Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Working Harder to make life easier

Always in life human beings are never satisfied with whatever we have. We are always striving hard for a better tomorrow in this struggle to make our life better in the future. It is often in this respect that we think that if we slog today we will be better off tomorrow. We want to work for 18 hrs a day so that in future we will in a better place with a better salary. So we deduce mostly everybody ruin their "today" working for a better "tomorrow". Would we be happy if we don't do this. Lets take Mr X who is from a middle class or lower middle class family who has no better ambitions or aspiration but wants to just lead a better life then whatever he has at the moment. So in the routine of life Mr X studies hard makes to be a engineer or doctor or any other professional course then finds an entry level job for a medium salary. This Mr X would not be satisfied with this life he would have achieved as he wants more so either he sees alternatives or works harder so that he can jump one step up. He wants to jump the maximum number of steps in his own lifetime for himself or family. Eventually he ends up covering the distance he wants but he never really has the time to wait stop and look at what he has already achieved. I think this is what may be most of us miss in ur daily slogging for a better tomorrow.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Vision, Mission and Goals

The buzz word for all corporates nowadays is what is their vision & mission. So most of the organisations have formulated their vision and mission without an understanding whether that is necessary for them or suitable for them. The worst part of it is that some of the companies believe that employees goals or appraisal should be linked with the companies vision and mission.
Consiously every individual knows that this is an unlikely scenario in todays job market where job loyalty is almost non existent. Exploitation is the underlying value nowadays. The employee wants exploit the chance given by any big corp to improve his CV and the employer is in search of employees who will give 150% in effort at 50% the cost.
Among this to develop a conducive environment for working is almost impossible. So to emotionally black mail employees we have concepts like wotk ethics and values which in actual are almost non existent. When the motivation is different for both the employee and the organisation they simply cannot work towards the same goal. The employee is either motivated by money or forms of respect like designation but either of these are not directly related to organisational growth.
So is it justified in having such vision goals and values that dont carry any significance? Well for one they atleast seem to help the company remain its identity and portraying politically correct images.

What's in a name?

My name is XYZ. I dont understand why such an answer doesnt satisfy people especially in India. It will be followed by a string of questions. What is your surname? What is your caste? Are you vegeterian?
I know it is the characterestic of Humans to be curious but not to the extent that it is really mean. I generally have the habit of saying only my first name but some how people cant accept it they ask “XYZ and what?”…. And my foot how does it matter to you. I feel that all fathers should remove their names from their children’s names. Though some may think what is the issue with an innocent question like asking surname? The ends meant for these questions are unfortunately not so innocent. The whole sole purpose is to find out whats your caste or from which region you belong. Then these people try and become smart by saying that i just knew that you were from that place.All crap most of these people have huge casts in their mind for people from different backgrounds or castes so they think that every person should fit into a mould and unfortunately if somebody doesn’t then they are outcasts or crazy.
In fact most of them use the same logic for arranged marriages. If we marry in the same caste or region then people can gel easily on both side. They miss the point that this logic has failed miserably several times in the past. I believe there is an equal chance of failure in marriage be it arranged or love its just that if people are willing to make it work then it might work and that is the only way.

Neighbours Envy and Owners Pride

In general virtuous are those who are generous and charitable in nature. Also Corporate Social Responsibility is touted as the best thing to happen for business in 21st Century. Amidst such existing notions let us go back to the basic need of survival of people. Whenever there is a threat to survival these things seem miniscule and only when there are safe boundaries built do people talk about such things. In today’s world we see wives of millionaires talk about the poor and downtrodden and what the affluent society should do about it but the average person who is in the lower income segment is not bothered about his neighbour as his interest is his own existence.
This indicates that higher safety levels, sophistication have relatively reduced the ability of human being to face situations that demand anything more than the routine he does. A typical example would be if at all a software professional is by chance lost in a plane crash and lost on lonely island with no inhabitation he won’t be able to survive as he is not equipped to do so. This was a more basic example to highlight the issue a more common day to day example is that in a job if suddenly your location is changed or department is changed most people are horrified as change is some thing they cant accept.
This safety walls built out of sophistication of life in the modern days have led to people becoming unprepared for change of any sort and any manner. Take up a job in this company they don’t fire, You must do engineering as that is a secure way, MBA is the best path to follow as high packages and future is secure etc these are some of the stereotypes that I have seen practically or experienced where the traditional paths are recommended and change is fought. It is precisely this very reason I feel that suppose there is one different person or one different thought the entire majority try subduing this minority as it might be a threat to their way of living. This is not something new that I thought of more inspired from the works of Ayn Rand’s literature that I have read so far.
So this general or the collective feel that being generous or following CSR is the right way as it would give a good image for themselves and they need not justify the excess they have when compared to the under privileged. There might be people or thoughts that are clear and feel that it is for themselves that they work and not any one else. Suppose if these peoples are with the majority then they become great leaders and icons and in case they are with the minority thought process then it will take commendable achievements from them so the larger majority recognises them. Also the majority fails to realise that their acceptance or rejection hardly matters to them.
Making a choice is also essential for everyone. You have to medicine or engineering? You want to computers or mechanical? MS or MBA? US or UK? In case an individual is not ready for a decision at the given point then he has no choice. For example at the age after school how can anyone be sure what they want to do sciences commerce but they have to make a decision which would obviously be influenced by parents or friends or society. This can be further found true by just asking any 2nd or 3rd class kid what they want to become and the answers would be as fancy as pilot and painter but these ideas are not allowed to be pursued and they would be pushed towards the standard stereotypes. Maybe one fine day a really creative one survives this than it would really be Neighbours Envy and Owners Pride.

Spoilt

Well this blog is how I wish to spoil myself on the dimension of time by absolutely dedicating this blog to million things that flash across our minds every passing second.The things that I think about, the things i dont think about and the thinks i try and avois to think about is what esentially i ll try and encapsulate here. The obedient is always what we are during our daily lives a little bit of spice is what we get with the wicked edge of disobedience that is what I am enjoying and observing nowadays. Well to leave some food for thought on my first post, everyday I see one man is food for another in this society there is no end to it and the chain is endless. A man cannot be happy all by himself. He needs the tragedy of his colleague so that he can call it a comedy or have a laugh at it. I feel the understanding that his peer has fallcies makes the individual feel secure that is what makes him enjoy the others misery so much.