Yesterday after hearing Mr. RN Mishra for a while ... I felt I have revisited the past .... There are organizations in India, who address the employees working for the organization as members of the family by using the Hindi equivalent term called Parivar. This word in certain organizations is also used in the employment contract which states that the new entrant is welcome as a member of the Parivar. Some of these organizations had / still have a paternalistic style of management and a practice of taking care of the employees from the womb to the tomb. These organizations also had / still have a policy of recruiting the children of employees, and one does see second and third generation employees presently working for these organizations. The second and third generation employees are strong advocates of this policy which is understandable because they have been beneficiaries’ in employment and also have strong networks in the organization, as they have known employees at various levels from their childhood. The practice of engaging employee’s children in many old organizations has been prevalent and is presently undergoing a change both from the perspective of the employees as well as the organization. Employee’s children desire employment in the organization mostly in their field of interest and placement in department / location of their choice and also at levels higher than the level at which their father / mother was recruited years back. At the same time the organization has ample choice in recruitment, as the availability of well qualified competent candidates in the market is high compared to the situation when these organizations were in their infancy. Also the employee’s children in most cases find it tough to compete against other candidates for being recruited strictly on merit, though there are always some exceptions. Also the business environment is becoming increasingly competitive, thus compelling organizations to undertake recruitment strictly on merit at the same time, some of these old organizations continue to give weightage / quota in recruitment of candidates who are employee’s children, so as to continue the past practice in a modified manner. I have also known of some old organizations who apart from having a practice of recruiting employee’s children had signed settlements with the trade union of the employees, that if an employee resigns or retires his/her child will be employed by the organization, though such a settlement can be constitutionally challenged by the organization and set aside by a court order, but it has industrial relation implications. Some of these old organizations, have reinforced the definition of Parivar by having a practice that employees, who are close to the top management / owners are rewarded by continuing to work for the organization well after their age of superannuation and receive extension of service year after year, every year in spite the organization not only claiming but having a system of succession planning in the organization. A Management Trainer cum Consultant friend of mine defined that these employees enjoy the benefit of STD (Serve Till Death)as they are considered loyal to the top management / owners and have the experience and capability to deliver results in spite of having crossed the age of superannuation. In certain cases these superannuated employees continue as retainers / advisors. The employees, who benefit from STD are positively happy because after the age of superannuation it is not easy getting remunerative jobs in another organization; at the same time young professionals who have joined the organization purely on merit, while talking amongst their informal group members and seeing the STD practices of the organization are critical of the same, calling it a methodology of obliging certain employees at corporate expenses in spite having a system of succession planning, as their promotion prospect get delayed / blocked. Organizations and individuals both have a choice when recruiting or joining each other; however at times there are pressures for recruitment of certain candidates who are friends /relatives / children / dependants /referrals /supporters of employees, ex-employees, trade union leaders, community leaders, religious leaders, bankers, suppliers, wholesalers, contractors, government officials, politicians and others, because of the excess supply compared to demand in the labour market for jobs in reputed organizations. There are instances where the concerned executives of organization consciously yield to such pressures and oblige. Experience indicates that candidates recruited under pressure; do continue to use the pressure from external source if possible, as and when required in order to prosper and grow in the organization. At the same time candidates who joined purely on merit are critical about the organization yielding to external pressures for some of their colleagues who continuebto prosper not necessarily on merit but because of their contacts. The employment choice is exercised by both sides i.e. organization and the individual and the same are confirmed by an offer and acceptance through an employment contract. Reality of life is that employment of an individual with an organization is an economic relationship and not an emotional relationship, though with passage of time individuals do build up an emotional bond / relationship with other employees and at times with the organization. In the employment contract an individual based on his/her knowledge, skill, competence and experience agrees to render services to the organization and the organization in turn agrees to pay monetary compensation along with welfare and terminal benefits. The employment contract apart from the job and the remuneration, for which the individual is engaged, also specifies quite many things including the notice period on either side for termination of the contract or monetary compensation in lieu of the notice period. Termination of employment at the behest of the employee is governed by the contract of employment ,whilst termination of employment at the behest of the employer in India does have certain safeguards for the employees that are governed by the Industrial Disputes Act, wherein the employer cannot terminate the contract by just using the termination clause of the contract, as that would be construed as retrenchment, unless the employee is involved in a proved misconduct which can justify termination of the employment contract. However in the case of employees in India not covered under the jurisdiction of the Industrial Disputes Act, the employer has been in a position to terminate the employment by stating loss of confidence, but this, at times, gets challenged in a court of law by the departing employee. Termination of employment at the behest of the employer of management staff is by and large governed by needs of the organization coupled with performance of the individual such as: (i) business decisions; (ii) unsatisfactory performance of the individual; (iii) employees whose performance is rated as bottom 3 to 5% resulting from the normal distribution curve force fit in annual performance appraisal and these employees have to depart from the organization. These approaches on termination are not stated in the contract of employment, but are prevalent practices in the present corporate environment. I have in the last two decades known of a large number of organizations both in private and public sector undertaking the exercise of downsizing / right sizing their work force at all levels due to business decisions of demerger, merger, acquisition, closure, hiving off, sale, of products or certain businesses or the enterprise itself. There are times when the exercise of downsizing / right sizing the work force in an organization is undertaken to improve operational efficiency, reduce cost and cut down the fat in the organization that has accumulated over a period of time due to laxity of controls and a work culture which is far from satisfactory. Employees in organizations who are given pink slips or asked / compelled to resign, and were addressed by the organization as members of a Parivar, quite often raise a question: “The organization calls us members of a Parivar, but treats us as economic commodity and our services are dispensed with based on the contract of employment when it suits the organization”. The departing employees obviously perceive these situations from their perspective and not from the organizational perspective.Parents give birth to a child and also the child gives birth to parents, neither can the child choose his / her parents and nor can the parents choose the child, except in the case of adoption where the parents make a conscious choice. Entry in a family i.e. a Parivar is by birth which is also referred as blood relationship or by marriage. The relationship in a family is emotional and not economic. When members of a family start dealing with each other in economic terms and not in emotional terms, such behaviour results in relationship getting strained and at times leading to bitterness and unpleasant situations. The family has a hierarchy arising from age and relationship, coupled with authority and responsibility, which needs to be respected and honoured by all, if meaningful family relationship has to continue uninterrupted and flourish. However, we do see that even in families while the relationship is emotional, partition of family’s tangible assets and wealth to the next generation takes place based on inheritance or will and the process of partition in certain cases is peaceful and in certain cases partitions also witness bitter legal battles. live and, towards the profession to which they belong. Individuals need to plan their work so that they also have adequate time for family & children, sports, entertainment, leisure, sleep, community service, professional involvement, and self education / development. Infosys Ltd. Chairman Narayana Murthy in a communication to his employees on “Late Sitting” asked them to work only during prescribed working hours and totally avoid late sitting in office and mentioned “Love your job but never fall in love with your company”. This statement of Narayana Murthy summarizes well the work life balance and HR Professionals can learn a lot “Let us not convert an economic employment relationship to an emotional relationship" .

Presently most organizations like professional bodies, employers’ organizations, chambers’ of commerce, trade associations, trade unions, academic institutions and others organize conferences on themes which they consider relevant to the present situation, useful from the participants’ perspective , so as to enroll maximum participants and at the same time generating a financial surplus for their organization. There are consulting firms and companies that organize conference with invited guests purely from a business perspective, these types of conferences have not been covered in this article. Also most large size companies organize an annual conference for some or all of their employees and the same is also not covered in this article. Most conferences have a catchy title which is broad, so that various sub themes can be easily accommodated under the main theme / title, though there has to be a logic and flow in the sub themes. Some of the conference themes also have a prefix of international / national / regional to the theme of the conference, which is the present trend, and there is need to ensure that the spread of content, speakers and the participants conform to the prefix that is stated, otherwise the organizers of the conference lose credibility. There are organizations in India, who every year hold an annual conference, and the organizers have gained respectability that they are able to invite the best speakers coupled with various tariffs (platinum, gold, silver, bronze) of sponsorship support, advertisement support if a souvenir is being published, attract large number of paid participants and generate a reasonable financial surplus at the same time ensuring that the speakers as well as the participants find the conference useful. It is also true that there are organizations in India, who find it extremely difficult to get paid participants and generate any financial surplus when they organize an annual conference; some of these organizations invite individuals as free participants to the conference, so that there are adequate participants in the audience. When the bottom-line of enterprises is under pressure, enterprise restrict the expenditure on sponsorship of conferences and also restrict nominating participants for attending conferences, because in outstation conferences the air fare and hotel expense on each participant is much more than the participation fees. At one time in India there was a high synergetic interest amongst air-lines, hotels located at hill stations / beach resorts / historical cities as conference venue, which is presently changing as enterprises are interested in controlling cost and assessing the cost benefit analysis of nominating participants to conferences which involves outstation travel and stay. The pharmaceutical companies in India in the past and some of them even today are alleged to be funding travel cost, boarding, lodging expenses of medical practitioners as delegates and /or speakers to medical conferences organized by associations of medical practitioners in India and abroad. The Government of India has questioned this practice and desires to come forward with a legislation to curb this practice which is undertaken by pharmaceutical companies in the garb of promotional expenses. Presently the Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers’ of India (OPPI), The Medical Council of India (MCI) and the leading pharmaceutical companies have come out with a code to be followed by the enterprises and medical practitioners so as to curb / restrict this practice. In today’s environment organizing conferences is a very competitive business, because there are a large numbers of players organizing conference on same /similar themes and at times even with same / similar speakers. I have known of organizations who presently are finding it extremely tough to achieve any financial gain from a conference. I anticipate that the market for conferences in India is going to remain competitive in the near future and unless the conference has something unique to offer, it is not going to be beneficial to the participants and at the same time facilitating generation of a financial gain to the organizers. Conferences do become unique when the presentations by speakers are backed by research, success stories, approaches on tackling current problems, likely future challenges and suggestions on overcoming them. By and large chairpersons and speakers invited to conference from outstation are senior company executives or government officials, who are able to travel and stay at the cost of their employer, but in some cases the chairpersons and speakers ask the organizer to fund the travel and also provide boarding, lodging and local transport, which then increases the conference cost for the organizer. Quite often one finds that the same speakers get invited for various conferences and their presentations are repeat performance of what they have spoken earlier. These speakers are happy to be invited, as speaking in these conferences gives them visibility and they try to build their own brand along with their employers’ brand. There are a number of good practicing professionals in our country who shy away from speaking and making presentations in conferences. Organizers’ need to identify such professionals and consciously invite such professionals as speakers, so that there is induction of fresh blood / talent in the pool of speakers, reality of life is that “even eagles need a push”. Being a speaker at conferences does provide an excellent opportunity to a professional to gain visibility and to show-case one's achievements. Young professionals should also make a conscious effort to graduate from being a participant to a speaker, which does leads to self development and visibility. Few straight question to think ....

There are two key challenges that confront us today: how to transform today’s leaders and how to transform today the leaders of tomorrow. In practical terms, this means how to de-corrupt the minds of today’s leaders and how to make the minds of coming generation incorruptible. The eternal value system of self-discipline, truth and non-violence was propounded thousand years ago. Wise men and women in every religion have been reiterating those values all along. Often, thinkers and intellectuals in each era were scorned and penalized by those in power for their audacity in instigating masses to seek virtue in rulers, virtue was meant only for the masses that in any case were more virtuous than their leaders in most periods of history. The key message for a leader is to transmit that which endures in the realm of the heart, and thought and speech. His maxim should exemplify the concept of wisdom. By truly understanding each of these characteristics, one requires rectitude of mind, action, proper balance and steering capabilities to navigate the heart in such a way that efficient and luminous results ensure, and evil, injustice and irrationality flee. Truth and justice are backbone of every civilization. We take leadership lessons from history. In good old days, quality of leadership used to be far better than what it is today. Particularly in India, justice, equity and fair play remained guiding factor for leaders at large. Let us examine some of the age old wisdom of ancient India described in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and Kautilya’s Arthashatra PATANJAILI’S YOGA SUTRAS: Wisdom of Ancient India – around 2000 BC Patanjali, an Indian sage, wrote the ‘Yoga Sutras’ in 200 BC. It is one of the six authoritative texts of ancient Hindu philosophy, containing knowledge that existed since 2000 BC. The essence of the book focused on five virtues of an outstanding leader: non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence and non-receiving of gifts, described briefly as follows: ● Non-Violence: Not merely physical non-violence, but non-violence of one’s thought and emotions. It symbolizes complete lack of brute strength in our attitude towards others, and completes absence of anger. Anger leads to bewilderment, from bewilderment comes loss of memory, by that the intelligence is destroyed, and from destruction of intelligence, man perishes. ● Truthfulness: not just the much drilled ‘honesty is the best policy’ approach, or never to tell a lie. Truthfulness is never to live a lie. It is the truthfulness of intellect and its thoughts, truthfulness of mind and its emotions and truthfulness of body and its actions. ● Non-Stealing: Goes beyond the profession of a thief, it is not to covert what is not one’s own; again – physical objects, but also ideas, thoughts or anything one wants to possess. ● Contingency: A state of purity of thought, of chastity of mind and body. Sex is away of life, necessary for nature’s progress, but to be pursued at the right time in the right way, not as an indulgence. ● Non-receiving of gifts: Based on the rationale that the giver is another being; what he gives comes with strains of his own consciousness. One may take from a man of higher consciousness, but never from one of lower consciousness. Since it is not easy to determine that, it is better not to accept any gifts. Patanjali’s tripod of leadership comprised three distinguishing traits: non-violence, truthfulness and self-control. Contemporary literature suggests that there were several leaders in that era who followed these percepts and lived their lives unobtrusively, without pomp and show, in accordance with these virtues. Kautilya’s Arthashastra: Leadership practices in India – 300 BC Arthashatra is an ancient Indian treatise on economics and politics written by Kautilya(also known as Chanakya) around 300 BC. He perceived the Stage (an organization) as the means to secure individual, religious and economic happiness for all. He categorically described all abuse of power and deviation from the path of righteousness, and developed a holistic and integral approach to the leader and all his close associates (the entire top management) must be of right mettle, and they must all function in a well-organized, well-managed structure. He outlined three pillars of leadership. 1. Community Welfare: There can be nothing more important than the welfare of the members of the community in which the leader operates. ‘In the happiness of his subjects lies his happiness; in their welfare, his welfare; whatever pleases him, he shall not consider as good, but whatever pleases his subjects, he shall consider as good. 2. Conscientious top Management: If a leader is energetic, his subjects will be equally energetic, and if he is reckless, so will they be. But being energetic is not enough; he must make sure that his entire top leadership comprises men of virtue and intelligence. The leader should particularly guard against four behaviors that make a man seducible: i. Anger (caused by unfulfilled desires), leading to temptations of vice; ii. Greed (caused by envy and overwhelming desires), leading to temptations of wealth; iii. Pride (caused by arrogance of power), leading to temptations of lust; and iv. Fright (caused by attachment and fear of losing what one has), leading to temptations of insecurity. 3. Good Organizational Framework: A firm, sturdy organization with seven strong integral elements: the leader, defined territory (domains of operation), good organization structure, strong planning skills, control of finance, framework of law and order and alliance partners. Though written over 2000 years ago, his commentary is very relevant today. Kautilya’s tripod of leadership is sensibly simple and virtuous and has been the guiding treatise for several centuries thereafter. There were quite a few Indian rulers, who observed his thesis in practice, but the influence waned gradually and India’s days of glory also ended like those of Egypt, Greece and China. Conclusion: There is an old story about a peasant who goes to a priest for advice on saving his dying chickens. The priest recommends prayer, but the chickens continue to die. A week later, the priest recommended classical music for the chicken farm, but the deaths continue unabated. Pondering again, the priest advises repainting the entire building interior in bright yellow colour. Finally, all the chickens die. ‘What a shame,’ the priest tells the farmer, ‘I had so many other good ideas.’ The peasant believed that the priest was a leader who could guide him. The priest believed he must offer guidance to anyone who came to him. The result: while the farmer who trusted him lost all his means of livelihood, the priest continued to be a priest. This example shows that leaders do not always give much thought to the quality of their thought, and yet the quality of their thinking determines the quality of the lives of those around. Thinking is a different process and a moment is a long time. Rarely do we find men and women who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answer, which at best provides half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think. When some people do really attempt to think, the real difficulty is to be able to track what one is thinking and how one is thinking. Despite our wisdom and intelligence, there irrational beliefs effectively restrict the thinking process within narrow boundaries and we end up hiding our own latent potential from ourselves. “Transforming irrational beliefs into rational, pragmatic beliefs, first in himself, and then in those one works with, is the key task of a leader" growth and prosperity of any organisation its very pivotal that the top leadership sincerely belive and practice spiritual and ethical guidance…..