upGrad and The Reflection of The Universe
“Chaos! Over a hundred employees of upGrad resign en masse! Oh!! What a news! See this,” I pointed out the Business Insider news to Lulu, my parrot.
“Oh! Rare isn’t it? I thought people are holding on to their jobs in these difficult times. What’s the matter?” Lulu asked as he hopped on to my shoulder and read the news on PC.
“The news story says, ‘it is not clear if these resignations were really a shock, or an intended consequence aimed at weeding out the non-performers.’ The ostensible reason is large scale transfers of employees to different cities.”
“This weeding out of so-called non-performers is well entrenched in the corporate management of many companies. It is a very debatable issue and practised in almost objectionable manner.”
“Yes, several factors contribute to lower performance of employees. Not always everything in his control. Tell me, haven’t you heard stories of ‘non-performers’ becoming star performers later?”
“Yes, indeed, I have seen a few. The tone of the letter is not respectful. See this – “travel, shopping, settling down, relaxing down etc. All of this has to happen on the off day of Monday,” it says to the employees.”
“And the news story also reports that working days of sales guys have been increased from five to six. Without compensation. Actually, they used to receive extra compensation for the sixth day work. but it is removed.”
“Did you get the central problem?”
“What’s that?”
“It is a total ‘Do as I say’ style. There is no dialogue around the problem an organization faces and no explanation.”
“True.”
“It is quite likely that upGrad may be trying to solve some issues on their hand. But not taking people along, arbitrariness, is not the way.”
“You mean no industrial democracy”
“That’s a big word. But consultations are important. You transfer people en masse and stop their allowances without a dialogue. Then well-educated employees are sure to ‘speak with their feet.’ They will walk out, if not immediately then at the first opportunity. And more than a hundred did.”
“I remember that the labour laws require consultations if there is a proposed change in service conditions”
“Yes, but Unions misused it often, mainly to block any change. But tell me, do we require laws to tell us that if you wish to make a major change, you ought to talk to the people who will be affected by it?”
“So true. Hey, what are you referring to?”
“Ha, ha! Don’t read too much in what I say. Lack of consultation and autocratic leadership style are fostered in organizations because it goes unchecked. People with good conscience also get tempted to take short cuts of using power.”
“True. Actually, there is greater responsibility on the leader…..”
“Remember” Lulu interrupted me, “The unit reflects what happens in the universe.”
(Feature Photo by Christian Stahl on Unsplash)
Vivek S Patwardhan
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.
“Aroehan: Creating Dream Villages in Mokhada by 2025: “No Malnutrition Deaths, No Child ‘Out of School’, Reduction in migration by 50%.”
Thanks Vivek for sharing the excellent thoughts.
I read the sketchy news report too-no details followed. Perhaps the journalist had achieved the target of the ‘Headlines” ??
There are Managements and there are Unions. I believe and have experienced that there is always a payback time . Sometimes it is sooner than later ….
The ‘speak with their feet” rightly sums up how the employable /marketable employees address the issues.
Those who are stuck or do not have job options …resort to various reactions which at times become unsavoury
The concluding line hits the nail on the head . Afterall,I cannot always find Oasis in the Desert
Nice article. Inclusion and dialogue seem to be missing.
Disturbing to read such news. The autocratic style of leadership can not succeed in long run. The organisation would be the loser. May be the management was interested in downsizing without any revolt .Thanks for sharing well written blog.Regards
The reality is that all organizations are autocratic. Where have we ever heard of managers being elected instead of being selected and imposed on subordinates? And if things don’t work out between a manager and his subordinate, who must leave? In most organizations, ‘inclusion’, ‘dialogue’, ’employee welfare’ are all buzzwords without any meaning. We have accepted that ‘downsizing’ is a necessary and good initiative. However, since employees don’t enter the organization clandestinely, one must ask, ‘What about those who hired too many people to begin with, which is the reason, most organizations downsize?’ But we know the answer to that also. Lulu knows her stuff.
This indeed is a deep rooted problem of our society as you have rightly concluded. Recently we heard a senior bureaucrat saying that we have ‘too much of a democracy’. While we can dismiss him as a sycophant, which in reality he is, we also hear senior executives in the companies as well as so called well educated people in all walks of life around us often saying that we need dictatorship to solve problems and we have too much of a democracy. So, that indicates our societal attitudes towards dialogues. The tragedy is the affected employees of upGrad might not behave differently if & when they get opportunities to lead. The Saas-Bahu saga continues.
What better way to undermine democracy than to stifle dialogue! Too often do we hear of how the British were good rulers, or how we actually need a ‘benevolent dictatorship’ – people wanting the iron rod rather than the difficult but more civilised and evolved process of dialogue, deliberate and debate.
Whether you and Lulu accept or not, the analogy to things happening today around us, cannot be missed.