Is Anyone Talking and Doing Something about Innovation, Productivity and Cost Reduction?

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(Refer our High Quality Management Encyclopedia “Management Universe” at: http://management-universe.blogspot.com/)

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Economies of Countries Will Keep Improving Only by Innovation, Productivity and Cost Reduction; Not by Merely Artificially Manipulating the Purchasing Power of People

The economy of any country is thought to be improving when there is lot of economic activity going on in the country. Economy is said to be healthy and growing when the producers of goods and services are able to continually sustain their higher productions and sales and the customers/consumers (the pubic of the country) keep buying those goods and services in abundance in terms of value and perhaps also in quantities.

This necessitates supply of goods and services that satisfy the existing and potential needs of the consumers and making these available at prices that can be met by the purchasing power of the buyers. The purchasing power is artificially enhanced normally by providing the loans in an easy manner to the consumers.

Now either because of ineffectiveness and inefficiencies of the producers or/and because of their greed to make still more profits, the prices of the goods and services are jacked up. The people still buy as the machinery to pump in the loans to the buyers is also in action. The purchasing power seems to be intact or rather getting further strengthened.

But in reality what happens is that this jacking of the prices by one or few producers has a cascading effect on the prices of other interdependent goods and services. Also in reality, there is full or partial absence of the free economy that is thought to be working purely on competitiveness in the market and on the relationship between supply and demand patterns. In reality the producers also often gang up and create a cartel or lobby and wield their power on the buying public by making sure that every producer without any exception decides to raise the prices of goods and services provided by them. The competitiveness is thus thrown out of the window.

This has a telling effect on raising the inflation in the country. A stage comes when this inflationary spiral reaches a height where the purchasing power of people even with supply of loans to them looks highly limited in continuing buying the goods and services. The result of this is a slump in the buying spree.

As the buyers put a brake on their buying, it affects the producers adversely. The producers can no more sustain their production and selling activities. They start downsizing and people lose their jobs. The purchasing power of people further reduces.

This might then lead to economic recession. The entire cycle repeats every ten to twelve years and it affects everyone pretty seriously.

If you look at it, in all of this, no one is talking and doing anything seriously about innovations, productivity and cost reduction. The key to sustained economic growth of a country lies in concentrating on these three aspects and not to play around too much only in making the people artificially rich by giving loans and enabling them to buy the goods and services at unjustifiably high prices resulting out of no or little emphasis on innovation, productivity and cost reduction and the greed for unbridled profiteering.

If following actions are taken one can solve the issues brought out in the foregoing discussions and keep the economy flying high and healthy all the time without undue inflationary impact on the buying public.

1. The producers must use their creativity and innovations more and more in creating goods and services that are increasingly useful to the public and can be produced at significantly lower costs. Since continual improvement is a mandatory clause in all the ISO 9001 certified companies, the ISO 9001 auditors should strictly audit this aspect of creativity and innovation of the products and the cost of their production and selling, in quantitative terms and not merely in qualitative terms.
2. The producers must employ the best possible ways to improve the productivity in their organizations. The improvement in productivity should be audited by the auditors in a very strict manner in quantitative terms.
3. The organizations should put their best efforts in bringing down the overall costs of production and selling. The cost auditors should keep a tab on the cost reduction brought about by the companies.
4. There should be an upper limit prescribed for making profits. For example, companies can be allowed to make only up to a maximum of 30% profit on their individual products and services. This also should be strictly audited and defaulters should be taken to task.

All these actions will keep the the inflation under strict control and buying public will get the innovative and useful products and services at the best possible costs/prices. The producers will get a guaranteed level of profits (say 30%). The loan borrowing will be kept to the minimum by the public which is good for them.

Our Books Publications (Books authored by Shyam Bhatawdekar and Dr Kalpana Bhatawdekar)

Own your copy/copies of the following bestseller books authored by eminent management gurus and consultants Shyam Bhatawdekar and Dr Kalpana Bhatawdekar:

1.HSoftware (Human Software) (The Only Key to Higher Effectiveness) or HSoftware (Shyam Bhatawdekar’s Effectiveness Model)
2. Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers
3. Sensitive Stories of Corporate World (Management Case Studies)
4. Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories
5. Stress? No Way!! (Handbook on Stress Management)

You may like to go to the above-mentioned titles (web links) and order your copies on Amazon.com on Internet. The books are available in printed form and also
as eBooks.
Or
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Why Those Horrible “No Reply” Emails?

Every Email Should Allow "Two Way" Communication

(Refer our High Quality Management Encyclopedia “Management Universe” at: http://management-universe.blogspot.com/)

(Read our blog feature: Do This Today at http://do-this-today.blogspot.com/)

Here is a small little story about a person who bought a sophisticated automatic hammer. And then you found him busy fixing the nails all over on the walls of his house.

When the entire walls of all the rooms started getting the nails fixed into them, someone asked him, “Hey, why so many nails in every wall all over?”

He replied pretty seriously, “I have bought this new automatic hammer and it automatically does the work of hammering the nails into the walls so very easily. I could never do such a thing with my old manual hammer. And so now, I am making full use of this wonderful tool.”

That exactly explains why we keep receiving those tons of horrible “no reply” emails from all kinds of our business associates, service providers and everyone else. An irritating abuse of the technological toy they have now!!

Those emails are like, “We have spoken to you, now you shut up, we did our job.” You have a reason to feel insulted.

Most “no reply” emails leave you with mixed feelings of very partial satisfaction but more anger, frustration, insult and helplessness.

If these “no reply” emails arouse some questions, some doubts, some queries in your mind (which is what happens most of the times with such “no reply” emails), you have no way of getting them clarified.

Some “no reply” emails are seen to insert a link in them. This kind of “no reply” email suggests that you can go to that link and get your problems and queries voiced. However, invariably, such links take you through a very circuitous and horrendous route and land you on some useless space on the vast Internet. Invariably you never meet up with the person who was the brain behind programming that “no reply” email. So, then after trying for a while you give up.

If you are left with a choice, you will definitely like to dump such business associates, service providers and others who shoot out such “no reply” emails.

Then what was the sense in that “no reply” communication? It only indicates a sheer sense of irresponsibility and non-accountability on the part of the sender of such a “no reply” email.

Shun the “no reply” email and get on with the “two way” communication with every piece of communication and email.

Our Books Publications

Own your copy/copies of the following bestseller books authored by eminent management gurus and consultants Shyam Bhatawdekar and Dr Kalpana Bhatawdekar:

1. HSoftware (Shyam Bhatawdekar’s Effectiveness Model)
2. Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers
3. Sensitive Stories of Corporate World (Management Case Studies)
4. Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories

You may like to go to the above-mentioned titles (web links) and order your copies on Amazon.com on Internet. The books are available in printed form and also as eBooks.

Or

You (persons residing in India) may like to write to our email address prodcons@prodcons.com and order your copies.

Are Hierarchies and Titles Necessary?

Hierarchies and Titles Create Bosses, Leaders, Superiors, Dictators, Red Tape, Boundaries and Who Needs Them; We Don't

In my previous post, I hinted that the distant future will see leaderless, boss less or dictator less societies. Human beings will be "human beings" in homes and in social arena. And in the professional domains (in offices, factories, government departments, hospitals, departmental stores etc) these human beings will be "professionals". Period.

The hierarchies, class divides and titles will not exist- they will become redundant and obsolete.

It is true to some extent even today. A doctor is a doctor today; a surgeon is a surgeon; that's it. An author is an author, a carpenter is a carpenter, a plumber is a plumber, a tennis player is a tennis player, a movie actor is a movie actor. And all of them are treated as such if they have the desired expertise and more over, if they are good at their craft, they are more in demand and they can command a high price for the services and expertise they offer. Other professionals are still called by their "professional identity" though they may be less in demand and also earn less. In either case, they do not need titles or prefixes or suffixes like junior, assistant, middle, senior, top, additional, joint and what other funny things you can think of.

As soon as you use these kinds of titles with the "profession" of a person, you start putting him in a class oriented society, you start creating hierarchies, you create superiors and inferiors, boss and subordinate, leaders and led and simultaneously you start promoting duplication of work, unnecessary red tape and sluggishness in communication etc. What for?

When you hire the services of any independent contractor whether he is tutor of math to your child, a baby sitter, a plumber, a tailor of your suit etc, you do not turn into his boss or his leader just because you have hired his professional services and the hired professional does not become a subordinate nor does he need your intelligence or advice. He finishes his work, gets paid by you and walks off still with the same "professional identity" with which he did the work you assigned him.

A similar treatment needs to meted out to every professional who joins as a permanent or temporary professional in any organized joint whether that is a factory, an office, a corporation, a government department, hospital or a departmental store.

The hierarchies and titles should be done away with and every professional should be treated on par with any other professional. There is no need to put them on the various rungs of a ladder; all are professionals after all. They get employed if they are good, get paid as per their expertise and as per the supply and demand ratio of that particular professional expertise.

An engineer remains engineer, doctor remains a doctor, actor remains an actor, soccer player remains a soccer player throughout his life unless he acquires some other professional identity by acquiring a new expertise. Where is the need to take him through a plethora of titles throughout his life-time by calling the same person from time to time as junior engineer, assistant engineer, deputy engineer, engineer, senior engineer, chief engineer, assistant manager, deputy manager, manager, senior manager, chief manager, assistant vice president, vice president, deputy senior vice president, senior vice president, group vice president, additional president, president, group president and what have you? Same is true with every other profession.

When the professionals will work like real professionals without the various pressures of hierarchies looming large on them, the overall effectiveness and efficiencies will definitely improve in every project.

Please do read a related case study at: http://management-anecdotes.blogspot.com/search/label/Designation%20Burst

Read our blog feature: Do This Today at http://do-this-today.blogspot.com/

Books authored by Shyam Bhatawdekar: 1. Sensitive Stories of Corporate World (Management case Studies) 2. Classic Management Games, Exercises, Energizers and Icebreakers and 3. Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories.

For owning copy/copies of these books (in printed format), write to: prodcons@prodcons.com

Alternately, you can get the first book (in printed format) directly on the Internet through (amazon.com): http://www.amazon.com/Sensitive-Stories-Corporate-Management-Studies/dp/1456585150/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1298627848&sr=1-1

Their eBooks are available respectively at: http://www.amazon.com/Sensitive-Stories-Corporate-Management-ebook/dp/B004KABBMM , http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004OEKF0I and http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004MDLTPQ

Will the Future See Leaderless Societies?

(Read the inside stories of the corporate sector in the form of short management case studies at: http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com/ or http://management-anecdotes.blogspot.com/ or http://corporate-case-studies.blogspot.com/. To procure the printed bound book containing these sensitive stories, write to: prodcons@prodcons.com)

The "Leader" or "Leadership" Paradigm Will Become Obsolete in Future

Egypt's "leaderless" revolution has shown in clear terms that people do not need leaders for their achievements.

"The need for a leader" hoax has been drilled into the minds of people by the interested and selfish parties over the ages. As a result of this brainwash, it created a mindset of dependency of people on their so called leaders. This age old paradigm created dictators, bosses, superiors, leaders, hierarchies etc. It injected a sense of helplessness among the people and it tarnished their understanding and assessment of their own potentials.

The future will see emergence of new paradigms: the "people" paradigm in general or social life and the "professional" paradigm in the work life. All we need for maintenance and growth of societies and organizations is to accept this new concept that every human being is a "person" and a "professional". No human being is either boss or subordinate, leader or follower, dictator and oppressed, superior or subordinate, higher hierarchy or lower hierarchy, highbrow and lowbrow etc.

All are equal persons and equal professionals. And they have a right to live their lives as such.

People will live in peace with each other in their social lives and the professionals will run all those domains that need to be run effectively and efficiently so that people can live in peace.

Read our blog feature: Do This Today at http://do-this-today.blogspot.com/

Are The People that Public Elects in Democracy Public's Leaders or Servants?

(Read the inside stories of the corporate sector in the form of short management case studies at: http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com/ or http://management-anecdotes.blogspot.com/ or http://corporate-case-studies.blogspot.com/. To procure the printed bound book containing these sensitive stories, write to: prodcons@prodcons.com)

In Democracy, the Country's Public Really Elects Their Servants and Not Their Leaders

There is a need to change every one's paradigm about whom do we really elect through the electoral process in a democracy? Are the elected people servants or or they leaders of the public who elects them?

At the country's level, the public wants professionals who will do certain important jobs related to security, health, education, food, jobs, environment, discipline, entertainment etc for them. Therefore, they want those people to be elected and put on such jobs who know why and how to do these jobs for their masters or shareholders or owners (the public) and possess very strong will power to do them.

Democracy is and has to be quite different from the kingdoms of the olden days and so in democracy the public is not electing kings and queens. If they do so, the old model of kingdoms will pervade in a democracy too. For their own selfishness, the people who get elected in democracy start calling themselves as the "leaders" of the nation- the new name given for kings and queens of the olden days. The public readily accepts it because of the old habits die hard- the public has been brought up in the olden model of kings and queens for innumerable years of their existence.

There is a strong need to change such paradigms and the messages given out must be clear and loud. The people public elects through electoral process are public servants and not their leaders (or kings or queens).

The people who volunteer themselves to be elected for such offices must understand this paradigm as clearly as the public of the country.

Read our blog feature: Do This Today at http://do-this-today.blogspot.com/

Are CEOs of Private Sector Companies as Precious as They Are Made Out to be?

(Read the inside stories of the corporate sector in the form of short management case studies at: http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com/ or http://management-anecdotes.blogspot.com/ or http://corporate-case-studies.blogspot.com/. To procure the printed bound book containing these sensitive stories, write to: prodcons@prodcons.com)

CEOs of Private Sector Companies Alone Don't Achieve; So There Is No Need to Pay Them Obnoxiously and Obscenely High Salaries

It is beyond comprehension why CEOs of private sector companies should draw terribly and vulgarly high salaries not only as compared to other employees of these organizations at different levels but also as compared to the very next level of executives who also take up lots of responsibilities and contribute towards the success of that organization.

Many organizations in public or government sectors and NGOs do pretty decently despite the fact that the chairmen and CEOs of public sector profit making huge conglomerates, CEOs of the states, judges, governmental bureaucrats etc get paid just about marginally more than the other senior employees or even the other employees. Then, what is so great about the CEOs of private sector organizations?

And it is not that after paying astronomically high salaries, all the CEOs run their companies effectively or ethically. Many of them still remain as corrupt and greedy as they could be despite getting large sums of legitimate money.

It is high time that the shareholders of the private sector companies should wake up and start exercising more control over the board of directors of their companies in order to regulate the emoluments of the CEO they appoint.

Read our new blog feature: Do This Today

Is This the Right Way for the Banks to Make Money?

(Read the inside stories of the corporate sector in the form of short management case studies at: http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com/ or http://management-anecdotes.blogspot.com/ or http://corporate-case-studies.blogspot.com/)

Banks Should Provide Information to Clients

When you open an account (whichever type) in the bank, you are advised to maintain a minimum balance amount in that particular account.

Over a period of time, two things happen. First the bank changes the minimum balance amount to a higher level and does not inform you about it.

Secondly, your actual balance may fall below the prescribed minimum balance and the bank does not inform about it to you.

And in both the cases without informing you and without your knowledge, the bank debits a fat penalty amount from your existing balance every quarter and your money starts getting depleted and many times you do not even know about it.

When you notice such a leak in your account and meet the bank manager, he or she shows you the rule book and fixes the entire responsibility on you. You are the client or customer and because of you and your money the bank runs its business and despite it, you get such a rude and rough treatment from banks. When you request them to waive off the penalty, he/she raise hands in helplessness. You may argue that you have other accounts in the same bank and you have fixed deposits in the same bank and together your money with the bank is at far higher level than the prescribed bank balance for a specific account. Yet, the bank does not help in many cases for reversals of the debits already made.

Banks make money for doing nothing- for doing no work. Is it on? Definitely not. They should inform their clients on both the types of changes that impact the accounts of it's clients well in time.

Read our new blog feature: Do This Today

Leaders of the World, What Are You Managing if You Could Not Manage Your Spouse?

(Read the inside stories of the corporate sector in the form of short management case studies at: http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com/ or http://management-anecdotes.blogspot.com/ or http://corporate-case-studies.blogspot.com/)

Perhaps, They Are Not Worthy Human Beings After All

Generally, people marry after considerable thinking. They think lots about the person they decide to marry. They meet the possible marriageable candidates pretty frequently, they date a lot, try to know the would be spouse inside out. So, in short, they marry with open eyes with a person who fits into their scheme of things. At the time of marriage, the selection of the candidate seems perfect.

And, perhaps, the wiser people of the world must be doing it much better; after all are they not wiser? That's why they become and get publicized as very successful, popular, well known, celebrities and great as far as the public domain is concerned (what they do to or with their spouse, we do not know as yet since that is not known and does not get publicized).

These great people get applauded in public, their photographs flash on the TV screens and news papers day in and day out as they are the leaders in science, technology, medicine, politics, films and sports etc. They are painted as icons. Many of them get crowned with the most prestigious rewards and titles. In short, the public is made to believe that they are the people who know how to lead and how to manage effectively and efficiently.

And then, many of them fail miserably in leading and managing their own spouse and marriage back at their homes. They end up in nasty divorce(s). While on one hand they are painted as leading and managing the masses in science, technology, medicine, politics, films and sports etc, the truth of life is that many of them could not even manage and lead one single individual- their spouse and a single event- their marriage. What a contradiction?

The facts will tell you that many of them have divorced their spouses of very long years of association and togetherness in marriage. Many of them have divorced even their those devoted spouses who served and loved them in their serious sicknesses. Many of these people have produced children who they know would feel traumatized by their separation and divorce. Do all of these considerations not affect them when they can not lead and manage their own married life?

These facts offer a vast field of research in human behavior, psychology, management and leadership.

However, one thing is pretty conclusive- perhaps they are not worthy human beings after all despite all the hoopla created around them by the interested parties.

Read our new feature at: (Do This Today) http://do-this-today.blogspot.com/

Is Our System of Justice Really Just?

(Read the inside stories of the corporate sector in the form of short management case studies at: http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com/ or http://management-anecdotes.blogspot.com/ or http://corporate-case-studies.blogspot.com/)

The Bhopal Tragedy Makes Us Think and Act on This issue

The way the worst industrial disaster at Bhopal, India created by the irresponsible managers of Union Carbide of the world was handled shows the worst face of all of those who were connected with it inside the company and outside the company.

In a way it amounted to deliberate attempt to kill more than 25000 people and making millions of people disabled in various degrees for generations. It was deliberate because every manager who was responsible for upkeep of the plant knew about the dangerous most outcome in case of an accident in the defective plant. So it was like committing calculated murder of such a huge number of people.

This act cannot be equated to carelessness or a small crime for which the commensurate penalty in justice is pittance, normally.

It's time to revise the concept of what is a big crime and what should be commensurate sentence for committing it. The existing thinking on it is absolutely wrong and obsolete.

The bigness of an act of crime should be decided based on the end results of committing that crime. And the justice will lie in deciding the sentence commensurate with the heinousness or monstrosity of that crime.

It's high time to think and act quickly.

Read our new feature at: (Do This Today) http://do-this-today.blogspot.com/

Do We Really Elect the Right People in Democracy?

(Read the inside stories of the corporate sector in the form of short management case studies at: http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com or http://management-anecdotes.blogspot.com/ or http://corporate-case-studies.blogspot.com/)

Money Backed Election Model is the Culprit in Corrupt Democracy

If democracy is the government of people, by people and for people, then I wonder if it is happening in any democracy any where in the world.

Elections are being fought by the political parties and its people on the basis of massive money pools created by the smart alecks- huge sums of the money largely extracted from the obscenely rich corporate bodies and such others. And obviously they throw this money at the prospective politician as their smart investments with the assurance of highest possible returns on these investments.

Then, elections are fought using such unimaginably large sums of money by the people who can afford to do so. What happens to those other more deserving candidates with no money of their own or with no dirty skills of squandering the money of others? The electorate is totally deprived of these better candidates and democracy suffers hugely.

When the contesting candidates get elected by using the money provided by the corporations and other rich bodies, they work only in favor of the corporations and the rich people and totally neglect rest of the people of the country.

Therefore, remove the money from the election scenarios. The elections should be fought without money. I suggest a following model:

1. Any citizen of the country should be eligible to contest democratic elections. Some minimum and maximum age and educational qualification should be imposed.
2. The candidate offering himself/herself to get elected must not have any criminal record or he/she should not have any criminal proceeding going on against him/her at the time of going through the election process.
3. Every candidate will have to submit a detailed bio-data with their photographs to the body that organizes and administers the entire election process.
4. This body will publish the bio-data of the candidates at governmental expenditure in the media. This will account for only marginal additional expenditure on government's total election budget.
5. The candidates will not canvass. Their bio-data are available with the public now.
6. The voters will be able to see and study these detailed bio-data of the candidates contesting the election and they will decide whom to vote based on their merits.
7. The voters will vote on the appointed day.