The Hindu Business Line : Behavioural science and firm transparency

While working towards promoting transparency and openness, a look at some problems and the possible checks and balances that need to be given special care.

THE chief among human resource (HR) variables for organisational effectiveness are: Transparency and openness. While the former is an end, the latter is a means to that end.

Be that it may, the fact is that on a scale of 1 to 10, most organisations will hardly score three on these parameters. There are many problems in any organisation and it does take more than normal will to surmount these problems and emerge successful. This article is an attempt at discussing some problems and the possible checks and balances that need to be given special care and attention while working towards promoting transparency and openness, in some detail. The common remedies are also discussed in some detail.

Chief among the problems is the resistance shown by middle and senior managers. They perceive the very idea of transparency as a threat to their own established "comfort zones". Many a hapless HR professional will testify to their helplessness to the practice of sycophancy. It is pretty simple. Those who are weak or do not possess any special skill find it easy to tell the boss what he/she likes to hear.

Sycophancy is the worst enemy of transparency and openness. Very often the weaknesses of the bosses never get highlighted, and depending on their clout, they manage to cover them up. The cover given by the yes-men acts a shock absorber and nullifies any damage to the boss, more so, if the yes-men have direct access to the superiors of their boss. Further, those who desist from this practice — the professionals — are sidelined, and may quit the rganisation. Third, the self-motivated professionals more often than not, remain mute spectators. This silence and the inability/unwillingness to question anyone at any point in time, further reinforces the status quo.

Sensitivity training is a tool to bring about more openness. In a sensitivity training laboratory a group of people from different departments of an organisation get together and manage their emotions and feelings. There is no set agenda, and the group just gets going, evolving its own agenda.

Many private and public sector companies have attempted changes using the methodologies developed by the Indian Society for Applied Behavioural Sciences (ISABS), and the Indian Society for Individual and Social Development (ISISD). There is one problem with sensitivity training, though. The emotional stress and strain that the individual is put to can sometimes completely put off the person, and in such cases cause emotional trauma.

Some organisations have attempted a modified form of sensitivity training. The Johari Window is an excellent tool to help people open up in a group. Since there are four quadrants — what the individual knows but others do not know, what others know but the individual does not know, what the individual and others know, and what the individual and others do not know — the group confronts facts and comes up with interesting outcomes.

A professionally trained behavioural scientist takes the group through a detailed session, where each individual is made to open out in the context of what each other individual in the group has to comment on three behaviours of "stop", "start" and "continue". The "stop" behaviour refers to that the individual has to stop forthwith. Since the entire group is witness to what is being said, there is every chance that the group members will be more candid about they would like to say, and not hide any fact. The "start" behaviour is one that the individual has to start afresh. The "continue" behaviour is one that is already positive and needs to be continued. This exercise is reviewed as often as possible, to keep the momentum going. The HR professional's role will be to have as many one-to-one discussions with the managers as possible, and get them to see the beneficial effects of the learning, and the openness that becomes very evident.

A very strong leader can also promote openness and transparency by setting a personal example. Some leaders praise a person where he deserves it. They openly chide sycophancy and those who practice it are taken to task. Making bosses talk on the basis of facts can help the organisation get a true picture, more so, if the bosses tend to hide their own weakness by blaming their subordinates for everything. If such a leader manages to get his act right, there is every possibility that the bosses do not stoop to the lowest levels for maintaining the status quo. The fear for the leader's wrath might as well act as an antidote.

Promoting a climate of performance can greatly promote transparency and openness. Since the norms for rewards and career growth become clear, transparency and openness will become natural by-products of such cultures.

Yet another modern HR practice is the 360-degree appraisal, where there is feedback on one's performance from the superiors, subordinates and peers. Since a large amount of feedback emanates from a formal practice, there is every chance that the spirit of the whole exercise will promote transparency and openness.

(The author is Deputy Manager, Brakes India Limited, Sholinghur.)

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