The writing of Vikram Karve. Book Reviews of books which I liked, my creative writing, fiction short stories, musings and some foodie writing on good food and cuisine, articles on management and philosophy.
Agar Aap Shanti Chahate Ho To Pehele Shaant Rehena Seekho
अगर आप शांति चाहते हो तो पहेले शांत रहेना सीखो
WORDS ON A BENCH IN MUSSOORIE
By
VIKRAM KARVE
Long back, maybe almost fifteen years ago, I visited Mussoorie and during one of my long walks, probably on Camel’s Back Road or maybe near Lal Tibba in Landour, I saw some words inscribed on a bench, a truism that has had a profound impact on me ever since.
I will never forget those interesting words written in Hindi on a bench in Mussoorie:
अगरआपशांतिचाहतेहोतोपहेलेशांतरहेनासीखो
Agar Aap Shanti Chahate Ho To Pehele Shaant Rehena Seekho
Roughly translated this means:
IF YOU DESIRE PEACE THEN FIRST LEARN TO REMAIN PEACEFUL
Of course the word शांत(shaant) also means SILENT – yes, SILENCE is the sine qua non for Peacefulness.
There is too much “noise” in our lives – Physical Noise, Information Overload Noise, Emotional Noise – internal noise and external noise – noise around you and noise within you – all sorts of noise. Noise hassles you and is the biggest impediment to attaining peacefulness. The first step to inner peace is to get rid of all that noise around you and within you. Go to a quiet place where there is minimal external noise, switch off your noise-making gadgets like cellphones, TV etc. Sit silently in solitude, close your eyes and see how your inner silence dissolves the noise within you and you will experience inner peace and you will be in harmony with yourself.
That’s what I did this morning. I sat in silence in the spacious airy balcony of my ninth floor flat in Wakad, absorbed the tranquil scenic view of the placid waters of the Mula River quietly flowing below, the peaceful verdant hills in the distance, the still atmosphere, the pure fresh air, and I felt a halo of soothing serenity permeate me. Then I closed my eyes and let my silence dissolve the internal noise in my mind and body and now I am experiencing inner peace and I am in harmony with myself.
अगरआपशांतिचाहतेहोतोपहेलेशांतरहेनासीखो
If you want peace then first learn to remain peaceful
Remember it. Try it. It works. You can take my word for it.
Implementation is the phase between a decision and its realization.
Implementation may be placed in a continuum in which interaction takes place between those who seek objective and those on whom action depends.
The importance of implementation is undeniable because it is a struggle over the realization of ideas.
Effective implementation overcomes the gaps between intention and promise, aspirations, achievement and performance, and prescription and reality. Implementation comprises the ability to achieve specified ends by chosen means.
The time factor is critical in the implementation phase of a project.
Contingencies characterize implementation in several ways hence interactive and dynamic elements are vital to implementation management in order to forge links in the causal chain connecting actions to objectives with a view to minimizing the discrepancy between what actually occurs and what was envisaged.
Implementation is not self-executing.
Implementation is not a process that follows automatically once a program has been formulated.
Implementation requires the presence of an action-forcing mechanism.
Implementation is a control task; hence, it needs to be dynamic, flexible and adaptable to changing situations.
Breakdowns of implementation represent fundamental failures to translate meaningful ideas into effective action.
Despite taking initiatives and using rational methods, on many occasions implementation is swamped by constant pressures of unpredictable problems and crises.
It is important to distinguish between non-implementation and unsuccessful implementation.
In the case of non-implementation, the program is not put into effect as intended.
Unsuccessful implementation, on the other hand, occurs when a program is carried out, but fails to produce the desired results.
Implementation seems vulnerable to the domino effect in that when the initial phase is troubled the implementation failure tends to transmit itself to later phases.
Once implementation dynamics are set in motion, they become vulnerable to adverse or diversionary forces which pull them away from their original design. Hence, a cogent implementation schedule and specific techniques are necessary to move from the realm of intention to the ambit of reality.
Force Field Analysis, a technique developed by Lewin, is useful in designing and executing the implementation process.
Force Field Analysis is a technique for systematically reviewing the elements working for and against a proposed course of action. It assumes that in any situation there are both driving forces and restraining forces that influence implementation.
Driving Forces are those forces that facilitate implementation.
Restraining Forces impede the implementation process – they tend to restrain, dissipate, decrease or negate the Driving Forces.
For successful implementation it is essential to push on and overpower or immobilize the restraining forces, or try to transform the restraining forces into driving forces.
From the Human Resource (HR) perspective the Driving Forces include Participants [people who recognize their responsibility in the success of implementation], Movers [people who remove obstacles to implementation when they encounter them] and Shakers [people who recognize an opportunity and will make implementation happen] and the Restraining Forces may comprise Spectators [people not interested in implementation], Protectors [of Status Quo], Doubters [of the way the implementation is being done], Worriers [who are afraid of failure] and Switchers [people who abdicate and “delegate” their implementation responsibility].
Before embarking on implementation you must determine the driving forces and restraining forces and formulate a strategy to tackle them; if you rush into implementation without proper analysis, you may get frustrated and not know why.
VIKRAM KARVE educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale, and Bishop's School Pune, is an Electronics and Communications Engineer by profession, a Human Resource Manager and Trainer by occupation, a Teacher by vocation, a Creative Writer by inclination and a Foodie by passion. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles in magazines and journals for many years before the advent of blogging. His delicious foodie blogs have been compiled in a book "Appetite for a Stroll". A collection of his short stories about relationships titled COCKTAIL is being published soon and Vikram is currently busy writing his first novel and with teaching and training assignments. Vikram lives in Pune with his family and his muse – his pet Doberman girl Sherry, with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.
Here are a few Mulla Nasrudin Stories to cheer you up:
Strolling on a beach, Mulla Nasrudin noticed some fishermen huddled lighting a fire near a wooden boat, and curious, he asked them what it was for.
“We are melting tar,” said a fisherman.
“Tar?” Nasrudin asked confused.
“Yes, we are making tar to cover the cracks in the underside of the boat. This reduces the friction and makes the vessels go faster.”
Nasrudin rushed straight home and made a bonfire.
Then he tied up his lazy donkey and melted some tar in a pan.
As soon as he brought the smoking tar close to the underside of the donkey and began applying the molten red hot liquid to the donkey’s stomach, the terrified donkey broke loose, ran like the wind and disappeared over the horizon at top speed.
Truly amazed at what he saw Mulla Nasrudin exclaimed: “It works all right...!”
He had never seen his lazy and lethargic donkey run so fast before.
Nasrudin’s donkey did not return for many days.
An anxious Nasrudin repeatedly kept asking every one he met whether they had seen his donkey.
Fed up with him, they told him to ask the town's ‘wise man’ who knew the answers to all the questions.
“Nasrudin,” the wise man said, “your donkey has run off, turned into a man and has been appointed magistrate in the next town.
Thanking the wise manfor the information, Mull Nasrudin trudged to the neigbouring town and entered the courtroom.
There sat the magistrate, and Nasrudin shook his fist angrily at him : “Come home at once, you foolish animal!”
The magistrate was furious : “Who are you and how dare you talk to me like that...? I’ll have you arrested and sent to jail...!”
“I am the well-known Mulla Nasrudin of the neighbouring town and you are my donkey...!”
"Who told you that...?" the magistrate asked.
"The wise man in my town told me..." Nasrudin answered.
“That’s ridiculous. Are you mad...? Do I look like a donkey...?” the incredulous magistrate asked Nasrudin.
Nasrudin drew himself up to his full height and said : “I prefer to believe the statement of a wise man rather than that of a donkey.”
The furious magistrate ordered that Nasrudin immediately be thrown out of this town, so a distraught Nasrudin returned home.
Mulla Nasrudin’s donkey did not return for many days and Nasrudin was overcome with grief.
“You may have lost your donkey, Mulla Nasrudin, but you don’t have to grieve over it more than you did when you lost your wife.”
“Ah,” Nasrudin said, “if you remember when I lost my wife, all you villagers consoled me and said: ‘We will find you a new wife – and you did find me a new wife’. So far, nobody has offered to replace my donkey.”
VIKRAM KARVE educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU, Lawrence School Lovedale, and Bishop's School Pune, is an Electronics and Communications Engineer by profession, a Human Resource Manager and Trainer by occupation, a Teacher by vocation, a Creative Writer by inclination and a Foodie by passion. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles in magazines and journals for many years before the advent of blogging. His delicious foodie blogs have been compiled in a book "Appetite for a Stroll". Vikram lives in Pune with his family and pet Doberman girl Sherry, with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.
Is Ethics relevant in Business Management in today’s world?
Or is "Business Ethics" an oxymoron, not relevant in today's business and corporate environment?
Do you assess Ethical Fitness of an individual before recruiting, promoting, or assigning an important post or task to an individual?
Is there such a thing as Ethical Fitness? Does such a thing exist and can it be assessed or evaluated?
When recruiting new people, or promoting or appointing persons to senior or sensitive positions, a number of attributes ( Hard Skills and Soft Skills) like Professional Competence, Managerial Proficiency, Domain-specific or Technical skills, and pertinent soft skills comprising leadership, communication, behavioural and emotional aspects, and even physical and medical fitness are assessed, evaluated and given due consideration.
But does anyone evaluate a candidate’s Ethical Fitness before recruitment or appointment?
No, I am not talking about the routine verification of antecedents or background integrity checks. I am talking of assessing Ethical Fitness.
Ethical fitness refers to ensuring that people are in proper moral shape to recognize and address ethical dilemmas.
Ensuring Ethical fitness in a proactive manner will result in preventive, rather than corrective, Ethical Management.
Before launching any inquiry pertaining to the concept of Ethical Fitness, it is necessary to explore the moral dimension.
Moral development is a prerequisite to ethical behaviour; in fact, a sine qua non for Ethical Fitness.
Kohlberg offers a handy framework for delineating the stage each of us has reached with respect to personal moral development.
Stage 1. Physical consequences determine moral behaviour. At this stage of personal moral development, the individual’s ethical behaviour is driven by the decision to avoid punishment or by deference to power. Punishment is an automatic response of physical retaliation. The immediate physical consequences of an action determine its goodness or badness. Such moral behaviour is seen in boarding schools, military training academies etc. where physical punishment techniques are prevalent with a view to inculcate the attributes of obedience and deference to power. The individual behaves in a manner akin to the Pavlovian dog.
Stage 2. Individual needs dictate moral behaviour. At this stage, a person’s needs are the person’s primary ethical concern. The right action consists of what instrumentally satisfies your own needs. People are valued in terms of their utility. Example: “I will help him because he may help me in return – you scratch my back, I will scratch yours.”
Stage 3. Approval of others determines moral behaviour.
This stage is characterized by decision where the approval of others determines the person’s behaviour. Good behaviour is that which pleases or helps others within the group. The good person satisfies family, friends and associates. “Everybody is doing it, so it must be okay.” One earns approval by being conventionally “respectable” and “nice.” Sin is a breach of the expectations of the social order – “log kya kahenge?” is the leitmotif, and conformance with prevailing ‘stereotypes’ the order of the day.
Stage 4. Compliance with authority and upholding social order are a person’s primary ethical concerns. “Doing one’s duty” is the primary ethical concern. Consistency and precedence must be maintained. Example: “I comply with my superior’s instructions because it is wrong to disobey my senior”. Authority is seldom questioned. “Even if I feel that something may be unethical, I will unquestioningly obey all orders and comply with everything my boss says because I believe that the boss is always right.”
Stage 5. Tolerance for rational dissent and acceptance of rule by the majority becomes the primary ethical concern. Example: “ Although I disagree with her views. I will uphold her right to have them.” The right action tends to be defined in terms of general individual rights, and in terms of standards that have been critically examined and agreed upon by the whole society. (eg) The Constitution. The freedom of the individual should be limited by society only when it infringes upon someone else’s freedom.
Stage 6. What is right is viewed as a matter of individual conscience, free choice and personal responsibility for the consequences. Example: “There is no external threat that can force me to make a decision that I consider morally wrong.” An individual who reaches this stage acts out of universal ethical principles.
Moral development is in no way correlated with intellectual development or your position in the hierarchy or factors like rank, seniority, status, success or earnings, salary, material wealth, age etc.
In the words of Alexander Orlov, an ex-KGB Chief, “Honesty and Loyalty may be often more deeply ingrained in the make-up of simple and humble people than in men of high position. A man who was taking bribes when he was a constable does not turn honest when he becomes the Chief of Police. The only thing that changes in the size of the bribe. Weakness of character and inability to withstand temptation remains with the man no matter how high he climbs.”
Ethical traits accompany a man to the highest rungs of his career. In a nutshell the governing factors pertaining to six stages of Moral Development which determine Ethical Fitness may be summarized as:
FEAR – Stage 1
NEEDS – Stage 2
CONFORMANCE – Stage 3
COMPLIANCE – Stage4
CONSENSUS – Stage 5
CONSCIENCE & FREE WILL – Stage 6 Before we try to delve into exploring how to evaluate Ethical Fitness, let us briefly ponder on the concepts of Ethical Susceptibility and Ethical Vulnerability.
Ethical Susceptibility is your inability to avoid ethical dilemmas.
Ethical Susceptibility is environment dependent (on external factors) like, for example, your job, your boss, colleagues and subordinates, or the persons around you, or even the ‘prevalent organizational culture’.
Ethical Vulnerability is your inability to withstand succumbing in the given ethical dilemmas /situations.
Your Ethical Vulnerability depends on your internal stage of moral development in the given ethical situation. Whereas being in an ethical dilemma is not in your control, to act in an ethical manner in the prevailing situation is certainly in your control.
Ethical vulnerability is a measure of the ease with which a man be ethically compromised, especially in an ethically poor climate.
In situationswhere the ethical susceptibility is high, morally strong people (ethically non-vulnerable) should be appointed and conversely, only in jobs/situations where ethical susceptibility is low should ethically vulnerable persons be permitted. If the environment is not ethically conducive, a person can intellectually inwardly reach stage 6 but deliberately outwardly masquerade and remain morally at a lower moral stage 4 as he may find that he has to "sacrifice" too much to reach stage 6.
This can be particularly seen in most hierarchical organizations where most “smart” employees make an outward preference of being at stage 3 or 4 (Conformance and Compliance) in order to avoid jeopardizing their careers, even if internally they have achieved higher ethical states.
This Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde schizophrenic moral approach is at the heart of many ethical dilemmas people encounter in their professional lives and may result in internal stress due to ethical confusion.
Whenever two individuals at different stages of moral development interact with each other, both of them try to force or manoeuvre the other into their own appreciation of the ethical situation, thus leading to conflict.
In a formal hierarchical setup, the players in the chain may not be at similar stages of moral development thereby leading to ethical dissonance in the system.
Where the ethical susceptibility is high, morally strong people (less vulnerable) should be appointed and conversely, in only such jobs where ethical susceptibility is low should ethically weak persons be permitted.
What is your stage of personal moral development?
Be honest with yourself and recall the decisions you made in recent ethical situations. The six stages of moral development are valuable landmarks as they tell you approximately where you are and what changes you will have to make in yourself to move to a higher level of moral development.
The ultimate goal is to engage in ethical decision making at stage 6.
However, the level that you do reach will depend on your ethical commitment, your ethical consciousness and your ethical competence.
Food for Thought
What do you do if your boss is at a lower stage of moral development than you? Do you masquerade and make pretence of being at the “appropriate” stage of what moral development and practice situational ethics to reap maximum benefits.
This Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde schizophrenic ‘situational ethics’ approach may cause your outer masquerade to turn into inner reality.
Do you want that to happen? Think about it!
Is there a need to assess Ethical Fitness in business and managerial situations?
Or is "Business Ethics" an oxymoron, not relevant in today's business environment?
Most importantly, can Ethics and Business co-exist? Or are the two mutually exclusive?
And last but not the least, do you think it is necessary to evaluate and assess Ethical Fitness during Recruitment, Appointment and in Human Resource Management?
VIKRAM KARVE educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU and The Lawrence School Lovedale, is an Electronics and Communications Engineer by profession, a Human Resource Manager and Trainer by occupation, a Teacher by vocation, a Creative Writer by inclination and a Foodie by passion. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles in magazines and journals for many years before the advent of blogging. His delicious foodie blogs have been compiled in a book "Appetite for a Stroll". Vikram lives in Pune with his family and pet Doberman girl Sherry, with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.
PHILOSOPHY OF TECHNOLOGY A Reflection
By VIKRAM KARVE
In our everyday lives most of us use a number of words which we assume have a universal, agreed-upon, and accepted meaning for all people in all contexts.
Often, the more frequently the word is used more we take for granted that our usage is the only possible usage of the term.
One word which belongs in this category is “technology.”
The vast majority of technology as machines, computers and other forms of modern hardware – the province of the scientist, engineer or specialist professional.
We have to transcend this narrow view of technology since every technology starts from a human purpose, from the intention to satisfy some human need or behaviour.
Indeed, technology is the manipulation of nature for human purpose.
But man is a part of nature by manipulating nature man is manipulates himself.
Thus, technology manipulates man, influence, even governs human behaviour, and in turn societal behaviour.
It is therefore imperative to reconceptualise the concept of technology by viewing it though the philosophical lens in order to understand the “soft” social, cultural, individual, psychological, behavioural and intellectual dimensions of technology in contrast to the “hard” technical dimension.
Language is a “soft” technology, an invented system of communication. Alvin Tofler specifically discussed “political technologies” in his description of “Third Wave” changes in our world environment. Indeed, “soft” technologies take many forms. They include the invention of social institutions – methods of organizing people for the achievement of particular ends.
Arthur Harkins defines “culture” as the metasystem or system of systems of human-invented and hereditarily transmitted technologies, and further emphasizes that human have codified technologies into what anthropologists call culture.
Even more fundamentally, or expansively, technologies are philosophies, ideologies. Ways of thinking, or world-views (Weltanschauungen). The key realization is that technologies are way of structuring and ordering the world.
This philosophical reconceptualisation of technology entails a border image wherein technologies are viewed not merely as physical or technical apparatuses but as inseparably interconnected with the fabric of social policy, values and desires and are in fact complex constellations of devices, processes, beliefs and mechanisms which are perceived as a system of interrelated innovations comprising a coherent nexus pertaining to the systematic manipulation of nature.
Technologies reconceptualised from the philosophical viewpoint are mutually supportive and harmonically attuned process and philosophies for synergistically aiding the individual or society to reach specific, hopefully preferred, future states; they are instruments for attaining and integrating the proposal future with the perceived present.
Since technology is essentially invented rather than discovered, such a reconceptualisation would help to introduce a premium for creativity and divergent thought into the academic world alongside the traditional emphasis on scholarly research and the quest for truth and would encourage cross-fertilization across disciplinary boundaries.
It may be apt to conclude with a comment by RM Pirsig, who states that: “The way to solve the conflict between human values and technological needs is not to run away from technology. That’s impossible. The way to resolve the conflict is to break down the barriers of dualistic thought that prevent a real understanding of what technology is… not an exploitation of nature, but a fusion of nature and the human spirit into a new kind of creation that transcends both”.
VIKRAM KARVE educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU and The Lawrence School Lovedale, is an Electronics and Communications Engineer by profession, a Human Resource Manager and Trainer by occupation, a Teacher by vocation, a Creative Writer by inclination and a Foodie by passion. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles in magazines and journals for many years before the advent of blogging. His delicious foodie blogs have been compiled in a book "Appetite for a Stroll". Vikram lives in Pune with his family and pet Doberman girl Sherry, with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.
Vikram Karve Creative Writing Blog - http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/
Academic Journal Vikram Karve – http://karvediat.blogspot.com/
Professional Profile of Vikram Karve - http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
Email: vikramkarve@sify.com
Foodie Book: Appetite for a Stroll http://books.sulekha.com/book/appetite-for-a-stroll/default.htm
THE PETER PRESCRIPTION Prescriptions on How To Remain Creative and Competent
Book Review
By
VIKRAM KARVE
Title: The Peter Prescription
Author: Dr. Laurence J. Peter
Published: 1972 (William Morrow)
The hot weather in Pune gives me the golden opportunity to dust off my favourite books from my bookshelves, sit in cool comfort and re-read these lovely books sipping chilled ice-cool lemonade.
I have realized that re-reading good books gives me even greater pleasure.
So that’s what I’m going to do for the next few days – browse my bookshelves, re-read some of my favourite books, and tell you about them.
During my college days, in the 1970’s, I read three non-fiction books which had a lasting impact on me.
The first was Parkinson’s Law (written in 1958) based on the author’s study of the British Civil Service and Admiralty.
The other two books were written by Dr. Laurence J. Peter – The Peter Principle (1969) and The Peter Prescription (1972).
These three Management Classics are a must for the bookshelves of every manager.
Written with incisive wit, Parkinson’s Law is a seminal book on the workings of bureaucracy which is essential reading for any student of Management. It is consummate management classic, a masterpiece, which is a “must read” for every manager and management student.
The Peter Principle, a delightful read, provides a superb insight and intriguing study of hierarchiology.
If The Peter Principle is Dr. Peter’s seminal pioneering work, then The Peter Prescription is his definitive book, a wondeful all-time management classic.
If you have not read ‘The Peter Principle’, do read my review of the book, the previous post in my weblog right here.
Understanding ‘The Peter Principle’ is sine qua non, essential prerequisite reading, before you embark upon ‘The Peter Prescription’.
Whereas both Parkinson’s Law and The Peter Principle formulate and substantiate their respective theories, The Peter Prescription is a philosophical self-help treatise on how to achieve happiness in all aspects of life.
Written in his same hilarious inimitable style, Dr. Peter exhorts us to be creative, confident and competent by replacing mindless escalation with life-quality improvement. The message of the book is in congruence with eastern philosophies which focus on inward enhancement rather than outward escalation.
In his introduction Dr. Peter states: “Many authors offer answers before they understand the questions…….. I understand the operation of the Peter Principle, and the remedies offered are the product of years of research……… prescriptions will lead to great personal fulfillment and joy of real accomplishment.”
The book, interspersed liberally with quotations and case studies, comprises three parts.
The first, titled Incompetence Treadmill explores why conventional solutions not only fail to alleviate the effects of the Peter Principle but may actually serve to escalate the problems.
His analysis of ‘marital incompetence’ is hilarious. A bachelor is a man who looks before he leaps – and then does not leaphe concludes.
With the flattening of hierarchies, I wonder whether, in today's world, there still exist any Professional Processionary Puppets– the organization-men.
It would be worthwhile to look dispassionately, from a distance, into your own organization for similarities to prototypes adorning bureaucracies of yesteryear in order to ascertain whether your own organisation is a modern state-of-the-art progressive one or a rigid hierarchy bound archaic organization heading for decay.
The meat of the book is in Part Two, titled ‘Protect your Competence’ which elucidate a total of 25 “prescriptions” on how to remain creative and competent throughout your working and personal life.
There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and after that to enjoy it.
The prescriptions, which are condensed wisdom of the ages, guide us on how to achieve this cardinal aim of life.
“The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness”Dr. Peter quotes with elan in this delightful book.
Competenceis a system-governed factor – your competence is as viewed by your bosses (like beautylies in the eyes of the beholder, your competence lies in the eyes of your boss!) and thus the yardsticks of competence are governed by the HR policies in your organization.
Why is everyone around you so competitive...?
Do the HR policies in your organization encourage competition, rat race and reward escalationary behaviour, and if so, what can you do about it...?
Maybe you can find some answers by exploring the prescriptions.
Let’s have a look at Peter Prescription 3 – The Peter Panorama – which I have used to great effect, which comprises listing your satisfying activities, joyful experiences, pleasant reminiscences, and after introspection make a second list of those which are feasible to do regularly and then make sure you do them whenever feasible.
Enjoyable events begin to crowd out the unpleasant and you feel happy. And, in the extreme, there are prescriptions like utter irrelevance – hilariously effective.
Do read, experiment, and try to imbibe the prescriptions in your professional and personal life, and experience the results for yourself.
Introspect, evolve a philosophy of life, fine tune the art of living, concentrate your efforts within your area of competence, and have an improved quality of life consisting of abiding competence and contentment.
If you cannot be happy here and now, you can never be happy.
Part Three of the book is written from the management perspective giving 42 “prescriptions” to Managers to contain and mitigate the effects of The Peter Principle in their domains and manage for competence.
It views The Peter Principle from a manager’s point of view, and assuming the manager himself is not a victim of the Peter Principle, offers valuable tips in the HR Management, particularly recruitment, promotion and selection.
Obviously, outsourcing wasn’t that prevalent way back then in the sixties and seventies, otherwise organizations may even have ‘outsourced’ incompetence.
Isn’t it a brilliant idea to outsource incompetence...?
In the outsourcing jargon, let's call it IPO - Incompetence Process Outsourcing...!!!
Maybe some are doing it already...!
As stated in the introduction, the purpose of The Peter Prescription is to help you explore how you yourself can mitigate the effects of The Peter Principle by avoiding the final placement syndrome, and as a manager, it tells you how to keep your employees at their appropriate competence levels so that they remain happy and productive and help achieve mutual optimal benefit.
First read and understand The Peter Principle.
And then apply to your own life The Peter Prescription and experience genuine personal fulfillment and joy of real accomplishment.
A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer. Educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures(2008) and is currently working on his novel. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles in magazines and journals for many years before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for almost 14 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing. Vikram lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts
