It was Monday morning blues as usual. Heading towards office in the company provided transport facility I was half asleep on to Hosur road. Hosur Road in Bangalore is famed for its perennial traffic congest ions and accidents. And mind you other roads are no good to claim fame.And this Monday was no different. There was a accident and the traffic was moving slowly. Eyes half opened I could see in front of me a Truck.
There was nothing special about the truck it was the same very commonly sighted Tata truck well decorated by the owner. Only the paint had worn out.
As Taj Pasha our driver drove past the slow moving truck on the Hosur road some thoughts just flickered in my mind. There are lot of common things between Heavy Commercial Vehicle(HCV) commonly called Truck and traditionally managed big company's in India.
At first it is the graffiti and the mural painted on the truck which attracted me the most. Right above the Driver cabin the hood proclaims to whom the truck belongs to, it will read PATEL Roadways, Sree Venkateshwara Roadlines, Bannari Amman Transport in bright colours. As if it proclaims its lineage and pedigree of a sought. And Traditional company's are no different it also proclaims its lineage proudly to the people at large may not be to the all stake holders.
The support staff helper ensures that the the fellow driver cleans the front glass frequently. This ensures that the driver has clear cut vision while driving the truck. And no driver has to remind the support helper he will do on his own routinely. In organisation we have executive secretary who somewhat helps in filtering and managing the necessary information reqd for smooth functioning of company.
It is Brightly painted at the back of the truck ," Keep Distance" it can be debated whether the warning is a self prophecy or for others. As the organisation grows it distances itself from customer for the very purpose it was formed. Customer is the goal of any business activity but it distances itself with too tall structure in Organisational design and chart. Also it can be warning others with its own prejudice that ," We are big, no one can harm us!"
That reminds me of the David and Goliath story where David being small takes on Giant Goliath and overpowers the giant. David is clear that instead of being afraid of Big, think that he cannot be missed( to hit). Organisation distancing its self from ground reality makes its difficult to take decisions.
You sit in the cockpit of the truck there chances are that you will become deaf and immune with such engine noise. In traditionally managed organisation it is the top management which makes the noise which is unbearable to others. Its a top down approach in the functional organisational pyramid. But modern organisations have a bottoms-up approach. Where there is lot of noise and activity at the back. Compare it with Back engine heavy duty vehicles. Which is better?
How many heavy vehicles you see are fuel efficient ? Not only it consumes lot of fuel but pollutes a lot if ill maintained. And same is true will traditionally managed company's. Indian roads are definitely smaller and requires lot of skill to drive and in narrow roads its extremely difficult for truck drivers. Visit some APMC yard after rains you will know. In organisation it takes lots of energy and resources to stay fit, be agile and welcome changes within its functioning which is rare to see.
One more thing which we notice is a nicely written in bold white Speed Limit 40kms. Who has limited the speed? the load you carry or the roads or it is the govt? Organisations face the same problem they rarely take the chances of going at a higher speed when the roads are clear for them. Also many organisations overload more than they can carry. Some can be just free boarders.
My fellow passengers Balu and Ramu woke me up as my destination had come. Rubbing my eyes and correcting the hairs I walked down few steps and I put my fingers into the Bio-metric attendance marking system which is installed at the security office at the main entrance. The machine responded on the speaker, "Thank you". And for those the machine did not recognise the finger print responded, " Please try again".
If could accept my views, " Thank you" if not ," Please Try again"! That's what traditionaly managed top company MD tell.
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