The Hindu Business Line : Churning the oceans

It is said that all the things in this world appeared when the Ocean of Milk was churned by the Asuras (bad guys) and Devas (good guys). The churn was the Meru mountain and the rope was Vasuki, the divine serpent. Lord Vishnu was the umpire and his job was to make sure that the good things that emerged were distributed fairly between the two groups. Things went well for a while and then suddenly, a deadly poison appeared. There was panic and no one wanted it. Lord Shiva ca me to the rescue and swallowed it in the interest of saving this world. At long last, the divine nectar appeared and it is said that the Asuras tried to run away with it. Vishnu took the form of Mohini, a supremely beautiful damsel, and tricked the Asuras to part with it and then gave it to the Devas. This is what Hindu mythology says.

Organisations are being churned constantly. The reasons behind such churn can be manifold — market forces, internal dynamics and change of management, being some of them. What is clear is that in the future these churns will happen more often and will be more disruptive than they were ever before. Even as such changes occur, it is expected that the organisation be firmly focused on achieving its prime goals. The stakeholders have the right to expect that.

When strategy changes, the organisational structure has to change. In all such scenarios, there are bound to be the gung ho pro-changers, cautious baby step evolutionists and status quoists. There will be fierce turf wars and battles will be fought to share the spoils. Many a time, it is possible that such battles will begin even before the churn begins.

The senior management has to be on its toes constantly so that the changes do not rend the fabric of the organisation and affect its performance. In a way, they are expected to play the fair-minded umpire in this complex game of change. However, they cannot be mere umpires; they are players too. There are some crucial differences in the role they have to play. They have to do their best to ideate the crucial issues that need to be addressed and then influence the outcomes in a positive manner.

Revolutionary changes

Actions based on the Darwinian theory of natural evolution may not necessarily yield the right results. Evolutionary, or in some cases, revolutionary changes have to be seeded in the system and guided to their proper conclusion. This is much like seeding an oyster to produce a pearl. The difference in this case being the fact that while oysters have no choice, people have a choice and they have a voice too! In essence, the oysters have to be persuaded that it is for their own long-term good!

When persuasion alone does not work, the much acclaimed classical Sama (persuasion), Dhana (rewards), Bheda (divide and rule), Danda (punishment) model of gradual escalation will come in very handy to ensure that the end objectives are achieved.

An important issue to be kept in mind is the fact that depending on the nature of the change that is being proposed, good guys can morph into bad guys and vice-versa. In short, no one can be clearly tagged and labelled. Contexts dic tate individual responses. The role of the senior management team is to identify the destination, plot the route map, set sail and provide the beat and ensure that the rest of the system pulls hard and in tandem.

(The writer is advisor to 3i Infotech, Blue River Capital and IDFC Pvt Equity.)