Share failure too

Apropos ‘Difficulties of being a leader’ (August 29), the performance of an organisation, whether good or bad, depends on all the three organs — board of directors, CEO and the workforce. They form an interdependent trinity. But when the company does well, the board takes the grand share and when it faces a crisis, the CEO and the employees take the blame. This is unfair.

In fact, the bigger the crisis, the bigger the responsibility of the board. Generally, it is wrong strategy, inadequate resource planning, mismanagement of environment, and lack of vision and long-term planning which bring an organisation down.

Employees have little say on this. Yet, very often, it is the workforce at the lower and middle levels that pay the price — by losing their jobs. The right approach in managing a crisis is that the top management should lead by sacrificing a major part of their remuneration till the company recovers. As in prosperity so in catastrophe, all the three should swim together and save the company from sinking.

Pune

The policy for 100 per cent FDI in commercial coal mining has been announced, and it appears good. Its execution, however, will be the crux. It is a paradox that despite having the world’s fifth-largest reserves of the fuel, we imported over 40 per cent more coal during January-April this year compared to the last.

The dip in global prices shouldn’t dictate the pace of our self-sufficiency in as vital a sector as coal.

Navi Mumbai

Even though the government has announced ₹70,000 crore for recapitalising banks, the poor recovery from the IBC resolution cases is a cause for concern. Data provided by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India show that barring a few accounts like Electrosteel, Bhushan Steels and Binani Cement, the average recovery in most other accounts has been poor, at 20-25 per cent. This means huge haircuts for banks, denting their profits.

As of June 2019, 2,162 accounts were admitted under the IBC. Of which, only 120 accounts have seen resolution, and the realisation was a mere 30 per cent against the claims. In big-ticket accounts, with claims of more than ₹3,000 crore, the recovery rate was 38 per cent. The low recovery is attributed to the endless litigation in many of the cases. On another side, however, slippages continue to rise which are further weighing on banks’ earnings.

Bheemavaram, AP

This refers to the article ‘Working without fear’ (August 29). If there is one asset that has been shabbily treated by most of our governments/organisations, it is the human asset. An organisation’s success to a large extent is determined by the quality of people and hence investments for the well being of the people in terms of education, health and training would go a long way in building a strong organisation and, in turn, a strong nation. People are in fact the biggest asset of any organisation/nation and the most complex too.

It is unfortunate that while trade unions bargain for higher wages and other facilities, they hardly fight for the mental well-being of the employees. In India, organisations lack good counselling systems, which is also one of the causes for low productivity. An employee whose emotional needs are taken care of and whose talent is appreciated will deliver more to the organisation than one who is merely paid higher wages or provided more facilities.

Thane

This refers to media reports that Satya Pal Malik, J&K Governor, has announced that the administration will try filling 50,000 vacancies in government jobs in the next two-three months in the soon-to-be-created Union Territory. While the proposed move is well-timed and well-intended, it may be difficult to implement in such a short span of time.

New Delhi

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