If a company is to succeed, it should put ‘employees first’; many organisations put customers first, but this is for public relations, said General Bikram Singh, former Chief of Army Staff, addressing members of the Madras Management Association at their Annual General Meeting.
The welfare of employees is important at every stage of the company’s journey, thundered the general, who once commanded an army of 1.3 million.
‘Customer first’ is not a value, whereas employees bring values such as integrity, loyalty, duty, respect and selfless service to the organisation. Values give corporate houses a solid bedrock to create an infrastructure to withstand adversities. And this is what Armies believe in and rely on, said the general.
General Singh also presented the 14th MMA Awards for Managerial Excellence.
“In the Army, we convert our teams into families. It is a challenge to retain young people these days as they keep changing jobs. Employee attrition of 5-7 per cent is fine,” he said.
However, employees leaving the company should leave as ambassadors and not as disgruntled workers who hate the organisation, thundered the general. This can happen only if the company believes in family values with bonds of love, affection and commitment,” he said.
‘Vision is important’“In a one-hour visit to an organisation, I can make out whether it is vibrant and motivated or not. From the vision of a company, you can make out whether it will succeed or not. The vision should be purposeful and compelling to the employees,” he said. “It should show the identity, the purpose (of the organisation) and should motivate employees to move ahead,” said General Singh.
Even in the Army, the vision goes right up to the Chief. Unless there is ownership and vision, a company will not move ahead, he said, warning that there will be resistance. Care should be taken to create a vision through collaborative effort, advised the military man.
General Singh later gave away awards to outstanding achievers as part of the 14th MMA Awards for Managerial Excellence, in various categories.
Cochin Shipyard got the award for manufacturing, Shriram Life Insurance Company for services, Spinotech Pvt Ltd for SMEs and Sri Sairam Engineering College for Educational Institutions.
The award focused on excellence in managerial thinking, action and demonstrable results and is designed to recognise and reward companies and institutions with corporate offices within the Southern States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana and the union territory of Puducherry that have excelled in their line of business.
New PresidentT Shivaraman, Managing Director & CEO, Shriram EPC Ltd, was elected President of the Madras Management Association for the year 2015-16 at today’s AGM.
The new office bearers are: President: T Shivaraman, Managing Director & CEO, Shriram EPC Ltd; Senior Vice-President: R Srikanth, Joint Managing Director, Brakes India Ltd; Vice President: Kavitha D Chitturi, Executive Director, The KCP Ltd; Honorary Secretary: P Ravichandran, President, Danfoss Industries; and Honorary Treasurer: L Ramkumar, Managing Director, Tube Investments of India.
BusinessLine was the media partner for the event.