Acquisition, maintenance and incubation of technology is a “muda”?
- Business & Industry considers any sizable investment towards acquisition of latest / premium technology equipment as a “muda ( loss )”.
- Often when they talk of “Productivity Improvement”; they try to minimize, if not eliminate Capital Expenditure — by outsourcing and / or resorting to home-grown ragtag jugaad alternatives, with a short term vision.
- Even where, owing to some “push”, investments are made; we become stingy on subsequent maintenance, upkeep and update cost.
- Manufacturing and Operations are generally starved of investment; we are not as much “poor”; but we often exhibit a “poverty stricken” and “deprivation” mind-set in organizational behaviour pattern.
- We do benchmark with the best for performance … but never for their investment towards technology part.
This actively denies incumbents any opportunity of exposure to the world class technology in India.
Lack of Technology Talent Incubation
- Just as investment in Capital equipment is considered a “muda”; any investment towards developing, planning for and sustaining HR Capability in core technologies is also treated as “muda”.
- We do “la minima” at operative level so that they are able to just about run a machine and carry out day to day work; but at Graduate Engineer level the focus is rarely technical and much more on soft skills and management stuff.
- While HR talent managers are well equipped to organize, coordinate and evaluate effectiveness of Leadership Development type of courses; they are ill equipped for dealing with the contents of technical training and related competency requirement assessment.
- “On the job training” severely restricts the incumbent to specific work profile, work system, equipment, prevailing practices … there are no systematic inputs leading to technology landscape overview, comparison with alternatives, updates and awareness of state-of-the-art.
- There are costly “certified” training which focus on promoting certain standard or specific brand rather than basics.
- Readily available web based self-certification courses, and internet are rich in “information” but poor in “wisdom”.
- Being sent abroad for any technology training or seminar is generally viewed more as a perk / compensation.
Handling Issues
- “Pygmalion effect” is seen to work in negative sense when it comes to handling of talented/ intelligent person by their superiors and work system. After having inducted best talent …“superiors tend to treat the incumbent as a fool” … therefore incumbent is forced to respond like a fool … and after some time incumbent actually becomes a fool.
- Micromanagement, insistence on excessively following templates / guidelines / processes / procedures are some of the ways to restrict talent and kill creativity.
“Excessive Managing” and lesser of doing / having what is actually required
- Often we do not have a system / process so we must “manage”
- If ever we make a system / process … it is made so unfriendly and complicated that it cannot be followed … so we must manage
- We do not like to follow the process and look for short cuts and corner cutting so we must manage
- We manage perception, we manage performance we manage “perception of performance” and “performance of perception”
- Therefore often we pursue administrative / managerial solutions even for technical problems …but also sometimes vice versa, for making technocrat a scapegoat.
Organizations fail to provide a commensurate training, job profile, expectancy and motivation to incumbent to make a worthy incumbent retain and grow talent towards acquiring expertise in technology.
AVINASH KHARE