Johari Window in Action

My wife and I are management consultants and are often invited by many organizations in the corporate sector to conduct various kinds of management development and personal development training programs for their employees at different levels, right from shop floor workers to directors of companies.

This incident relates to one such program we conducted for a factory site of an Indian corporate conglomerate located in a remote interior village of India. The training program was meant for the factory’s workers who were never exposed to any kind of formal training earlier. So, they were quite excited about it and equally awed.

One session of the program was devoted to the well known management concept called “Johari Window”. My wife’s treatment to this particular topic is a treat to the audience. So, I always request her to teach the “Johari Window” sessions.

In the particular training program that we conducted for the workers of this factory, the topic rolled out like this. My wife said:

“The human actions are guided by the mind and therefore, knowing about our mind is very crucial. It’s difficult to visualize the mind but “Johari Window” describes the mind in a very simple to understand manner. Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham gave a pictorial definition of mind through their “Johari Window”. They mentioned that mind is like a window with four partitions; each partition with different kinds of glass panes- one transparent, other two allowing one way vision (like through a tinted glass) and fourth partition has opaque glass.

The first one with transparent glass is called “open self (or arena)” of the mind, being transparent to self as well as to others. Whatever is contained in this portion of the mind is a common knowledge to all. For example, my published bio-data gives some specific information about me and that information is known to me and to all those who have seen my bio-data. Certain of the strengths and the weaknesses of a person come out into the open and while these strengths can be used, the weaknesses can be reduced.

Second portion of the window depicting the mind, with the tinted glass, is from where you can peep outside but you cannot look into it from outside. This partition is called the “hidden self (facade)”. Hidden means that certain aspects of strengths and weaknesses are known to me alone, I am hiding them but they cannot be seen by others. Therefore, for me to be wiser on the knowledge of myself, I, on my own initiative, must start using my strengths by bringing them into the “open self (arena)” and reduce my weaknesses. This method is called “disclosure”.

Third portion of the window depicting the mind, again with the tinted glass, is where you can peep inside but from where you cannot look outside. This partition is called the “blind self (blind spot)”. Blind means that certain aspects of my strengths and weaknesses are known only to others but I am totally unaware of them, I am blind to them. Therefore, for me to be wiser on the knowledge of myself, I must get the feedback from others on such strengths and weaknesses of mine which are unknown to me. This method is called “feedback”.

Fourth portion with opaque glass is called “dark self (unknown)”. Large degrees of strengths and weaknesses are neither known to me nor to the others. We are, kind of, totally in dark about them. And apparently, I and others have no way of tapping them.

While “dark self” is a very large portion of mind (80%, 90% or even 95%), there are no solutions readily available on the platter to tap it. So what can be done immediately is to start using the strengths that are already available in “hidden self” and “blind self” and bringing more and more of them into “open self” by ways of “disclosure” and “feedback” explained earlier. More you use your “hidden” and “blind” strengths, more capable and effective you become. The “open self” should become larger and larger and “hidden self’ and “blind self” should become smaller and smaller.”

And the topic kept rolling like this.

The participants listened to all of this in a spell bound manner and asked many questions. The training program concluded pretty decently.

Then, my wife and I got busy with other assignments. Also, we used to visit this factory often.

In one of our later visits to this factory, say around six to seven months after we had conducted the training program for the batch of workers mentioned above, one of the workers from that batch came to the company’s guesthouse, where we were residing, in the evening. The factory, as we told you, was situated in an interior village and the company had built up a nice township there. Other than this township, no civilization could be found as far as 30 to 40 kilometers from there. The township dwellers had to go all the way to the nearest town 30 to 40 kilometers away to buy their grocery, vegetables etc.

This worker came to us in the guesthouse, introduced himself and told us some very interesting things he did after he learnt about “Johari Window” in our training program that he had attended.

He said, “Madam and sir, when madam told that normally, we don’t use even 2% to 3% of our mind since most of it is taken up in our “dark self”, I started thinking about it seriously. Madam also told that if we could use our mind even a little bit more, we could achieve a lot more in life. Plus I remembered her saying that we keep hiding lots of our talent, knowledge and skills in our “hidden self” and do not use them and what we don’t use, we lose. I gave it lots of thought.”

He continued further, “So, that day onwards, I kept thinking and understanding it more and more. I found that I while away lots of mind and time. I don’t have any family here in the township. So, I laze around all of my evenings. But since I am from a farmer’s family, I know a lot about growing vegetables etc. And from my childhood I have been very fond of gardening. I realized that this skill of growing vegetables etc had got deposited in my “hidden self” and it was rusting. I thought why not bring it in the “open self” and start growing the vegetables in the township itself in my free time and then sell those vegetables in the township thus reducing the hardship of going all the way to the far away town. But I needed some land where I could grow these vegetables.”

My wife asked, “Do you have a piece of land nearby?”

He mentioned, “I have a very small plot of land in front of my small house allotted by the company. I was not using it till then. But that is not adequate. Then, it occurred to me that there were lots of my friends in the township who had plots of land in front of their house but they were not using them at all. I contacted them and most of them agreed to allow me to grow vegetables in their plots provided they can use the vegetables at concessional price. I agreed to it. And now I have already acquired some 14 plots for this purpose. I have employed couple of local hands and gave them employment as gardeners to look after these kitchen gardens that I have developed. Company has given me a small wooden cabin from where I sell the vegetables and the township residents are very happy about the whole thing. The ladies in the township can now walk up to my shop and buy fresh vegetables at reasonable prices.”

My wife and I congratulated him on his achievements.

But he stopped us in the middle and said, “It’s all because of the training you gave me that I thought about using “Johari Window” in actual practice. I am really thankful to both of you.”

Then, he walked away.

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

The Corporate Blackmailer

The traveler sitting by my side in the aircraft was frantic.

Next minute he was buzzing for the air hostess by repeatedly pressing the overhead call button.

Then, he lost all the patience and started yelling, “Stewardess, I am dying, rush up. I am dying.”

On hearing the shout, an air hostess approached him and enquired politely, “Sir, what can I do for you? Do you need anything? Hope, you are enjoying the breakfast. ”

She had served the breakfast to all the passengers just a few minutes ago.

He dismissed what the air hostess was saying and became very arrogant and screamed, “Are you all set to kill me or what? Is that the price I have to pay to travel by your airlines?”

“What is the matter, sir, are you not feeling well?” the air hostess asked.

He retorted, “You are asking me if I am not feeling well knowing fully well what you are doing to me. You know damn well what kind of rotten stuff you are feeding us for the breakfast and not only it is rotten, you are mixing up the insects in it- you are out to kill me.”

And he showed to the air-hostess and to me and to the passenger sitting on the other side of him couple of dead insects (looking like mosquitoes) encased inside the cellophane wrapping over the dessert bowl that was served as part of the breakfast.

He continued, “Gentlemen, this is what they feed us for the meals, the insects, the mosquitoes. Good thing that I noticed this or I would have eaten the stuff and died.” He further added, “I am very careful with the airlines meals these days. Just a couple of days earlier, I was traveling by another reputed international airliner and there too I came across the food infested with the insects. I got the airline staff onboard to sign on a written complaint, also signed by a witness who was my co-passenger and sent the copy of the document along with the infested food to my legal team of my company. They sued the airlines and I got a very hefty compensation from the airlines in an out of court settlement. The airlines did not want an adverse publicity.”

Then, he turned to the air hostess and said, “I have prepared this complaint and please sign on it confirming that you agree that there were insects in the food served to me. I will get this thing now also witnessed by one of these gentlemen who have also noticed this whole affair.”

The air hostess was quite young and inexperienced in such matters; she felt terribly ruffled and excused herself to fetch an elderly and mature looking chief stewardess.

The chief stewardess came and before she could open her mouth, the person holding the bowl of dessert became offensive once again, “Are you all going to kill me or what? Please sign up this complaint which I have made in duplicate. One I will keep and one you will hand over to the appropriate person in your organization. I am going to get these two gentlemen to sign as witnesses.”

The chief stewardess seemed quite an experienced professional, she had some presence of mind and replied with lots of concern for this complaining passenger, “Sir, you will excuse me but I do not have authority to deal with such important matters. Only the pilot is authorized to commit anything on it. I will go to the cockpit and call the pilot. He would come and listen to you.”

And then, she ran to the cockpit showing the urgency towards this matter. She conferred with the pilot who was intelligent enough to understand the overtures of the entire matter that might ultimately blow up into something that might be damaging to the reputation of the airlines. He needed some time to think. He briefed the chief stewardess accordingly and sent her back.

She came to the complainant and said, “The pilot is quite sorry for the entire event and quite concerned about your well being. However, he wishes to be excused right now since the aircraft is about to land in a few minutes time and he cannot come out of the cockpit and attend to you. After landing, kindly meet our ground commercial staff where he will present himself and confer with you. Hope, it’s OK with you.”

To this the reply was, “OK, seems like he is a wise guy. Let him know that if he acts smart, I am going to alert my legal team and they will sue your company for a huge compensation. I will also not hesitate to notify the entire episode to the press. So, ask your pilot to better meet me immediately after landing.”

In the mean time, he got the other co-passenger sign as witness on the papers he had prepared. The aircraft had landed and I deliberately got busy collecting my luggage and got myself physically away from the scene.

I did not wish to be a part to the corporate blackmailer because of something that I recalled of him towards the end of the entire scene. I recollected from his initial introduction to me that he owned a big company with a corporate office and with proper legal setup. But I also recollected him taking out something from his briefcase and opening up the cellophane wrapper of the dessert bowl of the breakfast and inserting something into it and then re-wrapping the dessert bowl. He had definitely planted the mosquito looking insects into the dessert. And I don’t remember having seen him writing any complaint in front of me. I think that he had perhaps prepared the document even before boarding the aircraft.

He was a thorough professional corporate blackmailer.

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

The Beard Parade (or the Art of Sticking Close to Power)

In my job as a management consultant, I get to see the practical demonstration of the various serious and also, seriously funny principles of management in almost all the corporate offices in some form or the other.

Right now I will be talking about the latter types- the seriously funny principles of management and their implicit as well as blatant use in the corporate world.

For instance, there is a famous seriously funny principle that says, “Keep out of trouble.” Who else can be the real trouble but the people with power? Their nuisance value is the highest in any organization. The people in power may not necessarily use their power for your benefit but they surely can use it against you and create trouble for you if you cross their paths wrongly.

So, naturally, some genius invented this great principle: “keep out of trouble.” However, this is a negative way of putting things across. The positive way and perhaps more potent way is to modify this principle to read it as, “Follow the power or stick close to the power.”

The corollary to this principle is, “Do what the boss does and also, feed the boss what he likes.”

I experienced the demonstration of this corollary in action in the production unit of a huge corporation.

The boss from the head office would make occasional visits to this plant. After deplaning, en route to the plant, he would visit a temple or two, being a very religious guy. I was told that all the managers of the plant who were directly reporting to this boss had turned pretty religious too and they would join the boss in these temples to pray. Even a couple of atheists had turned into believers, I was told.

So, that is “do as the boss does” in action for you.

And once this boss used to settle in his office after the prayers but before he actually started conducting his business, some couple of managers who had learnt the art of “feeding the boss what he likes” literally would feed him his favorite eats: the fresh coconut water and paan masala (a tasty mixture of beetle nut, tobacco, mint etc) and also they would feed him with the gossip (the information that he liked to hear and talk about).

I experienced another corollary called “conform” to the main principle, “Follow the power or stick close to the power” that we enunciated earlier.

“Conform” means: pick up all the habits of the boss. Dress the way he dresses. Start drinking if he enjoys drinking. Talk what he wants to talk about, Do it the way he does (for example, pronounce the word “inventory” exactly the way he pronounces etc) and so on.

I was literally in for a shock when this “conform” thing was really enacted in front of me on the first day of my yet another consultancy assignment in a company that is bracketed as a rather very sophisticated and very professional and very elite company. I was in shock because I least expected the need or necessity for application of all the above mentioned seriously funny principles particularly in the company of the description I gave you earlier (very sophisticated and very professional and very elite company).

I was giving a kick start to consultations on the entire human resources systems of this company. So I was scheduled to meet the head of the HR department and all of his senior colleagues from the department.

As per my usual practice (and since I teach “time management” to the corporate managers), I came to the board room of the company few minutes ahead of the scheduled time of the meeting. And as usual, the managers of the client company would invariable be late for the meeting. So, I settled in the chair and was waiting for the HR guys of the company to join in.

After making me wait for around ten minutes, a gentleman entered the room, said good morning, shook hands with me and introduced himself as the head of the HR department. I introduced myself too. He told me that all of his colleagues who were in charge of various functions of HR would join us soon. As we started with some small talk, another person entered the room. The HOD introduced him and told me that the new comer was looking after the training department.

And then one after other, four more people entered the conference room. They were all introduced to me along with their portfolios.

The meeting started forthright. But I was unable to concentrate and I was getting confused and I was mixing up the six persons sitting in front of me. I lost track of who was who and who was heading which function of HR.

The reason, I realized soon, was that all of the six persons looked so very identical. And therefore, I was mistaking one for the other and invariably addressing the wrong person. What was making them so identical? It took me just about a few seconds to put a finger at that.

All the six of them had the beard on their faces- they were all bearded guys with absolutely identical cut of their beards.

I have never seen such “conformity” in action till 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

DOSA

Apart from the genuinely ethical use of the reputed management consultancy firms of the world by their clients, they are also appointed by the client companies to meet their pre-meditated ends- let us not be hypocritical about this aspect of corporate life. After all, human mortals alone, with all kinds of good and bad motives run these organizations- the client companies as well as the reputed management consultancy firms. At times, these reputed management consultancy firms are happily willing to cooperate with their client companies in such ventures for the exchange of unimaginably fat fees that they charge to the client companies to bestow their expertise under these kinds of circumstances.

The pre-meditated ends that the client companies might wish to achieve could be- removal of a CEO or some director(s) on the board or some other top shots of the company who are becoming increasingly inconvenient to the rest of the jokers of the company for some vague reasons or laying off chunk of employees, all of this under the garb of restructuring or reorganization or it may be seeking huge loans from the financial institutions that they cannot get without being backed up by a thick report by a reputed consultant with loads of statistics, colorfully complicated graphs and charts and lots of incomprehensible jargon etc.

Under such consultancy assignments, the client company gives hints of their pre-meditated agenda during the various briefing sessions which are easily grabbed by the ever intelligent consultants of the consultancy firm and then, the whole lot of DOSA is prepared (DOSA is a delectable South Indian delicacy). Presently, DOSA means- decision oriented systems analysis. In this technique, first the decision is decided and then reasons are fabricated to support that decision. It’s that simple. The consultants, then, use their entire efforts and time in the client organization to ultimately prepare a nice dish of DOSA.

The story presently being written here belongs to such a team of a client company and it's management consultancy firm.

This company had already taken a few decisions: continue with the existing obsolete product, bag a huge loan from an international financial institution, fire a few top managers who were a threat to the existing kingdom and induct a few favorites. A reputed management consultancy firm was hired to study the entire gamut and come up with their recommendations of the proposed product mix, organization network and financial structure. They already had the hints from their client company on what kind of recommendations should surface.

Among other things that were happening, as a fall-out of the consultancy firm’s interim recommendations throughout the organization as a part of the exciting consultation studies and interviews etc, in a cabin of the Vice President (Human Resources), a meeting between the Principal Consultant of the consultancy firm and Vice President (Human Resources) was taking place.

Principal Consultant to Vice President (Human Resources), “You already know me. We were introduced in the apex meeting that took place a few days ago in the chamber of your Managing Director. As a part of the consultancy assignment, now we wish to start our studies in the human resources department. We believe that human resources are vital and therefore, your department plays a vital role too.”

Vice President (Human Resources), “OK, go ahead. I will introduce you and your team of consultants to my senior team. You can talk to them, collect any information or data you need from them and whatever else you wish to do, they will be around.”

Principal Consultant, “Don’t worry about it now. That can come later. But, as a starter, I do wish to emphasize that we are critically looking at the efficacy of the current organization structure and the status of the entire managerial manpower. You will have to be open to our questioning and don’t feel hurt if in the end, our recommendations unsettle some guys in the company, particularly at the senior levels. This is strictly between you and me; I am opening up more with you since you are in charge of human resources. Anybody at any level, howsoever senior he may be, can get affected by such studies. Even you. Please don't mind saying so to you so very bluntly.”

Vice President, “OK, I understand.”

Principal Consultant, “That much is OK for this first meeting. I have to go interview your Finance Director right away. We must help you guys in getting the much needed loan. That’s like a survival package for your company. Will be seeing you soon.”

Then, the Principal Consultant got up from his seat and walked right up to the door of the cabin, opened the door and almost walked out only to peep into the cabin once again.

He said, “Just one little thing.” And then, he walked back and sat in the chair once more.

He continued, “I understand you are going to this engineering college for the campus recruitment of graduate engineer trainees.”

Vice President (Human Resources), “Yes, tomorrow.”

By this time, the Principal Consultant had pulled out some papers from his brief case and spread them on the table. He said, “It’s strictly between you and me. It has nothing to do with the professional side of our work. It’s absolutely private. This is the bio-data of my brother-in-law (wife’s brother). He is studying in this college where you are visiting tomorrow. He may not be the most brilliant guy but for your set-up, he is the best fit. You just can't get anyone else like him, I assure you. And my wife wishes to see him settled here- this way he can stay with his parents in his own home town. So, please recruit him tomorrow. I am sure, you can do it.”

Without even waiting for reply, he left the bio-data on the table and walked out of the cabin.

Vice President (Human Resources) was left wondering in his cabin, he was talking to himself, “Does my survival now in this company depend on whether I recruit the brother-in-law of the ever-so-powerful Principal Consultant?”

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

Blind Shots

This case belongs to the era of the recent past when computers, systems, systems analysis, system design, systems analysis and design, management information systems (MIS), information technology (IT) etc had not become the day-to-day things.

Very few organizations had taken on to computers and fewer organizations had systems- even the manual management or business systems, forget about the computer ones. Those companies who had installed some semblance of management or business systems in their organizations used to have a department called “systems and procedures department” or “organization and methods department" (standard abbreviation being O&M). This department used to formulate certain organizational systems and procedures.

In this kind of illiterate environment, a premium industrial engineering and management institute dared to start a six months long educational course on systems design. Yes, it's title was “systems design”. They sent out the brochures of this course to many leading companies. The course fees were pretty steep and therefore, company sponsorships were necessary.

A top shot of the corporate office of a technologically sophisticated company designing and manufacturing highly technical products received this brochure. He was highly excited about it since he was already somewhat computer and system literate. He wished to spread that literacy to many people in the organization. Being in a hierarchical position where he could decide the things, decided to depute two senior executives from one of its manufacturing units geographically distantly located from the city where company had its corporate office. He could not have deputed more number of people to this six months long course on “systems design” because of three reasons: the course was very expensive, there were budgetary constraints and the company could not have spared out more people at a stretch for six long months.

However, with reference to deputation of even these two executives to the course, a problem had crept in. Due to the notorious inefficiency of the postal department (and may be, also of the institute that was going to run the course on systems design), this top shot in the corporate office received the brochure of the course much too late. Yet, he was hung on sending two executives to get wiser on systems design.

So, he got a telex sent out to the chief of manufacturing unit communicating the decision of the corporate office to depute two senior executives to the systems design course (Telex was used for communicating since Internet and emails came much later. Why, even fax came much later). The decision on who should be deputed was, however, left to the chief of manufacturing unit. In those days, a telex message would be sent in telegraphic language since each additional word on the telex would cost quite a bit. So, not too much was written in the telex.

The chief of the manufacturing unit had just about a day to decide on the names of the executives whom he would depute for this course. The course was starting the day after and a day would be required for travel. He had also to decide from which departments these two executive would be drawn. So everything was urgent on this issue.

However, the chief of manufacturing unit just did not have any clue on what this term “system design” meant. He could not have got the clarification on it from the corporate top shot since both were almost at the same hierarchical levels and he would prefer not to show his ignorance to the corporate office. Internet and World Wide Web were not available in those days where he could have found a few million web sites explaining the term “systems design”. He could not have consulted any of his subordinates (he was number one in the unit) since he could not expose his ignorance to his subordinates too. He had to decide about it the first thing the next morning as soon as he was in the office. He had just about the evening to decide.

With all these thoughts crowding his mind, he went home that day. Over the dinner, he saw his wife who was looking brighter than usual that evening. He noticed this aspect of her and he had the intuition that the wife would have the key to solve his problem. Couple of times earlier, he had experienced that consultations with wife helped. It is well known that top executives' wives know better about many aspects of the company where their husbands work. The gossips on who got promotions and who got fired reach the husband executives from their wives earlier than through the normal formal organizational communication channels which are normally pretty sluggish.

So, he asked her as to whom would she choose for deputation to the systems design course if she was given the choice. She was quite confused on this jargon “systems design”. She asked her husband about it and he replied that he too was not too sure about it and yet, he must take the decision by tomorrow morning.

She then said, “OK, forget it and darling, don’t you worry, it’s rather simple. See, you have this design department where your guys design some systems- those hydraulic and pneumatic systems etc. So pick up one senior manager from there and I know that a friend of mine keeps talking about her husband designing some systems and procedures for your factory. So pick him up; my friend will be quite happy and will continue to feel obliged to me”.

The chief of the unit was mighty convinced about the logic put up by his better half. Next day morning he issued out his instructions to depute these two guys from these two departments. And here we had one hydraulic systems design engineer/manager attending a very expensive six month long duration course on “systems design” at the premium management educational institute!!

The great part is yet to come: when this hydraulic systems design executive returned from the six months course, on being asked as to how the course was, he told his friends, “It was great. The food was wonderful, the campus was beautiful. And look, I have already put on weight. But, frankly, I don’t know why was I sent- it had nothing to do with hydraulic systems at all. Yet, anyway, it was a great paid holiday.”

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