A successful but hateful Strategy to re-energize Large Pakistani Organizations

Let's be clear on one thing, great leaders don't have time to give a single organization their whole life. They tend to have varied objectives in life, a single organization whether it be PIA, Steel Mill, Banks or even the State Bank of Pakistan has only a small footprint in overall scheme of things. If you are a great leader, you tend to move from places to places making revolutionary changes where ever you go.

At least, this has been the story of Pakistani Organization. A Leader comes in, with great power given to them, tasked to change the whole organizational culture. And there have been more than a couple of successful instances, were the same strategy has worked.

The strategy is simple, it acknowledges that there is no time to improve the current organization so they create a parallel organization within the organization, it has more power, resources and flexibility and it cuts the ties with old organization. The newly hired people in the new organization are comparatively fresh so they can be molded to the modern needs. What we have now are two completely different sets of people, one (comparatively) old aged, slow, bureaucratic, somewhat loyal and the second sets of people are better educated, young, fast paced, without any red tape culture, would work there ass off to complete the project on time and would move to a different organization without a second thought. There is a hiring freeze in the old organization so they don't grow and are slowly washed out, 'golden handshakes' also comes in the picture if they want get rid of them early.

So far the strategy has worked at State Bank, HBL (and other banks), Lucky group, K Electric and some other organizations. The results are somewhat confused but a lot better than what it would have been if nothing was done. Though one thing is for sure, the organizational output increases drastically.

How can you identify whether this strategy has been implemented in an organization or not. You will see on occasion a really frustrated employee who always have bad words for management, who sees the management as someone who are hell-bent on destroying the organization and on other occasions an employee who are specific, young, with decision making ability and people who work late hours.

Whether the strategy is good or not, would have a different answers depending from which angle you see. But one thing is for sure, the performance and quality of output increases twofold.

How to Improve Pakistani Cricket

Finally, we are out of the World Cup race, a race we weren’t prepared for, a race we have been preparing for the last four years. What went wrong and what were the findings are discussed widely by cricket commentators and lovers alike. Muhammad Yousuf even suggested to fire all the batting line and never ever bring them again in the Pakistani Team. 

We are bursting on those people who have little control over the issue. The players did their best, that’s all they were capable of. The selection committee in the same way, did their best. The cycle won’t improve unless there is a grave effort in revamping the management process of the Pakistan Cricket Board. Pakistani cricketers are ‘thinking’ of playing with a strategy that is two decades old. Times have change and they need to change the way they play their cricket. But then again, a strategy is when someone actually has a plan, according to Amir Sohail, a veteran cricketer Pakistani Cricketers never played with a Strategy. They just focus on some players to perform outstandingly, if that clicks they think their strategy worked. These are all important issues but the main issue is not of operations rather a strategic change is needed. 

Things won’t improve unless politics is tied-up with the cricket. When Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Nationalized the industries in Pakistan, he was not expecting that the Ministries would be handed over the control of their operations. Like most of the civilized world there are proper systems to govern the nationalized industries. One of the system which is in practice is to have a Board comprising of a mixture of Public and Private representatives from different walks of life, be it Philanthropist, Industry Practitioners, Ministry representatives, Judges, Entrepreneurs and people even from the organization itself, they make all the major decision including who will lead the organization. This system is in practice by many successful government organizations of Pakistan, one of them is the leading educational institution of the country, IBA Karachi. 

People of IBA are not hired from outside the country, they represent ordinary Pakistanis. What is different is the Governance structure. This same kind of system should be made for other organization of Pakistan, PCB should be the first one to have such kind of transition. Hopefully, we won’t see Ijaz Bhatt and Najam Sethi type of people that are just aristocrat, who are hugely flawed in the way they lead their organization.

Waiting Lines - Fazaia Housing Scheme

Was quite interested when I heard about the PAF Housing complex, as a person who missed out on the Bahria and DHA bonanza, this was the time to cash-in on the project. The whole enthusiasm went in vain, when I saw some 200 people lineup at HBL bank for the Rs.1,000 forms. I don’t have that much time and energy, to stand all day in line for just the form. I initially thought of dropping the idea altogether, but just the next day someone called me for the forms, why me?

Oh Shit! I have a close relative at HBL head office, I am ‘THE’ person to contact for forms. I called up my relative to request for some forms. In return he told me that if I get hold of some, get him a couple, What!. The story was that PAF Fazaia Housing Scheme picked up the unsold forms from HBL as there was some news of mismanagement and even rioting, also that forms were sold in black, fetching 10k-15k per form. PAF intends to sell the forms at their own booths. Next day someone informed me that the booths were torn-off at PAF museum and the PAF staff fled the scene (with the forms L) not before a baton charge to the people queuing for the forms. 

Does the people know anything about the queue management, it’s a whole science. But as before, in Pakistan people feel proud when they see hundreds of people queuing up for something that they have. A very simple approach would have been to upload the form on a website and ask them to deposit the Rs.1,000 fees along with any other amount, when they were depositing the forms. Infact, it would have been further simplified if the amount was also deposited electronically, there are 10s of methods available these days.

For me, this time again I would be let to the helms of brokers who would either sell the file or eventually the plots on a premium. There is one important finding from the project, Karachiites are hungry for good investment and they are not comfortable with financial investments i.e. stocks or bonds. Trust has been shifted to Property Developers.

Corporate Attire

I may be stepping over some nice toes here but I felt like talking on the issue. Having experienced seven years of Corporate life in Karachi, I have always seen men dressing in an uptight suiting or at least a dress pant and proper tucked in shirt, shorts are not acceptable even on casual fridays. While women can dress as they like, skirts will also do, exposing some extra skin is very acceptable, even preferred by many. While I believe in personal space and freedom, this does not fall in the personal domain, it creates conflict in admirers minds, distracts him or her from the goals of the business and society blames them on what is followed.

This does not stop here, pretty news casters are equally to blame for inciting viewers, yes I notice them, I am a guy. Their job is to deliver news not modeling, we have models & actors for that. Many organizations prefer keeping such beauty in house, as it helps accomplishing stretched goals, especially in the sales function. On the other side many companies are just too scared on touching this sensitive topic, as it  could label them as extremist, fundamentalist or even terrorist, a word coined to undermine others. Many organizations have gone out of their way to chalk down instructions in their manuals that limits individuals freedom in dressing, implementing that policy however is difficult task, you cannot ask a beautiful person wearing a low cut blouse to go cover it up-just too rude!.

The advent of sexual harassment laws have made this issue of an urgent nature, they are pushing victims of sexual harassment to report incidents to a special committee, which may result in prosecution, whether the committee realizes that the victim was also at fault is a question we would like answers for. But the issue is not of harassment, as offenders will be active even if proper dress code is followed. The implementers of the law are asking organization to train their employees in Sexual Harassment laws & how to report incidents, this presents a good opportunity to inform the participants on their own responsibility, on controlling the incidents, to wear decently. While my experience is limited to Karachi, the matter is of globally nature (I am talking about accomplishing corporate goals here). You can find several articles on corporate dress codes in the US, where it seems that they have risen to make clear policy guidelines & recommendations on corporate attire.

Pakistan's most critical issue

Ask a common Pakistani about the most critical issue of Pakistan, an astonishing 90% would give a single word answer, Zardari. A problem that alas has no end in sight, Zardari will be replaced by his likes from the dirty pool of Pakistani Politics, most hope for Imran Khan, a new face with new hope.

The most critical issue of Pakistan is not Zardari or our politicians in general, they are just a part of a bigger problem, that is fresh water. Fresh Water which produces Pakistan's 40% electricity, provides for agriculture which in turns provides 90%+ food & fiber, most raw materials for our industries (in the shape of cotton etc) and most essentially, the water we need to drink. In very accurate phrase, Pakistan won't survive without water.

Is something happening to water?

A lot is happening and a few times the media has also highlighted the issue but things get jumbled in between the many happenings in the country, from Veena Malik to Tahir-ul-Qadri, to the escalation on the borders. The armed forces are too busy protecting the borders and the politicians & bureaucrats busy playing "Zardari Zardari". The whole issue is the violation of the Indus water treaty.

The water from the Indus basin is distributed into two streams, western & eastern. The Western stream comprises of three rivers Indus, Jhelum & Chenab on which Pakistan has exclusive rights, while India has more or less exclusive rights over Eastern stream. As India need for water grew they built dams & diverted rivers on the western stream of Indus basin (violation of Indus Water treaty), which brings India in control of the Indus Basin waters, Pakistan’s primary source of freshwater source.

On top of it the supply from Indus has reduced considerably in the last decade, coupled with the use of water by India thins the supply of water to Pakistan.

What is Pakistan doing about it?

 

Chairman Pakistan Indus Water Commission, Jamat Ali Shah, the person responsible for not highlighting the issue when the dam was being constructed succeeded in escaping to Canada last year, despite his name being in the 'Exit control List'. The Government is in general not that interested to tackle the issue, they are too busy protecting their behinds. The armed forces are too focused on not getting them involved in politics.

That leaves Social societies & Individuals. A handful of people are protesting and highlighting the issue but nothing actionable is being done. On the positive side, Pakistan Business Council is taking action on the issue, what they can & cannot do is a question we all want answers for. Anatol Lieven in his book Pakistan: A hard Country highlighted water, as being the only issue that is threatening the existence of Pakistan. Majid Nizami Editor in Chief of The Nation daily newspaper advised Pakistanis to get themselves ready for war with India on water issue.

A war with India can be considered an extreme scenario but the questions we all should ask is

Can we survive without Indus?

Waiting Lines

Waiting lines seem to be the destiny of the common man these days. Just got my car refueled after waiting half an hour (good day indeed) in the gas line. Reaching home in a good mood, queried my wife about the Montessori admission form that she was supposed to pick up between 9 & 12 in the morning (according to the website and the call I made). The actual process was quite different, she learned. For the admission form to be collected, you first need to get a token that is available between 8 to 9am and there would be only 50 tokens issued each day for 3 days. Needless to say, people start forming a line early in the morning, I plan to go at 7am tomorrow.

Bit frustrated on the life we are living, my calendar reminded of the doctor's appointment I needed to make at LNH. The hospital's operator informed that the Doctor's OPD hours are between 9am & 12pm, though he will come around 10-10:30am and will only see the first 50 patients, on first come first served basis.

What is happening to Pakistan, are institutions so stupid that they don't know how to manage waiting lines, or do they believe that they themselves are the king of all heaven & earth. There is no value of a common man's time, we are just so worthless & minute in the eyes of institutions that they don't see this as a problem.There are thousand of ways to reduce long queues, but nobody is thinking on these lines. Or all this drama is actually a show of strength, an advertisement, to show how eager people are to get associated with us.

"How else would people know the value of the institution unless there is a long queue for it"

As for the nation to stand against this cruelty, as per a friend "our national animal should be a Buffalo, It keeps producing milk without objecting to the atrocities inflicted on it"

Rising to the top - the short way

If you are looking for a short way to rise on the corporate ladder, you won't find it here, go and do some actual work. What I am more interested is in shortest possible way that would put anyone close to the top management, from there on, it is all about hard work and luck to play its role.

The point came in a discussion with some marketing friends. As we all know the marketing folks are closest to top management! who better to dig out the influential tool. Yes it is a tool and its called 'Pricing'

How does pricing brings you closer to the top management.?

Well, for one, it is the thing in direct control of the top management, all other Ps (Product, Placement, & Promotion) are the result of extensive R&D, there is little that can be changed. Secondly it comes last in the four 'Ps', and we all know that we remember the closing argument/scene the most, that's what pricing offer, the last scene in a long play. On top of that, pricing translates into profit, pricing strategy sets mood for the profit to rise (or fall, in-case you are fired, don't say I didn't warn you) 

Speaking honestly, pricing is not that simple, it is actually quite difficult. It has to take under consideration all the factors, from the raw idea of the product till the consumer sees the product in the shelves, the whole supply chain has to be thoroughly studied and mastered. It means that to be a great pricing strategist, you must master the whole chain that it had followed.