India: Is it losing its supremacy in Cricket, Lessons learned

I am sure you will be reading this above headlines in all newspapers and magazines. But what does this decline in the Indian Cricket have to teach in the IT Industry. Let us look at the Indian Cricket team with the eyes of Business Management.

I merely thought that last saturday's loss of India to Bangladesh was a flash in the pan, but today;s loss to Sri Lanka, merely demonstrated the sheer bankruptcy of talent in the Indian Cricket. India has world class players, "STARS" in its "team". But could any of its star have the power today or could they shine as a team, unfortunately No.

We are getting beaten consistently by minnows of cricket today. The Giants in the Sub-Continent, India and Pakistan have had losses in the world cup, which it could never have imagined. The last time such an event occurred where both the teams would not be participating in the next round was in 1979 world cup. Has the subcontinent cricket come a full circle. will the subcontinent be dominated by the Sri Lanka and Bangaldesh cricket to come.

What lessons does this cricket team's loss hold for us in other streams of life. Let me draw some parallels with the IT industry today.

* The current cricket team is fed on a lot of sponsorship money and is not dependent on a reward for performance. The same seems to be happening in the IT Industry in India too. People are demanding salaries which are no commensurate for either the knowledge or the capability to work. Unfortunately companies are willing to pay salaries too for such work delivered, because they want to leverage India.
* The current team is so busy representing the country in the World Arena, that it is not playing in the Ranji matches, thereby younger talents are not getting an oppurtunity to work together and learn from the experience garnered by the Seniors. Same case in the IT industry. Senior leaders are too busy fighting day to day fires or are on onsite oppurtunities that the new comers don;t know how to work in a competitive global environment and learn from the mistakes of their seniors. Organizations are growing so fast that it is becoming more and more difficult to put mechanisms of learning in place to leverage the knowledge gained over the past 10 years
* Unknown cricket playing nations have nothing to lose and are putting up a brave fight. Similarly, there are nations like Vietnam, Mexico and other nations that do have a potential to give us a fight in this journey
* The cricketers are forgetting that they are representating a nation " Khoon se Khelenge Holi Gar Watan Mushkil mein hain, Sarfaroshi ki tammana ab hamare dil mein hain". this is the passion with which each Indian across the globe supports the Indian team. But is the team having the same passion. In the IT industry, the " Customer is the King", being in a service sector, this is one thing we have to remember, but unfortunately is being forgotten, providing value to the Customer is being forgotten. As Mr. Narayan Murthy had said a year ago in one of the interviews, Customer focus is the key at all levels within a service organization, the day this focus is lost the organization is in trouble.

Well we can see the Donut or the hole in the Donut. Let's be Wise and see the Donut.....................

Fair Process: How Critical is it in Management

A very interesting case study that i read in my course, relating to Fair Process, about how it" justice delivered being fair does not matter, what also matters is the process of delivery of justice should be fair too".

We run into this in every day life in India,

• traffic fines being paid
• confidence in the police systems
• selection process of the indian cricket team (even though team is good we still doubt the selection process because of the quota system)
• and many others

This is very much applications in the realms of Managing Companies esp in the Knowledge Economy. In the earlier manufacturing industry era, work could be "extracted" by various means. But in today's world, work can no longer be "extracted", you have to create an environment and motivate people to give in their best. There are way too many opportunities fo an individual if he/she does not perform. Also in today's global world, the impact of having a demoralized workforce has a very significant impact on the organization as a whole

Eemploying knowledge resource and keeping them motivated is getting tougher and tougher. In an Era where in the knowledge economy, organizations are finding it difficult to retain resources. It becomes imperative

• that we keep the communication channels open
• make them partners in decision making, even though the decision might not be in favour of the decision makers
• make them feel a part of a larger community and emphasise the need for consequences of their action

We have to realize that each individual is a brand ambassador of the company, and each individual will give more than 100% if he believes that the process supporting him is fair.