Rich Resources Could Add up to Poor Results: Costly Lessons from Tollywood Movie Disappointment, "Brahmotsavam"

In recent months, two movies of Telugu movie superstars raised huge expectations but failed to live up to them. While Sardar Gabbar Singh, starring Pawan Kalyan in the lead role, and also scripted and pseudo-directed by him released about a month ago disappointed viewers, the even more recent release, Brahmotsavam, starring Mahesh Babu in the lead role, threatens to be an even greater disaster. In fact, Brahmotsavam was a greater shocker because it seemed to have all the right ingredients: the handsome and elegant Mahesh Babu as the central anchor, three glamorous heroines Kajal, Samantha and Praneeta, an ensemble star cast of over 30 veteran stars, soulful and peppy music by Mickey J Meyer, gorgeous sets by Thota Tharani, breath-taking cinematography by Rathnavelu, an editor known for slickness, K Venkateswara Rao, famed choreographers Raju-Sundaram, a production house that splurges, and above all, a director who has track record of successful family entertainers in the past, Srikanth Addala.

Brahmotsavam was also notable for an intense level of promotions starring all the major stars and the music director and director in the 3 week run-up to the release, with clips and talks which underwrote the feel-good value of the movie, driving up viewer expectations sky high. After a great pre-release extravaganza, the movie released in over 900 screens globally. It is remarkable that from the very first show, there was a negative view about the movie across regions and across viewers, most of it centred on a meaningless and meandering second half, and all the songs wasted in the first half in rapid succession. Although the movie team has tried out a rear guard action by chopping off 18 minutes of draggy scenes in the second half and one song, there has been no improvement of the sentiment. The author has held in some of the previous blog posts that movie making is a highly enterprising creative endeavour and offers valuable management lessons, both from successes and failures. Brahmotsavam too offers important lessons, both for movie making and enterprise management.  

Calibrating investments

The general expectation is that if an enterprise is able to commit huge resources, either as investment or expenditure, it will be able to build world class infrastructure and business. While there is some proportionality between resources and outcomes the curve of proportionality tapers off after a stage. In fact, expenditures beyond what may be called ‘functionality’ level tend to be sunk costs with declining levels of returns. The phenomenon may be comparable to what a specific piece of sponge can absorb. Brahmotsavam has a super-gorgeous mounting of a movie but the movie as a visual treat made possible by a lavish budget (by Indian standards) of Rs 750 million but had little meaning without consistent emotional tether (which would have required no investments of such scale).

In business too, luxurious offices and gold plated factories have a visual impact but beyond a functionally utilitarian scale, they add more costs and overheads than value.  Internal value generation at increasing levels, which is hard to come by, is required to cater to increased investments.  Alternatively, investments have to be tailored to the value that can be created.

Synergizing expertise

Expertise is the key to success. The foundation of Brahmotsavam was to have the best expert in each field contribute to his or her department being top class. Indeed, the assumption played out well individually, there being nothing to fault any department in terms of cinematic excellence. However, together it made incoherent sense. Potentially, experts took specialized views rather than a comprehensive view of the movie, and the movie director was more preoccupied in providing each stalwart with a sub-canvas commensurate with his expertise, rather than building a more holistic total canvas with appropriate embellishments from all.

In business organizations too, having too many experts could lead to functional specialization but business sub-optimization. The CEO would more often than not be preoccupied with satisfying the individual domain needs of expert CXOs rather than do what is holistically good for the enterprise.

Roles to drive numbers

Closely allied with having more technician-experts on board, Brahmotsavam had even more stars for the screen. In a movie of 150 minutes having more than 30 plus veterans would only mean not more than 5 minutes of screen time for each star. With the hero Mahesh being required to be in every scene throughout the movie to carry it on his able shoulders, each veteran’s average screen time has been even lower. Rather than tight story telling what emerges in such a scenario is a visual spectacle of all stars vying for screen space. In low cost economies the tendency to over-deploy people is endemic; seen in movies as much as in businesses.

Having too many people lumped into a value chain is less productive than their being spread out across the value chain, in a role based manner. When a technical or operational bottleneck occurs it is the qualitative ingenuity of a few rather than quantitative redundancy of a mass that works.

Book rather than chapters

Brahmotsavam is much like a classic case of a book with an inspiring title and having a few chapters that are brilliant and several which are weak. The movie certainly has its beautiful frames and touching moments which reflect the theme in the first half but there are also several frames which run away from the theme as the hero takes off on a rather meaningless pan-Indian journey to connect with some spread out relatives. A book must be interesting to read cover to cover; so must be a movie from start to finish. Continuing emotional connect with the reader or viewer underwrites success in both the cases.

Enterprise is a series of projects but is an unending book or movie. Participants in an enterprise, employees or investors, look to a continuing story that is engaging. The moment a project wanes, and gives the feel of a ‘done chapter’, and in fact has more such disappointments in sequence or in store, enterprise starts becoming an emotionally and economically losing proposition.   

Directorial deficit

All said and done, the director remains the central anchor for a movie. Only he or she holds in his mind a mental picture of how he or she would convert the emotional theme to visual frames. He alone knows why he has engaged the stars and technicians he has engaged and the results expected of them. In Brahmotsavam, the director has failed in his primary role, probably with the misplaced belief that conversion of the concept of his earlier successful family movie set in rural background into an urban setting would provide a similar success. He is also responsible for all the deficiencies listed above, again due to excess of confidence and infallibility. Sometimes, directors are hamstrung by weighty producers and stars which also impacts their delivery on screen.  

The CEO of an enterprise wields a similar powerful role. The growth script or turnaround script can only be in his hands. Those CEOs who do not exercise this right and obligation or are not allowed to exercise such a role by the promoters and boards could lead to sub-optimal, if not disastrous, results for their companies.  

Expectations management

The modern society grows on expectations. Expectations management which is relatively new is different from advertisement management which has been age old. While the latter largely explains what a product or service stands for, and only subtly raises expectations, expectations management through a series of leaks, chats, promos presents an alluring image of great things to come. That said, there must be some link between the delivered reality and promised utopia. The issue with Brahmotsavam is that expectations were driven to crazy heights by focusing only on the good parts of the movie. Those who were exposed to such feel-good promos expected that the entire would pan out like the promos and were highly disappointed when things did not turn out as promised.

Companies are well within their rights to promote their products. In fact, it speaks of the collective confidence of the corporate sector that they are able to openly present futuristic features without concerns of copying by competition. That said, expectations have to be set in realistic zones to be able to deliver on them.

Customer supremacy

Even after the high profile debacle, the stars and the makers of Brahmotsavam must be wondering what hit them and why things went wrong. The reason lies in the possibility that all of them took the viewer for granted, and assumed that flashes of brilliance would suffice to impress the viewers. The fact, however, is that the user has his own way of feeling the experience which develops as one sees the movie. While many reasons for viewer dissatisfaction can be adduced as above there may indeed be no one reason why the viewers reject a movie. It can only be related to rather qualitative phenomenon of user experience.

Enterprises are not immune to failing to gauge user experience. Apple has tasted many successes by providing a great user experience on its iPod, iPhone and iPad products but has failed to provide the same user experience with its Apple watch. The customer continues to be supreme in judging a new product regardless of the past successes of a firm.  

Open to feedback

One can have open-to-sky ambitions with a relentless focus and unremitting faith in the goals and processes.  In fact, such passion is needed to fuel growth ambitions. However, as with many things the dividing lines between healthy ownership of a concept and unhealthy possessiveness, and between positive commitment and blind obsession are indeed thin. When a movie is taken with a few overarching themes (eternal family sentiment, charismatic Mahesh Babu, best-in-class departments, successful director etc.,) everyone believes that the success is assured. The makers must, however, be open and sensitive to feedback, which alone can course-correct disasters in the making.

Enterprises tend to be far less interactive and open-house oriented as movie houses are. Yet, if movie houses themselves suffer from myopic or obscured approach towards open feedback, the asphyxiating situation in tightly run enterprises can only be imagined. The need to facilitate and receive continuous feedback in an open manner and respond to that meaningfully is quite evident.

Result not a sum of parts

We are all aware of the constant exhortation that organizations must aim at synergy, whereby the sum is more than a mere addition of numbers. As this blog post illustrates parts are extremely critical but even the best parts cannot automatically make for even a viable product, let alone the best product. Just as in a mechanical watch all components must be fine-tuned for perfect assembly and perfect operation, every product and a project whether it is moviemaking or product manufacture must have parts that are fine-tuned in a success formula that is, in the overall, cohesive, balanced and integrated. Without coherent, balanced and unified thought as well as execution, the result of an endeavour may not even be a sum of parts!

Hopefully, the lessons of Brahmotsavam will be learnt. There was once a movie, Dil Se, made in 1998 by an ace director (Mani Ratnam ) with a star hero (Shahrukh Khan) and some of the finest technicians ( A R Rahman and Gulzar, for example) which raised huge expectations as a visual and musical masterpiece but turned out to be a huge box-office disappointment. Both the director and actor (and, of course other technicians) picked up the pieces and went on to make great movies, individually and collectively, post-failure. All stakeholders of Brahmotsavam, likewise, would hopefully bring out their collective best in their future movie endeavours.

That said, why should anyone, movie makers or enterprise leaders, fail at all when success can be assured with some sensibility and sensitivity as well as some reflection and introspection?

Posted by Dr CB Rao on May 27, 2016

Goals as Triggers: An Outcome-Process Matrix

Goals are an essential part of life for individuals as well as organizations. Goal setting is an important mechanism for development. In individuals it reflects leadership to take charge of one’s life and live optimally. In organizations it reflects a leadership capability to drive the organization on development path. Goals that are easy to achieve and will, anyway, happen in the natural course are not goals truly in a developmental sense. Goals which require planning, generation and deployment of resources, and which involve complex managerial processes are usual goals in an organizational sense. Goals by themselves are meaningless without they becoming outcomes, and outcomes are impossible without dedicated efforts. Aspirational adrenalin and situational stress are two important components of the journey towards converting goals into outcomes.

Goalsetting by itself is an emotional trigger. For some, setting mild easily achievable goals acts as a relief while setting lofty and tough-to-achieve goals could be stressful. For others, the reverse can be true. Outcomes, apart from the developmental satisfaction of achieving, involve emotional outcomes too. There are many components that vest in goals the stress dimension or lack of it. Time is the most impactful component. There is no linear correlation, positive or inverse, between factors supporting goal achievement and actual achievement of goals. It is not necessarily true that few is better for goals and more is better for resources for smooth goal achievement. It is this complexity that makes the theory of goals a challenging one. This blog post proposes a simple outcome-process matrix to understand the goal theory.

Goal-resource conundrum

Many advise that fewer goals make for better accomplishment. In matter of practice, there is nothing like being able to live with fewer goals. Even a singular goal has a cascade of goals. A singular goal like “I should join medicine” has several goals like “getting top ranks in certain qualifying subjects”, “getting top marks in the qualifying entrance examination”, “arranging resources for the costly medical study” and “preparing with the family for separation into hostel life” etc. In respect of organizational goals, there is never anything like singular goal. Something as singular as “we want to achieve the highest market share at X percent” has to be viewed really as a cascade of goals even at business level, let alone at each functional level. The goals would cascade into revenue, cost and profit goals at the business level, and each of these will further cascade into functional goals. Each organizational goal has a hierarchy of goals. And, some of the goals could conflict each other too!

Resources are also complex to decipher. The law of proportionality does not work beyond a point. When a company has a design, manufacturing or quality issue just throwing more people into the ring to solve the issues would not help. In certain situations, quality rather than quantity would be more important. In certain other cases, just giving more time (time being a very important resource) would help. Resources are, more often than not, are shared. In most cases, the impact of doing or not undertaking an activity or not providing a resource allocation would have its impact much later. Relating goals and resources uniquely, in a defined time frame, therefore is a problem in itself. Budgeting is a process to regulate resource allocation but it is a set of numbers. Achievement of goals, and the process thereto, is an emotional ownership journey. The outcomes and process interact in a way that ownership comes with a tinge of emotions.

Outcome classification

Outcomes are basically of two types; those that are potentially feasible and those that are seemingly unworkable. For example, in a market duopoly where both the players have equal share, it would be potentially feasible for one of the players to aim at a 75 percent market share. However, aiming at 95 percent market share would certainly seem to be unworkable. On the other hand, in the same duopoly, if the shares are 10 and 90 percent, it would be potentially feasible for the 10 percent player to become a 20 percent player or a 90 percent player to further become a 95 percent player. It would certainly seem to be unworkable for the 10 percent player to become a 90 percent player, however. In a way, the feasibility or otherwise of outcomes is contextual, depending on organizational, technological, market and environmental conditions. More importantly, it is a function of passage of time impacting these dynamics.

It would have been impossible to conceive of a smart phone which can be assembled and disassembled to suit different functionalities in user’s hands. The first step towards that has been made with LG G5 modular phone which enables upgrade of certain functionalities with addition of certain modules.  Google Ara with its Lego like phone construction which seemed infeasible prior to LG G5 suddenly becomes feasible now. Travel en masse to other planets and setting up human colonies would seem infeasible even today but could become feasible in a few decades. Visionary leaders set goals which are not easily visible to people reasonably versed in current state-of-the-art. Feasibility or otherwise depends on the processes adopted to work towards such goals. 

Process classification

The processes for achievement of goals are of two basic types; those that are carried out as they are instructed to be performed and those that are performed with experimentation. For example, most processes followed in most organizations by most individuals are all instructed processes. The advantages of process instructions are evident; they lead to repeatability and consistency with predictable results. They allow quality checks to be performed at key stages. Instructional processes promote learning, and lead to productivity. Well instructed people tend to be compliant and focused. Certain goals benefit immensely by instructed processes; in general, goals in industries with high safety risks or quality variations are better off by following instructional processes.  In goal setting, however, certain processes have to be extrapolated or creatively constructed; yet in instructional processes these are also codified.

Experimental processes are those processes which are generally first time processes. In certain aspects of business, experimental processes become inevitable. Most R&D goals can be achieved only with experimental processes. Market positioning of new products requires experimentation with consumer preferences. Even in a manufacturing setup, certain experimental processes would have to be gone through before standards can be established. Experimentation of even standardised processes occurs in empowered organizations which seek continuous improvements.  Experimental processes which are successful bring pride and ownership to the developers. Tolerance to mistakes is an essential requirement for successful evolution of experimental processes. When goals are lofty, resources thrifty and timelines tricky, experimental processes are the better option. Typically, not all individuals may be well suited to experimental processes.

Outcome-process matrix   

  

As mentioned earlier, outcomes and processes constitute a matrix. Depending on whether the outcomes are potentially feasible or seemingly unworkable and whether processes are instructional or experimental, four grids get formed which influence the emotional stress or satisfaction that gets generated. The four grids are: (i) feasible outcome-instructional process, (ii) feasible outcome-experimental process, (iii) unworkable outcome-instructional process, and (iv) unworkable outcome-experimental process. Each of the combinations leads to different levels of stress and satisfaction levels. A stress-free situation occurs when outcome is considered feasible and people just follow instructions. In this situation, the stress of failure is on the lower scale. When the outcome is considered feasible but people need to experiment their way to the expected outcomes, there would be a positive stress and joy of discovery through experimentation.

When the combination is that of unworkable outcome and instructional process, there would be dissatisfaction of failed goal but there will be lack of guilt that the failure has occurred in spite of following instructions. The grid of unworkable outcome and experimental process is all the more stressful and dissatisfying due to outcome failure and guilt of failed process discovery.  This does not mean that the feasible outcome-instructional process grid is the best solution, and others lead to stress and dissatisfaction in varying degrees. In fact, the driver for industry leading growth is to be seen in terms of making the impossible possible and exploring the unexplored processes through experimentation.    

Impossible to possible

There are two simple steps to pursue the impossible to possible even when the route to achieve is completely unknown. The first step is to put in place a base case wherein an aspirational but feasible target that can be achieved in a well-planned manner is set out. The next step is to stretch the feasible to seemingly unworkable level and leave it to the team to explore their way to achievement. This enables the team to bring out their best to achieve the impossible with their ownership of processes, with the full knowledge and confidence that a backup is feasible and permissible. This approach is particularly relevant in space exploration, drug discovery, deep sea exploration, polar expeditions, and the like, where the impossible and unexplored can be pursued with the fall-back in play (space ship can be brought back after testing out the trajectory, exploration targets can be moved after the unknowns are discovered, molecules can be re-purposed after initial failures etc.,).   

Positive marginal stress and emotional ownership are critical factors that differentiate industry-leading teams from industry-average teams. Seemingly unworkable goals and hitherto unexplored pathways are well in order if the leadership understands how to inspire the team members on the discovery path. Ideally, if individuals are also hardwired to be unguided achievers of the impossible from their early educational and career days, the possibility of seeking and accomplishing the impossible becomes real in an organizational setting. Leaders in organizations, teachers in schools and colleges and parents in families have a responsibility of standing by the goal seekers in this process. The dividing line between positive stress and negative burnout on one hand and exhilaration of achieving the impossible and the disappointment of slipping from the peak on the other hand are too powerful to be left unattended.

Posted by Dr CB Rao on May 25, 2016    

Time as a Resource: Inevitable Erosion, Continuous Refill or Invisible Accumulation?

It is well recognised that in human life time is the most precious but most limited resource. From the time one is born to the time one breathes one’s last, time is the constant companion of one’s life. One ought to be conscious of this once the cognitive abilities start developing but unfortunately few accord the importance to time as one must. The importance of time in acquiring education, gaining experience, developing relationships, promoting careers, preserving health and delaying aging is well known. However, how to deploy and utilize ‘unit time’ as a resource for maximal efficiency and effectiveness tends to be a highly personal matter, varying from individual to individual and family to family. Approach to time is a core value that one imbibes based on one’s family and educational backgrounds.

It is not unusual for kids to watch their parents and siblings at work and in undertaking family responsibilities and imbibe certain values with regard to use of time. Likewise, the educational systems of the institution a person joins and the approaches of friends further supplement the approaches to time. Over time, a person develops an approach towards life  that could be ‘structured and systematic’, ‘flexible and tactical’ or ‘fatalistic and philosophical’. Depending on which of the three approaches govern a person’s view of life, his or her attitude towards time also would vary. These approaches to life are not usually static, and could vary with phases in life. Accordingly, one’s approaches to utilization of time would also vary. Though this blog post is not life approaches, some discussion on the topic would be in order.

Approaches to life and time

Structured and systematic approach to life is the ultimate planner’s and productivity expert’s trip. This person is an industrial engineering expert of sorts, knowing exactly what should be done when, how and why. Obviously, the structured and systematic person knows the value of time the best. He or she considers life as a duty to be fulfilled diligently and efficiently. Flexible and tactical approach to life depends on sizing up each activity as it emerges and responding to it accordingly based on perceptions of risk and reward for each activity and the modality/time for fulfilling it. The flexible and tactical person seeks to manage life for happiness than be managed by it as a duty. Fatalistic and philosophical approach to life follows a minimalist and mindful approach to life without exerting effort to seek more than what follows from circumstances. The fatalistic and philosophical person seeks nothing other than emotional fulfilment from life.

Typically, during the educational phase of life, a person is likely to be and expected to be structured and systematic. As one takes up a career job he starts appreciating the utility of a structured and systematic approach to life but also starts understanding the opportunistic benefits of being tactical and flexible. Somewhere during the journey, and certainly after retirement from active service, he starts giving up being in the race of life and begins to appreciate the fulfilment of being fatalistic and philosophical in life. An ideal calibration could be to see a phase-in of the three approaches as being sequential. These approaches are not mutually exclusive. A fatalistic and philosophical person may still be quite ordered and disciplined how he conducts his daily chores. As one struggles in career despite being structured or tactical, one may begin appreciating the benefits of being philosophical. It is easy to appreciate that the approach to life influences one’s approach to time.

Time erodes

Sure, time ticks away from one’s life but one can try to gain a little by trying to live longer, and by living healthier without loss of time. That said, whenever it hits, time erosion as a concept hits one like a sudden fall of a ton of bricks. People respond to this realization with a variety of emotions: from frustration and desperation on one hand to recovery and urgency on the other.  The former is counterproductive while the latter could produce certain results. Both the types of responses lead to needless stress, and if encountered continuously accelerate aging of individuals. That time dissolves is a truism. However, if we fail to make good use of time, negative emotions and stress are not the solutions. Improved learning and enhanced productivity are the better solutions.  

Learning requires additional time even as the pressure of lost time mounts. That is where time management as a concept comes up. By decluttering activities, listing the uncluttered ones, prioritising them, and even delisting the low priority, non-value adding ones, one would be able to release more time in a day than lost. Time thus released can be utilized to learn and carry out things more productively. Structured and systematic people, even when disrupted by flexible and tactical approaches, can overcome erosion of time with the above approach. There is, however, a more meaningful approach to understand the true value of time, as an eternal clock. Life may freeze but time shall never freeze. Therein lies a great awakening.

Time as continuous refill

We know the sand filled hourglass as the classic depiction, and when well engineered a classic measurement, of time. While time for an individual may be limited time as an absolute resource is indeed timeless. The way to look at time is not to get exercised that time is getting lost but also to be excited that time is getting continuously refilled. In fact, compared to any other resource time is the only resource that gets continuously refilled. For example, when we expend money it will not be automatically recouped unless specifically earned. On the other hand, even if we expend time, we can be sure that the next unit of time will be available to be utilized. Time is therefore a continuous refill to be positive and optimistic about. If we are unable to perform certain activity in a given period of time, it can be performed soon after.

The concept of time as continuous refill is not meant to cause complacency. In fact, it is worthwhile for all of us to keep time logs to keep an account of time we spend on different activities such as priority activities or vital-essential-desirable activities, and if the time has been spent productively or wastefully. By linking the time log to results in terms of happiness and satisfaction we could become even better on linking time to our emotional wellbeing. This exercise is an individual choice as each one’s goals, schedules and approaches vary. Many people in work life believe that busyness makes good business. Research has established that doing nothing and concentrating mind on serene matters has helped improve productivity. The greatest support for this approach comes from the fact that the moment a rejuvenated person is ready to take on work again, time will be at hand.

Invisible accumulation

Whether one is productively work focused or meditatively leisure focused, time ticks by alright but something invisibly accumulates. That accumulation takes place in three categories; experience, wisdom and stature. Experience helps one manage time effectively along with other resources. Experience helps one to come up with the right recipe for mixing resources in a time effective manner for desired results. Wisdom helps one identify whether certain endeavours are worth the while at all or those facing neglect are the ones that need to be picked up right away. Experience and wisdom together help a person in accomplishment of results in a more effective manner than others could. Series of such accomplishments based on experience and wisdom lead to stature. Stature again is not something that can be metricised; it is also an invisible accumulation that can be only felt by others.

Invisible accumulation of experience, wisdom and stature ideally must remain invisible. It is a completely personal achievement that is related to one’s approaches to life and time as discussed so far. Any public display by one on what he perceives as his wisdom and stature would only erode those invisible assets. There is reference in Hindu mythology to mystic powers that are developed based on continuous prayers and penances which must be utilized, if at all, for good causes in a discrete manner. Utilization on inappropriate matters and boastful references to such powers are said to lead to dramatic dilution of such powers. Invisibly accumulated experience, wisdom and stature are akin to this. Interestingly, those who are experienced, wise and statured realize the importance of time, and its judicious use in vesting them with such invisible accumulation.

Kala chakra

As understood so far, a typical accomplished person used to reach his or her full wisdom and stature in his or her sixties, and thereupon lose it progressively as he or she falters with age. If one were to see this evolution as wisdom and stature travelling with time, the apogee is reached after six or more decades but thereafter when it gets down to the final low varies with individual, given (a) the low and uncertain longevity, and (b) the differences in longevity. However, with increased longevity of human race, the journey from apogee to low point can no longer be taken as an inconsequential, immaterial and natural decline. On the other hand, with increasing longevity, there is an increasing need to preserve, if not enhance, the invisible accumulation.  

As the human race moves forward on better physical health (with more advanced healthcare and nutrition), the need for better emotional health becomes self-evident. The approaches to life and time discussed in this blog post, structured and systematic, flexible and tactical, fatalistic and philosophical continue to be relevant over a much longer time horizon, beyond the sixties. The need to think of time more as a refilling rather than eroding resource is more important than ever. The need to continue to nurture the invisible accumulation of experience, wisdom and stature is also self-evident. The wheel of time, which starts from the first breath will keep spinning till the last breath of a human. It is entirely up to him or her to govern the speed to apogee and thereafter!

Posted by Dr CB Rao on May 21, 2016

Testing and Homologation: ‘Make or Break’ for Firms

Recent news reports suggest that certain Indian cars have failed to comply with the standards of crash test conducted by Global Car National Car Assessment Programme (GNCAP). On top of that, there have been news reports stating that Japanese car manufacturer, Suzuki, found discrepancies in its fuel and emissions testing but denied any cheating. Suzuki said that its testing method did not comply with Japanese regulations but the results are not materially impacted. About a month ago, Mitsubishi of Japan admitted that it had been manipulating fuel economy record of its automobile models for several years, a news which caused a serious erosion of its market capitalization. Only a few days ago, Nissan of Nissan-Renault alliance announced a 34 percent strategic stake in Mitsubishi to stabilize the company. These follow the infamous Volkswagen emission scandal that came to light in February 2015 involving tampering with of software code of engines fitted on millions of cars to show the vehicles to be in compliance of regulatory standards. A few other manufacturers are reportedly involved in such errors, discrepancies or manipulations.

These high visibility cover-ups pertaining to product quality come on top of several recalls that have been prominent in the automobile industry, covering both vehicle manufacturers (GM, Toyota, Honda etc.,) and component makers (Firestone, Takata etc.,). Nor is this a new trend. A review of available literature reveals that automotive manufacturers including the Big 3 of USA and other European makers were beset by problems of quality and non-compliance since the 1940s. India had its own incident when Standard Motor had to close shop in late 1980s as a result of alleged violation of fuel efficiency norms and concessional customs duties. Most of the issues pertain to fuel economy and safety. Flouting of governmental regulations is by no means confined only to automobile industry. Nestle has been in the eye of a perfect storm in India in 2015 because of alleged non-compliance of its lead product, Maggie, with label claim. These incidents which make or mar not merely reputation but even the very existence of a company bring out the importance of testing and homologation in industries.

Testing and homologation

Testing is the process of evaluating a product, system or their components with the intent to find out whether they satisfy the prescribed specifications or not. Testing is an integral part of an overall quality system which comprises a series of policies and procedures to identify compliance to specifications, identify gaps and potentially suggest measures to remediate and improve. Testing is just not an internal commercialization requirement for a company. It is required for homologation, usually of an end-product. Homologation is the official confirmation and approval by the regulatory authorities of a country that the product meets the prescribed regulations and laws besides the company’s own specifications and claims. Every nation tends to have its regulatory agencies, rules and procedures and testing agencies. A manufacturer based in India and marketing in India must necessarily meet Indian regulations. The manufacturer must also meet testing and regulatory protocols of all the nations to which its products are exported.

In addition to the above, in case technology is imported, the standards of the country supplying technology need to be followed. In certain cases, certain desirable global standards need to be met voluntarily for establishing product and brand equity. In today’s globalized and networked production system, fine-tuning design and manufacturing to meet the requirements of multiple nations is a critical requirement. The requirements of testing and homologation vary across industries. They are most complex and long drawn in the pharmaceutical industry relative to any other industry. Regulators in pharmaceuticals, especially of US, EU and Japan, focus on development and manufacturing controls through physical inspections as much as product approvals based on exhibit batches and dossier reviews. In other industries product certifications are all that are required. That said, given the critical importance of testing and homologation, and emergence of testing and regulatory agencies in various countries, companies must evolve new approaches to the domain. Some suggestions are made below.

Six principles for effectiveness in testing and homologation

In most companies, regulatory affairs, new product testing and homologation are parts of R&D setup, mainly because of the developmental nature of these activities, and the impact these three departments have on specification and product development, and vice versa. That said, there should be strong interface between mainstream functions such as manufacturing, sales and service with these three different departments to ensure that results are interpreted in terms of actual site manufacturing and field usage conditions. This collaboration needs to be more than just baton passing but must be more in the nature of collaborative hand-holding, while challenging the proceedings and providing solutions, based on every perspective. Six principles for assuring effectiveness and integrity in testing and homologation are discussed below.

Developmental quality assurance

While quality is generally considered paramount in companies, quality is not fully understood and executed well in an R&D context. This paradox arises from the fact that most of the R&D work is experimental and developmental, and not standardised and repetitive, in nature. The paradox can be resolved through developmental quality assurance (DQA) which understands the specific uniqueness of R&D but imposes the rigour of quality on development and testing. To ensure that testing and homologation absorbs the full rigour of mainstream quality function, DQA professionals must be from mainstream quality function but with an exposure to uniqueness of R&D. The focus needs to be on calibration of equipment, prescription of standard testing procedures, cross-calibration of equipment, processes and conditions encountered internal simulators, external simulators and actual running conditions.

Concurrent quality management

The developments with the automakers indicate the need for concurrent quality management as a concept that is as important as concurrent engineering. Just as quality cannot be inspected but needs to be produced, it also has to be an integral part of design to delivery process, from specification setting to homologation. This requires that the focus of concurrent engineering must change from current ‘first to market’ to ‘right and first to market’. Most designs involve incremental changes, with an eye on performance improvement or cost reduction. Some of the best practices of change management such as justifying a change and making an exception report when it fails to meet up to the expectations would help in ensuring concurrent quality management.

Global product development

Many of homologation issues are both a corollary and a fallout of globalization imperatives. Globalization enables customization of products to meet different markets but it also carries certain risks when cross-platforms are used across countries. An evolved global product development system which designs products for the minimal and maximal conditions of testing and performance, globally relevant, ensures that such products are backed by globally sustainable product platforms. These could relate to meeting more stringent crash tests, using less evolved fuels, more punishing road conditions, and so on. Global product development will also require a very strong global regulatory department which is well-versed in the operating conditions, and homologation requirements of different countries.

Software as hard-stop

Today’s products, especially the automotive products, incorporate more software than at any time. This trend is only likely to increase in future. As the examples quoted in the early part of this post demonstrate, software is one aid for manipulation too. It is important to develop not only bug-free and hack-proof software to ensure safety and privacy of automobiles and their users but also make it traceable and manipulation-proof. CXOs in charge of R&D and product development must integrate software development and error-proofing, including artificial intelligence, sensor technologies and robotics as part of R&D tool kit.

Quality as board audit function

Importantly, there is a need to make quality as an important responsibility of the functioning of the board of directors of a company. All boards today have audit committees to review finances and financial governance as also monitor internal controls in a company. Keeping mala fide intentions aside, financial outcomes are nothing but a resultant of operational integrity. Quality is the sentinel of operational integrity. The link between quality and integrity is thus evident. It is, therefore, important that the boards take upon themselves review of quality as an essential board responsibility. Product testing and homologation processes in global diversification strategies must logically merit attention in quality-centric board functioning.  

Organizational positioning

The above discussion brings out the importance of testing and homologation in making or breaking the reputation of a company. As Volkswagen episode demonstrates, slippages in this vital domain can put paid to global leadership ambitions of a company. And, Mitsubishi episode demonstrates that the very survival and ownership of a company could be at stake. There is every reason, therefore, to bring testing and homologation, from the current side play in R&D departments to the forefront of cross-functional commercialization of new products.

This requires that testing and homologation is treated as a high technology endeavour and not as a tail end activity of R&D. This also requires that this function is positioned with the brightest technical talent which is also exposed to requirements of different countries, and is taken up as a key delivery by the chief technology officer of a company. Integrity and competence in testing and homologation is akin to the role of safety in operations. Its effective presence is the greatest insurance for success and sustainability of both performance and reputation of companies.

Posted by Dr CB Rao on May 19, 2016

     

Continuing Education for Employees: Consistent Strength for Organizations

Two things never stand still in life; the first, of course, is time, and the second, less recognized, is knowledge. Knowledge gained through education is the prime ticket for career entry. Thereafter, consummate application of such formal knowledge as well as experiential knowledge gained in one’s career is the key to further progress in career. Industrial and business organizations are paradoxical. At one level, they are at the leading edge of technology. At another level, they tend to stagnate at past levels of knowledge, which is attributed mainly to employees being engaged in repetitive jobs and not being challenged to be at contemporary standards of knowledge.  A study of different companies reveals that those companies which invest in continuing education for their employees tend to be more competitive.

Continuing education even in the best of companies is a misnomer. Usually, it is limited to providing “canned programmes” to a proportion of employees, “allowing” a few employees to pursue formal part-time degree or higher degree programmes, and “sponsoring” even fewer to executive development programmes. Some companies eschew all of these on the basis that there is no substitute for on-the-job-training on a continuing basis. These policies cause a stagnation of skill levels and lead to competitive decline. In some cases, companies which are impacted by competitive decline engage external consultants at an aggressive pace and at great costs to reinvent themselves. In contrast to such uncoordinated efforts, it would be more appropriate to embed continuous learning in organisational culture, with emphasis on contemporaneity and quality rather than just coverage.

Shared responsibility

Continuing education is a shared responsibility of both the company and employees. While the company has a lead responsibility in articulating that it places a premium on knowledge, and following it up with a learning environment, employees also need to consider continuing education as their responsibility too. In fact, continuing education is a very useful platform to align the career possibilities that a company can offer and the career expectations that an employee has. Continuing education helps in that it could derive greater competitiveness through skilled-up employees and be in a position to offer them better opportunities.  For employees it is an opportunity to offer a superior or different value proposition to the company and seek career progression in the same or different track.

The extent to which responsibility for continuing education is felt by company and employees varies based on the business context. Start-ups by definition are innovative and, where required, learn by experimentation; they are likely to have little penchant for continuing education. Growing firms evidently are competitive and successful but also cost conscious; they are likely to adopt a need based approach for continuing education. Mature firms are engaged in defensive strategies and are likely to be open to a skill based approach for continuing education. Declining firms are engaged in survival strategies and are likely to have little time for continuing education. While employees may like to prefer a degree or skill based approach, the company context determines their approach.

Multiple approaches

Companies could adopt one of the three approaches in fulfilling their share of responsibility. The first is a ‘qualification gap’ based approach. In this approach, the company determines an optimal qualification for each role (as contrasted with minimal qualification required for entry) and encourages acquisition of degrees or certifications/accreditations for bridging the gap. The second is a ‘competitiveness gap’ based approach. In this approach, the company maps people competencies to company’s competitiveness and does whatever is required to make the company competitive. The third is an ‘industry leadership’ approach. In this approach, the company believes in a heady mix of superlative qualifications and competitive competencies for a differentiated performance. While most companies would follow the first or second approach, top ranking consulting firms, law firms and investment banking firms appear to be following the third approach.

Employees’ approach to continuing education, by and large, depends on the nature of the company. A technology and research intensive industry will require skills that are typically offered in leading educational institutions. Skills required for other industries may be more easily sourced in the general marketplace. Regardless, in general the approach tends to favour the acquisition of higher formal degrees. Whether employees do it through part time education or by taking a break depends on personal circumstances, company environment as well as career shift that is desired. Research indicates that employees do not consider in-house training as being supportive of career aspirations; they also consider external short term courses as little more than of marginal support for either on the job performance or career shift.

Education as mind-set

The primary objective of industries and businesses is to provide products and services, and not to educate. Similarly the primary objective of industrial and business employees is to put their knowledge to use. To conceive, therefore, of a situation where industries and businesses as well as employees focus only on education is somewhat impractical. However, the need for continuing education as brought out above is critical. The blog post suggests a few mind-set approaches to accomplish the objectives.

Continuous as lifelong

The first is to consider continuous as really meaning lifelong. As a concept, continuous education has lesser emotional connectivity to an individual than lifelong education. Once an individual gets into a mind-set that education is a lifelong, value adding process, he or she will surely develop ownership. Similarly, it focusses to the company that the continuous education initiative would need to be a part of life skill development of an employee. The concept of ‘lifelong’ is humbling as well as futuristic, for both employees and companies.  

Company as campus

Companies take many structural approaches to supporting their versions of continuing education. These include setting up their own in-house technical training centres with pilot equipment for on-hands training and management development centres for development of executive and managerial skills. These, however, tend to be just a part of the company infrastructure and figure more as slots in training calendar. The compelling proposition, on the other hand, is to consider the company as a campus wherein every piece of equipment, every bit of procedure and every interaction with a person provides learning opportunities.  

Individual as learner

While the company has a lead responsibility to provide a learning ecosystem, it is for and up to the individual to mould himself or herself as a perpetual learner. Being a learner does not make one a novice; only the insecure would feel that way. Being a learner and asking questions should never be seen as infra dig by employees or management. Wise scientists learn from every reaction of an experiment, wise operators from every rhythm of their equipment, and wise executives learn from every interaction they have in the company.

Learning processes

When we think of learning processes, things like classrooms, flip boards, audio-visuals, presentations, course materials etc., come to mind usually. Some think of off-site events and programmes as great learning opportunities. However, all these are at best accessories and aids to the learning processes. The real learning, that too perpetual learning, happens through the following personal approaches.

Listen, observe, absorb

In keeping with the prime responsibility on the individual to learn, the prime responsibility for learning approach also shall be that of the individual. It is fairly simple too. For a perfect learning process, the individual must listen intently, observe closely and absorb earnestly. These processes must take place in all interactions, peer to peer or boss to subordinate. In several cases, there could be learning opportunities from the younger reporting staff too. Learning environment is usually an expressive and empowering environment.

Follow, emulate, excel

The objective of learning is to excel in performance. This is usually preceded by two fundamental stages of following and emulating. Following is the process of merely implementing the learnings as absorbed. It is task oriented learning, putting into effect the ‘know-how’ learnt. Emulation is the process of thinking and acting like the person providing learning inputs; it is mastery of both ‘know-how’ and ‘know-why’. Excelling is the process of creative thinking and execution based on the learnings imparted/ received. Excelling is the result of empowered learning.    

    

Teach, share, coach

Everyone has a responsibility to disseminate learnings as much as they absorb. This again occurs through a three stage process. Most people who are well-versed in their art tend to teach. Those who teach prepare their learners only for ‘know-how’. A few others not only teach but also share their thinking around the subject matter of interest. Such people help the learners absorb both the ‘know-how’ and ‘know-why’. A few go beyond both the stages and truly coach the learners overcome their issues and limitations, and become what they can truly become.

The winning twelve

This blog post has reviewed the ticker of continuing education that most organizations would like to carry, and proposed that it should be considered more as lifelong education. It has reviewed current shared responsibilities between a company and its employees, and noted that while a company has the lead responsibility to create a learning ecosystem the prime responsibility for learning must be that of an individual. It has considered the multiple approaches currently adopted and postulated that they serve to accessorize rather than elevate continuing education as a lifelong journey.

The blog post proposed twelve elements of a lifelong learning journey. On one plane is a true learning platform that embeds the concept of lifelong learning, with perpetually learning individuals considering the entire company as their learning campus. It also proposes an easy and feasible multi-step process to learn through listening, observing and absorbing to be able to follow, emulate and eventually excel. It legislates that those with superior knowledge must endeavour to teach, share and coach all the time. Lifelong learning is a humbling feeling and a rewarding experience. It is a win-win for both employees and organizations.

Posted by Dr CB Rao on May 18, 2016