360-Degree Feedback – A Great Way to Ensure the Right Balance

 

Start of a Conflict

This was my first job in India after returning from the US. I had heard many stories about people moving from the US and returning to India. The first year was the hardest for all of us. On top of that, who wants to have disgruntled team members at work?

Some people are very charming, smiling, and always pleasing the bosses. However, they are Dr. Jekyll for bosses and Mr. Hyde for their team members. I had one group leader who fit this description.

Ashok (name changed) was a group leader in charge of about 15 engineers. We were working on one customer-critical project. I had always made it clear to all my team members that they could approach me anytime they wanted to discuss any issues. 

One day, an engineer came to my office. After initial greetings, he started describing the way Ashok treated everyone. Ashok’s behavior included putting down team members, putting pressure on them by watching every movement and creating an atmosphere of fear and discomfort in the group. I just listened.

A few days later, another engineer came. She told me about the agony of having to come to work due to Ashok’s bossy behavior. She also repeated some incidents earlier told by the other engineer. I listened carefully. I kept quiet but I had a solution in mind.

Equal Rights to Supervisors as well as the Team Members

Often it is said that people do not leave the company; they leave the bosses. There is a tendency in some people to feel superior to others and snub them down. A time comes when some employees say enough is enough to the bossy behavior and quit the company. Management may not notice the underlying reasons since supervisors often report it as the ‘desired attrition’.

Some companies have an archaic view that no matter what, there is a bottom 10% in every group that is non-performing. All those 10% are put in the category of ‘desired attrition’. Often, the HR managers are adamant about fitting a Gaussian curve to even a 15-person group. Gauss would have had a fit to see his name associated with a data set of 15 points and someone claiming to fit the Gaussian curve! In recent years, I have seen a welcome trend in some companies to not use the Gaussian curve concept. Of course, the terminology ‘desired attrition’ remains in one or the other form or a name.  Investigating the real reason is important including the supervisor’s behavior in many resignation cases.

In 1994, at Boeing, the first time this new method was started in my group, everyone was apprehensive. What if someone who does not like me writes some nasty remarks? What if the feedback glorifies some friends and puts others down? As a manager, how do I break the bad news to someone valuable to the group but has many negative things written about him? However, none of the fears came true. Managers learned how to break the bad news, how to decipher the right message coming out of the feedback, and how to establish harmonious relationships between supervisors and reporting employees.

Even after leaving Boeing, I decided to routinely use this process of 360-degree feedback in my group. I implemented this system in every place I worked at. The results were different in different places.

What came out of it also changed from group to group. One time we found a case of a girl getting pestered by one boy. The case was verified. We took proper action and he was no longer with the company. Other times, there were genuine difficulties people faced. These were resolved in due course of time.

Benefits of the 360-Degree Feedback

The first benefit is that attrition due to the autocratic behavior of supervisors can be controlled. All supervisors get indirectly pushed to interact with other team members courteously.

 Second, the method helps identify supervisors who are truly people-oriented. These types of supervisors are the ones building bonds with employees, making them feel that it is their company, and creating a fun atmosphere at the workplace.

Third, it also brings out other issues in the group, if there are any. This may turn out to be the one that makes the most impact from the team members' perspective. Often, cases of harassment are not brought out in the open due to the fear of shame. Some outlet has to be there, or else it can go to the other extreme and make it hard to tackle.

The Resolution of the Conflict

Going back to our starting story, I called a group meeting the next day. I said, “During the performance evaluation process, you are evaluated by your supervisor. But do you get a chance to evaluate your supervisor? If I evaluate you, should you not have the right to evaluate me? That’s what we will do. The survey is going to be anonymous. You evaluate your group leader and you also evaluate me. Further, all my evaluation forms that you fill out will be opened and read by one of you in the next meeting. We will have this survey 2 weeks from now.” I can still remember the twinkle in the eyes of the entire team except Ashok. The idea was so foreign that it had never occurred to them. They were all stunned.

The next evening, 3 to 4 people came to see me. They had no words to thank me. Ashok had completely changed his behavior and was very nice to everyone! I didn’t even have to wait to collate the results.

‘The Lowest Bidder Wins’, a Lose-Lose Proposition 

 

Attending lectures by scholars and thinkers has been my passion since my college days. I have been fortunate to meet and attend lectures by three legendary scientists. For me, being present when such scientists give a talk is like visiting a temple of the goddess of knowledge and spending time meditating.

The first legendary scientist I met was Freeman Dyson, a great mathematician and theoretical physicist, who was a professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. I was privileged to attend his lecture at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Later, I had the opportunity to meet Francis Crick, the one who discovered the structure of DNA and won a Nobel Prize in Medicine. We commonly hear his name in conjunction with Watson, as in 'Watson and Crick'. It was a joyful moment for me to shake hands with him and get his autograph.

Prof. Francis Crick and the author, June 21, 1991, University of Washington, Seattle.

The third scientist was Robert Aumann. He was 83 years old when I met him 10 years ago.  Prof. Aumann is a mathematician who has made a deep contribution to game theory.  For his work, he won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2005.  Meeting him came as a big surprise when one of the engineers in our R&D team told me about a lecture being given in a college by Prof. Aumann. I knew nothing about him, but I was sure that I would learn something new. I dropped everything and took other interested team members with me, and we drove to the college in Pune, India, where this lecture was to be delivered.

Prof. Aumann talked about game theory, and although it was interesting, I had no prior knowledge of the subject. I met him after the talk. What he revealed was profound from the perspective of an organization and the selection of suppliers based on the method of the lowest bid.

The Prevalent Bidding Process:

For those who have dealt with government organizations, the bidding process is not new. In such a process, ‘The lowest bidder wins!’ Such a bidding process also exists in public as well as private sectors. From a buyer’s perspective, it is best to buy something at the lowest cost and yet get the same quality. However, experience tells us that most often the lowest bids do not result in the lowest cost to the buyer in the end.

The main objective of the lowest bidder supplier is to get the project. Once the project starts, the buyer’s organization is all geared up to complete the project. Any half-done project is hard to complete for any other supplier. The supplier working on the project always talks about some proprietary details that they would not reveal to other suppliers. The supplier makes a case stating that they tried their best, but there were many changes to the specifications. They accommodated all those. Now they have run out of the internal budget. They make a case for 30, 40, or 50% of the previous budget as an additional supplemental cost. These cost overruns can skyrocket to two or three times the original bid value or so-called the ‘lowest bid’. This is where the real problem lies. This is nothing but a game being played by two parties. How can such situations be avoided?

The Art of Negotiations May Pave the Way to Bankruptcy:

There are other interesting aspects to keep in mind. In 2008, there was a major company named Circuit City, the number two US consumer electronics retailer (1). Circuit City’s purchasing department was getting very good at negotiating with suppliers. There were many small-sized, tier 1, and tier 2 suppliers. They were struggling to establish themselves. For early startups or small businesses, it is imperative to have some big names on the client list. Such companies often go below one’s costs and try to get the big-name businesses as clients. The suppliers' only hope is that the losses will be recovered by either increasing the business volume and/or margins from other customers. It’s like being in an ever-growing tornado. You need business thus you cut costs down, and now since you have incurred losses you need even more business.

While the purchasing department was getting ‘better and better’ at negotiations, small businesses were hurting more and more. Finally, the entire supplier network was making losses. They could not sustain. The network collapsed, and so did the big business. In 2008, Circuit City declared bankruptcy. This example shows how important it is to take care of the suppliers.

Selecting the lowest bidder may not be doing justice to the buyer's own business. By going below suppliers’ costs, buyers may be paving the way to bankruptcy for both, the buyer and the supplier. As a growing organization, you want your supplier network to be strong too.

Prof. Aumann’s Solution:

Prof. Aumann has done extensive research in the area of game theory that gave deep insight into conflict and cooperation, through his work on repeated games, correlated equilibria, and games with incomplete information.   Just to give a glimpse of his research work, some of his books are listed in references (2), (3), and (4). 

While discussing the bidding process and asking Prof. Aumann’s views, he suggested a solution that certainly makes one think. Prof. Aumann suggested changing the rules of the game. Discard the rule ‘the lowest bidder wins.’ Instead, make it ‘the second lowest bidder wins.’ This paradigm shift is mind-boggling in the beginning. However, when one starts to think from a supplier’s way of thinking, it slowly becomes clear.

As a supplier in a group of niche suppliers, one is fully aware of the cost. One knows the profit margins others add. It does not take much thinking to bid below the cost price. Such a price is often mind-boggling to competitors. However, the supplier bids it below the cost price since they are fully aware that once they start the project, cost overruns will also be approved. There is another possibility. The supplier would provide low-quality material and by cutting corners manage within the budget. Even this is unacceptable from the buyer’s viewpoint.

Now let’s think about the paradigm shift. The contract is to be awarded to the second lowest bidder. In a fair competition, how can one go about guessing the lowest bid and then further guessing the second lowest? This forces everyone to quote a realistic price. The only possible difference in the quote could be due to the type of material used, the quality of the service, and/or low overheads.

Additionally, as mentioned earlier in the Circuit City example, one has to maintain a balance between the symbiotic relationship between suppliers and producers.  If one chooses the lowest bidder, it may be that the supplier is reducing the cost to the bones thereby suppliers’ long-term survival becomes questionable. This also hints buyers to choose the second lowest bidder.

On the flip side, the buyer has to come up with an additional amount to cover the difference between the lowest and the second lowest.  If it is worth paying extra to reduce potential delays or usage of low-quality material or parts, then one should go for the second lowest bid. 

Awwad and Ioannou (5) did a Monte Carlo Simulation of the lowest bid option vs the second lowest bid.  They concluded that the second lowest bid is a better method for avoiding cost overruns, project delays, and quality issues. 

Awwad and Ioannou (5) also point out the possibility of unethical practices. A company may pose someone as a dummy lowest bidder and guess the second lowest bid. However, often those who qualify for the technical round are invited to the bidding round. This process of elimination, in a way, precludes the possibility of having some dummy vendor. Why would a technically competent company not want to get the contract? Let us also consider the worst-case scenario that there are two companies in cahoots. They switch the role of being the lowest and the second lowest. Even that is not going to be easy to do since one still has to make sure that no third company will be in between the two to snatch the second-lowest slot.

Prof. Aumann explained his thinking in a short time. However, it took quite a while for me to sync in various issues such as how difficult it is to guess the second lowest and why the method of choosing the second lowest bidder is beneficial to buyers’ organizations, etc. I left the lecture hall in awe of Prof. Aumann.  Such is the effect of being surrounded by a true thinker and a scholar. 

References:

1)     Circuit City, Nov. 11, 2008 https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE4A936V/

2)     Aumann, Robert J., Michael Maschler, and Richard E. Stearns. Repeated games with incomplete information. MIT Press, 1995.

3)     Aumann, Robert J., and Lloyd S. Shapley. Values of non-atomic games. Princeton University Press, 2015.

4)     Aumann, Robert J. Collected papers. Vol. 1., Vol. 2, MIT Press, 2000.

5)     Awwad, Rita, and Photios Ioannou. "The second low bid method." Proceedings of the CIB W78 2012: 29th International Conference –Beirut, Lebanon, 17-19 October (2017).

 

Resolving the Dilemma- Part 2

 

When I travel, I like to meet local people to understand the place better.  I chat with cab drivers, autorickshaw drivers, as well as hotel staff.  Every time I travel to different states in India, I make it a point to find out the current state of local languages as a medium of instruction especially from K through 7.  Last time I was in Bhubaneshwar.  We became very friendly with one of the staff members.  He was a young chap in his mid-20s.  He used to give us tips on places to visit etc.  One evening I started my favorite topic and asked him about the state of local languages.  He was sad to talk about it.  “No sir, no one goes to vernacular medium schools. From the middle-class families to autorickshaw drivers and labor class, everyone sends their children to English medium school.”  It was no surprise.  It is the same story in all urban areas in India. The question is what is the impact of such a transition to English medium schools on local languages and the local culture? 

Strong Urge to Give the Best to Children:

The majority of low-income working-class people do not know English.  Yet they send their children to an English medium school.  This makes it impossible for parents to take a personal interest in children’s education, guide them by clearing any doubts, or help them complete school-assigned homework. As a result, children remain weak in foundation subjects.  

The nursery rhymes that these children sing have no relevance to the local culture.  They end up learning “ Ring around the roses, pocket full of poses, ashes, ashes we all fall down!” without knowing what it means.  Many of the readers will be surprised to know the meaning of it.  The words ‘ashes-ashes’ refer to cremation.  The song was written during the Great Plague in 1665 in England.  How can this be a children’s song? Isn't it more appropriate to teach them songs close to the culture they live in? 

 Many Indian languages have children's songs related to nature such as rain, the sun, and the moon.  For example:

Hindi: ‘Chadamama door ke’, ‘Chanda hai tu Mera Suraj hai tu’, ‘Nanhi Kali sone chali hawa dhire aana’. 

Marathi:  ‘yere yere pawsa, ‘Chandomama, Chandomama, bhaglas ka’ etc.

Bengali:  ‘ ‘Shuptopurir sheshe rate, bhalobasha diye ghumaia, Amar boshonto ashe phuler mala dharaia’.

Tamil:  “kaakka kannukku mai kondu vaa, kuruvi kondaikku poo kondu vaa, kokkae kuzhandhaikku paal kondu vaa,   kizhiyae kuzhandhaikku thaen kondu vaa”. 

Gujarati: “Ḍhīṅgalīnē mārī hālāṁ hālāṁ hālāṁ hālāṁ rē, ḍhīṅgalīnē mārī hālāṁ vādaḷanuṁ tō pāraṇuṁ bāndhyuṁ nētārānī hīn̄cakā dōrī cāndāmāmā lāḍa laḍāvē parī rāṇī...”

The list goes on. 

The Beauty of Certain Words in Different Languages:

Certain words in different languages do not have any one-word equivalent in English or any other language.  This is due to the culture getting wrapped up in words and languages.  We term those words as untranslatable words.

All of us have seen the moon’s reflection in water.  It is not that perfect reflection round in shape.  It is the one that looks like a long golden road.  This reflection has one succinct word in the Swedish language.  It is called ‘Mangata’.  Its pronunciation is more like ‘mon gata’ where the ‘mon’ means the moon and the ‘gata’ means the road. 

 Occasionally someone would sit down, relax, and gaze at the horizon. Their mind is just plain blank.  The person does not have any thoughts in mind at all.  Even such a state has one word in Japanese.  The word is ‘Boketto’. 

When one visits a foreign country or unfamiliar environment, one feels a cultural shock.  One feels completely out of place.  Such a feeling is called Dépaysement in French. 

Those who are spiritually oriented may at times feel a deep spiritual anguish without knowing its reason.  It is called ‘Toska’ in Russian.

When one puts their heart into their work or even beyond that if they are putting a piece of oneself, one's soul, love, and creativity then it is called ‘Meraki’ in Greek.

After the loss of a loved one, it is natural to feel a profound sense of longing to meet the person.  However, it is not possible.  Thus, one goes into a deep emotional state of nostalgia.  One word for that in Portuguese is ‘Saudade’.

A word signifying a sense of community, togetherness, and mutual caring for all is ‘Ubuntu’ from South Africa.

What do these words tell us?  The words have a latent culture built in it.  We have just scratched the surface of the vast topic of literature.  Many languages, such as English, French, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese, have a long tradition of poetry, drama, and novels as a part of their culture.  In India, Bengali, Hindi, and Marathi take the lead in producing good literature.  Pushing these languages into extinction is like pushing the vast literature along with it.

If you think that what matters in life is getting a job in a technology company and thus one should only learn English then as a society you are making a grave mistake.  If everyone learns only English then soon all other languages will be on the verge of extinction.  Take literature and languages away and you take the diversity and the culture away. 

Resolution of the Dilemma:

This brings us to a major point of bifurcation.  Should we strictly teach in local languages?  Are we the only country facing such a problem? When 81% of the people do not know English in the world, there has to be a better way of handling it. 

After some search, we found countries that teach in local languages and they also put a strong emphasis on English as a subject.  Sweden was the first country in the world to start a publicly funded mother tongue instruction program for immigrants in 1977.  The Swedish government puts a lot of emphasis on teaching in the mother tongue to even immigrant children.   It speaks volumes for teaching in the mother tongue at a young age.   Other countries such as Finland, Denmark, and Iceland also follow a similar pattern of education as Sweden.  In schools, the medium of instruction is a mother tongue.  In Sweden, they teach English at an early age.  However, the medium of instruction remains the mother tongue of a child.

Denmark and Iceland also start teaching English at an early age but the emphasis is always on the local language. Proficiency is achieved by special language laboratories as well as exposure to English through media, movies, etc. The native language is always promoted and protected. All government services as well as official documents remain in the local language.   The cultural identity is preserved and promoted through the creation of local language literature, arts, and media productions. Cultural identity associated with local language identity forms a part of the national identity.  These countries face the challenges created by globalization and the English language dominance.  Such issues are addressed at the government level by creating language revitalization programs and support for language learning. 

Language and technological excellence are mutually exclusive.  During the man on the moon mission, it was common to have scientists and engineers from all over the world working together with a common scientific and engineering goal.  It was said that the language of a scientist is broken English.  We can learn in local language in schools, learn good English, and do good science too.  That is truly celebrating diversity.

 

References:

a.       The 50 Most Difficult Words to Translate into English

https://www.translationservices.com/difficult-words-to-translate

               b.       Boketto: The importance of non-doing

https://extension.umn.edu/two-you-video-series/boketto-importance-non-doing#:~:text=Boketto%20(noun)%3A,with%20being%20indolent%20or%20passive.

               c.       Ring Around the Rosie

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_a_Ring_o%27_Roses#:~:text=The%20invariable%20sneezing%20and%20falling,the%20smell%20of%20the%20disease

              d.       Everything You Need to Know about the Swedish Education System

https://www.simplylearningtuition.co.uk/advice-for-parents/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-swedish-education-system/

              e.       Sweden: Education, Schools, Universities

https://www.britannica.com/place/Sweden/Education

              f.        Education in Sweden

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Sweden

              g.       The Swedish school system: Education is the key.

https://sweden.se/life/society/the-swedish-school-system

 

 

 

Subtle Erosion of Culture, Part 1

During one of my trips to Paris, I went to a McDonalds.  I went to the counter to order food.  I said hello to the girl at the counter.  Her response was ‘Bonjour’.  I wasn’t sure whether or not she heard me.  I said, “Hello”. She responded by saying,” Bonjour”.  I was puzzled and just smiled.  She again repeated, “Bonjour”.  I thought that perhaps she was expecting me to say Bonjour.  So, I did. At that point she said in fluent English,” How can I help you, Sir?”  There are many stories about the French and their pride in their language.  Such incidences are nowhere to be found in urban India. 

Today, we are aware of the impact of our past actions on the environment.  Over 150 species become extinct every day. The eroding forest areas are quite visible from the satellite images.  The slow temperature rise is being felt all over the world.  Today, we are also aware of glacier erosion, melting chunks of ice getting washed away in the ocean and never being seen as ice again. With the global rise in temperature, the day is not far away when a big tidal wave hitting the shores could slowly submerge the present coastline under water.  Alas, how we wish that we had taken some measures to never get to this situation. If only we had thought about and agreed a century ago to specific measures , we wouldn’t have been in the sorry state of affairs.  The lesson to learn from this is to be more aware of the long-term impact of today’s actions and not be myopic and chase short-term goals.

There is another erosion, albeit subtle, taking place every day in urban India.  This time it is the erosion of local languages. 

What is culture?

Culture is a combination of our language, traditions, customs, and beliefs.  It forms the foundation of a society and it gives it a distinct identity.

A culture is like a long epic.  The cultural epic is filled with the glory of the past, ancestral wisdom, grandma’s recipes, her songs for children, and her principles of home management.  The cultural Epic tells the dos and don’ts for a successful life, songs to help meditate and deal with the ups and downs of life, and ballads about the heroic deeds of our ancestors.  Each cultural epic is written in their local language and the ballads are sung in the same language.  The language is a bridge that connects us to the past and makes us understand our culture. 

Every culture has been well-tested over centuries. As generations pass, some ways of doing things change.  Thus, some traditions are dropped while some new cultural norms are accepted.  Culture is filtered and then mixed with the changes adopted as time goes by.    Culture is not static.  However, the cultural changes do not mean the complete wiping out of it and making room for new ones.  Such a process of cultural annihilation is equivalent to making it extinct. 

Globalization of everything

The world is shrinking every day.  Science and Technology have spread universally and it is hard to find anyone who has remained untouched by the technological pervasion in their personal lives. The majority of the scientific journals are in English language.  English has become the universal language of technical communication.  It is now widespread to such an extent that it is hard to think about switching to any other language while discussing technical matters.  There is no debate about it. However, one needs to keep in mind that despite such a large universal technological dominance, it is not the language of the masses.  Only 18.8 % of the world’s population can speak English.  The majority, 81.2% of people do not speak English.

Language reflects cultural differences

Every language is an impression of the prevalent culture in the region.  Subjects are taught by using words that are commonly used by students who grow in that region.  The idea is to make it simple for students to understand.

When I was in engineering, I was taught that the armature in an electric motor is 'donut-shaped’. We mugged up the word ‘donut’ without knowing the meaning.  We had no idea what a donut was until I went to the US. I wish they had told us that an armature is shaped like a ‘medu wada’!

Language is an impression of what is important to the community. In Indian languages, family relationships are valued a lot.  Thus, there is a separate word for direct brothers and sisters, your father’s brother’s children are also your brothers and sisters with a prefix to indicate the lineage.  Similarly, your father’s sister’s children, your mother’s brother’s children, and your mother's sisters’ children each have a unique prefix.  However, in English, everyone is a cousin.  Whereas, in English, about 12 words indicate different forms of snow such as snow, hail, sleet, ice, Icicle, slush, and snowflakes.  In many Indian languages, there is only one word and it means ice as well as snow. 

The Sami people, who live in the northern tip of Scandinavia and Russia, have 180 words related to snow and ice. In their language, they have around 1000 words for reindeer! Some of the Eskimo words for snow differentiate between snowflakes, frost, fine snow, snow on the ground, soft deep snow, fresh snow, blizzard, and a snowbank.  Inuit people from Canada have 50 words for snow.  Interestingly, they have a separate word for softly falling snow, and for the snow that is good for driving a sled. 

All of us over the world cherish cultural diversity.  It makes a perfect rainbow.  Giving up one culture and adopting another is as good as making everything plain and the same everywhere.  Most of us like to try local food when we go to a different country.  Finding yet another McDonald's is not very appealing.

 

                                                                              .......  continued in part 2......

References:

1.  https://e360.yale.edu/features/global_extinction_rates_why_do_estimates_vary_so_wildly#:~:text=Convention%20on%20Biological%20Diversity%20concluded,as%2010%20percent%20a%20decade.

2.   https://alltracksacademy.com/blog/languages-with-most-words-for-snow/https://alltracksacademy.com/blog/languages-with-most-words-for-snow/

3.   https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/there-really-are-50-eskimo-words-for-snow/2013/01/14/e0e3f4e0-59a0-11e2-beee-6e38f5215402_story.html

 

From 70 hours a week to ‘No More Lunch’ ?

History repeats.  About 30 years ago there was a regular feature, titled ‘Reflections’, in the IEEE Spectrum magazine. This column was written by Dr. Robert Lucky, the vice president of research at the Bell Labs.  His column was always humorous and satirical.  In the issue of September 1994, he wrote a column titled ‘No More Lunch!’ 

In that column, Dr. Lucky wrote about the race for getting more out of the employees.  It was portrayed that one day the management came up with a circular that declared that there wouldn’t be any more lunch breaks to save time and increase productivity!  Presently, there is a similar discussion taking place.  It reminds me of my business trips to some clients and the productivity I observed in two different countries.

During my business visits to Japan in the late 90’s, I was meeting a major client.  After discussing many aspects of how we would develop the software and test it, everyone dispersed back to their desks.  My contact person told me that he would be back in 30 minutes to take me to the cafeteria for lunch.  After an hour, I felt a bit restless sitting in the conference room by myself when many people started returning from a lunch break.  I thought of asking my contact person regarding lunch.  I stepped out of the conference room and went to his desk.  As I approached his desk from behind, I was shocked to see that he was just doodling with his mouse on the screen!  The same fellow used to work every day from 8 a.m. to  9 to 10 p.m. just to impress his boss.  What is the point, I thought.  Just late your conscience be clear.  Do your job well in regular time and stop fooling yourself and others that you are a hard-working person. 

My other memorable visit was to a client in South Korea.  I landed in Seoul at 5 p.m.  The company representative had come to receive me at the airport.  He drove for 6 hours straight. I thought that he would drop me at the hotel.  But to my surprise, at 11 p.m. he drove me to the company premises!  About 10 people were waiting for a meeting with me.   That meeting lasted till 6 a.m. the next day.  The next meeting was at 9 a.m.  I was hoping to get some break at least that night.  But the meetings continued till 4 a.m. the following day.  I was working 19 hours at a stretch.  The same schedule was repeated for the third day. I was sleep-deprived.  During those days, I became very friendly with some junior engineers.  I asked them whether such a hectic schedule was due to my visit.  They told me that it was their routine schedule! No wonder at times their engineers used to put their heads on the table and sleep during meetings. How could they be productive without comprehending the technical aspects?    At the end of the visit, their representative asked me why Indians have better productivity than engineers in their company.  It was a plain and simple fact that our brain too needs rest.  The reasons were crystal clear to me but hard for him to comprehend. 

Back in the mid-80s, when I was working at Boeing, I had a colleague. He once told me about his cousin who was an excellent Unix programmer in Los Angeles. He could complete a task in 2 hours that would take others 8 hours. His dream was to work in Hollywood as a lighting technician. He enjoyed setting up lights during filming. But those jobs did not pay well. So he asked his boss if he could work only 4 hours a day in the company, and take a 50% cut in salary so that he could follow his passion at Hollywood. His boss readily agreed. His productivity was very high and that too despite working long hours.  Productivity depends on knowledge, focus,  and motivation.

A common thing to talk about among Boeing engineers was how much they loved the job and how amazed they were that they got paid for doing something fun like what they did.  We were never forced to work for 14 hours a day.  Often, we worked 8 hours without wasting time in meaningless meetings. Of course, there were many days and nights that we worked from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. i.e. 19 hours a day, went home for 3 hours, and were back for a flight test to work for another 14 hours.  We were always ready to work when there was a need.  No one ever created a pseudo need for working long hours.  You make people understand their responsibilities and they will rise to the occasion. 

When I came back to India, the scene was different. One day I was working late in my office.  About an hour later, I happened to go to the other wing where my team used to sit.  To my surprise, everyone was still there.  I asked them what was the reason for their working late.  They told me that since I had not left the office, they were still sitting.  I explained to them that I had some pending work and that’s why I was still in the office.  If they do not have such urgent work then they need not wait after office hours. I realized that this was also very much a Japanese way of showing respect to the boss.  I wonder how much was due to respect, how much was out of fear of being rated low just because they were not seen for 14 hours a day, and how much was it just to impress.

As creative professionals, we thrive on solving problems and innovating new solutions. Our work demands that we use our imagination, skills, and passion to create value for our clients and society. However, creativity cannot flourish under stress, pressure, or exhaustion. We need to take care of ourselves and our colleagues, especially the young engineers who are just starting their careers. We need to respect their boundaries, support their growth, and inspire their enthusiasm. We need to help them balance their work and life, and prioritize their health and well-being. We want to keep the family fabric intact. Nothing can be more important than a family. Let’s create an atmosphere of freedom, fun, responsibility, pride, respect, recognition, a place of achievement,  and progress for the company as well as the individual. 

We need to remind ourselves that they are not just employees, but members of a family. The family that cares for each other, celebrates each other's achievements, and learns from each other's mistakes. The family that values freedom, fun, and responsibility.  The family that takes pride in each other's accomplishments, respects everyone and recognizes exceptional talent. The family that strives for excellence, innovation, and progress. The family that supports each other and leaves a mark in the world.  This is how JRD Tata treated employees and built a large joint family.

I wonder if we are repeating the history after 30 years by suggesting working 70 hours a week. Are we approaching the day when we will discuss ‘No More Lunch?

 

What does a Ph.D. mean?

 A ‘Doctor of Philosophy’ is the highest academic qualification one can strive to achieve.  It comes with many years of hard work, sleepless nights, frustrations, as well as some Eureka moments.  More people quit the Ph.D. program than those who are awarded the degree.  It is truly the test of tenacity and hard work.  No wonder once awarded a doctorate, people feel a sense of great achievement.  They have a right to feel so.  Society at large looks up to someone with a Ph.D.  Unfortunately, all this drama could give rise to the monster of arrogance, rude behavior, and a superiority complex.  Some of them with a Ph.D. try to create an aura of being a scholar and know-it-all person.  They look down upon others in a subtle way.  They lose the humility to admit when they do not know something. All of this is a cause for concern.

As a Ph.D. advisor or a guide, I have been observing student’s behavior up close.  I have a couple of students who have graduated as well as some who are still pursuing a Ph.D.  This has certainly given me a different perspective of what a Ph.D. means and what it should mean.

Students often get into a graduate program and work towards a Ph.D. for the wrong reasons.  When asked why they want to pursue a Ph.D., their answers reveal a lot about their ultimate motive.  I often hear some of the following answers.  ‘Oh, it looks good to have a prefix in front of my name as a doctor’ or ‘It is mandatory for me to get a Ph.D. for a promotion as an associate professor’.  A majority of students are not in a Ph.D. program for doing good research.  They are not for the pursuit of knowledge.

I remember reading Freeman Dyson’s words on giving a Ph.D. to all graduate students so that they would do good work afterward.  Those words have been very interesting to me ever since I was a doctoral candidate.

Today, I feel that giving a Ph.D. to people and hoping that they would do great work is a utopian dream.  I am sorry to say but I am disappointed in looking at the segment of students who have completed their doctoral work and how they are wasting it. I see them do exactly what they should not be doing.  They are interested in writing every single correspondence with the title ‘Dr.’ added to their name regardless of whether it is written to family members and friends or in professional correspondence.  I am not against adding the title.  There are times and places for using the title.  With the title ‘Dr.’, you are conveying that you have the tenacity to solve a given problem and are willing to work hard to get to the bottom of the problem.  However, it is quite contrary to the actions of many Ph.D. holders.

So, we come to the question of what it means to have a Ph.D.  Having a Ph.D. is not about being a member of a special club to boast about. It is not about showing superiority over others who were less fortunate to pursue higher education. Getting a Ph.D. enables you and trains you to understand what is research and what is good research.  It is not something to brag about. As a Ph.D. holder, one is the ambassador of the ‘pursuit of knowledge’.  

A Ph.D. holder needs to continue to do research in any field of their choice may it be in their academic expertise or other fields of interest.  At the same time, being in the ‘pursuit of knowledge’ means that one should read from other disciplines to appreciate research being done in other fields.

It is often seen that some people with a Ph.D. make a distinction based on the discipline implying that their discipline is superior and much more difficult to get a Ph.D. in.  That just shows complete ignorance on the part of the person.  Most universities award just a Ph.D. degree without specifying the department.  I had to correct the first page of my Ph.D. thesis since I had put the name of the discipline on the first page.  I was told that the university was awarding me a Doctor of Philosophy degree.  It meant that I could philosophize. The word philosophy means ‘the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct’.  Ph.D. is not linked to a discipline.

The most important act that a Ph.D. should engage in, besides continuing to do research, is to promote knowledge.  A person with a Ph.D. should set an example to their immediate relatives, friends, children, and other people that they come in contact with that knowledge is supreme.  Everyone should understand the power of knowledge.  It is the responsibility of a Ph.D. holder to make this happen and put in effort so that others turn to the path of gaining knowledge.

There are different age groups one comes across.  Let’s divide them into children, young adults, and adults.  As a Ph.D. holder, you should encourage children to do well in their studies.  Push young adults to pursue higher education. If one looks around it is very easy to find people who are completely unaware of the importance of higher education.  We have to make them aware of it and actively encourage them.  It is not enough to just do lip service and say that getting a higher education is important but to make that change happen.    The only way to measure the effectiveness of your efforts is to count how many people were convinced and pursued higher education.

Adult members of society need help with various things.  Today, technology is developing rapidly and it is hard for many to catch up with it.  Thus, one can spend time and simplify complex, day-to-day things for adults.   Often patients are unaware of do’s and don’ts.  Many do not understand the importance of completing the due course of medication.  One can explain the importance to them and encourage them to complete the treatment. Some people are not savvy with computer-related work.  You can go and help them.

The bottom line is as a result of getting the honor of having a Ph.D. and people looking up to you, how many lives have you changed for the better?  Sissela Bok, a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Center for Population Studies, is a philosopher.  She is the daughter of two Nobel Prize winners, Gunnar Myrdal and Alva Myrdal.  She says that one should create a sphere of influence.  At first, you start small but then start growing the sphere.  This is how one can start helping society. In the beginning, you can start with your own family.  Ensure that they pursue this path of higher education and the pursuit of knowledge.  Then grow the sphere to include your friends and acquaintances.

All said and done, a Ph.D. is not the only way to do good research, be creative, innovative, or promote education. There are quite a few individuals who do outstanding work without getting a Ph.D.  One of the shining examples is that of the physicist, Freeman Dyson.  He did not have a Ph.D. but many scholars at Princeton did postdocs under his guidance.  He has many things in Physics and Mathematics named after him such as the Dyson Series, Dyson Transform, and Dyson Sphere to name a few. Dyson calls the Ph.D. system a ‘gross distortion of the educational process’.

As a responsible individual in a society, you are expected to help others.  How many people have you encouraged to pursue higher education?  How many people are better off in their careers because you helped them understand the importance of education?  Philanthropy means the love of humanity. In that sense, your efforts to make human lives better are individual philanthropic efforts.  If you are actively helping society, go ahead and call yourself a doctor only to continue the cycle of helping even more people.