Management Practice in India: Turning Around a Public Sector Bank

Bridging Academics and Practice

Arising from his experience as an academician who rose from the lower rungs in the BOB and went on to lead it as its CEO, this is a remarkable read for those who wish to get insights on Indian management. The author takes the reader through the ups and downs of management with a history of around five decades and his active presence in some part of it first as an academic, then as a researcher-academic, later as an academic-advisor and finally, a practitioner.

As the author suggests, this book bridges the gap between researcher and practitioner. In most cases, there is a chasm between research and practice with practitioners constantly claiming that researchers are far away from the real situation. The people in research are rarely those in practice; they seldom get to apply their own recommendations and verify their applicability. In this narration, we get to see how an individual is able to concretely put his recommendations into practice and come out successful.

Students in management look for quick-fix solutions to problems. Case study method, the most popular pedagogical technique, gives some secondary experience to grasp the possible tricks of the trade. But the real situation, as the book would highlight, is not short-term, nor something which can be learnt only through cases. It necessitates a constant awareness of what one wishes to accomplish and the hindrances toward the goal. It requires establishing long-term and short-term strategies and learning from others’ success and failures.

Importance of HR and HRD

The field of management has also its own share of disagreements about the importance of various resources. Currently, the emphasis seems to be on finances with short-term market evaluations and results highlighting the worth of the company. Human resources (HR) take backstage in such an analysis. The book presents the resurgence story of a bank from a human resources development (HRD) perspective. In this process, the long-term strain and power struggle between the two forces constantly at war is highlighted. On the one hand are the unions and employees’ associations and the other side comprises the management. Where do each stand in their role for the welfare of the employees and the organization? The book presents an interesting plot that can also be studied from other perspectives like bureaucracy, power and political processes. One can see the game of chess at play with a pawn even capable of becoming the ruler or pseudo-ruler (like the union and federation president and other office bearers in the narration) and indirectly controlling the dynamics in the organization. In reading the book, one tends to constantly question: who is running this bank?

Management in India

In journeying with this captivating book one can go through a variety of emotions while trying to figure out a method that would help in an appropriate style of management. One who is in the management position will resonate with the experience of managers at different levels. While since the Hawthorne studies and the humanistic perspective there is a call for a humane form of management, there is also a simultaneous crisis that evolves as a result of the struggle for power and eventual position and control over the organization. One begins to question whether humanistic management is really a good deal. One also faces the crisis of leadership in the midst of nationalization and eventual interference of politicians and the rise of corruption and a fall in targets. One also begins to wonder, if the management and representation of workers is important and whether their voices must be heard? Is it a problem of the Indian work ethic that workers want benefits and overtime without hard work? Or is it merelyhuman nature?

Viewing from the management side, in the different sections of the book, one finds that the personalities of different individuals knit deeply with their management styles. There were periods when management took a concrete stand and at other times some CEOs played pacifiers. In the overall scenario what suffered was either the welfare of employees, the management process or the overall growth of the organization. Barring a few, most saw a partial picture of their responsibility rather than the Systems Thinking approach proposed by management gurus.

The book also highlights that in India management appears to be person-centred. A change in the person at the helm sets a change in the way the organization functions. Setting a structure to take care of itself is a challenge. Person-centred management has the drawbacks of being based on idiosyncratic principles and cronyism. Management principles change along with the person in charge and there is no sense of stability in structure.

A Humane Approach to Labour

In recent years there are voices raising questions on the applicability of ‘archaic’ labour laws in India. One needs to analyse them in the light of the gradual development of industrialization and the Industrial Relations (IR) climate in the country. All said, the situation in the country is still at the means-ends continuum. Employees and labour, in particular, are used as a means to the ends that the capitalists have in mind. What is missing is a humanistic approach to management with a focus on the dignity of labour and the labourer.

What Khandelwal shows through his management style is that when one focuses on the welfare of the employees with honesty, one can achieve results without affecting the lives of any. This is a positive approach. His experiences in the book highlight the intention of the employee to grow and contribute to the organization. One important dimension of Authentic Leadership is being ethical and helping the follower to make meaning form one’s life.

Labour reforms that are desired are oriented towards domination of the worker and making them voiceless. A different perspective, as followed by Khandelwal, leads to the participative process and progressive elimination of union and irrelevance of the ‘archaic’ labour laws. What one sees in a humanistic approach to work and life is that one contributes to the aspirations of individuals and makes their lives relevant, meaningful and dignified.

More importantly, the manager-leaders should be confident in the principles of life. As Khandelwal highlights, ‘I was firm in my belief that it was only through the process of reaching out to branch managers and officers and other employees that I could improve the tempo of business’ (p. 184).

Conflict Management

What one finds in these pages is the need for an important skill of leadership, viz. handling conflict. As the authors of various books on conflict resolution highlight, it involves diagnosing the source of conflict and then looking for an appropriate strategy to handle the conflict.

One of the important problems faced in many large public organizations is the unwillingness of those in charge to respond to conflict, viz, an avoidance style of handling conflict. Individuals, perhaps, fear for their position or have always been pleasing people to arrive at this position. The management styles of Khandelwal’s predecessors show the unwillingness to respond to crisis and issues at the earliest. A delay in response even to trivial issues escalates to serious conflict in the long run. What Khandelwal has done is standing by his humanistic orientation in management and understanding the issues of the people involved and responding to the crisis to help individuals, which in turn helped the organization.

Among the many styles of managing conflict, one that delays decision-making raises discomfort and escalates the conflict. This is constantly seen in the administration of BOB where the IR department was split with no clear mandates between Vadodara and Mumbai. The simplest method is about opening paths of communication between people, departments and organizations. What Khandelwal highlights in his working is the establishing of lines of communication at various levels—by meeting individuals in far-off places, by making structural changes at the local level, structural changes at the organizational level and, finally, creating new structures. By establishing and repairing lines of communication individuals were able to interact with the hierarchy of the management directly and resolve their issues. This was his simple mantra of success. Resolving conflicts is equivalent to bringing growth.

Strengths of the Book

What is remarkable in the book is the central ideology of the author—the need for human development, his emphasis on HR. His success arises from his interventions in human development and eliminating the need for militant activism of the unions to benefit the employees. An important question that every manager could raise: why do the workers need unions? As an answer, the author’s view is that if managers could satisfy the needs of employees in a just manner, as the theories of justice and equity highlight, one may not need the help of unionism. One finds similar stories in the lives of other management stalwarts in India whether one speaks of JRD Tata or Russi Mody at the Tatas or others who worked for and with the welfare of the employees in mind.

In the narration one also sees how one must try and test the policies before a large-scale implementation. The responsibilities that Khandelwal received also increased as he took risks and showed results. The author shuffles between the viewpoint of a researcher and a person writing a memoir. In the beginning sections, we see some references to management theories and other relevant material we progressively find them less as it becomes more a story of one’s life, i.e., one’s success at work—a chronicle of important events during the professional life of the author. We see a good reflection on the actions taken by the author in the process of the turnaround as an important summary of all the management principles and techniques that worked effectively giving him success. Here again, we see a strong theoretical foundation to which most budding managers give blindsight.

The book serves the important purpose of highlighting the skills of an Indian manager in turning around a bank in the public sector where there is a constant influence of political parties and unions. It can be used as an example for managers working in Indian organizations, especially in the publicsector, to learn that turnaround is possible if one follows management principles and involves all groups in the larger goal of the organization.

Each chapter presents a summary of the events and actions as a reflection of the process. For a hurried reader reading these sections along with the third part of the book will suffice to get a set of principles, skills and decisions that one needs to take to increase the effectiveness of the organization. However, for the one who wants to enter into the emotions of management, triggering reflection, reading the other chapters set the agenda well and pose queries, doubts and predicaments to which one seeks answers.

It is an emotional story for the author and it is here that the greatest weakness of the book is found. While the book is based on field study and interviews of a large number of management personnel and trade union leaders, it appears to be judgemental on the management style of the CEOs and the working of the employees’ association and the federation. While reading one wonders what were their reasons to act in the way they did. The author finds that in some cases the CEOs and the union representatives acted as cronies with advantages to only a few followers and large disadvantages to the masses; ultimately a loss to the bank. While this could be true, what one misses is the voice of these CEOs.

While the author has done well as a CEO and in higher management, he could do so perhaps as a result of the changing nature of the socio-political environment and liberalization on the economic front. One studying labour laws also finds that the interpretation of laws has changed giving more power to the administration. It is a challenge to sift through the environmental influences and the role of the author.