In the above diagram,x axis represents the ability of  an employee, while the y axis reperesents his willingness to work, or the attitude in short. The four quadrants represent the four type of workers found in various organisations.A manager's job is to find who lies where, and then take appropriate action.We start with quadrant 1(red colour) and then go clockwise from 2 to 4.

• People who are low on ability, and low on willingness to work are generally the result of faulty selection procedures. They should be shown the door at the earliest,as investing in them will lead to waste of organisational resources. They are also a big drag and demotivator for the star performers in the green quadrant.

• People who are high on  both the attributes are an organisation's star performers. These people are driven more by their personal self than by the organisation self.This only means that they work for professional pride.They have  a high degree of need for achievement, and are constantly looking for targets that are challenging.Not  acheiving the targets make them frustrated ,and therefore they try their guts out to get it right the very first time. It is difficult for these people to work in  a bureaucratic organisation, as they like independence and blossom the best in  such environs.The implications for the organisation are that the manager should provide them opportunities to acheive and secondly, value extraction from them should be shortened as they are not likely to stay in one place for long.

• People who are high on ability and low on willingness are the ones that are most difficult to handle. If a manager is able to engage them meaningfully ,by providing a direction and purpose , they can be then moved to the green quadrant.They are those people around you who are seen as the problem mongers.You need to be diplomatic with these guys.Be a coach and counsellor to these people and play the developmental role that the organisation demands of you.

• In our second quadrant are the people who are low on ability and high on willingnss.They are highly energetic and enthusiastic. Since it is relatively easy to teach a skill ,but difficult to change an attitude, it is quite easy to train them so that they move to the green quadrant.

So the bottom line  is to first identify the quadrant in which the employee belongs, and then take appropriate action. You will do a great service to your organisation, if you follow these guidelines.

The Company that We Keep

Do I need to say anything at all?China is conspicuous by its absence...and we have the gall to match them in the amount of firepower!

Creativity and Innovation

It is easy to be creative ,but extremely difficult to be innovative.Is there a difference between the two? Well, there is ,and a good one at that. Creative people are the ones who throw up ideas , but who do no have the energy and the passion to follow through. They are typically the 'consultants' kind. On the other hand, innovators are those who take the idea forward to its fruition. They are the ones who really get down to the brass tacks.Creativity is thinking new things, while innovation is doing new things. And there is hell lot of difference between the two.If you observe people around you, you will find that there is no dearth of creative people. These are the people who have ideas on changing the status quo...but what organisations lack are the people who have it in them to get down to the nuts and bolts of the issue.There are three things that are necessary in a manager. He should know the following

What to change?
What to change to?
How to change?
So the next time someone is trying to give you Gyan,ask him to take up the mantle if he really means business, or else politely tell him to shut up.

Jet Imbroglio -Union vs Association

As per Section 2 (s) .- of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947.- "workman" means any person (including an apprentice) employed in any industry to do any manual, unskilled, skilled, technical, operational, clerical or supervisory work for hire or reward, whether the terms of employment be express or implied, and for the purposes of any proceeding under this Act in relation to an industrial dispute, includes any such person who has been dismissed, discharged or retrenched in connection with, or as a consequence of, that dispute, or whose dismissal, discharge or retrenchment has led to that dispute, but does not include any such person

(i) who is subject to the Air Force Act, 1950 (45 of 1950), or the Army Act, 1950 (46 of 1950), or the Navy Act, 1957 (62 of 1957); or

(ii) who is employed in the police service or as an officer or other employee of a prison; or

(iii) who is employed mainly in a managerial or administrative capacity; or

(iv) who, being employed in a supervisory capacity, draws wages exceeding one thousand six hundred rupees per month or exercises, either by the nature of the duties attached to the office or by reason of the powers vested in him, functions mainly of a managerial nature.

My View

Going purely by the above definition, civil pilots do skilled manual labour, and are not employed mainly in a managerial or administarative capacity. Their decisions ,barring those related to actual performance of manual labour ie flying, do not impact the wider organisation.Therefore it is clear that they are entitld to form a union which is a right granted to workmen. On the other hand employees who are working in an administative/ managerial capacity as officers can only form an association.Since the pilots do not fall in this category, I do not know why they should not be allowed to form a union, and thus have more rights under the ID Act. But on the flip side they will have to settle for the title of 'workmen' and not 'officers', pay and perks notwithstanding, as these are purely a function of the demand-supply gap in the present context.