Culture of intolerance and politics of opportunism is sweeping this nation. Shahrukh Khan is the latest target of such insanity. His matter-of-fact article that drew reactions from across the border had some politicians in this country baying for his blood. As Shahrukh said in a statement later that it is sad that he had to clarify that he is proud to be an Indian and he is safe in this country. Isn’t that what he lamented in the article that he wrote for Outlook Turning Points 2013 (Published by the New York Times)? All evening news channels yesterday had debates going-on on Shahrukh Khan's article, although it was evident that most of the panelists (a sizeable number of them politicians) who had been invited on such shows and were baying for SRK's throat had not even read the article!
But Shahrukh is not the lone victim of such absurdity in this nation. Not so long ago, Ashish Nandy’s comments at Jaipur Lit. Festival were twisted and construed that he is anti-dalit. A Kolkata based professor is arrested and is thirsted in jail simply because he dared to draw a cartoon of a politician who is at the helm of the state. Shashi Tharoor loses his ministerial portfolio for his tweet. The list can go on on…Who cares? Politicians care for the mileage that they can get out of the vote-bank or caste-based or religion-based or region-based politics, fanatics care about declaring fatwas and people of this country… by and large they seldom care to check the facts. When Justice Katju said that 90 percent of people in this country are idiots, we slammed him but did anyone read his open letter and what he really meant when he gave that statement?
Majority of people do not check facts, they just react! Am I surprised? No, not at all! In fact, if it were any other way, I would have been.
This is also good news for all the politicians and the likes in this country for they can continue to create hysteria and draw mileage out of the same. The bad news is that in the long run the disengagement and disenchantment of the same people would be huge. It is simply a win-lose game, where people only stand to lose!
Organizational leaders who also wish to believe that engagement rides the unintelligent emotional horse more than a rational stallion can be rest-assured that they are sowing seeds of destruction in the future. Short-term manipulative gains shall not prevent the systemic disengagement of people in the long-run and crisis would loom large one day on organizational sustainability. Curbing opportunism-based management & leadership in organization and building a strong inspiring culture is the only way to create long-term engagement.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
APPLE intensifies labour audits in China
Apple Inc stepped up audits of working conditions at major suppliers last year, discovering multiple cases of underage workers, discrimination and wage problems.
The iPhone and iPad maker, which relies heavily on Asian-based partners like Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group to assemble the vast majority of its iPhones and iPads, said on Thursday it conducted 393 audits, up 72 percent from 2011, reviewing sites where over 1.5 million workers make its gadgets.
Apple in recent years has faced accusations of building its profits on the backs of poorly treated and severely underpaid workers in China. That criticism came to the fore around 2010, after reports of suicides at Foxconn drew attention to the long hours that migrant laborers frequently endure, often for a pittance in wages and in severely cramped living conditions.
Foxconn is the trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry and employs 1.2 million workers across China.
Under Chief Executive Tim Cook, who took over from Steve Jobs in 2011, Apple has taken new steps to improve its record and boost transparency, including the extensive audits of its sprawling supply chain. Last year, it agreed to separate audits by the independent Fair Labor Association. In an interview on Thursday, Apple senior vice president of operations Jeff Williams said the company has increased its efforts to solve two of the most challenging issues - ensuring there are no under aged workers in its supply chain and limiting working hours to 60 hours a week.
Child Labour
While child labor reflected a small percentage of the workforce, Apple is now investigating its smaller suppliers - which typically supply parts to larger suppliers and hence face less oversight on such issues - to bring them into compliance, sometimes even firing them. "We go deep in the supply chain to find it," Williams said. "And when we do find it, we ensure that the underage workers are taken care of, the suppliers are dealt with."
In one case, Apple said it terminated its relationship with a component maker Guangdong Real Faith Pingzhou Electronics Co Ltd after discovering 74 cases of underage workers. Officials at Pingzhou Electronics could not be reached despite three telephone calls from Reuters.
Apple also discovered an employment agency that was forging documents to allow children to illegally work at the supplier.
Apple reported both the supplier and the employment agency to local authorities, the company said in its latest annual report on the conditions in its supply chain. Apple has audited both small and ancillary suppliers, as well as large ones such as Korea's Samsung Electronics Co, for working conditions. It found 95 percent of sites audited complied with avoiding underage labor.
Child labor is an issue that is part of the larger supply industry as the component maker that Apple found violated child labor laws supplied parts to more than a hundred different companies, including automotive companies, Williams said, vowing to eradicate under aged labor from the industry.
"I don't know how long it will take to get there but that's our goal," said Williams, who has spent a significant amount of his 14 years at Apple in Asia managing the supply chain.
Exploitation of Student Interns
For 2013, Williams said a key focus for Apple will be student interns and ensuring that suppliers do not abuse the internship system, especially in China where many colleges require students to complete internships as part of their curriculum. Some companies in China are solving labor shortages by employing students. Last September, city officials of the northeastern Chinese coastal city of Yantai ordered vocational high schools to send students to a large plant run by Foxconn - a key contract manufacture for Apple and other large electronics companies like Hewlett Packard - to overcome a shortage of workers.
Bonded Labour
Another focus areas has been "bonded labor", where agencies who help immigrant workers find jobs take a substantial portion of the worker's pay. Apple said in the report that it asked suppliers to reimburse $6.4 million in excess foreign contract worker fees in 2012, according to the report.
The company said it achieved 92 percent compliance with a maximum 60-hour work week in its supply chain. Where violations were discovered, Apple took action, it said in its report. Apple also found and stopped discriminatory practices against women workers in 34 supplier facilities that required pregnancy testing and 25 facilities that tested employees for certain medical conditions, the report said.
(Source: Apple steps up labor audits, finds underage workers. By Poornima Gupta and Noel Randewich
Reuters – Fri 25 Jan, 2013)
The iPhone and iPad maker, which relies heavily on Asian-based partners like Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group to assemble the vast majority of its iPhones and iPads, said on Thursday it conducted 393 audits, up 72 percent from 2011, reviewing sites where over 1.5 million workers make its gadgets.
Apple in recent years has faced accusations of building its profits on the backs of poorly treated and severely underpaid workers in China. That criticism came to the fore around 2010, after reports of suicides at Foxconn drew attention to the long hours that migrant laborers frequently endure, often for a pittance in wages and in severely cramped living conditions.
Foxconn is the trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry and employs 1.2 million workers across China.
Under Chief Executive Tim Cook, who took over from Steve Jobs in 2011, Apple has taken new steps to improve its record and boost transparency, including the extensive audits of its sprawling supply chain. Last year, it agreed to separate audits by the independent Fair Labor Association. In an interview on Thursday, Apple senior vice president of operations Jeff Williams said the company has increased its efforts to solve two of the most challenging issues - ensuring there are no under aged workers in its supply chain and limiting working hours to 60 hours a week.
Child Labour
While child labor reflected a small percentage of the workforce, Apple is now investigating its smaller suppliers - which typically supply parts to larger suppliers and hence face less oversight on such issues - to bring them into compliance, sometimes even firing them. "We go deep in the supply chain to find it," Williams said. "And when we do find it, we ensure that the underage workers are taken care of, the suppliers are dealt with."
In one case, Apple said it terminated its relationship with a component maker Guangdong Real Faith Pingzhou Electronics Co Ltd after discovering 74 cases of underage workers. Officials at Pingzhou Electronics could not be reached despite three telephone calls from Reuters.
Apple also discovered an employment agency that was forging documents to allow children to illegally work at the supplier.
Apple reported both the supplier and the employment agency to local authorities, the company said in its latest annual report on the conditions in its supply chain. Apple has audited both small and ancillary suppliers, as well as large ones such as Korea's Samsung Electronics Co, for working conditions. It found 95 percent of sites audited complied with avoiding underage labor.
Child labor is an issue that is part of the larger supply industry as the component maker that Apple found violated child labor laws supplied parts to more than a hundred different companies, including automotive companies, Williams said, vowing to eradicate under aged labor from the industry.
"I don't know how long it will take to get there but that's our goal," said Williams, who has spent a significant amount of his 14 years at Apple in Asia managing the supply chain.
Exploitation of Student Interns
For 2013, Williams said a key focus for Apple will be student interns and ensuring that suppliers do not abuse the internship system, especially in China where many colleges require students to complete internships as part of their curriculum. Some companies in China are solving labor shortages by employing students. Last September, city officials of the northeastern Chinese coastal city of Yantai ordered vocational high schools to send students to a large plant run by Foxconn - a key contract manufacture for Apple and other large electronics companies like Hewlett Packard - to overcome a shortage of workers.
Bonded Labour
Another focus areas has been "bonded labor", where agencies who help immigrant workers find jobs take a substantial portion of the worker's pay. Apple said in the report that it asked suppliers to reimburse $6.4 million in excess foreign contract worker fees in 2012, according to the report.
The company said it achieved 92 percent compliance with a maximum 60-hour work week in its supply chain. Where violations were discovered, Apple took action, it said in its report. Apple also found and stopped discriminatory practices against women workers in 34 supplier facilities that required pregnancy testing and 25 facilities that tested employees for certain medical conditions, the report said.
(Source: Apple steps up labor audits, finds underage workers. By Poornima Gupta and Noel Randewich
Reuters – Fri 25 Jan, 2013)
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Women in this country, stand no chance...
After all the public outrage over the shocking & gruesome rape & murder of Nirbhaya in New Delhi, the 630 page Justice Verma panel report’s recommendations on laws dealing with women safety comes as a disappointment . Those expecting something radical from this report’s so called suggestions for tougher laws to protect women, would be seriously let-down. This report does not recommend death penalty for the rapist, does not favour chemical castration of rapists (under the garb that human body mutilation is not favoured under the country’s constitution) and is still ready to let juvenile rapists go scot-free!
Raping a woman is mutilating her body and soul and her trauma is worse than death. Many a times in our country the rape victim is ostracized by the society on grounds of morality! Juveniles raping, torturing women are less criminals? If murder is horrendous, rape is ten times more monstrous and devilish act. And we want to keep them in jail at the cost of taxpayer’s money? You and I shall pay for them to be kept alive in jails? By any chance if anyone is inclined to believe that these rapists would reform, then its’ time to re-check some facts.
Recently, serial rapist who had raped and murdered a minor year old girl in 2002 and had been serving jail sentence since 2003, was released on parole for showing good behaviour. Immediately after his release he kidnapped another nine year old girl, raped her and murdered her. He then disposed the victim's body at an isolated place near Shirdi railway station (source: Serial rapist on parole rapes, murders minor girl). All we are doing by keeping them in jails is that we are keeping these wolves alive for them to tear-apart some other girl or women later. Death penalty creates fear and only then such criminals can be deterred.
“The measure of punishment in a given case must depend upon the atrocity of the crime, the conduct of the criminal and the defenceless and unprotected state of the victim.
Imposition of appropriate punishment is the manner in which the courts respond to the society's cry for justice against the criminals.
Justice demands that courts should impose punishment befitting the crime so that the courts reflect public abhorrence of the crime.”
- Justices A.S. Anand and N.P. Singh, Supreme Court of India, in the case of Dhananjoy Chatterjee
Justice Verma panel’s recommendations for adding acts like disrobing a woman, voyeurism, stalking and trafficking, intentional touching, spoken words and gestures made as advances under sexual misconduct is an welcome move but by not advocating death penalty for the rapists, the weapon has been left blunt & rusting.
Our society has no qualms in killing millions of girls in mother's womb (source: India loses 3 million girls in infanticide), in killing a new bride for dowry (source: Dowry death: One bride burnt every hour) but when it comes to awarding death penalty to rapists we back-off advocating principles of humanity. In this country of a girl escapes being killed in the womb, she might end-up being burnt alive by her in-laws for dowry. If she escapes that too then the society and in some cases even family members are there to get her and either she is tortured & killed or she lives in fear throughout her life!What an irony! Do women in this country stand any chance? If some cannibals must die for millions of innocent people to live, so be it!
Engagement principles are always based on rationale concrete outcomes. Civil societies & organizations have responsibility towards protecting the innocent & for that if there is a need to strongly punish the offenders, they should not hesitate.
Raping a woman is mutilating her body and soul and her trauma is worse than death. Many a times in our country the rape victim is ostracized by the society on grounds of morality! Juveniles raping, torturing women are less criminals? If murder is horrendous, rape is ten times more monstrous and devilish act. And we want to keep them in jail at the cost of taxpayer’s money? You and I shall pay for them to be kept alive in jails? By any chance if anyone is inclined to believe that these rapists would reform, then its’ time to re-check some facts.
Recently, serial rapist who had raped and murdered a minor year old girl in 2002 and had been serving jail sentence since 2003, was released on parole for showing good behaviour. Immediately after his release he kidnapped another nine year old girl, raped her and murdered her. He then disposed the victim's body at an isolated place near Shirdi railway station (source: Serial rapist on parole rapes, murders minor girl). All we are doing by keeping them in jails is that we are keeping these wolves alive for them to tear-apart some other girl or women later. Death penalty creates fear and only then such criminals can be deterred.
“The measure of punishment in a given case must depend upon the atrocity of the crime, the conduct of the criminal and the defenceless and unprotected state of the victim.
Imposition of appropriate punishment is the manner in which the courts respond to the society's cry for justice against the criminals.
Justice demands that courts should impose punishment befitting the crime so that the courts reflect public abhorrence of the crime.”
- Justices A.S. Anand and N.P. Singh, Supreme Court of India, in the case of Dhananjoy Chatterjee
Justice Verma panel’s recommendations for adding acts like disrobing a woman, voyeurism, stalking and trafficking, intentional touching, spoken words and gestures made as advances under sexual misconduct is an welcome move but by not advocating death penalty for the rapists, the weapon has been left blunt & rusting.
Our society has no qualms in killing millions of girls in mother's womb (source: India loses 3 million girls in infanticide), in killing a new bride for dowry (source: Dowry death: One bride burnt every hour) but when it comes to awarding death penalty to rapists we back-off advocating principles of humanity. In this country of a girl escapes being killed in the womb, she might end-up being burnt alive by her in-laws for dowry. If she escapes that too then the society and in some cases even family members are there to get her and either she is tortured & killed or she lives in fear throughout her life!What an irony! Do women in this country stand any chance? If some cannibals must die for millions of innocent people to live, so be it!
Engagement principles are always based on rationale concrete outcomes. Civil societies & organizations have responsibility towards protecting the innocent & for that if there is a need to strongly punish the offenders, they should not hesitate.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Arjun misses the target!
These days everyone has some opinion about women safety in our country; it is another thing that most of those opinions are best kept to themselves. The other day Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal had some views on women safety that he expressed on a TV show. He stated four forgettable points, out of which I perhaps remember only three. Here they go:
1. AR suggested that govt. should provide more jobs to people, then their standard of living will be better and then they would respect women more.
Oh! Men in this country will start respecting women once they get more jobs…aah! I thought we learnt to respect women when we were civilized thousands of years ago! Anyways, where are the jobs and that too with government. Forget it! So going by AR's prescription, Men in this country will never respect women!
2. AR wondered why women feel so unsafe in places of law, like in police stations etc.
This is left to anyone’s imagination but AR doesn’t seem to have an idea of this. Blissful ignorance is not new in this country, after all!
3. AR also wants every citizen to be sent for compulsory army training, so that they become more disciplined and can beat-up the molesters and rapists.
Discipline and will to stand-up against wrong does not come from any establishment. The character of a nation is determined by the prevailing culture. Otherwise, you tell me why there are signs of rot even in such establishments that AR seems to think are embodiments of discipline?
AR could best keep these opinions to himself and keep doing what he is getting better at – acting! For all the Arjun Rampal fans, do not be too disheartened for many others in this country have equally imprudent ideas.
Talking about imprudent ideas, they seem to be in huge unwanted abundance everywhere. One morning caller, in one of the breakfast radio shows, was asked by the RJ why was he whispering on the call? To which the caller said that he was in the office and he was not allowed to speak loudly or laugh or to enjoy. The bemused RJ wondered why offices are like these where you cannot enjoy! The RJ asked the caller what was he by profession and guess what the caller said – ‘Mechanical Engineer’- the operator word is Mechanical! Why can’t offices be more fun? Why do we make workplaces boring and so uninspiring? Remember the punch line of the Honda Jazz ad – ‘Why so serious?’
The other day, my Kent water purifier needed filter replacements. The technician called me on my phone for address directions and although I gave him the directions to reach my home, but I told him that I was not at my place and it would take me about an hour to reach. He told me that he was working only up to 12 noon that day and the next two days too he was unavailable since he was going to his native for the makar sankranti festival. It was already 11:30 a.m. when he had called me! I requested him if he could make it to my place by 1 p.m. and do the work. He agreed and promised to drop-by. He actually did and did a very nice job. I casually asked him how Kent was giving competition to the other once popular water purifier brand – Aquaguard. He told me that Kent was doing very well. He kept talking and told me that that he had worked for Aquaguard for 6 months before he switched to Kent four and a half years ago and since then there has been no looking back. I had myself given-up using Aqauguard, after using it for 15 years, due to worsening service…so I asked him what differentiated his experience of working in Kent from Aquaguard. This is what he had to say –“Sir, in Aquaguard they used to promise us that our salary would reach us between 1st and 10th of every month, but sometimes it used to come by 15th, and sometimes even up to 20th of the month we would not get our salaries. It is so difficult to manager, Sir! Our salaries are not every high, we have to pay rent, send money home…very difficult to manage. In Kent we get our salry by 5th of every month, without fail, even if 5th of that month turn-out to be a sunday. Then here in Kent Sir, we have flexible time. We do our work but sometimes we can go an hour late and leave our office early. Hence we technicians also do not mind working an hour extra, on some days, like I am doing today. We want our customers to be happy! Also Sir, sometimes if we need some advance salary because of some need, we get that very easily. Sir, when I left Aquaguard, 35 other technicians also left in Bangalore and joined Kent. I am happy working here!”
Perhaps this is why he wants to keep his customers happy too and Kent’s market share in the water purifier market is growing at an impressive pace!
After all this we still are doing research on employee attrition, customer satisfaction… and what not! The answers lie in simple interpretations.
Culture is so defining when it comes to ideas on engagement!
1. AR suggested that govt. should provide more jobs to people, then their standard of living will be better and then they would respect women more.
Oh! Men in this country will start respecting women once they get more jobs…aah! I thought we learnt to respect women when we were civilized thousands of years ago! Anyways, where are the jobs and that too with government. Forget it! So going by AR's prescription, Men in this country will never respect women!
2. AR wondered why women feel so unsafe in places of law, like in police stations etc.
This is left to anyone’s imagination but AR doesn’t seem to have an idea of this. Blissful ignorance is not new in this country, after all!
3. AR also wants every citizen to be sent for compulsory army training, so that they become more disciplined and can beat-up the molesters and rapists.
Discipline and will to stand-up against wrong does not come from any establishment. The character of a nation is determined by the prevailing culture. Otherwise, you tell me why there are signs of rot even in such establishments that AR seems to think are embodiments of discipline?
AR could best keep these opinions to himself and keep doing what he is getting better at – acting! For all the Arjun Rampal fans, do not be too disheartened for many others in this country have equally imprudent ideas.
Talking about imprudent ideas, they seem to be in huge unwanted abundance everywhere. One morning caller, in one of the breakfast radio shows, was asked by the RJ why was he whispering on the call? To which the caller said that he was in the office and he was not allowed to speak loudly or laugh or to enjoy. The bemused RJ wondered why offices are like these where you cannot enjoy! The RJ asked the caller what was he by profession and guess what the caller said – ‘Mechanical Engineer’- the operator word is Mechanical! Why can’t offices be more fun? Why do we make workplaces boring and so uninspiring? Remember the punch line of the Honda Jazz ad – ‘Why so serious?’
The other day, my Kent water purifier needed filter replacements. The technician called me on my phone for address directions and although I gave him the directions to reach my home, but I told him that I was not at my place and it would take me about an hour to reach. He told me that he was working only up to 12 noon that day and the next two days too he was unavailable since he was going to his native for the makar sankranti festival. It was already 11:30 a.m. when he had called me! I requested him if he could make it to my place by 1 p.m. and do the work. He agreed and promised to drop-by. He actually did and did a very nice job. I casually asked him how Kent was giving competition to the other once popular water purifier brand – Aquaguard. He told me that Kent was doing very well. He kept talking and told me that that he had worked for Aquaguard for 6 months before he switched to Kent four and a half years ago and since then there has been no looking back. I had myself given-up using Aqauguard, after using it for 15 years, due to worsening service…so I asked him what differentiated his experience of working in Kent from Aquaguard. This is what he had to say –“Sir, in Aquaguard they used to promise us that our salary would reach us between 1st and 10th of every month, but sometimes it used to come by 15th, and sometimes even up to 20th of the month we would not get our salaries. It is so difficult to manager, Sir! Our salaries are not every high, we have to pay rent, send money home…very difficult to manage. In Kent we get our salry by 5th of every month, without fail, even if 5th of that month turn-out to be a sunday. Then here in Kent Sir, we have flexible time. We do our work but sometimes we can go an hour late and leave our office early. Hence we technicians also do not mind working an hour extra, on some days, like I am doing today. We want our customers to be happy! Also Sir, sometimes if we need some advance salary because of some need, we get that very easily. Sir, when I left Aquaguard, 35 other technicians also left in Bangalore and joined Kent. I am happy working here!”
Perhaps this is why he wants to keep his customers happy too and Kent’s market share in the water purifier market is growing at an impressive pace!
After all this we still are doing research on employee attrition, customer satisfaction… and what not! The answers lie in simple interpretations.
Culture is so defining when it comes to ideas on engagement!
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Who to blame, if the boat sinks?
One of our worst experiences at any hotel or resort happened at Sterling Emerald Bay Resort, Karwar (Costal Karnataka town) during our 2012 Christmas holidays.
Keeping-in-mind that Christmas & new year time of the year is peak tourism season, we had booked three deluxe rooms (with sea view) in early September, 2012. We paid the advance money and the confirmation mail was sent by one of their managers. The tariff consisted of room stay, complimentary breakfast and some indoor activities.
Harassment through pressurizing tactics
Three days before our scheduled start of vacation, I started getting phone calls from the manager, that they were organizing gala-dinner on Christmas Eve (24/12 evening). He pressurized us to join the dinner. Apart from the ridiculous cost of the dinner, I told him that we had an elderly couple and two young kids with us aged 6 years and 11 months, and hence it would be impossible for us to join any dinner like this, the manager told me that joining the dinner is compulsory. When I argued that told him that this was not discussed at the time of booking, he relented. When I asked him whether normal dinner would be available for us on that evening, he first dilly-dallied and then agreed to provide us a limited menu dinner. I had a bad taste in my mouth even before we started the journey.
Cheating by not blocking the rooms booked in advance
Bangalore to Karwar is about 12 hours journey and it took us an extra-hour, since we were traveling by a bigger vehicle that could accommodate all of us. Karwar is also a small sleepy place with not many options to stay or dine. We were on our way and were 2 hours from reaching the Sterling Emerald Bay Resort, when I got a call from the same manager who told me that all because some guest met some contingency, hence rooms were not available. At best he could arrange some rooms from us at some nearby hotel. I was stunned and shocked. Despite booking couple of months in advance and paying the advance booking amount we were being denied our rooms. With enough anger & firmness, I told the manager that I would not settle for anything less the promised rooms at Sterling Emerald Bay Resort.
Anyways, we reached after 13 hours of tiring journey. The kids were hungry & sleepy and my parents badly needed rest. At the front-office, we were told that we could get our three rooms at the resort, but not all of them would be the deluxe rooms booked by us. This was pure cheating and it was clear driven by greed, in order to cash-in on the walk-in customers they had over-sold the rooms at a much higher tariff.
What followed was 45 minutes of argument and immense hassle for us. Finally they promised us to give the rooms promised to us by next day. We had no choice but to compromise.
Total Apathy for Guest Comfort
On the Christmas Eve, during their gala dinner, they played the music so loud till late hours to ensure that we could not sleep or rest in comfort. The loud music kept pounding our ears till midnight and only after repeated requests and begging, they stopped the same.
Besides this most of the evening they were having some or other special dinner. For those guests who would not opt for their exorbitant dinners, they would offer only limited-menu dinner, something that was never told to us when we booked our rooms. So for most of our meals, we did not get the items that we chose and had to compromise & settle for something that was available. Considering Karwar town has limited options for dining, we had hardly any choice. Perhaps this was why they kept doing this to us. Besides the Goan and continental dishes mentioned on their menu card was never available.
Sterling is a sinking boat!
On coming back, with retrospective wisdom, when I checked for other comments about the Sterling Emerald Bay Resort at Karwar, they were equally bad comments. I then tried to check comments for other Sterling properties. One of the most interesting reviews that I found on trip-advisor about Sterling Valley view Kodaikanal was titled ‘Sterling is a sunken boat’. The comments are so bad that you cannot help but sympathize the poor couple who had a horrible experience at this resort, despite the fact that the one of them was a investor in that property. I should have done this research before opting for Sterling Emerald but I was short-sighted by the brand-perception that I held for Sterling. But for all you folks out there yet not tandoored by the Sterling experience, I would strongly recommend you not to opt for Sterling Emerald Bay Resort at Karwar and beware of any sterling hotel or resort. After all the greed seems to be the common string!
Culture-rot
Why do you think that so many people have pathetic experience at Sterling at different times, at different locations? The answer lies in culture-rot at Sterling. The employees who work for Sterling have figured-out the culture of the management that they work for and hence they provide the same treatment to their guests. The culture-rot is right at the top that percolates to the bottom, since most employees find conforming to that culture as the path of least resistance and follow that , leaving their guests distraught and harassed. There are only handful people who work for Sterling who seem to fighting the culture and hence account for whatever good a guest gets during his/her stay at any Sterling property. If our stay was some way good at the Sterling Emerald Bay Resort, Karwar, it was due to some handful good staff members that they have employed like Mr. Hemanth Rai, Resort Manager, Anand (waiter), Chumki (Frontoffice). A big ‘thank you’ to all these few good men & the lady!
Organizations trying to engage their employees without setting their culture right is a bad idea and would never work. Culture-rot ensures your employees are disengaged and they would dole the same dish to your customers as well.
So if you got to engage first review and possibly change your culture. But what is the probability that this would happen here? Very low!
Organizations are mini-societies in themselves that borrow constituents from the larger society. And look at what we do and say in our society…why go far, look at the some of the comments our leaders (leaders? Really! Are they fit to lead?), regarding violence against women and on women safety. There are ones who have said that women face such violence & rape because they lead a westernized lifestyle; there are others who have said that women are dented & painted; and if this was not enough that some have gone to the extent of blaming the rape victim and advocated that she should have asked for forgiveness from the rapists, then they would have spared her! I am not surprised with these leaders (after all I expect nothing more, nothing less from them) but I feel more angry on the followers! But then why do you think they follow these leaders, again the same culture-rot. In a rotten culture, people behave no differently!
When I write this, I know a lot people will despise me for writing this. Again I am not surprised! Now I don’t have to tell you why… you know why…don’t you? :-)
Keeping-in-mind that Christmas & new year time of the year is peak tourism season, we had booked three deluxe rooms (with sea view) in early September, 2012. We paid the advance money and the confirmation mail was sent by one of their managers. The tariff consisted of room stay, complimentary breakfast and some indoor activities.
Harassment through pressurizing tactics
Three days before our scheduled start of vacation, I started getting phone calls from the manager, that they were organizing gala-dinner on Christmas Eve (24/12 evening). He pressurized us to join the dinner. Apart from the ridiculous cost of the dinner, I told him that we had an elderly couple and two young kids with us aged 6 years and 11 months, and hence it would be impossible for us to join any dinner like this, the manager told me that joining the dinner is compulsory. When I argued that told him that this was not discussed at the time of booking, he relented. When I asked him whether normal dinner would be available for us on that evening, he first dilly-dallied and then agreed to provide us a limited menu dinner. I had a bad taste in my mouth even before we started the journey.
Cheating by not blocking the rooms booked in advance
Bangalore to Karwar is about 12 hours journey and it took us an extra-hour, since we were traveling by a bigger vehicle that could accommodate all of us. Karwar is also a small sleepy place with not many options to stay or dine. We were on our way and were 2 hours from reaching the Sterling Emerald Bay Resort, when I got a call from the same manager who told me that all because some guest met some contingency, hence rooms were not available. At best he could arrange some rooms from us at some nearby hotel. I was stunned and shocked. Despite booking couple of months in advance and paying the advance booking amount we were being denied our rooms. With enough anger & firmness, I told the manager that I would not settle for anything less the promised rooms at Sterling Emerald Bay Resort.
Anyways, we reached after 13 hours of tiring journey. The kids were hungry & sleepy and my parents badly needed rest. At the front-office, we were told that we could get our three rooms at the resort, but not all of them would be the deluxe rooms booked by us. This was pure cheating and it was clear driven by greed, in order to cash-in on the walk-in customers they had over-sold the rooms at a much higher tariff.
What followed was 45 minutes of argument and immense hassle for us. Finally they promised us to give the rooms promised to us by next day. We had no choice but to compromise.
Total Apathy for Guest Comfort
On the Christmas Eve, during their gala dinner, they played the music so loud till late hours to ensure that we could not sleep or rest in comfort. The loud music kept pounding our ears till midnight and only after repeated requests and begging, they stopped the same.
Besides this most of the evening they were having some or other special dinner. For those guests who would not opt for their exorbitant dinners, they would offer only limited-menu dinner, something that was never told to us when we booked our rooms. So for most of our meals, we did not get the items that we chose and had to compromise & settle for something that was available. Considering Karwar town has limited options for dining, we had hardly any choice. Perhaps this was why they kept doing this to us. Besides the Goan and continental dishes mentioned on their menu card was never available.
Sterling is a sinking boat!
On coming back, with retrospective wisdom, when I checked for other comments about the Sterling Emerald Bay Resort at Karwar, they were equally bad comments. I then tried to check comments for other Sterling properties. One of the most interesting reviews that I found on trip-advisor about Sterling Valley view Kodaikanal was titled ‘Sterling is a sunken boat’. The comments are so bad that you cannot help but sympathize the poor couple who had a horrible experience at this resort, despite the fact that the one of them was a investor in that property. I should have done this research before opting for Sterling Emerald but I was short-sighted by the brand-perception that I held for Sterling. But for all you folks out there yet not tandoored by the Sterling experience, I would strongly recommend you not to opt for Sterling Emerald Bay Resort at Karwar and beware of any sterling hotel or resort. After all the greed seems to be the common string!
Culture-rot
Why do you think that so many people have pathetic experience at Sterling at different times, at different locations? The answer lies in culture-rot at Sterling. The employees who work for Sterling have figured-out the culture of the management that they work for and hence they provide the same treatment to their guests. The culture-rot is right at the top that percolates to the bottom, since most employees find conforming to that culture as the path of least resistance and follow that , leaving their guests distraught and harassed. There are only handful people who work for Sterling who seem to fighting the culture and hence account for whatever good a guest gets during his/her stay at any Sterling property. If our stay was some way good at the Sterling Emerald Bay Resort, Karwar, it was due to some handful good staff members that they have employed like Mr. Hemanth Rai, Resort Manager, Anand (waiter), Chumki (Frontoffice). A big ‘thank you’ to all these few good men & the lady!
Organizations trying to engage their employees without setting their culture right is a bad idea and would never work. Culture-rot ensures your employees are disengaged and they would dole the same dish to your customers as well.
So if you got to engage first review and possibly change your culture. But what is the probability that this would happen here? Very low!
Organizations are mini-societies in themselves that borrow constituents from the larger society. And look at what we do and say in our society…why go far, look at the some of the comments our leaders (leaders? Really! Are they fit to lead?), regarding violence against women and on women safety. There are ones who have said that women face such violence & rape because they lead a westernized lifestyle; there are others who have said that women are dented & painted; and if this was not enough that some have gone to the extent of blaming the rape victim and advocated that she should have asked for forgiveness from the rapists, then they would have spared her! I am not surprised with these leaders (after all I expect nothing more, nothing less from them) but I feel more angry on the followers! But then why do you think they follow these leaders, again the same culture-rot. In a rotten culture, people behave no differently!
When I write this, I know a lot people will despise me for writing this. Again I am not surprised! Now I don’t have to tell you why… you know why…don’t you? :-)
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Life of 'Y'
Every generation exhibits behavioral traits that are unique. More so if the era they live-in is a transformed one, in comparison to the previous one. Gen Y, in particular, live in an era that has seen change far greater than any other. These changes have populated both the macro and micro contexts. The resultant generational effect has been a reversed happiness quotient for Gen Y. This post attempts to explain the new quotient and its implications on engaging Gen Y.
Taniya is a young MBA, fresh out of the college, working, independent and a gadget-addict. She works as a manager with a reputed brand and loves to flaunt her professional status. Financially she is secure and despite being a fresher feels she has career security. However by her own confession she leads a ‘Calendar Life’. She no more has enough time for herself, her friends and family. Birthdays, festivals and even calling home have to be accommodated during weekends, since the ‘calendar’ simply does not allow anything except work schedule. Nobody to go back to at home, not enough social bonding with friends make loneliness a habit for Taniya.
Is this only Taniya’s Story or is this more endemic with Gen Y’s new state of happiness? Research involving considerable in-depths with Gen Y shows the emergence of a paradox that permeates throughout the happiness quotient of Gen Y and paradoxes are spun in all these wellness parameters comprising the happiness quotient:
Material Wellness
•Security-Stability Paradox: Gen Y have more career security as compared to Gen X. However while Gen X had more stable jobs, Gen Y, despite having high career & financial security, have high degree of career instability. This instability stems from the environmental uncertainty and also from the fact that this generation is highly aspirational & not averse to taking risks.
•Income-Maintenance Paradox: The financial security of Gen Y has also brought with itself financial prosperity for this generation. However they also have high maintenance cost and cost of living as compared to Gen X, primarily because of rising inflation and peer pressure.
Physiological Wellness
•Pace-Time Paradox: The pace at which Gen Y operates is very high, yet they have less time as compared to Gen X. Many respondents have said that they many times feel that ‘it’s a race’. As per the recent household survey by the Directorate of Census Operations, Bangalore (India) around 0.35 million people eat-out every day in this city alone, mostly out of necessity. According to a study by Assocham, no fixed meal hours and non-stop telephonic sessions are causing gastric problems, together with fatigue and headaches that might have detrimental consequences on the health in the long run.
•Opportunity – Health Paradox: Gen Y has far greater opportunities, especially on the professional frontier, like global postings, development & learning avenues etc. than Gen X. However the cost of prosperity & a rush to make most of these opportunities in as less time as possible has meant greater health scares, obesity problems and stress-related symptoms in Gen Y. Many Gen Y respondents told me that they find it ‘difficult to relax’.
Emotional Wellness
•Contacts-Friends Paradox: Gen Y has swelling number of virtual friends but they have very few people whom they can call friends. Gen X had fewer friends but they were friends for life. The emotional security hence that Gen Y has is quite low as compared to Gen X.
•Space-Loneliness Paradox: Gen Y has definitely greater space for themselves that they love too at times. Despite this they suffer from prolonged loneliness. In his book ‘Loneliness’ John Capcioppo had shown how loneliness negatively affects human physiology and emotionally disconnects them from others.
•Relationships-Bonding Paradox: Gen Y has comparatively more relationship choices like ‘Single’, ‘Live-in’, ‘LGBT’ etc. than Gen X, yet they have far less cohesiveness and bonding in most of their relationships.
Social Wellness
•Freedom-Support Paradox: Gen Y has far greater individual freedom & autonomy than Gen X but they also have less support system than the latter. The social & family support systems for Gen X were better & stronger than for Gen Y.
•Festivals-Celebration paradox: Gen Y has far more festivities & special days on offer to celebrate than the counted festivals for Gen X. However for Gen Y the scope to celebrate these festivals & special days is limited. Festivals, birthdays, anniversaries, friendship day etc. all get relegated to already crowded weekends.
Overall it shows a depth-deficit for Gen Y & although their material wellness has improved, their physiological, emotional and social wellness has drastically declined. This has resulted in a reversed happiness quotient for this generation. In other words, whatever were unhappiness factors for Gen X has transformed into happiness factors for Gen Y and vice-versa.
Implication of Reversed Happiness Quotient in Engaging Gen Y
Organizations need to be cognizant of the fact that happiness is an outcome of engagement. The ability of an organization to create and/or retain this engagement among Gen Y employees depends on a large extent whether they identify & appreciate this reversed equation of happiness. Organizations engagement efforts tend to be skewed in favour of compensation, career issues of employees or in other words in further strengthening their already strong material wellness. Whereas what the gen Y is really missing-out on is emotional, physiological and social wellness. There is the ‘single Gen Y’ who has no one to go back to, there are ‘DINK’ couples who earn a lot, have no kids and have hardly time for each other. Their emotional securities are low; they miss social & family support system and live under high stress. Engagement efforts of the organization should focus more on improving the emotional, physiological and social wellness of their employees rather than just concentrating on the material wellness. For example there is an Indian IT-giant that has taken initiative to educate the young mothers amongst their employees that how the first 1000 days of a baby are very important & why the mother should spend more time with their babies during these days. They also offer less demanding roles to such employees till the time they think that they can give work more priority. Engagement that results from such efforts is much more profound and sustainable & impacts the happiness quotient of the Gen Y significantly.
(First appeared on Sept. 2, 2012 - 'Gen Y: The Reversed Happiness Quotient' as an invitational post in a blog on employee happiness satrted by a non-profit consulting company Institute for Wellbeing Management, Bellevue University, Nebraska, U.S.A.) (http://employeehappinesstipstrickstools.com/2012/09/gen-y/)
(Few Corporate speaking enagagements on Engaging Gen Y, following the blogpost like-
Tata Consutancy Services - Dec. 7, 2012
Cloudnine Hospitals - Oct. 18, 2012
indicated confirmation of the findings of our research on Gen Y , a glimpse of which was projected in the above blogpost.)
Taniya is a young MBA, fresh out of the college, working, independent and a gadget-addict. She works as a manager with a reputed brand and loves to flaunt her professional status. Financially she is secure and despite being a fresher feels she has career security. However by her own confession she leads a ‘Calendar Life’. She no more has enough time for herself, her friends and family. Birthdays, festivals and even calling home have to be accommodated during weekends, since the ‘calendar’ simply does not allow anything except work schedule. Nobody to go back to at home, not enough social bonding with friends make loneliness a habit for Taniya.
Material Wellness
•Security-Stability Paradox: Gen Y have more career security as compared to Gen X. However while Gen X had more stable jobs, Gen Y, despite having high career & financial security, have high degree of career instability. This instability stems from the environmental uncertainty and also from the fact that this generation is highly aspirational & not averse to taking risks.
•Income-Maintenance Paradox: The financial security of Gen Y has also brought with itself financial prosperity for this generation. However they also have high maintenance cost and cost of living as compared to Gen X, primarily because of rising inflation and peer pressure.
Physiological Wellness
•Pace-Time Paradox: The pace at which Gen Y operates is very high, yet they have less time as compared to Gen X. Many respondents have said that they many times feel that ‘it’s a race’. As per the recent household survey by the Directorate of Census Operations, Bangalore (India) around 0.35 million people eat-out every day in this city alone, mostly out of necessity. According to a study by Assocham, no fixed meal hours and non-stop telephonic sessions are causing gastric problems, together with fatigue and headaches that might have detrimental consequences on the health in the long run.
•Opportunity – Health Paradox: Gen Y has far greater opportunities, especially on the professional frontier, like global postings, development & learning avenues etc. than Gen X. However the cost of prosperity & a rush to make most of these opportunities in as less time as possible has meant greater health scares, obesity problems and stress-related symptoms in Gen Y. Many Gen Y respondents told me that they find it ‘difficult to relax’.
Emotional Wellness
•Contacts-Friends Paradox: Gen Y has swelling number of virtual friends but they have very few people whom they can call friends. Gen X had fewer friends but they were friends for life. The emotional security hence that Gen Y has is quite low as compared to Gen X.
•Space-Loneliness Paradox: Gen Y has definitely greater space for themselves that they love too at times. Despite this they suffer from prolonged loneliness. In his book ‘Loneliness’ John Capcioppo had shown how loneliness negatively affects human physiology and emotionally disconnects them from others.
•Relationships-Bonding Paradox: Gen Y has comparatively more relationship choices like ‘Single’, ‘Live-in’, ‘LGBT’ etc. than Gen X, yet they have far less cohesiveness and bonding in most of their relationships.
Social Wellness
•Freedom-Support Paradox: Gen Y has far greater individual freedom & autonomy than Gen X but they also have less support system than the latter. The social & family support systems for Gen X were better & stronger than for Gen Y.
•Festivals-Celebration paradox: Gen Y has far more festivities & special days on offer to celebrate than the counted festivals for Gen X. However for Gen Y the scope to celebrate these festivals & special days is limited. Festivals, birthdays, anniversaries, friendship day etc. all get relegated to already crowded weekends.
Overall it shows a depth-deficit for Gen Y & although their material wellness has improved, their physiological, emotional and social wellness has drastically declined. This has resulted in a reversed happiness quotient for this generation. In other words, whatever were unhappiness factors for Gen X has transformed into happiness factors for Gen Y and vice-versa.
Implication of Reversed Happiness Quotient in Engaging Gen Y
Organizations need to be cognizant of the fact that happiness is an outcome of engagement. The ability of an organization to create and/or retain this engagement among Gen Y employees depends on a large extent whether they identify & appreciate this reversed equation of happiness. Organizations engagement efforts tend to be skewed in favour of compensation, career issues of employees or in other words in further strengthening their already strong material wellness. Whereas what the gen Y is really missing-out on is emotional, physiological and social wellness. There is the ‘single Gen Y’ who has no one to go back to, there are ‘DINK’ couples who earn a lot, have no kids and have hardly time for each other. Their emotional securities are low; they miss social & family support system and live under high stress. Engagement efforts of the organization should focus more on improving the emotional, physiological and social wellness of their employees rather than just concentrating on the material wellness. For example there is an Indian IT-giant that has taken initiative to educate the young mothers amongst their employees that how the first 1000 days of a baby are very important & why the mother should spend more time with their babies during these days. They also offer less demanding roles to such employees till the time they think that they can give work more priority. Engagement that results from such efforts is much more profound and sustainable & impacts the happiness quotient of the Gen Y significantly.
(First appeared on Sept. 2, 2012 - 'Gen Y: The Reversed Happiness Quotient' as an invitational post in a blog on employee happiness satrted by a non-profit consulting company Institute for Wellbeing Management, Bellevue University, Nebraska, U.S.A.) (http://employeehappinesstipstrickstools.com/2012/09/gen-y/)
(Few Corporate speaking enagagements on Engaging Gen Y, following the blogpost like-
Tata Consutancy Services - Dec. 7, 2012
Cloudnine Hospitals - Oct. 18, 2012
indicated confirmation of the findings of our research on Gen Y , a glimpse of which was projected in the above blogpost.)
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
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