Hector Gonsalvus
was an ideal student. ‘’A smart student!” they all called him.
“He will go far” everyone agreed. Girls in the class behaved
deferentially around him. Boys were told to be like him.
‘’I gave him the
best education I could afford”, his father used to boast to his
friends. Harold Gonsalvus worked in the design section of an old and
prestigious textile company. Harold woke up by 6, went to office by
8, did his job earnestly and joked around with his friends and boss.
If necessary, he stayed back on week days, came on weekends and
completed his work. When his wife Jacinta was sick, his boss allowed
him to leave early; the company even paid for a portion of her
treatment. “Ours is the best company” the employees used to say.
“The company will take care of us; no matter what”. The company
did so and in return, it prospered. Its fame reached far and wide.
Harold had put Hector
into “Anglican residential school” long before the “Right to
education bill “came into force. In Anglican, he intermingled with
the best of the lot. The kith and kin of the MLAs, bureaucrats and
business men.
After matriculation,
Hector opted for engineering as it was the Ít’course then. He
studied engineering like the rest of his friends.i.e; he had to
approach poly technique diploma holders to do his B-Tech final year
project. Then in their final year, a big corporate company came and
gave jobs to all of them.
Hector enjoyed his
life. He did his work, watched movies on weekends in multiplexes,
went shopping in Malls, read Times of India, frequented Café Coffee
day , Mac Donald’s and KFC, pronounced his opinion on poverty and
rural sanitation on company public folders. He even had a girlfriend
for a while. They broke up when the novelty wore off. That was when
he began to hear the buzz.
“Only B-Tech! Go for
MBA. You can get lakhs.” His middle aged neighbour Latha Prakash
would say flashing her golden teeth and diamond rings. Her son, Arun
Prakash had done MBA from a reputed Indian Management institute and
was currently earning lakhs. He was doing market research on
expanding coco cola market on the relatively untapped rural areas.
The people there still drank tender coconut water and spicy butter
milk. Occasionally, as an extravagance, they indulged in ‘’Frooti’’
or ‘’Soda”. ”Uncouth! Unsophisticated! Imagine the potential
if we could bring them all to the path of civilization.” Arun
Prakash would get really excited about his job.
Right and left, his
friends were either doing MBA or preparing for CAT or had CAT in
their bag. Determined not to be left behind, he obtained one month
leave from his company citing malaria; spent his evenings figuring
out how to identify 227 from a set of 4 choices in .3
seconds. And then he cracked the CAT! In big manner too. He got into
one of the ‘It’ schools.
All of a sudden, his
social status went up. His Facebook friends list went up from 300 to
900 and his follower list from 0 to 62.He felt proud. After all, his
cousin, who was an agricultural scientist, didn’t have a single
follower in Facebook.
After two
well-spent years, Hector received his management diploma. While
Jacinta wept openly, Harold discreetly dried his eyes in the
handkerchief. He was all the more overjoyed because his son was going
to join his organisation. His chest expanded with pride.
The old venerable
looking manager respectfully gave way to Hector when he entered his
air conditioned office room. The first thing that he noticed on
joining the organisation was that none of his Times-of-India reading
friends were using his company’s products. “We put our best
efforts into our products; we are passionate about it. Our products
are works of art. It requires aesthetic sense to appreciate it.”
Harold proudly informed him when he discussed the issue at home.
Being an intelligent man, Hector quickly deciphered the market
implications of this fact. “We don’t need works of art. We need
products that can sell like soaps. We should have higher market
capitalization. We should tap into the urban youth market that has
neither time nor intelligence to appreciate art. So cater to their
needs. Bring down the artistic level. But give it a sleek...you
know... pseudo-intellectual look. “Hector preached to a group of
astounded employees. That was administrative reform act 1.
Hector had the shock
of his life when he read his company’s annual report. His company
had zero rate of attrition! That simply can’t be! That’s not so
in Ernst and Young, in Standard and Poor, in Goldman Sachs, In J P
Morgan, In Hindustan Lever! It went against every management
principle he ever learned. It was simply unacceptable. A healthy
attrition rate was an indication of successful management policies.
He quizzed his father
about this. “You have been working on this company for more than 25
years now. You never wanted to change? “. “We were making the
best of the products. We had creative freedom. The company treated us
well. If anything happened to us, company used to take care of us.”
His father said apprehensively wondering what his learned son would
be up to next. Employees are complacent and take company for
granted. Hector made a mental note.
He went back,
brainstormed with his MBA peers for days on end. Finally, they hit up
on the ultimate solution. ”Make them contract workers! “The idea
was so simple and brilliant. The strategy was sure to inspire workers
to become more competitive in the globally challenging environment.
Huge productivity gains were sure to happen. That also meant, they
can curtail on employee benefits resulting in higher profit margins.
It was a gem of an idea!
The
contract signing ceremony took place with great splendour in Taj
Coromandel hotel. ‘’This shows that management is committed to
employee needs and concerns.” Hector declared. In the same
ceremony, he was presented with the ‘Business Man of the year
‘award .In the star studded event attended by the honourable prime
minister, planning commission vice chairman and finance minister,
Hector was the cynosure of all eyes. “What’s your next goal,
sir?” the young reporter of a breaking news channel asked him,
pressing the mike close to his mouth, all the while smiling sweetly
at her audience. “To write a book.” Hector replied gravely. “I
owe everything I am to my alma mater. Just like my teachers
transferred their valuable knowledge to me, I intend to transfer my
refined management techniques to future generations. .” He
concluded humbly.
Thus began the saga of
Hector Gonsalvus,the most acclaimed management guru of his times.
