Me @ 63rd IPC, Bangalore

The most favoured brand event for pharmacists, in fact, this 'event brand' is a legacy brand with a great emotional bonding for pharmacists, it is the INDIAN PHARMACEUTICAL CONGRESS (IPC). This annual event is a time to RELEARN, RECONNECT AND REINSPIRE. The IPC is held every Dec, this year's edition was at Bangalore (16.12.2011, 17.12.2011 and 18.12.2011). Bangalore is my place of stay since 1990 (when I came for studying M Pharma in Pharmacology at Govt. College of Pharmacy, Bangalore; I have come to Bangalore from Mysore my birthplace, Mysore is located 160 km from Bangalore; however, my family roots (ie., my parents' native place) are in Durga village, Karkala, Udupi district).

Naturally, the excitement level was very high since the IPC was making its presence in Bangalore almost after a decade.

Above: a long range view of the inaugural session

Our encouraging JMD

Thanks to the encouraging JMD of my employer company, our registrations to IPC were ensured and thanks to his support I could engage in useful relearning, reconnecting to my classmates and other acquaintances, and participate in the scientific session through a poster that I put up.

In above photo I pose before my scientific poster

In the above image I receive my certificate for poster presentation from Dr. Asha of Al Ameen College of Pharmacy, Bangalore who was the Chairperson of K series poster presentations (on pharmaceutical management)

The above is my certificate of the paper presentation (ie., scientific poster presentation)

My scientific poster was on THE LONG TAIL STRATEGY IN PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY. Chris Anderson proposed a concept: companies are offering many unique products sold in smaller quantities along with major brands. This, he said, contributes to a boost of marketshare, ROI and profits. In my scientific poster, I have extrapolated this concept to the pharma industry. I observe that companies (particularly MNCs) in the absence of blockbuster brands, are adopting a strategy like the long tail strategy to enhance marketshare or achieving other corporate objectives.

In the above picture I am with my company and industry colleagues. The gentleman with blazer is Mr. S G Biligiri, VP - Technical in my company and

a prominent member of the local pharmaceutical community.

Mr. Biligiri was also an active person of the 63rd IPC's local organizing committee. It was fascinating to go around with Mr. S G Biligiri during the IPC event. With every two steps he took, three individuals would come up to greet him and talk to him! Such is his network!!

During the 63rd IPC, Bangalore I could also reconnect with dynamic Mr. Madhusudhan (third from reader's right, ie., next to me on my right side, the gentleman wearing suit, wedged between me and Mr. Biligiri).

Mr. Madhusudhan is one of the leaders of Karnataka pharma industry. When I was a pharma student in the late eighties and early nineties, Mr. Madhusudhan was very active in the pharma circles of Karnataka as a leader of the corporate world. I had represented Karnataka in the national pharma elocution contest, three times - during my final B Pharma, first M Pharma and second M Pharma, and during all these years, the person who used to motivate us students - and take special care of us was Shri Madhusudhan. Golden memories!! When I met him, after all these years, Shri Madhusudhan remembered me!!

I listened to his illuminating lecture, during the IPC, on 'data integrity and other manufacturing concepts as practiced in USA and India', (on 18.12.2011 at Cassia hall). Mr. Madhusudhan is currently based in USA.

During the inaugural session, the Chairperson of 63rd IPC, Bangalore, Mr. Subodh Priolkar, General Manager of Colorcon gave an outstanding talk on the growth prospects of the Indian Pharma Industry.

Later on, during the day, a talk by Ms. Aditi Kare Panandikar, Wholetime Director of Indoco Remedies, Mumbai, was riveting. Her professional commitment and scientific training was stark clear, this young professional was at her inspiring best. Her incisive analysis backed by hard data gave a precise view of the developing trends in Indian pharma, and the opportunity for new business models. Truly, she has a 360 degree view of the developing pharma business, and has kept herself abreast with the latest happenings of the pharma world.

By George, Dr. George Patani, Director, Inga Laboratories, Mumbai was at his oratorical best. The attention getter example in his presentation, of the legal definition of land was very striking. He went on to present his concerns and views in a persuasive way - such as the challenge on the pricing front faced by Indian pharma industry.

Both speakers highlighted that since outsourcing of pharmaceutical work was at every stage of the value chain (ie., CRAMS (contract research and manufacturing services)), Indian pharmaceutical industry was at the cusp of another exciting growth phase. This they have reiterated will demand well trained professionals...

Mr. Ganesh Nayak, the pharma leader from Zydus Cadila group, was at his authoritative best talking on strategies and business models available for pharma enterprises in today's context. Mr. Nayak presented his talk on 18.12.2011, however, I could not listen completely to the talk, since I had to be there along with my scientific poster too.

Dr. R B Smarta, a consultant spoke on an interesting concept of pharmacoeconomics. His talk was well illustrated with graphic elements. This emerging concept deals with pricing vis-a-vis therapeutic benefits offered, and consequently looking at the cost of therapy from a holistic angle.

Mr. K Kiranshankar, a veteran marketer of the pharma industry, spoke on the current status of the pharma market from the 4 Ps point of view: product, price, promotion and placement. It was a ringside view of a practicing marketing artiste!

A pleasant surprise was the speech by Dr. G Parthasarathi, Head - Pharmacy practice, my B Pharma alma mater. He has grown rich in stature today, a leader and academic expert. He has also edited a text book on pharmacy practice, which I plan to buy shortly! His talk was well received and made high impact in the audience.

Dr. B R Jagashetty, Drug Controller of Karnataka, also lent his majestic presence to the show.

Dr. Saranjit Singh, Dean, NIPER, Mohali gave a thrilling lecture on the level of impurities and their impact on exports. He gave exciting case studies on how a small change in level of impurities in a pharmaceutical formulation can become a barrier to selling in regulated markets!

All in all, the IPC was inspiring, all about learning sessions, and reconnecting. I would have liked to listen to all the lectures, but it wasn't possible to be everywhere at the same time! Moreover, visiting the Pharma Expo requires a lot of time! So time is/was a constraint.

The food and other arrangements were 'overall good'. IPC @ Bangalore was a memorable one!!

Good old memories!!

Above I am seen with Dr. K M Bhat Phd of QA dept., College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal. Bhat was my B Pharma classmate and later on during my Bangalore years, he was my roommate . He went on to do PhD from Gujarat, and is now a well placed Associate Prof. at the above college, which is a few kms from his hometown! While I was submitting my scientific poster, he was an evaluator for another series of scientific posters at the 63rd IPC, Bangalore! It was nice connecting with him at IPC, after 18 years, although we have been in touch through e-mail and phone. We are seen (above) next to a table of vegetable carvings in the

dining hall during IPC.

Self with company colleagues at IPC, Bangalore (in above two photos)

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Success through sensory experiences

ABOVE IMAGE FROM HERE.

Pharmaceutical products, traditionally have not been associated with a positive sensory experience. If at all, the top-of-the-mind recall word for a medicine, is bitter! In fact, in earlier times it was also considered an appropriate attribute of a true pharmaceutical product - a pharma product was expected to taste unpleasant! A good medicine was supposed to taste bitter or offer a rather unpleasant experience. Homoeopathic products were the only exceptions - since they used sugar pills to deliver the medicament.

With competition coming of age and patient preference becoming more towards a pleasant experience while taking medicaments, the time has certainly come in the Indian pharma market to see if the sensorial qualities of a formulation can be tweaked to offer a competitive edge. A pharma product with a better taste, aroma, mouth-feel and after-taste will certainly have improved patient compliance, with low desertion index.

The other drug attribute, affecting patient acceptance - is the side-effect profile. When a drug offers unpleasant sensory experience and has many side-effects, it will certainly have a patient unfriendly image. To make a medicine formulation, patient-friendly, it ought to have a positive sensory appeal and a low side-effect profile.

In the case of food industry, as pointed by this reference, it is already well established that taste and sensory pleasure aspect of a food is important while devising nutrition intervention strategy.
Presentation of medicaments with a positive sensory attribute will certainly enhance chances of successful establishment of the formulation in the market. The look, feel, taste, aroma, after-taste and mouth-feel: all these have an overall impact on patient well being.

The chemical basis of positive sensory experience on consumption of a substance is an interesting study. For eg., this write-up (click) explores the endorphin effect of chocolate! It is evident that chocolate has 600 natural flavouring substances and pharmacologically active substances. Chocolate flavour has an unique ability to provide "feel-good" factor to a patient if used along with the medicaments.

The development of pharmaceuticals with improved sensory qualities, ie., reduced YUCK FACTOR - has been debated for long. With generic competition becoming stiffer and new product lines becoming dicier, it is imperative that existing products are strengthened to improve their sales performance. One of the ways of doing this is continuously improve the pharmaceutical formulation characteristics such as sensory attributes, disintegration profile and dissolution nature.

One cannot forget the days when we were young, and bitter tablets were powdered and administered in a tablespoon of honey for improved patient acceptance!

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Koln fragrance

Thanks to my employers and JMD, my maiden foreign tour was most memorable. In the first photo we see a panoramic view of the crowds at Anuga 2011, in photo two, I pose at Wuperthal, Germany; in the third photo my colleague and I pose at Zurich (Switzerland).

The globalization juggernaut rolls on unstopped. It is difficult to remain isolated from the wave of globalization thanks to the ever "shrinking" world. 'Englishization' is spurring the breakdown of communication barriers. People are the same everywhere - the common interests are to have fun, be at peace, and engage in productive and progressive work. Socio-econo-emotional forces are driving global transactions.

We attended ANUGA 2011 a fair for food and beverages at Kolnmesse (Germany). Oh! What an exhilarating experience. Thousands of serious delegates with suits crowding the massive exhibition halls, talking at the various booths with the company officials in the hope of latching on to something good for business: it could be an idea, a sweet deal or some inspiration to launch new businesses, the fervor of business was a memorable experience to be savored.

The South Koreans are real aggressive 'tiger' marketers. Vita500 a Vit. C (500 mg per bottle) beverage promoted to doctors and end consumers - is the no. 1 drink of South Korea, they were there proudly displaying their achievements, and looking to globalize too. Another South Korean marketer promoted his sea-salt which he claimed was better to taste and had more magnesium! The other South Korean marketers were also very aggressive in their attempt to promote traditional herbs and foods on a global scale.

The Chinese too were prominent in their activities - they were warm, although not as communicative as the South Koreans. The European companies were at their conservative and sophisticated best. The Australians and American stalls were going all out charming booth attendees and at their professional best. The olive oil marketers including Sicilians , Greeks, Italians and Moroccans, were doing their best. The Indian stalls were charming, accommodating, not as aggressive or having significant presence - say as the South Koreans and Chinese.

The interesting point was that most marketers having stalls at ANUGA, were all eager to do business in India. The large population and the hype on India is getting on to them, they just want to enter India! However, Indian market is a tough nut to crack! The play of price and product benefits is challenging because Indian marketers are competitive, the Indian customer is quite discerning and requires value-for-money. Indians can be quite conservative too.

Germans are very organized and systematic. On the roads in Germany, compared to India, there are hardly any people. Germans are all inside the buildings and in cars. It is cute to observe that pedestrians in Germany and Switzerland, get a lot of priority from automobile drivers while crossing etc, on roads, they even stop their cars, so that pedestrians cross the roads! Further, in Europe compared to India, there is high level of consumption of liquor (beer, vodka, whiskey and wine) and smoking too (particularly young women!). The amazing thing is free education or nominal fees up to degree education, for citizens of Switzerland and perhaps Germany too.

I will never forget the moment when a waitress in Switzerland said: "The tap water here is better than Italian mineral water!" In Germany and Switzerland (perhaps in other European countries too), tap water is potable!

Indians are quite liked out there! We could bond easily with co-passengers, other delegates, business associates, and people who work in restaurants etc. People are also curious about India.

Truly, a refreshing and memorable visit to the European continent! Thanks for reading this blogpost, kindly read all other post, scroll down if required, and click on older posts as and when required.

PERMA approach for happiness

THE ICON SMILEY IS A POPULAR SYMBOL OF HAPPINESS.

The purpose of business is to make profits... NO! THE NEW TRUTH?!: The purpose of BUSINESS IS MAKING PEOPLE HAPPY! Profits will follow, like a faithful dog!! Sounds a little odd, however, with the present trend of most markets becoming buyer or prescriber markets, business has verily become a happiness management system.

Making people happy

To make customers (external & internal) happy is not an easily defined process. Happiness is a relative state of mind. The concepts of happiness change from time to time in the same person, and happiness means differently to each individual. For the same person, what delivered happiness now may not do so after a few days, because his threshold of happiness has got elevated! Hence, happiness is called a fuzzy concept (ie., unfixed).

Sources of happiness

There are endless sources of happiness - from the intangible to tangible. Most of times we associate only tangible items as sources of happiness, such as money or material gifts - no doubt, these are are very vital sources of happiness to MRs, field personnel, office employees, doctors, stockists and retailers. However, there are also other intangible sources of happiness too.

The pleasant, attractive and fragrant presence of a MR in a dull and tense clinic or hospital environment, is a source of happiness to the staff and doctors alike. When this same MR, has good conversational skills and a knack to appreciate, the MR becomes a highly acclaimed resource of happiness for the doctor. To appreciate a person, is not easy, it requires a good deal of homework about the prospect or customer, and appreciating accurately.

Many a times, a doctor is looking for a confidante to share his thoughts and experiences, the trustworthy MR often fills this void in a doctor's life.

Theories and practices to generate happiness

Business experts and scientists have done deep studies on the science of happiness. Serotonin a brain chemical (neurotransmitter) is the well established 'chemical of happiness'. One of the ways to ensure serotonin boosts, is by engaging the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - this not only boosts happiness, we see a happiness economy in action! Business practitioners suggest using happiness as a framework for organizational activities. Need for happiness is at the root of a consumer's purchase behaviour. Hence, business @ happiness is a pertinent concept!!

PERMA approach

Martin Seligman - is a psychologist and American author who has worked for decades in the field of happiness or positive psychology, as he calls it. He has several insights for obtaining happiness. For instance, magenta is his favourite colour for its amazing effect to calm humans.

This scientist offers the PERMA acronym for happiness:

P for pleasure (eg., tasty food, warm baths, conveniences etc)
E for engagement (being absorbed in a challenging yet absorbing activity)
R for relationships (social ties that are fulfilling)
M for meaning (being engaged in a very meaningful set of experiences, being a part of something bigger)
A for accomplished (having a set of tangible accomplishments)

The PERMA based technique for employee and doctor engagement is a useful approach rather than concentrating only on material inputs for engaging doctors.

When a field manager, during joint field work, provides timely and good beverages and food at good joints, to the MR, the work becomes a pleasure. This is a simple and affordable input but it goes a long way to establish foundations for good organizational operational working.

Many doctors are driven and highly energetic. This is because they find their vocation highly absorbing and provides them with a feeling of accomplishment. Taking a leaf from this analogy, when an organization, offers a melange of absorbing activities to MRs and field personnel, with a potential for generating accomplishments, the employees become more engaged.

Accomplishments need to be celebrated at proper platforms in form of organizational events. A promotion, achieving a sales target, making a record turnover, obtaining certifications ... celebrating such events, will empower and engage employees, and provide with higher involvement and confidence. An employee is eternally looking for PERMA based experiences, a doctor or customer also has PERMA based needs that will provide him with happiness. Hence, PERMA is an interesting approach for strategising.

Training modules with interactive activites that are PERMA based will create fabulous training outcomes. Not only will employees be engaged in activities, they will have take-home messages and experiences that will improve productivity.

All in all, today, pharma business is not a simple production and marketing activity, it is becoming a well thought out process of generating happiness to internal and external customers. Pharma business is about offering pleasures to prescribers (egs.: appreciation, samples, small gifts and sponsorships), it is about engaging them in thoughtful and relevant in-clinic activities, it is also about having sound ethical relationships, it is also about partnering with doctors in creating meaningful experiences (and reiterating products); and finally, pharma marketing is about being a partner in each doctor's accomplishments. A contemporary pharma company has a PERMA approach to happiness management of doctors and retailers; as well as internal customers.

A permanent solution for high employee turnover in the Indian pharma industry is the 'perma approach' which is holistic and not a one-way street.

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Social skills and Pfizer

JEFF KINDLER: ABOVE, the EX-CEO OF PFIZER

Social skill has become an important attribute in business workplaces. Social skills refers to the way we INTERACT and COMMUNICATE (ie., send messages) with others. There are many ways we communicate - warm, affectionate, cold, neutral, factually, negatively, positively, creatively, emotionally, intuitively ... The way we communicate and interact makes a great difference to transactional and/or business results.

A MR may be very effective with detailing, however he or she may be slightly inhibited in nature, this makes him or her come across as non-assertive, reserved and cold. Such a social nature becomes an obstacle to establishment of good relationships with doctors or chemists (pharmacists).

Hence, social skills are vital for providing favourable business outcomes.

It is not enough to have functional knowledge, there is something more than technical competency required for success, it is a skill of knowing how to move with people in a balanced way, and thereby help attain business objectives. In a globalized world, and media rich society, it is not enough to have domain skills - social skills are equally vital, both within the organization and outside.

In the complex world of transactions, relationship management has acquired higher importance. The ability to manage one's network of relationships is crucial to help attain one's business objectives. Social skills help one realize value through social interactions.

For eg., let us say, we are talking to a field manager on phone. While it is common to go straight to the point which we want to resolve, it is good social skill to generally exchange views on the weather or general business conditions, and strengthen the social aspect of the conversation. It is new cultural thing to do this because the norm is to stick to business talk and resolve issues, however, a social skill component is to exchange pleasantaries and talk on other aspects too.

Social skills are not easy!

One may wonder why this is said so?

The first and most important obstacle to good social skill is lack of interest in practicing good social skills. The point is why exert more? Rather, it is better to stick to the business agenda and be done with it!!

There are occasions where many organizational members are tolerated as necessary evils, this happens mainly due to the concerned people having low social skill.

A stumbling block to practice of effective social skill is ego - a heightened sense of self-importance. This creates hostility in relationships, conflict management becomes the central issue rather than working together for mutual business interests.

Historically, technical skills are given more value than social skills. In many organizational cultures, social skills are also discounted and not adequately considered as an important skill set.

In skill inventories and skill audits conducted by HR personnel, technical skills, sales skills, etc are given high importance, there is no mention of social skills and specific social skill sub-types for HR audit.

Social skills are an important glue that hold organizations together and breathe life into transactions. Such social skills create a difference to the way of business conduct. A simple smile along course of technical presentations, an open attitude in body language during a serious business meeting - these can create a 'feel-good' mood, and this establishes a positive culture.

Social skills are really not easy, it takes training and practice, and an emphatic personal will to ensure that one practices optimal level of social skill.

An organization's culture is made of many components. The Organizational Culture (OC) is a psychological framework of the company. It is a set of characteristics or traits that sets an organization apart. For eg., when Ranbaxy was growing fast under Dr. Parvinder Singh, it was a power oriented organization, and a company that did not smile! A serious culture pervaded the entire organization. The OC is vital for the fortunes of a firm.

Pfizer: a case study from the OC perspective

The recent 'palace coup' article of Pfizer in Fortune Aug 2011, detailing how Jeff Kindler was sent home, makes absorbing reading. The article describes in a riveting style - with a very alluring narrative - the background and chain of events leading to departure of Jeff Kindler from Pfizer.

However what comes out of the story - hitting the reader hard is the ABSOLUTE DISCONNECT BETWEEN PEOPLE IN THE ORGANIZATION AND EVENTS at Pfizer.

It is hard to believe that the Directors' at Pfizer gave such a long rope to Jeff Kindler. Is it a Wild West type of a company with CEOs having a cowboy attitude?!

Probably, Jeff was brought in with a mandate to shake things up, break 'I-scratch-your-back- and you-scratch-my-back' type of relationships, infuse new dynamism - or else why would you hire an aggressive questioning type of trial lawyer as a CEO - that too of a pharmaceutical major?!

Frankly it appears too far-fetched that Jeff's leadership style would go unquestioned for so long!! It appears, after reading the article, 'Jeff and his leadership style' is the fall guy for clearing the decks and providing Pfizer a clean slate for a new hopeful beginning. It is a clean-up job by the Directors. Hope it will augur well for the world's biggest pharmaceutical company!

In a way, the article is 'tragi-comic'.

It is truly hilarious to read about Mary Mcleod and her helicopter rides in the article!!

The events described in the article do not speak highly of the management style and organizational culture of Pfizer.

No one will expect events as described in the article, in a company like Pfizer. (Heh!! I am being cheeky here - no offense meant - Indian pharmaceutical companies are always much much better!!).

The carry-home messages that come after reading the article, to an outsider:

Carry home message 1: Pfizer, as an organization - its organizational personality has poor social skills. There is vast scope to develop a positive social skill character in the length and breadth of the organization. The way people interact and communicate with each other is surely very very poor out there in Pfizer! May be it is because of Jeff ... but anyway it appears to be a part of Pfizer's DNA. Where is the warmth and stimulation to achieve there?!

Carry home message 2: Pfizer seems to have overlooked implementing Dr. Edward Kaplan and David Norton's BALANCED SCORE CARD system, one of the best management tools to keep a tab on performance and cultural issues. The lack of such a system leads to disconnect and episodes such as the Kindler episode of Pfizer.

There are viewpoints that the pharmaceutical industry, by and large, is a very conservative one and does not have an open mind to management concepts or adoption of management ideas.

Sadly, even Pfizer does not seem to be an exception.

The Article in FORTUNE will finds its way to all the case study classes of various management institutes!

End quote: The steps of power are often steps on sand - Edward Counsel

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Business process mapping

Managers are professionals, like lawyers, doctors and teachers. The area of professional competence is management. Managers are committed to 'management' to produce results in line with the firm's goals. A firm has a mission, the raison d'etre of the firm. The mission statement outlines the firm's important commitment, for example it may be providing excellent processed food products or quality and affordable medicines .... Based on the mission, objectives are drawn, goals are set, strategies are plotted; policies, programs and procedures are laid down. In essence, a process is created. Managers are professional process creators and process managers.

Process refers to a sequence of events, interlinked procedures to produce an output. Managers are in essence process managers. Let us assume that there is a manager for each part of the process. If the manager understands he is a part of the larger process that is generating an output, then his work will be in harmony and in balance with the firm's needs.

The MR visits doctors, promotes products, creates demand, with the help of marketing inputs - strategies - training inputs - collaterals. This demand is served through the distribution system. Products come in to the distribution system, through the production system. The inputs for the production system come from the purchase dept. All in all, a process is on, with the MR being a part of the larger system called the firm, which is full of processes in action.

Habits

HABIT: you remove H you get ABIT; you remove A you get BIT; if B is gone, you get IT. Hence, it is difficult to get rid of HABITs!

Processes create habits, and these in turn create comfort zones. Hence, revisiting processes gets a tad difficult. One is comfortable doing things the way they are, since they appear to produce outputs in line with corporate goals.

Process revisits

Process revisits are crucial to seek improvements in the processes. Improved processes will certainly produce improved outcomes. The processes revisited can belong to any department. It may be material procurement processes, HR processes, production processes, audit processes, quality processes, marketing processes, training processes ....

Revisiting processes involve understanding how things are being done, and then looking for ways to improve the way they are done, with an eye to

a) reduce wastage
b) improve efficiency
c) increase effectiveness
d) get better output

Thus, if the MR is a value delivery process of a pharma firm, we observe, MRs deliver communication inputs, render messaging, build relationships, involve in two-way transactions, offer gifts, sponsorships, and help create the demand output.

Another way of looking at things is to create a support system to improve value delivery to customers. Such an approach is value delivery through a mailer system. Or through other platforms which will engage target audiences and create the demand output for the firm. After all, the MR process is for demand creation. Hence, any other process that will create or support current process for demand output, with less wastage (or leaks), increased efficiency and effectiveness will surely be attractive to a pharma firm.

Steven Covey has said:

If we keep doing what we're doing, we're going to keep getting what we're getting.”

This is quite logical, hence, revisiting processes makes sense. For instance, today, pharmacist focus is on in the marketing process. Pfizer and GSK are organizing education meets on products for pharmacists, to get goodwill, shelf space and OTC (over-the-counter) push sales.

The idea to look at business activities with a process attitude - this is what ISO 9001 is all about. Business process mapping is what is the need of the hour for the pharma Indian industry today. Businesses are essentially processes, producing defined outputs; repeatedly.

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Donkey driver managers v/s professional managers

Top management and owners of companies appoint managers to ease their work, ensure that their vision and mission is implemented for the organization, and that the firm reaches the envisioned place. In simple language, 'manager appointees' are people who make things happen and ensure that the work is done (particularly through the non-managers) to achieve pre-stated objectives.

The popular managerial approach ('donkey driver' approach), is use of reward power and coercive power (see image above) to ensure accomplishment of tasks. Managers are supposed to be the drivers of reward power and coercive power in an organization.

Will a manager become successful for the organization through the 'donkey driver model' of managerial working?

The donkey driver model, utilizing reward power and coercive power, is successful up to a point. It has its limitations. A professional manager has three additional keys for success:

a) Demonstration and co-shouldering of responsibility
b) Give confidence and security
c) Use positive and negative reinforcements tactfully (and discreetly if required)

a) Modeling or demonstration of technical or other work skills is critical to win the subordinates' confidence and trust. Providing feed backs and co-shouldering of the responsibility is the best way of getting things done to achieve targets.

It is easy to say, "Look I have provided the resources, now achieve the targets!" "If you achieve the targets you get your incentive, if you do not achieve, well then, you can look for some other job more suited for you!"

This sort of carte blanche approach, is easiest for the manager, however, if the managerial system is co-shouldering, based on providing solutions, target achievement happens as a matter of rote, what happens however is something bigger: EVOLUTION OF THE ORGANIZATION.

Growing together, making organizations evolve, and making firms stronger in the marketplace is what is the essence of managerial success.

Let us assume a manager is successful in target achievement, merely by driving his subordinates to work harder and harder, however, the 'donkey driver model' has its limitations. Such a manager will finally face human resource problems, and a plateau will emerge ... from where evolution seems impossible.

The 'donkey driver' managerial model of working assumes, non-managers need to be driven and results automatically happen, it does not take in to cognisance the following facts:

a) that teams can be broken
b) non-managers can leave companies
c) results are system outputs
d) reinforces 'marketing and results myopia'

More often than not, organizational results are not a result merely of 'donkey driver model'. Reward and coercive power are vital in an organization, however, expertise power, legitimate power, connection power, and referral power of an organization are critical elements of organizational success, growth, survival, safety and evolution. These powers need to be enhanced in concert at all levels, thereby these factors would interplay and will provide the necessary organizational outputs.

b) Giving confidence and security, based on values and discipline, makes subordinates fearless in attitude, this provides stability, loyalty and higher involvement in work. Finally this attitude translates in to tangible results and employee stability to an organization.

Organizations that have a "wicket keeping attitude" (where most of the managerial work is about fixing the responsibility for lapses or dis-satisfactory results and/or 'fault finding'), keeping people in a state of fear of being "wicket kept", will surely see the organization becoming weaker by the day! After all, organizational success is based on doing work (which involves risks, lapses, and mistakes), if organizational intolerance to failure is a cachet, then organizational outcomes will never see improved fortunes! Growing organizations have a hearty appetite for knowledge, and risks!!

c) Use of positive and negative reinforcements: Life is a complement of negative and positive experiences. Fire can give warmth or it can cause burns. Utilizing perceived positive and negative reinforcements intelligently to motivate and make people work enthusiastically in the line of business goals is an important aspect of managerial work. This is not akin to the 'donkey driver model'. It involves use of intangible positive and negative reinforcers (not just tangible rewards and punishments), it is also about being tactful and discreet about these reinforcers so that desirable work behaviours are elicited.

Managership is a great responsibility, its influence on destinies is great, destinies are made or destroyed through exercise of managership. The above three keys of managership (which include elements of the 'donkey driver model') are useful for responsible and fulfilling managership experiences.

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