Why Organisations Should ‘Understand’ Their Employees
It would be a worthwhile activity to disambiguate the word ‘devotion’ with respect to an organisation as we unravel the dilemma of human resources development in an organisation. An organisation is a structure (either formal or informal), established to achieve the prescribed goals or objectives as laid down by the top management. As such there ought to be no ambiguity in the minds of the employers or the employees about the targets.
Devotion and organisation
Devotion in a human being is the commitment to fulfil the parameters which are outlined. It is here that the skill of the top brass will be tested. The challenge is for them to upgrade and enhance the degree of commitment among the workforce, such that they do not get distracted or confused by perceiving their growth to be distinct from that of the organisation. Exalted devotion amplifies the performance of the individual simultaneously augmenting the capacity of the organisation.
This cycle empowers both the individual and the establishment and in turn, provides a fillip to human resources development.
In this age of rapidly and furiously changing technology, a question that would naturally pique the curiosity of the average person is, “How do huge, monolithic organisations function? What makes them tick?” Let us attempt to answer the questions taking the examples of the Indian Railways and the Indian Defence forces.
The Indian Railways is rightly called the lifeline of the nation; seamlessly connecting all corners of the country. In the last fiscal, 1146 million tonnes of cargo was loaded and carried across the length and breadth of the country by various freight cars. Further, on any given day on an average of around 24 million people travel by various trains, from the suburban trains to the high speed Gatiman Express.
We incessantly face challenges from within and without. Encircled by hostile neighbours, challenging geo political situation, inhospitable terrains, not to mention the numerous terrorist, radical and Naxal organisations which have struck root within the country and outside and espouse the cause of dismemberment of the republic. The Indian Armed Forces maintain vigil and protect our frontiers against the visible and the invisible enemy.
Chain of command and discipline
There is a single directive and chain of command from the General Manager to the gangman patrolling the tracks of the Indian Railways. Similarly, in the armed forces, it is their coherent chain of command which ensures their smooth functioning, their very survival. Inbuilt in the system is a discipline which guarantees that both the organisations work 24*7, 365 days a year.
Without this regimen of discipline and a direct chain of command which dispenses directions, these two organisations will cease to exist as we see them today and would plunge into anarchy.
Cogent communication
Discipline and devotion get ingrained in any organisation in case the ideas of the leaders are successfully conveyed to the rank and file of the institution; seeping into every nook and cranny of the network in an uncorrupted manner.
Any idea, no matter how great, would be inutile if it is not transmitted effectively and understood by organisational members. The process of uninterrupted communication singularly serves four major functions. It enables control, motivates the employees, ensures emotional expression and transmits information.
Communication can also be perceived as a process or a flow of information. However, misadventures are encountered when there are deviations or when blockages occur in that flow and the derivable lie unaccomplished.
Leadership styles
There are as many definitions of leadership as there are leaders and their philosophies. There are democratic, participative, delegators, dictatorial, compassionate, stubborn, imaginative, think-out-of-the-box and also coercive leaders.
It is indisputable that the leader in order to be effective ought to acquire qualities of empathy with the workforce, effective communication. It is also imperative that he or she possesses greater information and knowledge than the foot soldiers. Lastly, a leader must be an inspirational figure and lead from the front.
Successful leaders hone their skills and learn the craft through various processes and often through trial and error. Some strategies pay immediate dividends. Results are expeditiously visible to members of the organisation and various stakeholders. At other times strategies take time to ripen. However, the leader should be singularly focussed to achieve the milestones, always ensuring devotion to the organisation even if immediate benefits to the individual are not apparent. The ‘patriarch’ of the organisation should empathise with the employees, appreciate their problems and correctly assess their strengths and weaknesses; but with an eagle eye look for recalcitrant employees to crack the whip at an appropriate juncture.
Leadership is ultimately all about the ability to influence the organisation, the stakeholders and various formal and informal groups and mobilise the human resources of the company to achieve the corporate goal.
Understanding organisational culture
An important angle in human resource development in any organisation is to discern the riddle of its organisational culture. Organisational culture primarily means a system of shared meaning held by the employees. This is what distinguishes it from other organisations and establishments. The organisation, its men and material are innovative and risk takers, engage in detail tasking, embrace the philosophy of outcome orientation, appreciate people orientation, the cynosure is on team orientation, over a period of time develop an inbuilt aggression which exudes positive energy to accomplish corporate goals, exult self-confidence and keep at bay antipathetic and gloom-ridden tendencies and maintains stability to scale the summit.
These are tools which harness the underlying principle of human resource development.
“We recruit for attitude and train for skill,” writes Atul Gawande the American surgeon and author of the iconic, Being Mortal. Indeed, words that sum up succinctly the role of human resources development.
12. How the Human Mind Develops Psychological Skills
The human mind over a period of time becomes robust by assessment of individual differences, behavioural modifications and various guidance skills
Maharishi Patanjali in the celebrated treatise Patanjali Yoga Sutra, wrote, “Tado drashtuhu swarupe avastham,” (Sutra 3), implying that the seer then rests or remains in his / her own nature. This exalted state can be achieved by a disciplined mind. Discipline is to unite oneself, to integrate all loose ends of one’s existence.
It would be worthwhile to perceive and comprehend Sutra 4; “Vrutti sarupyamitarata,” that is, a seeker identifies oneself with the modulations of the mind all the time.
Nature of the mind
The human mind is perpetually cannonaded by innumerable thoughts and at the same time is engaged with the outside world all the time. With eyes wide open in a wakeful state an individual is ensnared by senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste. Or else a human being revisits the world of sleep or inertia where the mind blanks out the sensory perception to delve deep inside itself; so much so that one may become the object being perceived in such a state. In such a state it empties and transfigures the mind; attains a tranquil state to metamorphose itself to achieve something atypical and unexampled.
The quintessential character or chitta of the mind in such a stage is to purge itself of all antipathetic and Sisyphean thoughts and embrace efficacious ones and discipline the mind to develop and nourish psychological skills.
Painter from Milan
An estimable Italian painter was intrigued and fascinated by the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma and the epic Mahabharata. This consummate occidental artiste from Milan was overwhelmed with the celestial and divine portraits of Hindu deities by the legendary Indian painter.
Raja Ravi Varma had successfully carved a niche for himself through dexterous fusion of European techniques with Indian sensibilities and made the paintings affordable for Indian art lovers through lithographs.
Meanwhile, the proficient Italian painter embarked upon his odyssey to delineate the story of the epic Mahabharata on canvas. He visited several libraries, researched the subject and spent close to ten years to acknowledge, and perceive various nuances, undercurrents and emotions of the saga penned by sage Veda Vyasa.
He psychologically coached and up skilled his mind through techniques of looking back into various incidents in his life, understand the meaning of love and affection (since they act as a springboard to scale the summit), discovered bonding and togetherness among erudite scholars of Mahabharata and the fraternity of painters, empathised with the loneliness of every aspiring artist and with immense jollity shared their altruism besides the benignity of the painting community.
He celebrated life with gratitude to his Indian friends and the subtlety of the chronicle seeped in his mind and he could then put paint to brush and made splendacious creations. Fundamentally and predominantly the Italian painter developed advanced psychological skills to achieve the laid down objectives.
Discipline, identity and understanding
The term psychological skill-sets can be broadly delineated as a degree of proficiency of faculties, or dexterity that a seeker acquires through vigorous training and vast experience in life. It is paramount and mandatory that the individual keeps the apertures of the mind open to various evolving concepts, propositions and abstractions.
The human mind over a period of time becomes robust by assessment of individual differences, behavioural modifications and various guidance skills. Continuous and vigorous training disciplines and lays down what can be termed as a quotidian regimen to harness and upgrade skill-sets. The mind is then prepossessing and lustrous like fresh dew on rose petals, resonating with ideas.
The mind demands proof
An untrained mind perennially demands proof. It is not a disciplined mind and is still not open to develop psychological skills.
Sutra 5 of Patanjali Yoga Sutra states that, “Vrutayaha panchtayyaha klishtaklishtaha,” meaning that modulations in the human mind are five-fold and could be agonizing or not painful at all. There are some vruttis or modulations of the mind which are unwelcome and unbidden.
This has been further explained in Sutra 6, “Pramanaviparyayavikalpanidra-smrutayaha.” The human mind is either in quest of proof, on the path of wrong understanding, in a state of imagination, in a state of sleep or memory.
Natural states
They may well appear paradoxical but these are all natural stages in life. And it is perhaps essential that the human mind is exposed to such thought processes; for it is from doubts that solutions arise. Any scientist will vouchsafe for this trajectory of thought process.
But it is essential to clear the dark clouds of doubt that envelope the human mind in order to seek clarity. This too can be achieved through developing psychological skill-sets of practice (abhyasa) and discipline to achieve the desired target. The examples of the Italian painter and ace archer Arjuna immediately figure on the list; how their minds could become robust by singularly pursuing the path through practise and discipline.
As one develops psychological skills, individuals develop interpersonal skills too; cognitive skills, effective skills, personality and attitudinal skills, expressive and reflective skills grow. It helps one to grow in the knowledge of self, nature, acquire the ability to work with people various backgrounds, respect diversity and accept with sensitivity preferences of various individuals and their ideologies.
“Knowing others is intelligence. Knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is a strength, mastering yourself is true power,” wrote the renowned scholar Lao Tzu.
