People at Work & Play

The dust has settled after the shocking events at the second cricket Test at Sydney. Australia do not seem to have many supporters for their “win at any cost” strategy. The Indians lost a Test which they could well have won but have emerged victorious in the eyes of many across the world.

Amongst many, many articles following the Test, I liked one by Huw Richards in the International Herald Tribune. I think it is a well written summary of recent events. The Australians should have been celebrating- and the cricketing world celebrating with them- for their glorious feat of 16 successive Test wins. Unfortunately, they forgot that the means are as important as the end.

They won at any cost but now celebrate in mute mode virtually alone. Most cricket fans brought up in the traditions of sportsmanship are shocked by their blatant desire to win at any cost.

Pakistan’s coach, Geoff Lawson a former Australian fast bowler himself, said: “Perception is everything and the outside world thinks that this Australian team is arrogant and not well-behaved. Whether the team themselves think that is another issue, but I can guarantee you the rest of the cricket world certainly feel that about this cricket team.”

We from the sub-continent held the Aussies in great esteem. Through the ages we hero worshipped Sir Don Bradman, Ray Lindwall, Keith Miller, Richie Benaud and many others. I feel sorry that Australian standards of sportsmanship under Ricky Ponting have fallen to such low levels.

The much hyped Rs. 100,000 car is finally here. The Tata Nano was formally launched at the Auto Expo today by Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group. It is a big day for Tata Motors - for nowhere else in the world, is such a vehicle being launched at such a price point.

The car is smaller than a Maruti from Suzuki, but has 21 per cent more volume or space inside than the Maruti 800. The dealer price of the car will be Rs 1 lakh, ( Rs. 100000* plus value-added tax (VAT) plus transport charges. It is to Tata’s credit that they kept up to their word. As Mr. Tata said in his speech ” A promise is a promise”.

The car will have a 624-cc petrol engine generating 33 bhp of power. It will sport a 30-litre fuel tank and 4-speed manual gearshift. The car will come with air conditioning, but will have no power steering. It will have front disk and rear drum brakes. The company claims mileage of 23 km per litre.

The Nano is expected to be commercially launched in the second half of 2008.

I am sure this car will have tremendous demand in India when it is launched. It is akin to the first Maruti launch in 1983.

Have a look at the new site for the car: Tata Motors People’s car.

Undoubtedly, we in India have gained immensely from the benefits flowing from a booming economy. What is worrying is a socio-economic fallout. Some of our more traditional bastions like marriage are coming under immense pressure, especially amongst the youth. Divorces are becoming far too common in the growing metros.

In the old days, divorces in India were a rarity. A few families had some one who had lived abroad and was divorced. This was put down as an aberration and seen as one of the perils of living abroad by our elders. It was believed that such things happened only in the West.

I was dismayed to see “Divorce Fever Grips City” in today’s Times of India

It is as if an epidemic is sweeping through the city! Apparently, a city like Pune in India is seeing as many as 240 cases of divorce per month in 2007 ! If it is any comfort, the report says the figure was 150 cases per month in 2006.

Every day, young, well-educated and well-earning men and women, refusing to see a permanent future with each other, are resorting to the law.

Many social, psychological, economic and cultural reasons are cited by couples while applying for a divorce. Lack of compatibility, interfering in-laws, cruelty, domestic violence and irregular communication were the causes of the split.

It is sad that the most typical reason for couples in the age bracket of 25 to 35 was lack of proper communication between them.

“Due to hectic work hours, couples are not able to invest enough time in each other. Unfortunately, they try to analyse their personal lives from the professional point of view. Such an attitude is very common among couples working in information technology (IT) companies,” says advocate Abhay Apte. He stated that on an average, six or seven divorce petitions were filed every day last year.

Significantly, most couples applied for a divorce within 2-3 years of marriage. Interference by the families of both spouses has also been cited as the most common reason. “It has been observed that spouses prefer to talk about personal issues not with each other but with their respective families. This creates a communication void between them which results in misunderstandings. Also, parents can’t easily let go of their authority over their children. They are in the habit of interfering in the couple’s day-to-day activities,” explains advocate Neelima Atre.

I feel (I have done no research on this) the main reasons are:

1. Young people rushing into marriage in a dreamy state without understanding all that is involved
2. Marriages taking place under parental pressure in which the couple have been left with no choice
3. Newly found wealth and a new life style putting pressure on the couple as they think they are expected to behave in ways which do not come to them naturally
4. Economic independence making the woman more bold to walk out of an unsatisfactory marriage
5. Work-life balance issues adding pressure with one or the other partners not willing to compromise on their work priorities or careers.

I hope parents and young people take more care in deciding about marriage. I hope they make better and more considered choices. Rushing into a marriage without thinking through issues and being fully ready is the surest reason for having to rush out of it too.

The recently promoted manager looked really hassled. The strain was clearly telling on him and his health- even if he were to deny this strongly. When I had met him a few months ago - before his promotion- I had been struck by his alertness, his enthusiasm and his overall sense of confidence. Obviously things had changed- for the worse.

In our conversation, he confessed he was wrestling with the totally different aspects of the new role. To give him an opportunity to think things for himself, I asked him to make two columns on a sheet of paper and list the differences between his old and new roles. This was important to give him focus on the things that were now more important for job success.

The list we made looked something like this:

• Moving from “doing ” the job to a more uncertain managerial role
• Being responsible for his own work to being responsible for the work of others
• Using largely his technical skills to having to use a combination of technical and people skills
• Being delegated tasks by his boss to having to delegate sensibly to his team
• From being ” one of the boys” to being “the boss”.

Of course, there were more points but you get the idea. If these inherent differences are not recognized and worked upon, he would remain running around working himself to the ground. He has to change not only the way he works but indeed the way he thinks! He has to gear himself to understand the new context and requirements and prepare himself- not merely in acquiring new knowledge and skills but in understanding what he is going through and how he can come out successfully.

Most people going through a major change go through this process:

1. Shock- initial reaction on finding the task to be very different from what you had expected
2. Denial - building a feeling that things can’t be that bad
3. Depression- sinking on finding out that if changes are not made, things could get much worse
4. Accepting Reality- understanding the situation and realizing that you need to make changes
5. Testing- putting the new learnings and working style into practice. Observing reactions and outcomes. What works. What does not.
6. Searching- understanding what these changes mean to you. What are you comfortable with.
7. Acceptance- accepting the changes you have made and beginning to live and work on the new terms

Once he understood the inherent differences and got the hang of the new requirements, my young friend became far more confident of himself.

In a recent meeting his boss mentioned the young manager was really picking up things quickly and looking quite promising. I was glad that the young man had shifted gears before it was too late for his organization and himself.

You can subscribe to the A-Step-A-Day series using RSS at http://bprao.wordpress.com/category/a-step-a-day/feed