Niranjan, the number two in the department was jubilant today after a long time.
He was almost 35 and practically gave up the thought of ever finding a suitable match in marriage. Despite working hard to get married, he was a failure and ultimately, decided to live and die a bachelor.
It was sheer stroke of luck that finally some girl found him suitable for a husband and this morning he got such a note of confirmation from her. His joys knew no bounds. He distributed sweets to all and sundry, including his departmental head Swamy.
Swamy used to report to a person nicknamed "Terror", the real name Tara Singh. Tara Singh "Terror" was a senior manager in the management setup and was the boss of several departments of the organization including that of Swamy's. He was from the old school of "X theory of management". He believed that if he started the day by shouting at around 10% of the people reporting to him, all the other people in all the departments also got the right message and the work in the company went on with smooth efficiency. He could then relax in his cabin and perform some religious prayers in the first one hour of the start of the office. He was quite a religious person and was fond of saying his prayers in the confines of his office. But, all in all, he was a terror to his subordinates because he always communicated with them only by shouting at them from time to time.
Niranjan dismissed all his fears about his boss's boss in the heat of the joy of fixing up of his marriage. While on the other days he would contemplate a hundred times prior to knocking at the door of "Terror's" cabin only to finally walk away from it, today he did no such thing. He straight away entered the den of Tara Singh and gave him the good news. He even told him the date of his wedding and simultaneously invited him and his family to attend the wedding.
Tara Singh, being an X theory manager used to patronize his subordinates at such delicate moments and win their hearts. He congratulated Niranjan sumptuously, offered him a cup of tea and assured him about his presence with his wife at his wedding reception by noting down the date of the wedding in his appointment diary. Thus, the date totally sank in the head of Tara Singh- he had a great memory for such details.
Then, things were forgotten for a while till the day Swamy entered the cabin of "Terror" to beg for his vacation. He spoke up hesitatingly, "Sir, I have some urgent personal work to attend to and will be away for a week in the second week of December. I want your authorization for the vacation".
Tara Singh "Terror" roared, "How can you two senior guys remain absent from the work at the same time? I understand that Niranjan is also planning leave around the same time (He was remembering the wedding date of Niranjan absolutely clearly). You know my policy. At a time, on one single day, only one person can take leave between two of you. Now please don't waste my time. Talk to Niranjan and settle your dates of vacation accordingly." Swamy had no courage to argue with his boss- he was highly scared of him.
Swamy, highly disappointed, walked up to his office and called Niranjan to his cabin. Swamy was pressed with some really urgent personal work around the dates Niranjan was to get married and he wanted to manipulate Niranjan but he won't know how to do it. He was giving it a lot of thought.
In the mean time Niranjan already seated himself in front of Swamy. He asked, "Why have you called me?"
Swamy said, "Niranjan, I have an urgent piece of personal work in the second week of December. You will have to look after the department as usual in my absence." Niranjan reminded Swamy of his impending marriage that was to take place in the second week in December. To which Swamy reminded the policy of "Terror" to Niranjan that both of them just could not go on vacation at the same time.
Then, he seriously proposed to Niranjan this way, "Niranjan, my personal work is like a life and death issue. I have to take the vacation and there is no other alternative but to attend to it in second week of December. You have not distributed your wedding invitation cards as yet. I suggest that you better reschedule your marriage, fix some other date."
Related Books
1. "Sensitive Stories of Corporate World" (available from Amazon, get it online as a paperback or an eBook)
Read many more management anecdotes/management case studies in the eminent author Shyam Bhatawdekar's best selling book "Sensitive Stories of Corporate World" available online from Amazon as an eBook as well as a printed book.
2. "Sensitive Stories of Corporate World (Volume 2)" (available from Amazon, get it online as a paperback or an eBook)
Read many more management anecdotes/management case studies in the eminent author Shyam Bhatawdekar's best selling book "Sensitive Stories of Corporate World (Volume 2)" available online from Amazon as an eBook as well as a printed book.
Other Related Reading
For everything you wanted to know on building leadership and management, refer Shyam Bhatawdekar’s website: http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com/
Also, refer our High Quality Management Encyclopedia at: http://management-universe.blogspot.com/
For “out of box thinking” articles by Shyam Bhatawdekar, refer: (Out of Box Ideas) http://wow-idea.blogspot.com/
Read other blogs of Shyam Bhatawdekar at: (Home Page for Writings of Shyam Bhatawdekar) http://writings-of-shyam.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment