Managing Indian bosses
There are always two rules, when it comes to managing bosses. The first rule says that the boss is always right. The second rule says that if you have any doubt, you must refer to rule number one!!!!
While these rules may be very universal in nature, in Indian conditions, they are the perfect recipes for success.
Let me explain.
Bosses are also human beings who belong to the wider society. In as much as this is true of Indian bosses, as much as it is true of any other category of boss anywhere else, it is particularly true that Indian bosses have a huge behavioral trait of insecurity that is part of their psyche.
This is exactly why bosses behave the way they do. They will cultivate any number of chamchas who will simply obey whatever they will say or order to do. In fact, these chamchas also have some very dangerous habits, which will be discussed in the next few paragraphs.
The chamchas of the bosses are very dangerous people. They will stoop to any level to butter the bosses, and get their own things done.
Sometimes such chamchagiri, as it is called in Hindi, goes to ridiculous levels. For instance, if some relative of the chamcha is an expert in astrology, and the boss has a weakness for astrology, the chamcha exploits this to the maximum extent, and gets things done. Out-of-turn transfers to safe departments, useless "on duty trips, and even sanctioning of overtime is done by the bosses.
What can one do in such a situation? Very simple. The first alternative is to keep a big distance from such people, and continue to do the best that one can do. Of course, there will be any number of frustrating moments when those who are merely chamchas are rewarded. One has to just ignore them and the situations they create and move on.
Professionals are always respected by many organizations. There are any number of instances where such professionals will get noticed and no matter what happens, they continue to shine. So, the aligned work that needs to be done is to pick up whatever professional expertise is possible in the given context and move on. However, a wise strategy will be to give the boss some minimum respect but never stoop down to the level of the chamchas who always look for opportunities to put down people with some respect or talent or expertise.
The best way in which one can overcome such situations by cultivating some good relationships with bosses of aligned departments. For example, if one were to work in the HR Department, there will be huge interface with the accounts and finance departments. Once the work of the individual gets noticed, there will be several people who will not hesitate to appreciate the good work of the individual in some context or the other.
However, the professional has a big choice: he or she can simple transititon to a better organization where the only consideration that matters is merit. For instance, Marico Industries, Mumbai is reputed to be a very professionally managed organization, even though it is a family managed organization.
What happens if the boss is very good and nice, and does offer a good number of opportunities to develop himself or herself? The universal answer is that he or she should go all out to make maximum use of such opportunities, but more importantly, create situations where things become very easy for the boss. This will help the boss to get himself or herself free from routine tasks and concentrate more on the strategic ones. For example, there is always a huge amount of data that needs to be organized for the boss's attention, if one is working in Marketing. The data may pertain to competitor moves, new products, feedback from existing customers, specific customer complaints and so on. Once the data is presented to the boss, the much larger and more important decisions can easily be made.
For instance, it is quite easy to understand why FMCG companies target the middle class. However, if a shrewd competitor targets the lower middle class and comes with a very innovative and value for money product, it should bother all the companies in the existing market. For, there is every chance that the existing customers may prefer to buy the cheapter substitute, since it is seen as a good value for money spent. The vital data will help the Management come out with counter strategies to face the challenge of the new product.
There are bosses who are neither here or there. These are the "blow hot, blow cold" bosses. They would venture out to be very kind and considerate one particular moment, but would go full blast the very next moment. Their behavior is largely ego driven, and there will be a number of situations when they would expect to be praised by someone. In the Indian context, it does pay to butter these bosses to a limited extent, and praise them, but bring to their notice the good work done, anyway. This will help the individual to have a good number of opportunties to develop, and take on the challenge of the unknown.
As regards autocratic bosses, the only strategy that will work, is to make the boss understand one's merit, when the opportunity arises. Even the worst of autocratic bosses get to smile a bit, when the situation is light and informal. During such occasions, it does pay to establish a personal contact with the boss and explain the good work done.
The democratic and team-work oriented bosses are the best, as they create situations where individual merit is recognized, but where team work is also encouraged and rewarded. It does pay to not ony do one's work, but also chip in with some effort to get the work of other's done. In situations where some personal work gets the colleague entangled in some problem, and he or she is unable to attend the regular work, if the individual chips in and gets the overall work, the boss immediately sits up and notices it.
Hence, managing the bosses in the Indian context, would depend much on the situation. A whole deal of tact and patience is required to be successful in this art.
Indian bosses have particular characteristics. Those from South India, for example, are more religious minded and do not have much of a social life. Those from the North of India, for the most part, do enjoy night life and like boozing. Having the ability to navigate situations outside work, and engage such bosses is also very important. It is not wise to simply shy away from the non-worklife of such bosses.
Another aspect that requires serious consideration is developing personal relationships. Many bosses do like to develop personal realtionships with their subordinates in Indian conditions. They go all out to develop such relationships, with members of the family, and visit the houses of their subordinates. If this is the case, there is no harm in reaponding very warmly and doing all that is possible to nurture such relationships. It does pay to encourage such bosses to even develop such relationships. However, most of such bosses draw a big line in keep the personal relationships and the official tasks as two different entities. This is exactly how it should heppen as well.
Thus, the personal relationship angle and the after work-life time spent with Indian bosses are important in Indian conditions.
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