place, they need to be well aligned with the goals of the overall organization.

Staffing

Generally, politics are not attributable to specific individuals, but rather to some systemic failure within the organization. Sometimes they are due to the people running the organization and their failure to address the issue. However, it may well happen that certain situations are caused by specific individuals who cannot operate in a team environment. This can happen in organizations that focus their recruiting and promotions on individuals with good technical abilities at the expense of people with good teamwork abilities.

Communications

A contributing factor to creating a political environment is the absence of proper communications within the organization. One of the roles of leadership is to replace uncertainty with certainty and to replace confusion with clarity. Generally, when people don’t know, they assume, and when different people and departments don’t make the same assumptions, then increased politics is likely to result.

It’s up to you all, to make a difference. Hell and heaven are the creation of one’s own actions… You sow, you reap…. Beware.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Auto fares in Chennai : Can we make a difference?

Autorickshaws are the common man's way of commuting, almost everywhere in India. The reason for this is the affordability and availability of the Autorickshaws. Chennai city has approximately 70,000 Autorickshaws running on valid permits with almost another 10,000 vehicles from the suburbs. The number of autos plying everyday could be over 80,000.

The major difference between Chennai and any of the other Indian cities is the high fares one has to pay for commuting in an Autorickshaw. The distance from Adyar to Chennai Central is hardly 8kms, but the Autorickshaw drivers tend to charge you anything from 70 - 150 (the rates dependent on the driver). In Kerala, this travel would cost you hardly Rs. 45 or much less.

Coming out of the Chennai central station, this is the scene that happens with me:
Auto Driver: Sir, Auto?
Me: yes.
Auto Driver: Enge?
Me: AdayarMe:
How much?
Auto Driver: 150, Sir.
Me (sarcastically): Call Taxi / Auto?
Auto Driver: Auto, Sir.

Not able to bear with this slaughtering, I move on approach other auto-drivers, the scene rarely changes. Auto drivers haggling over fare with passengers is a common sight throughout the day at the station. Even the presence of the Railway Police and other government officials has little bearing on the situation.
If a passenger complains about the fleecing, the police try to pacify them rather than take stringent action against the erring auto driver. For several first time visitors, the situation is very unlike anything experienced in other cities, particularly Bangalore or Mumbai, where the governments have intervened proactively to provide a fair means of transport to those arriving at the railway stations or airport.

There was a lot of fanfare when the Government, after years of idleness in the matter, announced that meters would be made compulsory for Autorickshaws. The announcement was made on last republic day. Another republic day is fast approaching, yet there have been no actions from the Government’s side in this regard. The Government's announcement also stops with fixing a revised minimum fare, double the earlier amount. It also includes a waiting charge, 25 per cent more during night hours and electronic meters in all autos.

The failure to revise fare enables the auto drivers to demand exorbitant sums by citing the petrol price hike. (Even people who drive diesel autos).The official rate today stands at Rs.7 for a minimum fare of up to 2 km and Rs.3.50 for every additional km. The unions suggest Rs.15 as the minimum fare and Rs.7 for every additional km.

The Government, as in most of the cases, makes announcements just to create media hype. They are strong enough to destroy flats worth millions in the Kathipara Junction, yet, they are not able to impose something that would help the common man.

In Feb, the then City Police Commissioner Letika Saran made an announcement stating that "The city police have not received any complaint so far from the public against erring autorickshaw drivers". For your information, any passenger can lodge complaints against autorickshaw drivers by calling numbers: 103, 26445511, 26444445, 26445959, 26670993, 26215969, 24894466, 24867733, 22325555, 27264277 as well as 27663333.

Although the making a complaint to the police can result in actions against registered autorickshaw's, what action can the police take if the auto is not legally registered? What if you are giving the number of an auto plying with the number of someone's car or scooter? We've been, literally and otherwise, taken for a ride by auto drivers.

The only way-out - is to stand united and fight. Yes, together, we can do it. Do not agree to a negotiated price, no matter how inconvenient. Move on to the next auto, and the next. Take the bus or a local train. Hitch hike, if you can. I agree this will be inconvenient, but until and unless we do this together, these auto drivers are going to continue to fleece the public. Let's ensure that the future is a lot pleasanter for everyone by doing this.

Monday, December 17, 2007

I am Legend



I realize that it's been awhile since my last entry and I'm probably doing this one out of sheer guilt. I see the hits on the hit counter constantly climbing and in an odd way I almost feel a little obligated to let everyone know what's going on, even if very little has changed.

I have not been keeping well, and in the last month I've endured a role change that I have absolutely no regrets about because it'll pay off long term, however the immediate effects have been longer hours with a little less pay.

The weeks go by and I think about this blog... and how I’ve been neglecting it. I tell myself to take the time to write here but the stresses of a busy life have me putting all kinds of priorities in front of it. When I do finally stop and think about writing, I realize that there's very little to write about.

Well, it doesn’t make me proud. So thinking of what to write, I decide to write a review on the latest movie that I have seen. I happened to watch "I am Legend", by coincidence, at Maayajal again. These days, Maayajaal has become my favourite spot for movies.

The stage is set in New York City. In 2009, a scientist announces that she has discovered the cure for cancer – a retrofitted virus (the measles virus) that is initially hailed as a breakthrough in modern medicine. But it isn’t long before the virus has mutated into a deadly airborne form, killing millions of people. The symptoms of which are very similar to vampirism. Robert Neville, a military scientist, is part of the team working to find a vaccine, but as the pandemic spreads, the government orders NYC to be military quarantined, with only the uninfected allowed to evacuate.

Like all the best science fiction, I Am Legend says a lot about the times we live in, from the dangers of genetic tampering to our fear of pandemic diseases, from scientific rationality to irrational, but very human faith. It’s a powerful and ultimately uplifting film, with a superb central performance by Will Smith. If animals are given Oscars, it should go to the German shepherd in the movie. Samantha (Sam), has done an award winning performance. With a bit of research on the net, I found out that she is actually Abbey.

Robert Neville is, as far as he knows, the only living human being on the planet (As with the similarly-themed 'Cast Away'). He and Sam are entirely alone, and have been for three years. They are surrounded by strange, primal creatures that dwell in darkness, only emerging at night to eat. But Neville is determined to find a cure. He knows he is immune to the virus, he just doesn’t know why. He has set up a lab in his basement, and is determined to find a cure, testing various strains and solutions of his blood on infected rats.

Neville has become the last of a dead breed: a mythical figure that kills the infected living. He becomes a legend as the vampires once were, hence the title "I am Legend".

The film portrays Neville's daily life. He gets up every morning, Does his exercises, Eats breakfast, Listens to music, Takes Sam out for walks, picks up supplies, plays a little golf, Sends out a broadcast on the radio. But all the while he keeps an eye on the time, for darkness is coming. The movie emphasizes that he is an ordinary, flawed man trying to deal with an extraordinary catastrophe. It also explores the loneliness of being by himself, excitement and hope of finding others, and disappointment over still finding himself alone. There are scenes in the movie, where Neville talks to mannequins as if they were humans. Well, if you are the only human alive on earth, whom would you talk to? And one day he has the breakthrough he has been hoping for, and can start testing on humans…

The graphics and the sets in the movie are just spectacular. See it for yourselves….

Cleverly the infected are only revealed bit by bit. First just as howls and screams drifting across the city. When Neville is forced to venture into a building to save Sam, we see more, but only in flashes from his torch. Far, far scarier to only see them in bits, and this scene has some great jumpy moments. As usual, once we can see them properly, they’re less interesting, but by then the story has taken a new turn – Anna and Ethan, survivors, hear his broadcast and come to find him. They are from Ireland and were actually on the way to the survivor’s camp somewhere in Vermont. Though he has been desperate for company, after three years of complete isolation Neville finds it hard to cope, but now he has something else to live for.

He is attacked by the creatures and about three minutes after confirming that he has found a cure for the deadly virus, he gives up his life to protect it. The movie reminds us that "all that glitters is not gold". Today's medicines can cause deadly diseases tomorrow.

To criticize, the movie seems to focus mostly on Neville (well almost 70% of the duration). Anna is not given enough time to develop into a real person,

A few facts:

- I Am Legend was written by Akiva Goldsman, the second-highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood history.
* The film was shot on location, with graphics artists cleaning up the background.
* The film is based on the book 'I am legend' (1954) by Richard Matheson.
* I Am Legend has so far been adapted to a feature-length film three times
- The Last Man on Earth (An Italian production (1964), the original title was L'Ultimo Uomo Della Terra).
- The Omega Man (1971)
- I Am Legend (2007).

The movie is well worth your money. A must see, in my opinion.