Lessons in Management by a Monkey – 9
Lessons in Management by a Monkey – 9
24TuesdayMar 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
I had been roaming around the mofussil areas visiting the telecom towers and the day had been very hectic , so I finally drove into the forest rest house for my stay deep in the jungles in the foothills of the Himalayas. I loved to hear the croaking of the frogs in the night and the different animals barking. I surely felt more connected to nature and my inner self when I was cut off from the hustle and bustle of the city life. However my connection to the inner self was abruptly disconnected when I found a group of monkeys screeching outside my window. Luckily, the windows had a wire mesh to prevent mosquitoes and wild animals from coming inside.
The next day was a Sunday and I went to sleep with a relaxed mind and woke up to the wonderful chirping of birds and saw a beautiful peacock outside.
Suddenly, I saw a troop of monkeys who descended on the mango tree in the front lawns. The monkeys ripped apart the fruits which were in various stages of being ripened. The monkeys threw down a lot of mangoes which were not upto their taste and left me shocked at their careless attitude.
A phone call from my boss diverted my mind immediately as I had to investigate a site which had been burned down and a serious accident had occurred there. I immediately summoned the driver and set out for the site which was approximately ten kilometers away. My boss was on the phone and asked me to send him the photographs immediately and also the investigative report as to what and most importantly who caused the accident.
Anyway , I took a few photographs with my phone and emailed the same to my boss immediately and thereafter joined the investigation team of retired police officers who went around taking the statements of all the people involved with the functioning of the site.
The investigations revealed that there was some sort of “Jugaad” – a colloquial word that means an innovative fix or simple work – around , used for solutions that bend rules. The local innovation had misfired and in trying to be too greedy the Hen which laid golden eggs had been ripped apart , resulting in the accident.
This was a very difficult investigation report which went to the Board of Directors and had to be authentic and at the same time protect the bosses for everyone had done their jobs very deligently. I went back to the forest rest house after collecting all the reports from my investigative team as I had the herculean task of making a final one page report in a clear and concise manner.
To give clarity to my mind I sat down in the verendah of the rest house sipping tea as I felt it would wake up my senses and help feel the situation clearly. As I sat there quietly , I watched the monkeys ; the most successful primate species of our planet who lived with strong dominance hierarchies competing for social status and power with ruthless agression, neopotism and complex political alliances. The less powerful members of the group were marginalized and forced to live on the edges of the group’s areas, where they were vulnerable to predator attacks. There was a lot of scapegoating at the lower end of the hierarcy , a Machiavellian strategy that a mid ranking monkey could use under attack from a higher ranking one.
Suddenly I realized that even our organizational hierarchy had a similar social structure as we were highly sophisticated monkeys who shared almost ninty percent of our DNA with the monkeys.
The whole investigative report fell in place and for a change I wrote a beautiful report which was highly appreciated by the Board of Directors , as I pointed out that due to technical errors and faulty equipment the accident had occurred and probably the equipment was not acclamatized to the harsh Indian climatic conditions.
My friends , the lesson learned from the monkeys is that it is the most playful, ingenious and intelligent animal, which is clever and dexterous to instinctively change the situation and therefore has managed to survive comfortably in the evolutionary game. In fact a lot can be learnt from the monkeys by observing their social behaviour closely.
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