Saturday, April 4, 2009

Management...the emotional one...

It's been quite long since I wrote a blog, so this is a long time due. Have we ever thought over the vagaries of our lives & the problems that we face day in & day out.  Have we ever tried to understand the reasoning behind such sad experiences. If No, then we should do it right away, but if yes, then probably we would have tried to blame some external factors our suffering. I beg to differ on that account, because of late I have understood that it's we  & only we who are responsible & we only inflict upon us what we actually feel. It is analogous to an elephant who has been tied through a small metal chain with which he was tied when he was a baby elephant. His owners have over a period of time have made him believe that he can't run & the chain is unbreakable. His mind has been conditioned in such a manner, over a period of time & is has become oblivion of his energies & capabilities. 

The same thing is with we human beings, the social animals who themselves think that why are bad things happening to them. Why are people changing stances,deceiving or, ignoring each other? It is just because that we have immersed ourselves into the self-generated relationship & have attached our emotions with them such that when faced with the Strategic Inflection Point( SIP) or a trailor of it, makes our life shattered & we land up in depression. 

That's why , the above similar instances have made me believe that MANAGEMENT, in whatever context we talk of is nothing but only about Managing Emotions. Many readers & intellectuals might not even agree to this claim, but there's a reasoning to it. Let's Start off with the most rational & logical stream of Management: Finance. Finance is perceived to be a game of numbers only & experts believe & try to explain & predict things based on their calculations. But, most of the times, these experts are at their wits' ends when situations throw up entirely different results altogether. Financial markets are mostly run on the mood & sentiment of the investors, buyers, sellers & market as a whole. Not manyof them have any idea about the factors that are contribute, & even those who have are not fully aware of the things. The entire jugglery is nothing but THE RANDOMNESS, that prevails & guides everything in the fin world.Nassim Nicholas Taleb, says in his book, Fooled by randomness, that not only the financial world, but the entire universe is like that. 

If we consider Marketing, it is very much associated with the emotional changes that go on in the customers' minds while making the purchase & the successful & prudent marketers are none but those who could feel the pulse of their customers' emotions & preempt their behaviour. These days , CRM is the buzzword in the industry, which if a deeper thought given is nothing but the pacification of the ego of the customer, again EMOTIONS' MANAGEMENT. 

HRD is nothing but only people handling & their satisfaction & the concept of the Emotional Quotient is the much talked about. The employees & other stakeholders are most content when their emotions, their aspirations & feelings are truly addressed. 

Thus, we can easily say that Management in whatever context it is taken is  nothing but the art of handling one's emotions very carefully & prudently. This calls for the EMOTIONAL Maturity & not the degrees that are being given to youngsters with much fanfare in the top B-schools across the world. Happiness & sorrow are self inflicted & none else is responsible for the miseries & celebrations. The main problem today that exists in the world is nothing but that of  the inability to manage emotions & the innate desire to expect things from fellow colleagues.

This lesson is generally ignored in the modern B-schools & education system, but needs utmost attention if we actually have to reduce the incidents of depressed people & less efficient works.