Can we use term 'belongingness' in place of 'sense of ownership' to explain the same phenomena to project a much stronger bond with lesser conflicts and contradictions?
Regards
Virendra Goel
From: join_mtc@googlegroups.com [mailto:join_mtc@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Prabhakar Waghodekar
Sent: Friday, August 08, 2014 12:50 AM
To: join_mtc@googlegroups.com
Cc: Satish Kumar
Subject: Re: [MTC Global] Lacking the sense of ownership
Dear All,
The issue of lack of ownership is really dealt with wonderfully in the article concluding something like this ".
Thusto create ';ownership'; in employees, the burden really falls on the owner/management and not on the employees. People set up.cannot be told to display ownership; organisational processes and policies must evoke it."
To understand the real meaning or experiencing what the words dictate depends on several things, mainly, culture, tradition, social conceptualization, etc. We have borrowed many of such words from foreign land/literature. For instance, what have we done with such concepts as participative management, team building, autonomy, etc.?, Using the foreign words/concepts under Indian social conditions and culture many a times prove to be futile, not much rewarding.
In fact, Indian literature is full of such concepts based on our cultural and social set-up. We do have a concept of "Trusteeship". I am a security guard of the treasure/property that belongs to public. I am not using it for my end. Aurangzeb and Mahatma Fulay never used a single pie of public funds/treasury. They used to earn their living through writing Koran, preparing muslim caps (Aurangzeb) and worked as construction contractor on Khadakwasala dam near Pune (Fulay). We are taught integrity, honesty, character and that service to people is service to the God, etc. We have miserably lost this thread since the last thousands of years.
We have accepted the concept of autonomy for institutes, but in a different sense, to work as per one's whims, we have accepted the concept of participation meaning that those who say "yes" to me are my people, we have also borrowed the concept of parliamentary democacy where less discussion on developmental issues take place but more fighting on trivial issues, etc.
The same fate is meted out with the concept of "ownership", almost every one from bottom to top is after what share I can take away for me, my family! Certainly lack of ownership in a real sense is lacking in all spheres leading us into the pass today we are in. It is true that the top people needs to behave as idols for masses, role models to you and me. But does it so happen?
Borrow terms but foundation must be ours. Concepts operative in foreign can hardly work in India where the foreign culture is missing under which a concept operates. That is the hitch.
Regards.
_______________________________________________________________________
Dr. P H Waghodekar, PhD (Egg), IIT,KGP, IE&M, 1985,
Advisor (HR), IBS & PME (PG)
Marathwada Institute of Technology,
Aurangabad: 431028 (Maharashtra) INDIA.
(O) 02402375113 (M) 7276661925
E-Mail: waghodekaUsing ther@rediffmail.com
Websi te: www.mit.asia
Engineering & Management Education: An Engine of Prosperity.
Classroom teaching must match with Boardroom needs!
From: Satish Kumar <scholar.satish@gmail.com>
Sent: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 10:56:00
To: join_mtc@googlegroups.com
Subject: [MTC Global] Lacking the sense of ownership
Dear All,
An interesting read on title above.
Happy Reading
Regards
Satish
------------
16 May2014
Lacking the sense of ownership
Why people do not consider organisation';s problems their own
By Devdutt Pattanaik
Many organisations wanttoinstil a sense of "ownership" in their employees. However, doemployers or management really understand the meaning of ownership? What does it mean to have the spirit of ownership? And is the current corporate ecosystem conducive to such emotions?
Let us go to the basics.
In nature, the concept of ownership does not exist. Animals own nothing. There is no concept of property. There are territories that animals fight over but they can hold on to it only as long as they are strong enough to fend off rivals. Animals are fiercely protective of their young, but that cannot be qualified as ownership. So ownership is something that is peculiarly human. It means something belongs to me. I own it.
In the monastic discourse of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, wisdom lies in realizing we own nothing. Fear makes us cling to things and declare it as our property. Fear makes us fight for what we think is ours. Wisdom lies in letting go. So it is strange that many people seek solutions to the ownership problem in spiritual literature.
Perhaps what is being sought from employees is a responsibility over things that they do not really own. A display of responsibility and initiative that is beyond contractual obligations, perhaps? How does one instill that? A simple answer that is often given is to make all employee shareholders as long as they are in employment. That may not be feasible at all times. And even if one is made the legal owner with a financial stake in the organization, it does not mean there will be the desired display of ownership.
When something belongs to me, I have the freedom to order it around.I also want to protect and nourish it. When companies seek a sense of ownership from their employees, they want it in the latter sense (protect and nourish the organisation) and not in the former sense (order it around).
Typically,documents are drawn up listing behaviours that the organization considers to express ownership; people are encouraged to display this behaviour in training sessions; systems are created to measure this behaviour. In doing so, we end up creating an ecosystem that discourages the spirit of ownership, without even realising it.
In the modern corporation, where there are rules for everything, we cannot order things around as per our whim. The management seeks control. Processes determine everything from how we recruit, how we work, where we work, what we do, to how we fire. There are templates for everything. There is little room for negotiation or creativity. We do not feel invested in the process, as all that is asked of us is our compliance. It feels like a prison. It is tough to feel ownership for a cage.
Further, especially in large growing corporations, individuals do not seem to matter. Every human being is reduced to being an employee code with a work station in a cube farm. You are not allowed to think. You are only expected to comply and perform. And a pink slip can appear without reason suddenly, something that is endorsed by the treatment of employees in leading multinationals that often makes it to the press. When you are thus dehumanized, it is tough to feel a sense of ownership for an organisation.
To feel responsible and take initiative for a company is not easy when the company does not see our personal problems as its own.We nourish and protect things that grants us nourishment and protection. We are protective of that which protects us, that which grants us security and status. Like tigers that fight fiercely for their territory, we display ownership for people and organisations on whom we depend for our well being. Thusto create ';ownership'; in employees, the burden really falls on the owner/management and not on the employees. People cannot be told to display ownership; organisational processes and policies must evoke it.
Devdutt Pattanaik writes and lectures on relevance of mythology in management. He is the author ofBusiness Sutra: an Indian approach to management.
-----------------------------------------
Dr. Satish Kumar (PhD, IIT Roorkee)
Assistant Professor
Department of Management Studies
Malaviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT Jaipur)
J.L. N Marg, Jaipur 302017
Rajasthan (India)
Alternate E-mail: scholar.satish @gmail.com
Ph: +919549654369
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