Abstract
The term ‘Lala Company’ gained prominence in the late 1970s. In the common parlance of Indian employees, there are only two types of companies: A Lala Company and an MNC (multinational company). Instead of focusing on what Indian family businesses should do the book illustrates what actually happens in Indian family businesses and its impact on business and everyone who is associated with it. Authority in Indian family businesses is derived from trust rather than skill. For the family business owner referred as Lalaji in the book, the more credibility you have the more influence you have in an organization. The book captures three different kinds of conflict within family businesses: those among family members; those between owners and senior employees and those within employees themselves. The book offers a perfect template ‘How not to conduct oneself as owners’ and ‘How not to run a family business’. Although the book focuses on family businesses it can serve as a useful guide for even those working in multinational corporations as Human Emotions, Power play; fear and greed are present even in multinational organizations. The book gives an insight into inter-generational differences inside the family businesses. The book has a vocabulary of its own and the readers are advised to see the things in the right context especially those who have never worked prior for such family owned businesses.
The book unfolds across eight meticulously crafted chapters. The inaugural chapter ‘Meet Bauji: The Founder’ sets the stage by explaining the first-generation entrepreneur, defining his work ethics, and providing a captivating historical backdrop of their education, dressing sense, and family background.
The second chapter ‘Meet the Characters of the Lala Enterprise’ defines terms such as ‘LALA – The owner of the Indian Family business and second generation Entrepreneur’, The Muneem – gatekeepers of family wealth responsible for keeping track of all the money inflows and outflows, The Chamchaa – Crisis creators continuously looking for explosive information, The professional – Traditional employees who are middle-aged and have generally low employability outside the organization and young and professional pass outs from a premier institute looking to grow their career, The Scions – The inheritors who have less regard for authority, legacy and tradition and The family – all the relatives of founders and cofounders vying for a larger piece of the business.
The third chapter ‘Meet Lalaji: The Owner’ exposes key indicators that help identify problematic areas related to Indian family businesses. Drawing insights from ‘The case of Lalaji making the vendors wait’w highlights over ambition, Lack of Prioritization,Indiscipline and poor ethos. ‘The case of all night strategy review with top Executives’ keeping your top executives hungry, points no respect whatsoever for other’s time, thinking that everyone is dependent upon them for their survival, thinking of themselves as Godfather and breadgiver outlines the colonial mindsets these family business owners have. ‘The case of the postponed dealer inauguration’ and ‘the case of the sprung marriage invitation’ puts forth their carelessness towards commitment. ‘The case of the hobby project’ delves into the sheer wastage of resources Lalaji does just to fulfil their whims and fancies. ‘The case of the ever changing to-do list’ shares the intricacies of constant chopping and changing of policies in a Lala Company. It also cites the greed to be rich soon, insecure personality, Lack of focus as contributing factors to frequently change in plans by the owner resulting in complete chaos in the organization. ‘The case of the Rs. 10,000 - crore business plan’ distils key insights into myopic viewpoints owners have regarding the expansion and diversification plans for their organization. ‘The case of Lalaji’s tendency to have the last word’ serves as a crucial signpost for business owners to be careful while making a decision between consolidation and expansion. ‘The case of the Last minute design change’ indicates how validation of wrong assumptions by yes men can prove disastrous for the organization. ‘The case of ignored market research’ underscores the consequences, which include the difficult task of winning back lost clients and, eventually, a break in brand loyalty. ‘The case of Lalaji treating you like your family’ highlights the few people who have managed to stay in Lalaji’s good graces through sheer diligence or just luck, and how these employees are treated differently from the others. ‘The case of the 10,000 pieces’ displays the negotiation skills adopted by Lala organizations. ‘The Mysterious case of the overdue payment’ talks about the one-sided contracts drafted by Lala organizations and warns vendors, dealers and suppliers to be aware of rights and obligations of both parties when entering into a contract with Lala organizations. ‘The case of the unofficial diarized transaction’ explores century-old unwritten business transactions and difficulties of doing business in a country like India having a complex legal system. ‘The case of the distributor who must please adjust’ delves into the multifaceted reasons contributing to failures of decade-long relationships of Lala organization’s with their vendors. ‘The case of the closed book store’ puts focus on way disasters transpire when owners throw their own people under the bus. ‘The case of Lalaji the Micromanager’ provides valuable insights behind the success of Lala organizations despite such unethical misconduct.
The Fourth Chapter ‘Meet Lala’s Family Accountant: The Muneem’ offers a comprehensive understanding into shenanigans used by Lalaji Muneem combo. Muneems act as custodian of wealth in lala companies and yield a heavy influence over the Lalaji because of this very reason. Muneems act as saviours at the time of disaster by putting in effective cost-control measures. ‘The case of the marketing head who travelled too much and the Muneem who travelled too little’ informs the authors how senior leaders are held hostage regarding important decisions by Muneems in Lala organizations. Travel finds a special mention as power struggles and politics happen between employees who get a chance to travel for business reasons and those who do not. ‘The case of the Muneem who got to Travel’ highlights Muneems’ hypocritical nature, pointing out that they themselves engaged in unethical behaviour at the expense of the company, something they often accuse marketing guys of doing. The chapter cites examples related to popular organizational behaviour concepts such as Ego, self-esteem and locus of control. The chapter gives authors a timely reminder of how the remuneration of top executives is perceived by other hard-working employees in the organization. The Muneem/Accountants in the Lala Company may resort to dubious means and negative tactics if they feel people who are less deserving are getting higher salaries and fancy designations in the organization.
The Fifth Chapter ‘Meet Lalaji’s Cronies: The Chamchaa’ aptly defines chamcha’s as someone who has high ambitions and low level of competence coupled with high sense of insecurity. ‘The case of the tiger on the Hunt’ highlights problems faced by new joiners because of these sycophants. ‘The case of seasoned professionals’ discusses how you can manoeuvre around chamchas and still survive in a Lala Company. ‘The case of the dubious Dubai posting’ underlines the importance of chamchas to Lalaji in a family business as they provide information to Lalaji regarding what’s happening inside the organization.
The Sixth Chapter ‘Meet the Professionals’ provides readers with an opening account of professionals hired by the Lala companies. Professionals have been described as polar opposites of Lalaji in terms of their value system. Four categories of professionals ‘The incorruptibles’, ‘The Privilege seekers’, ‘the petty thieves’ and ‘The seasoned bandits’ give a clear picture of type of employees working in the Lala organizations. ‘The case of the stressed out Analyst’ points out a complete disregard for the principle of Unity of Command and how reporting to three different generations for a person makes his situation quite perplexed. ‘The case of the tricky termination’ points out Insecurity, Fear, Comfort Zone and Adaptation as reasons people choose to stay in Lala organizations in spite of being humiliated time and again. ‘The case of the honest business head’ teaches a valuable lesson that even if you are completely honest, committed and hardworking you may still fall out of favour in a lala organization if the need of the hour is such for Lalaji. ‘The case of the change Management’ cites lack of conviction, Inability to assess the reasons for change, Internal resistance and Unwillingness to go through the change process as reasons for failure of change management process in Lala organizations.
The Seventh Chapter ‘Meet Lala’s Kids: The Scions of Marine Drive’ states that family business owners have been divided into four main categories Those who are lazy and feel entitled; those who are misbehaved with no respect for anyone; those who are rebellious, impatient and looking for quick results and those who are dutiful and earnest and want to work in the family business. The chapter reflects on the one of widespread problems of family businesses that is unwillingness of the third generation to join their family business.
The Eighth chapter ‘Meet the Rest of Lalaji’s Family’ offers prominent communication lessons to solve problems among the stakeholders of a family business.
The writer has gone to extraordinary lengths to define each case let as a complete life story. Despite the varying circumstances, a common thread in all the cases lies in they are able to generate different emotions such as Happiness and anger, pain and hatred, sympathy and pity, guilt, sadness and lack of purpose all at the same time. Designed with a wide range of readers in mind, including academics, students, managers, and owners of both small and large businesses, the book is an invaluable resource for knowledge about family business management, individual behaviour, organizational behaviour just to name a few. The book is flawless as so many different business situations cover a list of malpractices prevalent in the Indian business world and almost every bad experience that can happen and makes it a must-read for everyone who is a part of the family business as well as those who are going to start one. How mental harassment of professionals occurs in Lala organizations; readers can only feel sympathy for those who were forced to work for such companies and consume such poison, which can permanently damage their physical and emotional well-being. It is a rarity that a writer is able to cover so many different business aspects in a book.
