The Hindu Business Line : Rediscovering the obvious

THIS column celebrated the achievement of Peter Drucker, the management master, a few days ago and referred to the neglect of his writings in academic circles. Not that what he said was not relevant, but it was too much so, and too close to the bone for some people's comfort. These thoughts arose as I was browsing in the impressive, well-designed Learning Resources Centre on the campus of the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. Going through some back numbers of the Harvard Business Review confirmed my thinking that the so-called management literature is written for a temporary audience and should not be taken as seriously as some authors would have us do.

A study of the contents page of what is unquestionably the most prestigious manager's magazine in the world shows some interesting trends. First, the writing, though readable, is long-winded and verbose, mountain-climbing over obvious conceptual molehills, calling them by new names. Then there is the tactic of creative editing: taking extreme positions with one kind of article and opposing them with anecdotal arguments in another.

Let me cite some examples. This month's issue has an article that finds that maybe American industry has too much meaningless product variety. For years, the mantra has been customer-centred offerings of infinite variety — as in the famous Campbell slogan of 57 flavours of soups.

Complexity in the sense of variety of offerings, the darling of marketing wizards in search of the elusive differential (other soaps merely wash you, but ours `lanolises' you, as the old joke had it) it now turns out, is dangerous. It leads to disproportionately high costs of manufacturing and inventory keeping. So there has to be an optimum limit of variants and sizes for any manufacturer, and most of us have already far exceeded it. The example held up for us to admire is that of a recent and successful West Coast restaurant chain, which has cut down everything to just four options and no more — including the number of colours in the design of its interiors! Therefore, the editors of this august journal would have us believe, we must now all reassess our businesses to see where we can cut out variety instead of directing attention to costs. This is rediscovering the obvious without even the usual excuse of new buzzwords.

Another article asks you whether you are working too hard and if the American executive has too much stress in his life? Well, the journal has trawled the archives to fish out an answer: the relaxation response, written about by its author Benson in 1975. And he traces his inspirations to American philosophers of the 19th century.

In this revived article, in the form of an interview, he recalls research evidence to show that there is an inverted semi-circular curve that depicts the relationship between stress and well-being or productivity. It is good (you guessed it) but up to a point! What is fascinating is that the recommended response includes closing your eyes and letting go, and saying some soothing words to yourself — to change the biochemistry of your brain (otherwise known in this country as yoga nidra!). The lesson? Stress is not good always; it can be bad for you. Exactly like innovation and product proliferation.

Here, then, are just two instances, selected at random from this month's issue of a major publication which suggests that there is perhaps very little worth saying that is fresh in the so-called literature of managing. And what there is, can often be said simpler and in a less pompous style.

Taking oneself too seriously can clearly be carried to extremes. People such as Drucker who punctured such posturing were naturally not favourites of the establishment. Repetition and rediscovery of the obvious may be necessary in journalism but can hardly qualify as science. The pendulum is certainly swinging away for now.

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