Sunday, 2 September 2012
Saturday, 1 September 2012
COMPANY ANALYSIS NTPC LTD.
About the Company : NTPC ltd.
Introduction
NTPC Limited (formerly National Thermal Power Corporation) is the largest Indian state-owned electric utilities company based in New Delhi, India. It is listed in Forbes Global 2000 for 2011 ranked it 348th[3] in the world. It is an Indian public sector company listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange in which at present the Government of India holds 84.5% (after divestment the stake by Indian government on 19 October 2009) of its equity. With a current generating capacity of 39,174 MW, NTPC has embarked on plans to become a 75,000 MW company by 2017. It was founded on 7 November 1975.On May 21 2010, NTPCL was conferred Maharatna status by the Union Government of India.[4]
NTPC's core business is engineering, construction and operation of power generating plants and providing consultancy to power utilities in India and abroad.
The total installed capacity of the company is 36,014 MW (including JVs) with 16 coal based and 7 gas based stations, located across the country. In addition under JVs(Joint Venture), 6 stations are coal-based, and another station uses naphtha/LNG as fuel. By 2017, the power generation portfolio is expected to have a diversified fuel mix with coal based capacity of around 27,535 MW, 3,955 MW through gas, 1,328 MW through Hydro generation, about 1400 MW from nuclear sources and around 1000 MW from Renewable Energy Sources (RES). NTPC has adopted a multi-pronged growth strategy which includes capacity addition through green field projects, expansion of existing stations, joint ventures, subsidiaries and takeover of stations.
NTPC has been operating its plants at high efficiency levels. Although the company has 19% of the total national capacity it contributes 29% of total power generation due to its focus on high efficiency. NTPC’s share at 31 Mar 2001 of the total installed capacity of the country was 24.51% and it generated 29.68% of the power of the country in 2008–09. Every fourth home in India is lit by NTPC. As at 31 Mar 2011 NTPC's share of the country's total installed capacity is 17.75% and it generated 27.4% of the power generation of the country in 2010–11. NTPC is lighting every third bulb in India. 170.88BU of electricity was produced by its stations in the financial year 2005–2006. The Net Profit after Tax on 31 March 2006 was 58.202 billion. Net profit after tax for the quarter ended 30 June 2006 was 15.528 billion, which is 18.65% more than that for the same quarter in the previous financial year. It is listed in Forbes Global 2000 for 2011 ranked it 348th[5] in the world.
Pursuant to a special resolution passed by the Shareholders at the Company’s Annual General Meeting on 23 September 2005 and the approval of the Central Government under section 21 of the Companies Act, 1956, the name of the Company "National Thermal Power Corporation Limited" has been changed to "NTPC Limited" with effect from 28 October 2005. The primary reason for this is the company's foray into hydro and nuclear based power generation along with backward integration by coal mining.
Vision
“To be the world’s largest and best power producer, powering India’s growth.”Mission
“Develop and provide reliable power, related products and services at competitive prices, integrating multiple energy sources with innovative and eco-friendly technologies and contribute to society.”
Core Values – BE COMMITTED
BBusiness Ethics
E
Environmentally & Economically Sustainable
C
Customer Focus
O
Organisational & Professional Pride
M
Mutual Respect & Trust
M
Motivating Self & others
I
Innovation & Speed
T
Total Quality for Excellence
T
Transparent & Respected Organisation
E
Enterprising
D
Devoted
Key people
Shri Arup Roy Choudhury, Chairman & Managing Director since September 01, 2010, has an illustrious career spanning over 32 years of outstanding contribution in the fields of engineering, general management, strategic management and business leadership. He is a Graduate in Civil Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra and a Post-Graduate in Management and Systems from IIT-Delhi. A keen learner of the latest professional developments, he is currently pursuing a doctorate in ‘Select Study of Project Performance Metrics in Indian Construction Industry’ from IIT-Delhi.Shri Choudhury brings to NTPC the dynamism of a leader with proven abilities to achieve transformational changes. He seeks to position the Maharatna enterprise on course to become the largest and best power producer in the world.
Shri Choudhury has the distinction of becoming the youngest Chief Executive Officer of a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) at the age of 44 years when he joined as Chairman & Managing Director, National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC) on April 03, 2001. Prior to that he had worked in prominent public and private sector companies since 1979, when he started his career.
Shri Choudhury’s rich and varied contribution of over 32 years has been recognized by prestigious professional, academic and Government institutions, both national and international.
His vision, leadership and industriousness transformed NBCC, which was a sick company with negative net-worth and salary back-log in 2001, into a blue-chip enterprise having Schedule ‘A’ and ‘Miniratna’ status bestowed upon it by the Government of India. The stunning turnaround of the Company brought about by him has enabled NBCC’s turnover grow about 10 times and net-worth over 500 times during his tenure of nine-and-a-half years at the helm. He pulled NBCC out of the abyss and catapulted it into the distinguished league of ‘Top Ten CPSEs’. Under him, NBCC broadened its business horizons. Its entry into power project development dovetails very productively with his new role as CMD, NTPC.
As Chairman, Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE), the apex body of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), Shri Choudhury has been effectively leading policy advocacy for greater empowerment of these enterprises. He is also promoting the cause of greater professionalism, competitiveness, societal commitment, transparency and global-benchmarking among the CPSEs.
Shri Choudhury believes in growth and excellence through proactive approach and his dictum is “Sankalp Shuddha Hi Siddha” i.e. if your intentions are pure, you are bound to succeed.
Shri Choudhury has a strong commitment for the well-being of the society at large. His sharp focus on corporate governance and environmentally sustainable growth has been demonstrated in concrete actions and substantial benefits.
Shri A.K. Singhal, Director (Finance) since August 2005, a Chartered Accountant, comes with rich experience of 29 years of Corporate Finance Management. He is also a member of All India Management Association (AIMA) and Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA). Prior to joining NTPC in 2001, he was the Executive Director (Finance) in National Fertilizers Limited (NFL) as head of Finance & Accounts department. He held various managerial positions in Krishak Bharati Cooperative Limited (KRIBHCO) and Engineering Projects of India Limited (EPIL). As Finance Director on the Board of NTPC, he is responsible for formulating financial strategies and plans to enable the company in achieving its Vision. He gives directions with respect to the entire gamut of Financial Management of the organization including timely financial resource mobilization at minimum possible cost from Domestic & Global sources including equity issues, optimum utilization of funds, formulation of company’s annual financial budget and undertaking budgetary controls. He is also responsible for designing internal control systems commensurate with the size of the organization and for ensuring compliance of such systems. Being responsible for compliances of Company Law and other statutory requirements, he also gives direction to the Corporate Governance framework of the company. After company became listed he has been acting as one of the vital links between the shareholders of the company and the rest of the Board. In recognition of his contribution, he was adjudged as the Best CFO in the Public Sector category by the Committee for Members in Industry (CMII) of ICAI for the year 2007-08.Sh. I.J.Kapoor, Director (Commercial) since December’ 2008 is a Graduate in Mechanical Engineering and Masters in Business Administration (Marketing). He joined NTPC in 1978 as 3rd batch Engineering Executive Trainee (EET) and is the first EET to be on the Board of the Company. He has a rich and varied experience of over 32 years in the areas of Commercial, Engineering, Contracts & Materials Management, Project Management, Consultancy, Cost Engineering, Station Engineering and Quality Assurance & Inspection. Prior to his elevation as Director (Commercial), he was Regional Executive Director (National Capital), NTPC, responsible for management of ~ 3900 MW generating capacity, administering more than ¼th of NTPC’s turn over along with project implementation activities for 2x490 MW at Dadri Stage-II. As Director (Commercial), he is responsible for formulation & implementation of policies & strategies to ensure marketing of NTPC’s entire electrical output, appropriate pricing from regulatory authority and 100% & timely realization from customers, thereby generate adequate internal resources for the company to meet the future challenge of higher capacity addition. In addition, he is the Director In- charge of Consultancy and Business Development activities. He is also part time Chairman on the Board of Aravali Power Company Private Ltd. (1500 MW) and National Power Exchange Ltd. He is part time Director on the Board of PTC India Ltd., Meja Urja Nigam Private Ltd. (1320 MW), NTPC- BHEL Power Projects Private Ltd. and NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd. He is responsible for successful implementation of National Solar Mission Phase-I. He is a Fellow of Institution of Engineers, India and Senior Member, IEEE, USA.
Sri B.P. Singh (55 yrs), Director(Projects), is a Graduate in Mining Engineering. He has rich and varied experience both in coal as well as power sector. He started his career in 1974 in coal mining sector firstly with Indian Iron & Steel Company and subsequently joined Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. He joined NTPC Ltd. in 1981 and worked in various capacities, at Corporate Centre and Power Projects, in the areas of Fuel Management, Coal Mining & Coal Washery. He was elevated as Executive Director (Coal Mining & Coal Washeries) in 2004. He played the pivotal role in formulation of NTPC’s overall strategy for fuel security. He has been instrumental in acquisition and development of fuel assets i.e. one Oil & Gas Exploration block under NELP V in Arunachal Pradesh, six coal mining blocks across various coalfields in the country besides two more blocks for joint operation through a 50:50 JV with CIL. He is also the Chairman of NTPC-SCCL Global Ventures Private Ltd. He joined the Board of the Company as Director (Projects) in Aug, 2009. Besides representing NTPC in various committees set up by Govt. of India on Integrated Coal Policy, fuels for Power Generation, Pricing of Coal, Techno-economics of using washed coal, etc. he has also been part of various Govt. teams & missions like U.K. Trade Mission, Indo–Australia Joint Working Group on Energy & Minerals, etc. He is also a 'Senate Member' of Dr. BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, Expert Member’ on Research Council of “Central Institute of Mining & Fuel Research (CIMFR)” and represents NTPC as 'Member' in MGMI.
Shri S. P. Singh(57 Years), Director(HR), is a Graduate in Electrical Engineering from Madhav Institute of Technology & Science, JIWAJI University , Gwalior (year 1973- 74) and completed his schooling from the prestigious Colvin Taluqdar’s College, Lucknow.Shri Singh joined NTPC in 1984 and worked for more than 25 years in Engineering Department, looking after various functions of Plant Engineering related Quality Assurance & Inspection, Project Layout engineering, Project Engineering etc. He served as ED (Corporate Contacts & Materials) and Chief Executive officer, of NTPC Electric Supply Company (A wholly owned subsidiary of NTPC) and lastly as ED (I/C) Human Resources during his tenure in NTPC.
He started his career in BHEL in 1975 as Engineer Trainee and worked for 9 years at BHEL, Hardwar in the Turbogenerator Design Department.
Shri N.N.Misra (55 years), Director (Operations), graduated in Electrical Engineering with Honours from Regional Engineering College, Rourkela in the year 1977. Shri Misra joined NTPC in 1977 as Executive Trainee (2nd Batch). He has an experience of 33 years in NTPC out of which 28 years were in the Design Department looking after the various functions of Electrical Design and Project Engineering beginning with the first Project of NTPC. He is actively associated with BIS and represents NTPC in Electro Technical Divisional Council of BIS. Shri Misra represents India in CIGRE (International Conference on Large High Voltage Electric System) for High Voltage Equipment and has contributed in many Study Committees and Working Groups of CIGRE. Shri Misra was involved in selecting and successfully implementing the first 765 KV Sub-Station of India at Sipat. He has a rich and varied experience having worked as Executive Director of the National Capital Region, Executive Director looking after Corporate Contracts & Materials, Executive Director looking after Human Resources and lastly Executive Director looking after Operation Services. Shri Misra also represents NTPC as Part-time Director in a number of Joint Ventures of NTPC.
Shri A.K. Jha has taken over as Director Technical, NTPC Sunday, 1st July, 2012. Shri Jha has more than 35 years of rich and varied experience in Power Sector in the areas of Erection and Commissioning, Project Planning & Monitoring, Project Management. He has also worked in area of Human Relations. A Mechanical Engineer from Ranchi University 1976 batch, with LLB from Delhi University in 1996. Shri Jha is a 'B' Level certified Project Manager from International Project Management Association (IPMA). He has presented paper on Project Management at IPMA World Congress in Rome in 2008 and delivered a Lecture on Project Management at International Congress in Tokyo in 2008. Widely travelled, Shri Jha has visited various Power Stations and manufacturing units in South Korea, UK, USA, Japan, Italy and Russia. He was earlier Regional Executive Director (NR) in NTPC. He takes over from Shri D.K. Jain, who superannuated on June 30th.Organisational Structure
HR Vision
"To enable our people to be a family of committed world class professionals."
Recruitment
It believe in the philosophy of 'Grow your own timber'. Our 'Executive Trainee' scheme was introduced in 1977 with the objective of raising a cadre of home grown professionals. First Division Graduate Engineers/ Post graduates are hired through nation-wide open competitive examinations and campus recruitments. Hiring is followed by 52 weeks of fully paid induction training.
Rewards & Recognitions
From inception, NTPC created a culture of rewards and recognitions through celebration of various achievements and events and recognising the contributions behind such success.
Innovate, Create, Compete
It has introduced numerous initiatives which seek to enhance the creativity, innovation, functional aptitude and teamwork of our employees. These initiatives include National Open Competition for Executive Talent (NOCET), Professional Circles, Quality Circles, Business Minds and Medha Pratiyogita (a quiz for our employees). A management journal called “Horizon” is published quarterly to enable the employees to share their ideas and experiences across the organisation.
Quality of Work-Life
NTPC is proud of its systems for providing a good quality of work-life for its employees. In addition to providing beautiful and safe work places, NTPC encourages a culture of mutual respect and trust amongst peers, superiors and subordinates.
Away from hectic city life, NTPC townships provide an environment of serenity, natural beauty and close community living. Numerous welfare and recreation facilities including schools, hospitals and clubs are provided at the townships to enhance quality of life & the well being of employees and their families. An entire range of benefits, from child care leave to post retirement medical benefits are extended to employees to meet any exigency that may arise in a person's life.
Knowledge Management in NTPC
To meet our ultimate objective of becoming a learning organisation, an integrated Knowledge Management System has been developed, which facilitates tacit knowledge in the form of learning and experiences of employees to be captured and summarized for future reference.
Training & Development
NTPC subscribes to the belief that efficiency, effectiveness and success of the organisation, depends largely on the skills, abilities and commitment of the employees who constitute the most important asset of the organisation.
Our Training Policy envisages a minimum of 7 man days of training per employee per year. We have developed our own comprehensive training infrastructure.
Education Up-gradation Schemes
To meet the academic aspirations of employees and match them with the needs of the organisation, NTPC has tie-ups with institutes of repute like MDI, Gurgaon; IIT Delhi; BITS Pilani, etc. NTPC sponsors fixed size batches of employees who are inducted into these courses based on their performance rating in the company and their performance in the entrance exam conducted by the respective institute. Unlike other study leave and sabbaticals, employees undergoing these courses do not forego their salary or growth during the duration of the course.
Seeking Feedback
It seeks and encourage employee feedback to ensure that our HR interventions and practices remain relevant and meaningful. We regularly conduct Employee Satisfaction and Organisational Climate Surveys.
Awards
It derives immense satisfaction from the awards we receive and the resulting recognition they bestow. The awards are key indicators and milestones on our HR journey, and reinforce our HR philosophy and practices. NTPC has been awarded No.1, Best Workplace in India among large organisations for the year 2008, by the Great Places to Work Institute, India Chapter in collaboration with The Economic Times.
Operations |
In terms of operations, NTPC has always been considerably above the national average.
The table below shows the detailed operational performance of coal based stations over the years.
| OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF COAL BASED NTPC STATIONS | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Generation(BU) | PLF(%) | Availability Factor(%) | ||||||||||
| 2011-12 | 222.07 | 85.00 | 89.73 | |||||||||
| 2010-11 | 220.54 | 88.29 | 91.62 | |||||||||
| 2009-10 | 218.84 | 90.81 | 91.76 | |||||||||
| 2008-09 | 206.94 | 91.14 | 92.47 | |||||||||
| 2007-08 | 200.86 | 92.24 | 92.12 | |||||||||
| 2006-07 | 188.67 | 89.43 | 90.09 | |||||||||
| 2005-06 | 170.88 | 87.52 | 89.91 | |||||||||
| 2004-05 | 159.11 | 87.51 | 91.20 | |||||||||
| 2003-04 | 149.16 | 84.40 | 88.79 | |||||||||
| 2002-03 | 140.86 | 83.57 | 88.70 | |||||||||
| 2001-02 | 133.20 | 81.11 | 89.09 | |||||||||
| 2000-01 | 130.10 | 81.80 | 88.54 | |||||||||
| 1999-00 | 118.70 | 80.39 | 90.06 | |||||||||
| 1998-99 | 109.50 | 76.60 | 89.36 | |||||||||
Be it the generating capacity or plant performance or operational efficiency, NTPC’s Installed Capacity and performance depicts the company’s outstanding performance across a number of parametres.
| NO. OF PLANTS | CAPACITY (MW) | |
|---|---|---|
| NTPC Owned | ||
| Coal | 16 | 30,855 |
| Gas/Liquid Fuel | 7 | 3,955 |
| Total | 23 | 34,810 |
| Owned By JVs | ||
| Coal & Gas | 7 | 4,364 |
| Total | 30 | 39,174 |
Regional Spread of Generating Facilities
| REGION | COAL | GAS | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northern | 8,515 | 2,312 | 10,827 |
| Western | 9,840 | 1,293 | 11,133 |
| Southern | 4,600 | 350 | 4,950 |
| Eastern | 7,900 | - | 7,900 |
| JVs | 2,424 | 1,940 | 4,364 |
| Total | 33,279 | 5,895 |
SWOT ANALYSIS OF NTPC
STRENGTH OF NTPC:
•The company has kept with itself sufficient liquid funds to meet any kind of cash requirement.•Efficient working capacity of plants.
•Efficient and timely completion of projects.
•A minimum risk factor.
•Best-integrated project management systems.
•Company with an excellent record and high profits.
•An early starter-more than 30 years experience in power sector.
•Highly motivated and dedicated workers and officers- no industrialrelations problem.
•Excellent growth prospects with significant additions, modifications andreplacements.
•Employee-friendly personnel policies.
•Low project cost of NTPC’s plants.
WEAKNESSES OF NTPC:
•Depleting raw materials.•Some of the Plant have become old and need investment in Renovation &Modernization.
OPPURTUNITIES:
•Demand and supply gap.•Upcoming hydro and nuclear sector.
•Huge opportunity in consultancy services.
THREATS
•Rising prices of raw materials•Huge competition from SEB’s, Reliance Energy, Tata power and other Private Development.
•Coming up of other sources of power.
Monday, 20 August 2012
CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING
CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING
At the same time that CPS is a structured process, it’s also a very flexible one. When you begin to use and internalize the CPS process, you find that it’s cyclical. You begin to see how to move from step to step, and how to jump back and forth between steps. When CPS becomes part of your own way of thinking and working, you can use one step at a time, as you need it, when you need it. Once you understand the fundamentals of CPS, you can adapt this process to every situation you encounter, thereby realizing its power. One of the finest ways to learn about CPS, is through a real life example .In our class we were asked to solve a puzzle of taking the ring out of a toy.
Objective Finding - Identify Goal, Wish or Challenge
Fact Finding - Gather Data
Assess and review all the data that pertains to the situation at hand. Who’s involved, what’s involved, when, where, and why it’s important. Make a list of the facts and information, as well as the more visceral hunches, feelings, perceptions, assumptions and gossip around the situation. In this step, all the data is taken into consideration to review the objective and begin to innovate. In the case of the toy, in order to solve the problem we need to fully understand all its aspects before solving it. In this case the aim of our group is to understand that the toy is of the racket shape and it has a vertical slit. Apart from this it also has 2 square pieces and 2 balls suspended by threads. This data is critical to handle the problem successfully.Problem Finding - Clarify the Problem
In this step, explore the facts and data to find all the problems and challenges inherent in the situation, and all the opportunities they represent. This is about making sure you’re focusing on the right problem. It is possible to come up with the right answer to the wrong problem. Re-define what you want or what’s stopping you. In the case of the toy we have to clearly understand as to what is stopping us from finding the solution to the problem. The challenged to the taking out of the ring from the toy have to be clearly defined before progressing further. Here the challenge was that the ring was repeatedly getting stuck in the two square blocks .that was the main challenge. Idea Finding - Generate Ideas
Generating ideas is much more than brainstorming. During this step, be vigilant about deferring judgment and coming up with wild, outrageous, out-of-the-box ideas. This is where you explore ideas that are possible solutions and have the most fun. It’s also where you need to stretch to make connections, take risks, and try new combinations to find potentially innovative solutions. The toy problem needs us to generate various possible combination of positions through which the problem can be solved. In organisatons too we have to understand that any problem requires every stakeholder to brainstorm and come up with out of the box ideas. Be it apple, or 3m , uncommon problems necceciate an uncommon solution.
Solution Finding – Select and Strengthen Solutions
First, try to strengthen and improve the best ideas generated. Next, generate the criteria that needs to be considered to evaluate the ideas for success. Apply that criteria to the top ideas and decide which are most likely to solve the redefined problem. The best idea needs to meet criteria that makes it actionable before it becomes the solution. A creative idea is not really useful if it won’t be implemented. In the case of the toy problem we came up with innovative solutions and listed out a few ideas which are the most likely to solve the problem. It is at this stage that our decision making comes into the picture wherein we have to choose the best possible strategy to take the ring out of the toy. In organizations to it is imperative that the only those solutions are put into practice which give the maximum chance of success. The best possible strategy will then have to be put into action.Acceptance Finding – Plan for Action
In this step, look at who’s responsible, what has to be done by when, and what resources are available in order to realize this idea as a full-fledged, activated solution. It is this stage when we really execute the plans to take the ring out of the toy. Based on the strategy decided in the previous method , we take out the ring out of the toy. We have to remember that an organization may have grand plans , but if they are not executed properly, they will not be of any use to the fulfillment of the organizations purpose.Therefore the toy exercise proved to be a quintessential way to understand the nuisance of CPS, and get a better idea of its application in the real world .
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
Introduction
Any operating organization should have its own structure in order to operate efficiently. For an organization, the organizational structure is a hierarchy of people and its functions.The organizational structure of an organization tells you the character of an organization and the values it believes in. Therefore, when you do business with an organization or getting into a new job in an organization, it is always a great idea to get to know and understand their organizational structure.
Depending on the organizational values and the nature of the business, organizations tend to adopt one of the following structures for management purposes.
Although the organization follows a particular structure, there can be departments and teams following some other organizational structure in exceptional cases.
Sometimes, some organizations may follow a combination of the following organizational structures as well.
Organizational Structure Types
Following are the types of organizational structures that can be observed in the modern business organizations.Pre-bureaucratic structures
This type of organizations lacks the standards. Usually this type of structures can be observed in small scale, start-up companies. Usually the structure is centralized and there is only one key decision maker.The communication is done in one-on-one conversations. This type of structures is quite helpful for small organizations due to the fact that the founder has the full control over all the decisions and operations.
Bureaucratic structures
Post-bureaucratic structures
The organizations that follow post- bureaucratic structures still inherit the strict hierarchies, but open to more modern ideas and methodologies. They follow techniques such as total quality management (TQM), culture management etc.
Functional Structure
Software engineers will only staff the entire software development department. This way, management of this functional group becomes easy and effective.
Functional structures appear to be successful in large organization that produces high volumes of products at low costs. The low cost can be achieved by such companies due to the efficiencies within functional groups.
In addition to such advantages, there can be disadvantage from an organizational perspective if the communication between the functional groups is not effective. In this case, organization may find it difficult to achieve some organizational objectives at the end.
Divisional Structure
divisions can be defined based on the geographical basis, products / services basis, or any other measurement.
As an example, take a company such as General Electrics. It can have microwave division, turbine division, etc., and these divisions have their own marketing teams, finance teams etc. In that sense, each division can be considered as a micro-company with the main organization.
Matrix Structure
The matrix structure gives the best of the both worlds of functional and divisional structures.
In this type of an organization, the company uses teams to complete tasks. The teams are formed based on the functions they belong to (ex: software engineers) and product they involved in (ex: Project A).
This way, there are many teams in this organization such as software engineers of project A, software engineers of project B, QA engineers of project A, etc.
Conclusion
Every organization needs a structure in order to operate systematically. The organizational structures can be used by any organization if the structure fits into the nature and the maturity of the organization.In most cases, organizations evolve through structures when they progress through and enhance their processes and manpower. One company may start as a pre-bureaucratic company and may evolve up to a matrix organization.
finally a video to capture the essence of it all
POM EXAM
My first ever POM exam:
Shaky legs, sweaty
palms, nervous disposition……..no they were certainly not me on my very first
POM exam day. For it was a very different day. I my life of 26 years I have
appeared in many exams , but this one was quite different from the rest. This
was an exam in which I hardly studied anything from the book, yet I was confident. This was a brand
new teaching methodology which was being put to use, LEARNING THROUGH BLOGS is
the new buzzword in NITIE.
This is a new initiative by our professor Dr. T Prasad
aka Dr. Mandi. This new methodology forced us to rethink our basic foundations
of rote learning. It forced us to be creative and innovative. This aspect
showed in the exam too, we as students were writing answers , not from the
books, but from the engaging discussions we had inside the classroom as well as
the brainstorming we have to do in our blogs. In my opinion exams are a means
of testing knowledge as well as a rigorous test of our managing skills too, be
it time management, pressure handling, of a test of knowledge, exams push us to
our limits.
The conflict between the ways of managing
Theory X and Theory Y
Organisations consist of employees and managers. The theory delves on the attitude and outlook of managers - the direction and growth of the organisation is in the hands of managers and it is solely their way of managing things which leads to proper motivation of the employees and in the process, achieve growth in the organisation.It is important to note here that Theory X and Theory Y looks into managerial psychology and their way of planning and running the organisation. Thus, it focuses on the class of managers and their behavioral attributes and attitude.
What does a theory X manager do?
His Theory of Motivation states that there is a certain class of mangers who fall in the bracket of Theory X. In this theory management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they can. Because of this, workers need to be closely supervised and comprehensive systems of control put in place. A hierarchical structure is needed, with narrow span of control at each level, for effective management. According to this theory employees will show little ambition without an enticing incentive program and will avoid responsibility whenever they can.
The managers influenced by Theory X believe that everything must end in blaming someone. They think most employees are only out for themselves and their sole interest in the job is to earn money. They tend to blame employees in most situations, without questioning the systems, policy, or lack of training which could be the real cause of failures. This type of management philosophy is generally found in conventional organizations.
What does a theory Y manager do?
Management influenced by this theory assumes that employees are ambitious, self-motivated, anxious to accept greater responsibility and exercise self-control, self-direction, autonomy and empowerment. Management believes that employees enjoy their work. They also believe that, given a chance, employees have the desire to be creative at their work place and become forward looking. There is a chance for greater productivity by giving employees the freedom to perform to the best of their abilities, without being bogged down by rules.A Theory Y manager believes that, given the right conditions, most people will want to do well at work and that there is a pool of unused creativity in the workforce. They believe that the satisfaction of doing a good job is a strong motivation in itself. A Theory Y manager will try to remove the barriers that prevent workers from fully actualizing themselves.
The following diagram gives a clear explanation about Theory X and Theory Y managers:
Now we further discuss the role of such managers and the effect on employees through the following four cases. As and where possible, examples from my experience of working under such managers has been highlighted.
Employee is not interested in his work and manager assumes he is lazy
This kind of a situation is seen in many organisations where lack of clear directive principles and ineffective goal setting leads to disillusionment and non-motivation among the employees to perform better. During my working days, while working in various committees as junior members, I often found seniors at the leadership didn't care much about us or the betterment of the club as a whole. Gradually, we assumed a stance where we also didn't work or care much and slowly started disliking working in it. They assumed we were lazy and went about it in that manner. This is a classic case of Theory X Managers where both the management and employees assume that the top rung will be giving orders to the lower rungs and they will follow the same.Employee likes his work and yet the manager assumes he is lazy
This is probably the most dangerous out of all the four possible situations where the employee likes his work and finds himself highly motivated from within to work and contribute, however the manager still assumes he is lazy and thus is greatly harmful to the motivational growth of the employee and the organisation as a whole. I had the (mis)fortune of having such a manager during my initial days at my workplace. The team members would work extra hard to achieve already stringent deadlines and produce quality work, often doing value addition on their own and inspiring each other to work harder and stay focused. However, our manager still assumed we were a group of lazy employees and would constantly point out minor issues, without focusing on the larger picture of employee's performance. Even with whole-hearted contributions, the team was deemed to be performing below par and not meeting objectives. Such managers can be detrimental to the success of the organisation as often, good employees might leave the organisation to other rival companies, leading to further attrition.
here is short video i found on the internet:
Employee dislikes his work and manager assumes he is not lazy
In this case, even though employees dislike their work, there is a strong focus from management to think they can do better and perform much more to aid the organisation. Immense morale boosting attitude, a definite belief that employees will perform better given more optimistic managers at the helm, performance based incentives at all levels are some of the means of getting the employees up to speed. This kind of a workplace is where the Theory Y managers exhibit their true mettle and where the attitude they adopt crucially shapes the future of the organisation.Employee likes his work and manager assumes he is not lazy
This is the most ideal case where the employee is focused and likes his work and performs it to the fullest extent. This is achieved as a result of hardworking employees working in an environment of synergy with the management who leave no stones unturned to motivate them through their positive attitude. I had the fortune of being under such a manager during my last days at the workplace. He would focus greatly on the employee's performance on a weekly basis. If there ever came any reasons which could demotivate the employees, he would take it up on an immediate basis and have it solved as soon as possible. An ever-supportive person for the employees, especially in front of the senior management during appraisal times, he had succeeded in bringing harmony in a team which had initially lost all faith in the management due to prior incidents. He would take time out from his personal schedule to interact on a person-to-person basis with us, understand each person's problems and offer solutions and his own help to sort them out so that the employee didn't go home disgruntled. It showed in our work as we too started to scale up and exceed the goals set in front of us, thus leading to excellence of the organisation. Such Theory Y managers make great organisations greater.
In a diverse world of different organisations with different philosophies, I believe that managers should try to become Theory Y managers in situation IV as this leads to successful growth of all stakeholders involved. Even in the case where such a situation becomes hypothetical, I feel that Theory X managers shown in situation II above are the worst managers as the negative vibe they give out harms all the parties.However we must not forget
Monday, 30 July 2012
Three Monks
THE THREE MONKS : THE RELAVANCE OF A TEAM.
TEAM BUILDING is the most vital part in the formulation towards any goal. It is philosophy of job design in which employees are viewed as members of interdependent teams instead of as individual workers. Be it any pursuit , either in sport , or in defence or business, the importance of team cannot be overemphasized.
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In order to better understand the importance of team building , let us refer to a wonderful cartoon film created in China in the year 1982, which became really popular.
This particular video highlights importance of "team building and team management" in the completion of any task. It also describes as to how the any task can be done more efficiently with the help of simple innovation and proper utilization of the available resources.
This particular video highlights importance of "team building and team management" in the completion of any task. It also describes as to how the any task can be done more efficiently with the help of simple innovation and proper utilization of the available resources.
This video can be subdivided into three main parts.
The Singleton : Here the monk is shown to get water for the temple alone, he does all aspects of a job himself , identifying the need to get water, taking the buckets, going to the river , fetching the water, etc. It has some similarities to craftsmanship , where the person does not specialise in any aspect and does the entire job himself.
Any job which is done on a single basis has only a limited potential particularly in business scenarios which are becoming increasingly integrated.
However for the singleton does really have an advantage, in areas of pursuit like arts, research, etc.
Leverage of the two monks: In this case the work load has been divided into two equal parts but one important factor to be considered here is the coordination between the two members in the team.
The root cause for their difference of opinion is that there is no 'standards' or rules for completing the task in a coordinated manner. This is later sorted out when the first monk draws a scale and makes a fair ruling. This principal is also very important with regards to any organization as there is a need to a unity of direction and proper distribution of work for the organization to march towards its goals.
Another thing which needs to be highlighted is that the increase in manpower leads to increase in efficiency as the work-load on one person is reduced.
In any organization the division of labour is very important. Proper concise and well defined roles really help in streamlining the task at hand.Also as seen from the video, standardization of a task is also very critical, as objective measures , which are well defined help in making the job easier as well as avoiding conflict.
The three monks: The entry of the third monks really changes the equation, initially it results in a lot of discord as to who will bring the water, it even results in no one bringing the water, and one of them even taking water from the vase near the Buddha statue. In organization lack of clear and concise well defined roles , often results in conflicts with each one shirking from his responsibility. This is called Social loafing. Here the role of the management is critical in the sense that it has to be proactive in resolving those issues and clearly laying down the roles and responsibity of each person.
The Realization : In the cartoon it is shown that there is a major fire in the monastery, and during that instance , they find that working together as a team is the best way to quench the fire. So they work together , whole heartedly and ultimately manage to quench the fire . they finally realize that working together is the best way to realize any objective for that matter.
A real life example can be the Pakistan team in the 1992 , world cup, where initially they were struggling with a lot of infighting going on, but when they were on the brink of elimination , they realized the importance of goal alignment and worked together to achieve the impossible.
In any organization , not only the goals should be clear and precise, but also the roles must be
designed in such a manner that those goals are aligned with the organizational goals.
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