If the top leadership is committed, the management and functioning of any enterprise is efficient and successful
It is indeed sad that the latent strength of the temples of modern India, the Indian public-sector enterprises, lies untapped even after over 60 years of existence as a free nation. It defies common business sense that many of these commercial enterprises set up with public funds and backed by the state are underperforming. The reason lies in the inept management as generally the apex level positions are filled not based on performance or leadership traits but on criteria and considerations other than merit. A fact that needs to be dinned into our social and moral consciousness is that the commitment, zeal and integrity of the top guy, is of paramount importance. If the top leadership is committed, the management and functioning of the enterprise is efficient and successful.
Air India and India Tourism Development Corporation are textbook examples of profitable business enterprises being bled to death by inept managements. Despite the general public opinion being to the contrary, blaming political masters or the external environment for the ills of the company merely diverts attention and shrouds the real causes of its poor health. The fact remains that the Companies Act and the Memorandum of Articles of the enterprise sufficiently empower the chief executives to ward off any hostile threats to the efficient working of the enterprise, yet in many cases the chief executives either fail to lead or else succumb to pressures and distractions.
My stint as the head honcho of the Delhi division, the largest division of the mighty railway system of the country, reinforced my belief in the goodness and the immense utility of the employees. It also reinforced my perception that the primary problem of the nation is neither the political class nor the unions; it is the bureaucracy that with passage of time has evolved into a self-seeking organism. The bureaucratic clan indeed has to take the major blame for the pitiable condition the nation and organisations like the ITDC and Air India find themselves in.
My two stints as a public sector head at India Tourism Development Corporation and later at the Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation, strengthened my belief that CEO positions in public sectors are primarily leadership positions. Giving short shrift to merit and leadership while making selections for top positions, ensures a mediocre existence for the enterprise, a situation that is not healthy for the economy.
My stint at the India Tourism Development Corporation coincided with the aggressiveness that was then being displayed in the disinvestment of the public sector and also the 9/11 incident which affected tourism worldwide. The combined synergy of both the events made the revival an almost impossible exercise, yet the unprecedented turnaround that the company witnessed in 2002-2003 was the result of a massive team effort, a team effort that even the junior-most of the employees identified himself with. Doubts over the ability of the public-sector to perform at par or even better than the private were also successfully laid to rest.
The iconic success of the Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation in finding its place in the big league of Indian tourism and also the unprecedented financial turnaround of the State tourism corporation was fuelled by the same employees of the once beleaguered corporation who were earlier being blamed for the mess that the tourism corporation was in. Notching of an over 30 per cent growth by a State public-sector undertaking, that had hit the bottom and was being actively considered for a sell-off, again proved that a turnaround is possible provided the man at the helm has ‘employee focus' and is committed to the company's growth.
Any commercial enterprise, be it the local paan ki dukaan or a towering corporation, is only as good as its leader; in other words, the man at the top. The boss has to have leadership qualities and by his words and deeds, should be able to command the unquestioned loyalty of his men. Everything else is secondary, yet unfortunately most of the top guys only look upwards and display extreme keenness to be identified as the blue-eyed boys of the powers that be. Blue-eyed boys they become, but they lose the company and that is what has happened with most of the commercial enterprises that have gone downhill or are performing below par.
The top officials must also be able to distinguish between the ‘effort to deliver’ and the ‘decision to deliver’. While the effort part is good and appreciable, the decision part is mandatory. Unless the company, led by a competent person, decides to deliver, the effort will almost always never bear fruit. It is also sad that generally, the top management gets too involved and busy in figuring out the ‘how' while the corporation continues its downhill slide.
Any commercial enterprise that works in a competitive environment, howsoever profitable the sector may be, has to be rooted in value systems that are universally accepted as good and ethical practices. Stamping down corruption and other vices should, therefore, remain the principal focus of the chief executive who should place utmost emphasis on this issue, and lead by personal example.