Humantalents Management byJayadeva de Silva

To My Father & Mother

Late Mr.WolvindeSilva
&
Mrs.K. deZ. Wijeratne Silva
de

To whom I shall remain indebted for
setting the foundation on which this
work is based.

1

Human talents Management
By
Jayadeva de Silva

2

Contents
FOREWORD..........................................................................7

HUMAN TALENTS MANAGEMENT...................................11

QUALITY IS IN PEOPLE.....................................................21

Leadership for Quality.................................................................23

Customer Perception.....................................................................25

Employee Involvement..................................................................26

Attitudes on Quality......................................................................29

Customer Service...........................................................................30

Customer care ...............................................................................34

COMMON REASONS FOR NON-PERFORMANCE ........43

COUNSELLING AS A METHOD TO UNDERSTAND YOUR
EMPLOYEES.......................................................................49

WHY PEOPLE STAY AWAY FROM WORK.......................58
‘The Bored Absentee’.................................................................60
‘The Immature Absentee’ ..........................................................61
‘The Frustrated Absentee’...........................................................62
‘The Avenging Absentee’...........................................................63

MANPOWER SHORTAGE? (WITHIN AN ORGANISATION)
HERE’S A WAY OUT...........................................................68

3

Symptoms of the problem.............................................................68

A solution from within? ........................................................69
Redeployment; A neglected area................................................71
Transfer of work .........................................................................72
What you can ..............................................................................72

HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT FOR SMALL &
MEDIUM SCALE INDUSTRY IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR. 76

PRINCIPLES FOR HUMAN ................................................96

TALENTS MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT.............96

MILITARY LESSONS FOR BUSINESS MANAGERS......104

Influence of the Rulers in the Government..............................107

The Principle of Detailed Planning .....................................110

Mission..........................................................................................111

Values............................................................................................113

Choice of Battle Ground.............................................................114

The Principle of Concentration of Forces & the Need to Attack
.......................................................................................................124

Swiftness in Execution of Plans..................................................126

Deceptiveness in Actions & Strategies......................................128

Anticipation of the Enemy’s Reaction and Changes in
Environment................................................................................129

Planning for Victory & Combat Readiness..............................129

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ANYWAY*..........................................................................135

“A VERY GOOD MOTIVATION FOR ONESELF”............139

RULES OF HUMAN RELATIONS.....................................143

FUTURE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT........147

MANAGEMENT SKILLS CHECKLIST..............................160

HOW TO IDENTIFY GOOD MANAGEMENT POTENTIAL
............................................................................................174

EXTRAS.............................................................................197

“SYNOPPOR” – A New Thinking Tool to Discover
Opportunities...............................................................................197

Common Training Terms...........................................................199

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Foreword
This book is a collection of
thoughts on some very important
issues on management. During my
career, I have trained thousands of
people over the last two decades.
Many whom I trained requested me to
compile a book that could be used
for reference. I have therefore
decided to publish some selected
works on mine under the theme Human
Talents Management. This book is
aimed at practising business
managers & students of management.

Any accomplishment requires the
effort of many people and this work
is not different. I thank my family
Ranjika, Ranga & Nilu and on time
my assistants Ravi Rajasinghe &
Hiranthi.

I am also grateful to Bradley,
Preethi, Dulin and Vajin for the
assistance rendered.

My thanks are due to the publisher…

7

1
Human Talents
Management

A new concept of leadership is in
the making. Successful Companies
have already adopted the idea that
Leadership is The Art of Managing
peoples’ talents and not just
getting things done.

The expression Human Resources is
misleading and dangerous “People
are not resources and resent being
treated as such” according to this
Concept. They are not pieces of
Equipment to move around according
to needs Contrary to what some
Managers claim, people are not “
Human capital”!

Employee’s expectations have
drastically changed over the last
few years due to more knowledge-
based business, social
transformations and economic
evolution. New psychological needs

11

are evolving inline with the new
profile of people entering the
workforce. New employees want:

(1) To Know more about what is
happening in the organisation.
Who is doing what? New
Objectives? New Priorities? New
Strategies? Threats and problems?

(2) To Understand why leaders have
made decisions? Why not another
decision? What is behind the
decision? What are the
implications of the decision
made?

(3) To Contribute their own ideas
and ability. What could be
tomorrow?

(4) To Feel Important and have a
meaningful role to play within
the company. Who am I within the
organisation? Do I count? Am I
receiving the recognition and
respect that I desire? Do I have
a fair chance to grow and develop
as a person? Effective leaders
are looking at practical Ways to
maximise the release of

12

individual, team and company
talents. The Leader is becoming
a nurturer of talents, a catalyst
in search of Synergy. People are
not resources. They have
resources. That is not quite the
same thing, as the table below
illustrate.

13

Table 1: Human Talents Management (HTM) vs. Human
Resources Management (HRM)
Managing Human Managing People’s
Resources Talents

Basic • People are an People have
Assumption important asset professional talents.
that the Company They are not
must use to the resources. They have
fullest. resources i.e.:
Knowledge, Skills.
• They are Experience. The
resources. Human release of individual
Resources Planing talents is vital to both
is Critical. personal fulfilment
and organisational
success.

Role Of Set Objectives, Create the right
The Leader appraise people’s environment so that
performance on a people can perform
factual basis and at the highest level.
provide the right The leader channels
recognition to the people’s energy
right people- MBO constructively. He
cares and shows it.
How to understand
people.

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Leadership • How to recruit the • How to
right people. support/Encourag
e. How to manage
• How to appraise job assignments
People. so that people can
perform and grow
• How to promote to their potential.
effectively.
• How to listen and
how to be
understood

Key Success Factors For
Tomorrow’s Leaders Will Be

(1) Behaviour Flexibility
(2) Mental Innovation
(3) People Orientation

Behaviour Flexibility

Behaviour Flexibility Effective
Leaders are extremely sensitive
to their environment and adjust
(rapidly) to its changes.
Watching them at work, we can say
that it is critical for the

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Leaders of 90s to learn how to
learn.

• Do what you think is right in a
situation
• Observe the impact of your
behaviour on people
(Collaborators, Bossed,
Customers….)

• Maintain your behaviour if you
get what you want. Try
something else if you don’t.

Mental Innovation

The ability to interpret reality in
original and unique ways is
becoming more and more pressing for
corporate Leaders. They are
learning that everything is defined
and too often, artificially limited
by “Mental Programming”.

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Nothing is fully known or fixed.
Everything is perceived through a
Human Mind programmed by education,
experience and training. Human
mind can explain and control things
meaningfully, however some mental
constructions are more effective
than others. Different situations
require different mind reactions.
Mental versatility is therefore
important.

• Be aware of how you construct
things in your mind
• Expand your repertoire of mental
constructions. Try out new ways
to explain things. Promote a
mind expansion process among your
people.
• Use the mental Constructions,
which are most appropriate for
business situations.
People Orientation

It is amazing how ineffective
Leaders are at tapping individual
talents within their organisations.
Many employees complain bitterly
not only about how their Companies

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have misused their Professional
Skills, but also about managers who
“do almost everything to make sure
that employees do not perform to
the fullest of their talents “! It
is almost as if leaders are afraid
of giving their staff a fair
opportunity to perform. Many
Leaders have apparently not yet
learnt that their employees are
frequently working far below
Capacity. They do not realise that
an employees success is also their
own. Employees whose expectations
are not met withdraw and star to
invest their time, energy and
skills outside the organisation.
This may be healthy for the
individual but not for the
organisation.

• Care about your people and
show them that you as a
Leader, are truly interested
in what they do, how they
think and feel, Be honest,
Manipulation may succeed in
the short term, but is
inevitably discovered and
resented.

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• Know their Professional
talents and give them a
chance to perform at their
highest level.

• Expect a lot from them and
provide the support they
need to work well and grow
on the job.

Conclusion

Managing talents is not the same as
Managing Resources. People or human
beings With feelings, ambitions and
thought power, The effective leaders
will care about people’s talents,
adjust in a flexible way to various
corporate as well as market demands
and promote an organisational
climate which tolerates or rather
encourages a variety of mental
styles.

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2
Quality Is In People

This paper tries to highlight that
Quality and the customer care are
primarily matters of attitude and

21

fall within the scope of Human
Relations. It takes precision,
patience and power to steer an
aircraft in the opposite direction
The same is true of any attempt to
change hardened prevailing work
attitudes. Apart from massive
training and development effort a
very strong corporate will to make
hard decisions and supreme
sacrifices, is required for
attainment of 99.9997% Quality
which will delight customers.

Today’s customers are demanding
more from suppliers. The key
differentiator between successful
companies and their competitors
will be quality.Winning in the new
market place requires finding a way
to differentiate yourself from
competitors, and competitive
differentiation is not just a
question of providing the right
products or having the right
strategy. It also means paying
closer attention to customer care.
In the long run,people simply will
not buy from companies that are not
prepared to go that “extra mile” in
terms of looking after their

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customers. Then the business that
pays attention to quality, service
and value is going to delight
customers,who in turn will ensure
that business remain successful. In
this paper we will examine the
people factor in promoting a Total
Quality Culture within an
organisation.

Leadership for Quality

Many companies both local and
foreign however, are not satisfied
with the pay back in their quality
improvement efforts. We feel that
the creation of a quality culture
encompassingthe total organisation
requires a revolutionary change. In
prevailing work attitude, Surveys
among various categories of
employees reveal that many people
are trapped in their jobs. Could we
not, therefore, channel all that
concern into quality improvement
and make it a positive business
process? Great companies who have
great names acknowledge that they
have great products but more
importantly they have great people.

23

“We strive to give our best to the
customer through the quality and
reliability of our goods and
services. Perfection is not easy,
but we believe in setting high
standards and we expect and demand
from all employees superior
performance and innovative
qualities.We recognise, appreciate
and reward a job well done by
people who take pride in working
for us” So states the business
philosophy one of leading Groups
companies in Sri Lanka.

In a time of turbulence and
uncertainty, we must be able to
take instant action on the front
line. But to support such action,
taken at the front, everyone must
have a clear understanding about
what the organisation is trying to
achieve. Effective visions are
aimed at empowering our own people
first. Customer second. The first
task of the vision is to call forth
the best from the company’s own
people. Effective vision whilst
honouring the past prepares for the
future. Effective visions
statements are clear, challenging

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and are about excellence. Effective
visions make sense in the turbulent
world. Effective visions are lived
in detail not broad strokes.

Customer Perception

Such Quantum steps of improvements
can be obtained only if they can
get the organisation to look at the
issues in totally new ways,
applying creative skills.
Tomorrow’s winner must be
entrepreneurial as a habit and will
have to continually seek
improvements in their ability to
serve their customers.

Quality is not only for up market
products and suppliers who can
charge accordingly. Quality can be
built in to any business or
service, whatever segment of the
market has been chosen as the
target. It’s a question of meeting
the customers’ expectations and
then giving just a little bit more.
As an example, take two hopper
boutiques. Both serve the same
range of food, both provide a few

25

tables for customers wanting to eat
at the premises, and both do most
of their trade in takeaways. In
terms of quality, they could differ
on:

a) The freshness of their
hoppers.
b) The oil, flour and coconut
milk they use for
preparation.
c) The extent to which they can
offer customers freshly
baked hoppers rather than
food that has been kept for
a long time
d) The courtesy and efficiency
of their service.
e) The cleanliness of their
surroundings.
f) The little extras that they
provide, such as a paper
serviette with takeaways, or
a choice of sambols.

Employee Involvement

Goodyear, an American Company, is
reported to have introduced an
employee suggestion scheme under

26

the name “Decentralised Idea
generation” and they have
introduced the term “Associate” as
a substitute for employees.

Quality is certainly about
manufacturing a product that people
can depend on every time they reach
for it. But according to Donald R
Kellogh President of Coca-Cola, it
is more than that. Quality, he
says, is a way of life that must
involve every employee every day.

We know that quality improvement is
about change. Which change you
create fear and anxiety. To manage
change and make it acceptable one
has to build an atmosphere of trust
and self-confidence. In October
1887, William Cooper Proctor,
grandson of the founder of Proctor
and Gamble, introducing a profit
sharing plan stressed the core
values of their business as
follows:

“The first job we have is to
turnout quality merchandise that
consumers will buy and keep on
buying. If we produce it

27

efficiently and economically we
will earn a profit in which you
will share. But the profits can’t
be distributed unless they are
earned and the company must take
care of its equipment, expand
normally, remain in a sound fiscal
position and part of the earnings
must be ploughed back into the
business”. It is clear from the
foregoing mat.

Leaders of the best companies
profoundly believe in and promote
the core values of customer-focused
quality. Quality has been, and
will, remain the key management
imperative. Leaders see quality as
the heart of the business. It is
known that the rate of progress is
slow in many Total Quality
Management (TQM) Programmers.
Leaders, however, could set
demanding goals. Asia Brown
Boveri’s (ABB) ’10 up Programme’ is
an example. This plan calls for 50%
improvement in 10 key areas each
year in all business.

All this amounts to being committed
to meeting the expectations of

28

their clientele, all the time, and
then going further. Quality doesn’t
just happen. It has to be planned
for and built into the way an
organisation operates. This means
that each person must be clear
about what is expected of him or
her and what they have to do to
achieve it. Management by
Objectives (MBO) could be used very
effectively in this regard. Quality
will only remain at a constantly
high level if the organisation is
proactive rather than reactive.
This means that the emphasis must
be on thinking ahead and on
preventing problems from arising in
the first place. Organisations need
to develop ways of working that
make these happen.

Attitudes on Quality

Maintaining high standards in
quality depends on the attitudes of
everyone involved. Standards will
slip if mistakes and lapses are
accepted as inevitable. The
positive alternative is to do
things right the first time and
every time. However, if the

29

occasional lapse does happen, then
there should be a positive way of
dealing with it so that people
learn from the mistake, rather than
be blamed for it. This means:

• Creating an atmosphere in
which the people concerned
are willing to admit that
something is wrong.

• Using it as an opportunity
to review procedures etc. to
prevent it happening again.

Only under such conditions, much
talked about quality circles can
function. Making quality a reality
depends on getting the right mix of
Attitude, Skills, Communication
Management and Expectations. Each
factor should be related closely to
the other and none can be
considered in isolation.

Customer Service

30

In order to provide total quality,
it is very important that we pay
special attention to customer
service and customer care. Training
of employees has assumed much
importance in this sphere. There
are some key elements crucial to
the success of Customer Service
Training. They are as follows:

a) Training must be tied to a
complete programme. Where
Company wide Total Quality
Concept (CWTQC) is
practised, customer service
could be linked to that
process, as already stated
above.

b) Commitment of the top
management is essential.
Senior Managers too should
participate in training
sessions.

c) Customer Service People
should have freedom within
standards. They need to be
trained to pay attention to
standards, and also to take

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the initiative to provide
services not specified in
the standards.

d) Service guarantees back-up
customer service training
and reinforce employee
commitment to service
standards. Employees will
then know that
unsatisfactory service has
immediate consequences.
Service guarantees send a
message to customers that
the employees are determined
to provide quality service.

d) Use of advertising to back
up service training and
reinforce employee
commitment to service
standards. Employee will
then know that
unsatisfactory service has
immediate consequences.
Service guarantees send a
message to customers that
the employees are determined
to provide quality service.

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e) Use of advertising to back
up service training enhances
the employee’s pride in
their work. Very often it
reinforces the message
learned in training sessions
that service counts. It also
gives employees a public
image to live up to.

f) Monitoring of service
quality should be undertaken
as a feedback mechanism.
Employees should know what
they are doing wrong. The
company can measure the
compliance by employees with
the service standards.
However, providing
consistent good quality
service means that a
customer must perceive
something pleasant happening
every time he approaches the
company.

g) It must be borne in mind
that many service skills are
simply not trainable. You
can teach a person to say,
but not how to say it. You

33

can teach a procedure for
handling a complaint, but
not the attitude that will
satisfy the customer and
bring that person back. To
get superior customer
service, it is crucial to
have the right people.

The following are some of the
proven techniques for Customer
Service Training:

a) Film & Video for Modelling
b) Group Discussion
c) Competitor Observation
d) Job Rotation
e) Role Play
f) Video or Audio Feedback
g) Mass Audience Persuasion
h) Stress Training

Customer care

Customer care could be judged only
in terms of the feeling of the
customer. If the customer is not
satisfied with the service he or

34

she has received then that service
was not good. The writer is of the
view that this is the single most
important truth about customer
care. It does not matter how hard
one has tried or how much one has
done. The only judgement that
counts is that of the customer.

The other important factor about
customer care is that good customer
care has to come as a surprise! If
the customers get what they were
expecting, they will not be
impressed. After all they expected
to get that. If they get less than
what they expected, then they will
be disappointed. Leading Companies
are continuously faced with this
problem.

Customer care is about detail. It
is about getting lots of small
things right as well as the big
picture. Very often the goods and
services offered by competing
companies and organisations are not
very different. The difference very
often depends on the people who are
employed. We can learn a lot from
Japanese management in the area of

35

total quality management.
Therefore, one is tempted to ask -
Can we import not just Japanese
products but the attitude behind
them? Quality is practical.
Factories, airlines and hospital
laboratories must also be
practical. But quality is moral,
aesthetic, perceptual and
subjective. It is about delivering
above expectations. The famous
Marketing expert, Philip Kotler,
Calls this the delight factor.
Quality and customer satisfaction
should be measured. Rewards should
be made on the basis of these
measurements. There could be
instances when one hears that a
particular problem is not serious,
because it happened only once and
not symptomatic of a larger
problem. At our training programmes
we get detailed feedback from the
participants. There is invariably
some criticism. We have found the
criticism to be symptomatic of
larger and serious issues. Every
Customer complaint is symptomatic
of a shortcoming. Moreover, it
usually represents a very good
opportunity for improvement. Some

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insist that certain parameters are
subjective. Cleanliness is
subjective. But it can be measured.
We only need to add a question to
our questionnaire- How clean is the
place on a scale of one to ten
where ten is ‘excellent’ and one is
‘very poor’ In our experience, by
far the greatest influence on
today’s employees are the people
who have managed them. Thus manager
have to set an example in whatever
they do.

Formal training can have an effect,
but for the most part we emulate
the managers we worked for earlier
in our careers. In the selection of
managers, organisations should be
careful to give the required
weightage for the candidate’s
attitude towards customer
orientation and the degree of
commitment towards total quality
management.

In order to incite a “ Quality
Revolution”, we in Sri Lanka can
learn from the experience of other

37

countries, especially from Japan.
We could pay closer attention to
rework and recycling operations
with a view to promoting the
concept “ Do it right the first
time and every time -resulting in
zero defects”. We could
deliberately reduce the level of
all inventories, as overproduction,
oversupplying, overbuying of
anything can have a disastrous
effect on promoting the Total
Quality culture. We can start and
do everything on time. If quality
is about following standards, then
we must admit that, in Sri Lanka,
the most violated standard is time.
We can pay more attention to
cleaning up the work environment.
Seemingly unimportant things like
inspecting toilets, locker rooms
and the floor will have to be
considered important.

If today’s managers set a good
example in customer-oriented
quality management then their
subordinates will develop believing
that this is the right way to
manage, resulting in a steady
improvement of quality. Then life

38

will be more pleasant for everyone.
As stressed throughout this paper
such a change in prevailing work
attitudes and sentiments will
eventually lead to greater economic
success domestically and
internationally bringing greater
prosperity and quality of life for
all. Thus, Quality is in People.

39

3
Common Reasons For
Non-Performance

When a new employee joins a
company, he or she comes with full
of hopes and lot of enthusiasm and
he/she really wants to work. In any
case, you would select only such
people for employment, as there
exists a fairly large pool of Human
resources in the country to choose
from. However, it has been observed
by many managers that the
performance of employees is not up
to the standard they would like and
the reasons for this can be many.

We are presenting below the ten
most common reasons for Non-
performance according to a survey
done by us among managers and
executives of the private sector.

43

1. They don’t know why they
should perform a particular
task or tasks.

2. They don’t know exactly when
to begin or to end a task.

3. They don’t know what they
are supposed to do.

4. They don’t know how to do it

5. They think they are doing
it.

6. They think our way won’t
work or their way is better.

7. They think something else is
more important.

8. They are not rewarded for
doing the things right, or
not punished for not doing
the things right

9. They are not punished for
doing wrong things, or not
rewarded for not doing the
wrong things.

44

10. They think they cannot do
it.

“Whatever, you experience a problem
with performance of an employee,
chances are such that the reason
could be one or more of the above.
Any good Human Resources Manager
can recommend the course of action
that should be taken to solve the
problem.”

45

Counselling As A
Method To Understand
Your Employees

The most important attribute of
human beings is their intelligence.
This can be defined as our ability
to make fresh, appropriate
responses to each new situation. It
may be impossible to prove that
every one like this. However, one
of the best sources of information
about our nature is our small
children. They usually show these
qualities to a remarkable degree-
highly intelligent, loveable and
powerful in getting what they want.
When we work closely with more and
more adults we find that this is
our inherent nature.

People respond best and learn most
when they know have the highest
expectations of them, and yet
clearly, people do not behave like
this all the time. Some behave like

49

this more than other people. When
we think about people around us at
work places or elsewhere, we see
that most of the time we function
amazingly well. At other times we
do not. It may be something like
fatigue or some bad news that gets
in the way or something occurs that
triggers a response out of
proportion to the actual event.
When this happens the difficulty is
something more fundamental, which
the Behavioural Scientists refer to
as ‘distress pattern’. This is a
habitual way of reacting in certain
situations, which is not a fresh
accurate response but a rigid,
patterned way of reacting. Some
thing happens which reminds us of a
past hurt. Our attention goes
inwards and we reacting
intelligently.

This reaction may have been
appropriate long ago when the
original hurt occurred, but now
completely inappropriate. Or we may
react this way because of unhelpful
messages given to us by our parents
when we were small. These patterns

50

are sometimes major difficulties in
highly successful and able adults.

For example little boy who was
told, “you will never make a
success of anything” might become
the man who tries to be successful
at all costs. Patterns like these
are often really important
development issues confronting
people in Organisations. These are
usually more significant than
deficiencies in knowledge or skill.
We should be able to think about
how this applies to our own selves
and to people we know. What can we
do about these difficulties?

Ones again we can learn a lot from
our small children. When they are
hurt emotionally, they cry or
express their anger. Afterwards
they feel fine again. A lot of this
can be quite hard on the parents,
but it works well for the children.
It is a natural healing process
which the behavioural scientists
call “discharge” Unfortunately we
are taught not to do this e.g. Men
don’t cry etc. Thus a natural
healing process has been blocked.

51

Of course it would not be
appropriate to give immediate vent
to our feelings in most situations.
We have to learn function well
despite how we feel. However, we
have to recover this natural
healing process. It is much
healthier than repressing our
feelings, taking them out on some
one else or resorting to alcohol.
Furthermore feelings can impair our
judgement in ways that are highly
detrimental.

Then, counselling can be offered as
a far better solution. When we are
distressed, what we need is a good
listening to. We need to
“discharge” i.e. talk about in an
appropriate way & express how we
feel. We can then re-evaluate the
experience and think and act
intelligently again.

Our patterns prevent us functioning
well. They stop us from getting our
work and the rest of our lives the
way we want it to be. Patters need
to be contradicted. For example
man, who was told as a little boy
that he would never make a success

52

of anything, needs to contradict
the message and accept that as a
mature man “I can make a success of
anything “. This is a simple
process and does not require expert
skills through it will require some
training. This is not theory.

It is simply a basic human process,
which help us to live and work
well. Now let us consider the
implications of the above for the
management and development of human
resources.

• At the very least we can
use this as background
information to help
understand why talented
people sometimes behave
less than intelligently.
It may help us to
respond more
appropriately when they
do this. (What is the
difficulty? What would
help? )

• It explains why
listening is often the

53

most valuable thing we
can do.

• We find this is very
useful to distinguish
people and “patterns”.
It becomes much easier
to like someone when we
realise that they are
fine and it is only the
“pattern” which is
thoroughly obnoxious.
When realise it is a
“pattern” it is easier
to stay rational.

• It gives us an extremely
valuable developmental
tool and provides us
with a way of working
with people

We work in Organisations where
the culture does not usually make
it easy to be open about our
difficulties. Frankly there is
usually a lot of pretence. In this
environment we have to approach the
introduction of counselling as a
key leadership development tool

54

with a good deal of sensitively. It
requires judgement to decide
whether and when to introduce
counselling to an individual or
group of people. The key factor
seems to be safety. When there is
enough trust and safety people may
be ready to use counselling.

55

5
Why people stay away
from Work

Absenteeism continues to be a
serious problem in Sri Lanka. This
problem is extremely acute in the
case of Manual Grade employees.
In this article the author suggests
a new approach as a solution to
this problem

Before analysing why people stay
away from work it is worthwhile to
identify four major steps that
should be taken in controlling
absenteeism. These steps are so
simple that the tendency is to
ignore the importance of following
them.

58

1) Analyse the situation to
determine the type of
absenteeism.

2) Confront the employee with
the problem

3) Enforce the rules relating
to absenteeism

4) Document the occurrence of
absenteeism for each
employee.

Absentees could be categorised in
to at least four major groups and
they should be dealt with in a
manner suitable to their specific
problem.

59

‘The Bored Absentee’

He is bored with the work, work is
not interesting or challenging; he
often stays away from work to
participate in something more
interesting. You would observe his
absence to be sporadic. He tends to
keep away just before holidays or
after holidays.

In dealing with such ‘bored’
employees you should ask the
employee for his true feelings
about the job. You should point out
the problems his absence is causing
to the factory or office. Ask the
employee to agree to correct the
problem and obtain commitment from
the employee. You may point out the
advantages of good work record. To
him and also the disadvantages of
high absenteeism.

60

‘The Immature Absentee’

He feels that a day off is a fringe
benefit and gives no thought to the
consequences of his absence. He is
often influenced by others and does
not take his work seriously. Such
persons may be just after school..
Frequently one meets immature or
old people also in this category.

Dealing with such ‘immature
absentees’ should be the way you
deal with a lot of patience as you
cannot expect such persons to know
or do things you do not personally
show them. However allow them to
retain their dignity as adults. You
may ask them to deal with the
problem in a mature way and refer

61

them to the more attitudes required
in the business
‘The Frustrated Absentee’

He gets habitually absent in order
to relieve his frustration. He is
likely to have a long history of
aggressive behaviour. Very often
these persons find the pressures of
the day too difficult to cope with.
They usually have more number of
days absence and a long record of
absence. Their tolerance limit
would be normally low and they do
not see that they are causing
problems to other employees and to
the workplace. Here again the
person should be made aware of the
consequence of his absenteeism. And
shown his own record of absenteeism
and point out the specific problem
and have a follow up on the matter.

62

‘The Avenging Absentee’

This situation is the most
difficult to deal with. The person
feels victimised or taken
advantages of. He usually perceives
a lot of injustice and
discrimination or favouritism a lot
of injustice and discrimination or
favouritism in the factory or in
the office. Usually these persons
are prepared to defend them selves
and like to argue. It’s not merely
the staying away from work that
gives him satisfaction but the
thought of the disruption that is
caused by his absence. These
persons too could be persuaded to
come to work. Do not show any
weakness. They themselves resent
it. Be firm and discuss the problem
of absenteeism only.

63

Finally, the following 10 points
will be helpful in controlling
absenteeism in the workplace.

1 Determine whether the employee
notified you as soon as possible
that an absence was necessary.
2 Record the absence in an
attendance record book or printed
form.
3 Analyse the absence through in
depth discussion; don’t accept
phoney excuses.
4 Decide through your analysis
which of the four types of
absentee you are dealing with.
5 Maintaining an alternative work
plan to ensure smooth production
when absences do occur.
6 Confront every absence so that
the employees know that you
consider absence serious.
7 Keep a record of added costs that
resulted from absenteeism.
8 Indicate a satisfactory programme
to avoid absenteeism due to
accidents.

64

9 Discuss the moral value of
“legitimate absence” only with
your subordinates.
1 Remember that even the most
abusive violator can have an
absence that is legitimate.

• (Condensed from the materials
presented by the author to an
In House Training Workshop).

65

Manpower Shortage?
(Within an organisation)
Here’s a way out

Most companies have no means of
dealing effectively with the
development of people from an
under-utilised area to an area,
which is short of people.

Symptoms of the problem

If you are suffering from a
shortage of manpower in your
department or company a visible
symptom will most likely by
subordinates who come to you in
increased numbers for direction and
guidance; The reason being the
workload in a particular area
increasing by leaps and bounds.
Faced with such a situation it is
essential to ascertain first and
foremost whether it is likely to
remain that way for a significant

68

duration before deciding on what
action need to be taken.

A solution from within?

Regrettably the action taken by
most managers is to create more
work roles and to fill them up with
new recruits. What is often not
recognised is that there may also
be a reduction in work-load
occurring in certain other areas is
usually quite difficult because
there is no automatic gauge for
indicating the under load. One
exception however is direct
production work where production
managers soon recognise shortage of
work. Even then it is only
recognised when the fall off in
work-load is large enough to be
significant in terms of actually
finding it difficult to give people
work to do.

Spreading work

69

In direct work (work not directly
involve with production) the
organisation and the system is
quite capable of generating
additional work or allowing the
existing work which has reduced in
quantity to be spread in such a way
that fall off is not perceptible in
throwing up spare people. This
provides an ideal opportunity to
improve the quantity of work and
services provided. Thus it is a
major management task to be
recognised and identified areas
where there may be fall off of
work. For example in area such as
the provision of information the
real work involved in providing the
information gradually decreases
while requests for information
remains at the same level or
increases.

The need therefore is decisive and
firm administrative decisions to be
able to realign the resources from
the areas of work reduction or
intended work reduction in to areas
where workload is patently
increasing.

70

Redeployment; A neglected area

Moat companies have an effective
system of recruitment with printed
forms indicating requisitions for
personnel and specifically selected
staff for interviewing applicants.
Bat sadly most companies have no
means of dealing effectively with
re-deployment of people from and
under-utilised area to an area
which is short of people. Some
times the re-deployment cannot be
done directly but must be done by a
series of moves.

A company which can effectively
grapple with this realignment of
resources increases the security of
their work force by keeping numbers
down to the bare minimum necessary
and at the same time increasing the
experience at the employees can
gain by the sheer necessity of
moving them from one type of work
to another. In order to facilitate
this type of move many personnel
policies will need to be made
explicit such as the maintenance of

71

the income of people who are
transferred to work in a place with
which they are unfamiliar.

The provision of effective training
is also essential.

Transfer of work

It is sometime possible however to
transfer work instead of people
from an overload area to an under-
loaded one. Where this can be done
and it can be seen to be
advantageous then it is preferable
to moving people since the
continued existence of working
groups and managerial feel of
individual performance is
important.

What you can

When the workload in a particular
area increases each manager at
whatever level must search within

72

his own resources to find ways of
re-deploying people or to adjust
work in such a way to take care of
the work level. When it reaches the
stage where this becomes impossible
he must then refer to his own
manager indicating the steps he has
taken to attempt to deal with the
problems and ask his own manager to
see if within his wider area of
resources the problems can be
resolved. This process must be
repeated until the whole of the
company has been considered with
regard to re-deployment.

Finally the necessity of additional
work must be reviewed with care
before new roles are created and
the alternatives of achieving the
same results by other means such as
capital investments should also be
fully explored.

73

7
Human Resources
Development For Small
& Medium Scale
Industry In The Private
Sector

Human Resources Development (HRD)
has to be, first and foremost
linked to the Strategic Planning of
an Organisation, as the letter
provides vital foresights and needs
of Human Resources, in future. The
Strategic plan of an Organisation
has to be based on the macro level
plans of the country. The
government strategy for
industrialisation is to create an
industrial structure capable of
operating in a competitive
environment, thus supporting the
country’s export base whilst
meeting the demands of the domestic

76

market. Production for export
markets will require competitive
advantage over other competitor
nations if it is to be economically
visible. The quality of our
products also should be of such
standards to be able to complete in
the international markets. An
Organisation has to then answer the
following questions.

What is it that an organisation is
required to produce?
What are its outputs or results?
What skills are required to produce
those results?

The function of HRD is to help
people to do their jobs to the set
standards. For this purpose all
employees should have clearly
defined objectives. Total
comprehension of individual roles,
responsibilities and standards of
performance required of them is of
paramount importance. Employers
have to ensure that the employee
compensation is compatible with
their contribution, so that desired
employee performance can be
stimulated. Whoever has developed

77

his ability to the extent where he
can meet or exceed job
requirements, he should be
equitably compensated for his
contribution.

A gap between the desired
performance and the current actual
performance could mean interalia a
training need. The important point
about identification of training
needs is that the Organisation must
know what constitutes the standards
or desired performance and what the
current actual performance is, at
sufficient level of detail.
Thereafter, systematic training and
development could be initiated,
which is really a cyclic process
consisting of the following
element:

• Identification of training
needs.
• Determination of the outcome
expectations.
• Implementation of training
strategies.
• Measurement and analysis of
results and feedback.

78

It may not be possible for a Medium
or a Small Scale Industry to have
full time specialised trainers.
Even otherwise, the final
responsibility to train and develop
employees should be with the line
managers. Reproduced below is a
policy compiled by the author for a
large Group of Company.

• Human Resource is the most
valuable asset of the
Company. The only real
advantage we have over
competitors in the
increasingly tough business
world is in the quality and
quantity of our human
resources. In order to
increase our advantage over
competitors, we must do
everything we can to improve
their skills, effectiveness
and their motivation.

• Put the right person in the
right place and develop such
employee’s ability to utmost
so that both, the employee

79

and the Company would
benefit.

• Assign maximum possible
responsibility for the human
resources management and
development, to operating
managers.

• Selection and evaluation
based upon actual
achievement of the
individual.

Human Resources Development should
be carried out to achieve
development objectives of the
individual and the company, to a
matching process, which will result
in a satisfactory relationship
between the two.

Human Resources Development should
be therefore, based on employees
self-enlightenment supported by
management. This can be achieved by
creating the right working
environment providing necessary
motivation towards the development
of their personal knowledge, skills

80

and abilities. Human Relations thus
become an integral part of this
process, as the personnel the
Organisation has recruited, trained
and compensated have to be
integrated into jobs in such a
manner that they work together
productively and co-operatively
with a sense of economic, social
and psychological satisfaction.
Opportunities for training and
development should be given to all
employees contingent upon their
capacity for development.

The private sector in our country
has identified the inadequacy of
management expertise, specially at
the middle and supervisory levels,
as the major constraint facing
them.. Government has undertaken to
provide every encouragement to
training institutions and firms to
develop the required human
resources. The National Institute
of Business Management, originally
conceived to train managers for the
public sector, has been converted
by amending the law, to a general
management training institution
with emphasis on private sector

81

needs. In order to further
facilitate training in management
and technical skills, the
government is preparing proposals
for funding skills development by
assisting firms and teaching
institutions with loans and grants.
This scheme is likely to be based
on similar successful schemes in
Singapore, Malaysia and South
Korea.

At the organisation level, one must
consider three major inputs into
its management development process,
as follows:

1. The overall requirements of
the organisation and its
associated strategic
business plan.
2. The mutually agreed needs of
the individual managers
arrived at as part of their
performance appraisal and
goal setting process.
3. The requirement of the
organisation for career and
succession planning to cater
for requirements and/ or
resignations,

82

(Please see Annexure 11 for
a suggested Development
Model on HRD).

Some Companies use the Assessment
Centre method to evaluate as
objectively as possible, the
general management ability of their
future managers. At the Personal
Assessment Centre the behaviour of
potential managers are observed
through a variety of standardised
performance situations. The centre
staffs uses a comprehensive rating
scheme and a system of inferencing
thereof. Some of the dimensions
used are defined below.

1 Oral Communications

To what extent can this
individual express himself (in
English)? Executives have to
present oral reports at various
meeting.

2 Written Communications

individual effectively express
his or her ideas in writing

83

(Language is English of
course)?

3 Leadership Skills

How effectively can he lead a
group to accomplish a task
without arousing hostility?

4 Forcefulness

To what extent does this
individual make an early
impact on others?

5 Energy

To what extents can this
individual continuously
maintain a high level of work
activity?

6 Likeability

individual make a likeable
impact on others?

7 Awareness of Social Environment

84

individual perceive subtle
cues in the behaviour of
others towards him or her.

8 Behaviour Flexibility

individual, when motivated,
modify his or her behaviour to
reach a goal?

9 Self Objectivity

individual realise his or her
own assets and liabilities?

10 Inner Work Standards

individual want to do a good
job, even if he or she could
get by with doing a less
acceptable?

11 Managerial Identification

85

individual relate to
Management’s views and
problems?

12 Resistance to Stress

individual’s work performance
stand up in face of unusual
pressure?

13 Range of Interests

individual interested in a
variety of fields of activity,
such as science, politics,
sport and art etc.?

14 Organising and Planning

individual effectively
organise and plan his or her
work?

86

15 Decision Making

individual make decision of
high quality and how likely is
he or she to make decision
when required?

16 Scholastic Aptitude

individual compare to other
individuals in his or her
ability to learn new things?

Author does not claim credit for
the HRD System outlined here. The
paper is an overview of the Human
Resources Development effort that
should be undertaken for small &
Medium Scale Industry in the
private sector. In conclusion, what
is needed is work within a sound
strategic plan based on economic
realities and set within the
cultural, social, environmental,
religious and political aspirations
of the Nation, we should compare
where we have the comparative
advantage and develop our resources

87

the most important being the human
resources.

I would summarise what I have
covered in this paper as follows

1. The vital link between
strategic planning and Human
Resources Management and
Development.

2. All employees must have
clearly defined objectives.

3. Process of Management
Succession is intimately
linked with Management
Development.

4. Use of assessment Centres to
evaluate employees
objectively for general
management ability.

5. Human Resources Development
should be based on self-
enlightenment.

6. Line Managers have the final
responsibility to train and

88

develop employees under
their purview.

should be carried out to
achieve the development
objectives of both the
individuals and Group

8 Need to improve and develop
each individual’s ability
should be emphasised.

should be made an integral
part of the performance
appraisal

10. Development of young
executives with potential
for managerial development.

11.The opportunity for
training and
development should be given
to every body.

12. Employee compensation has
to be compatible with their
contribution.

89

13. Human Relations to be
considered as an integral
part of the Human Resources
Management.

90

Annexure 1

Developmental Model For
Human Resources Management And Development
ORIGANISATIONAL NEEDS MATCHING PROCESS INDIVIDUAL NEEDS

Primarily initiated &
managed by the Organisation
Career or job choice
Planning for Staffing, Job analysis. Recruitment &
Strategic Planing. Human selection Introduction,
Resources Planning & Socialisation, Initial
Human Resources Early career issue:
Training. Job Design & Job
Inventorying Locating one’s area of
assignment
contribution. Learning
Supervising & coaching performance how o fit into
Planning for growth & appraisal & judgement of potential
development, Inventory Organisation, becoming
Organisational rewards. Promotions & productive, seeing a
of development plans, other job changes. Training &
follow up & evaluation future for one-self in
Development opportunities, Career career.
of development plans counselling, joint career planing and Mid career issues:
follow-up locating one’s carer
Planning for levelling Continuing education & anchor & building
off & disengagement retraining, Job redesign. one’s career around it
Job redesign, Job enrichment
& job rotation. Alternative
Late career issues:
patterns of work and
becoming a mentor :using
Planning for replacement rewards.
one’s experience &
and restaffing
wisdom
Updating of Human resources
inventorying. Information
systems for job openings new New human resources from
cycle of recruitment . inside or outside the
Organisation .

91

Human Resources Development System
TRAINING PROGRAMS & COURCES PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL & CAREER DEVELOPMENT
COUNSELLING
Orientation courses for new comers In-house training programmes Joint evaluation of
conducted by the Human performance based on
Resources Development participatively pre-set Personnel Assessment
Support for Self Development

Department based on the objectives. Center.
general training and
development needs of the
Company Rating scale is also used
for performance appraisal. Management dimensions
Specific training programmes
Under this method appraisal Evaluation by the
arranged by the Human
is done by evaluating Group Executive
Resources Development
skills, qualities and Directorate.
Department depending on the
specific needs of the characteristics of employee
such as Initiative and

f
Company/Department concerned
drive, attitude to work,
Inner work standard, Succession Plan.
Training programmes and leadership skills etc.,
courses conducted by outside
Training Organisations. Use of counseling to
maintain constructive
employee attitude and to
Overseas Training assist them to overcome
problems related to their
work performance.

Training and
Development Needs

92

8
Principles For Human
Talents Management And
Development
1. We recognise the vital link
between Strategic Planning
and Human Resources
Management and Development
(HRMD). Strategic Planning
provides our management with
vital foresight into the
problems and needs of human
resources, of them.

2. We recognise the need for all
employees to have clearly
defined objectives for their
total comprehension of the
individual roles,
responsibilities and
standards required of them.

3. We ensure that the process of
management succession is
intimately linked with

96

management development.
Accordingly, a manpower
succession plan is useful
tool for ensuring that top
management positions can
quickly be filled whenever
there is a vacancy at that
level

4. We are committed to the use
of Assessment Centres to
evaluate employees
objectively for general
management ability- through
behaviour observation, a
variety of standardised
performance situations, a
comprehensive behaviour
rating Scheme and a system of
inferencing thereof.

5. We believe that Human
Resources Development should
be based on worker self-
enlightenment supported by
Senior Management: by
creating the right working
environment and facilitating
management of oriented
motivation of individual

97

workers towards the
development of their personal
skills, improved performance
and enhanced career
prospects.

6. We believe that line Managers
have the final responsibility
to train and develop
employees under their
purview. Accordingly, we
ensure that Line Managers
undertake full responsibility
for developing the potential
of subordinates, while Staff
Managers, in turn, do not
deprive line Managers of
their competence.

7. We believe that Human
Resources Development should
be carried out to achieve
development objectives of
both the individual and the
company through a matching
process that would bring the
company and individuals
together in a mutually
satisfactory relationship.

98

8. We emphasise the need to
improve and develop each
individual, ability to
keeping all the managers and
executives abreast of the
latest developments in the
technical and management
fields through mandatory
attendance of a selection of
training and development
programmes sponsored by the
Group, NIBM, SLBDC and other
Organisations each year.

9. We believe in making human
resources development an
integral part of the
performance Appraisal, so
that no Manager or Executive
may be promoted unless he/she
has successfully trained
another to take over his/her
job.

10. We are committed to the
development of young
Executives with potential for
managerial development by
giving them every opportunity
to advance their careers

99

(through training programmes
and counselling sessions),
simultaneously fulfilling the
needs of the company.

11. We believe the opportunity
for training and development
should be given to all
employees equally, Contingent
upon their capacity for
development.

12. We believe in making employee
compensation compatible with
their contributions in order
to stimulate the desired
employee behaviour. Whenever
an employee has developed
his/her ability to extent
where such a person can meet
or exceed job requirement,
he/she should be equitably
compensated for his/her
contribution.

13. We consider Human Relations
to be an integral part of
Human Resources Management,
so that the personal we have
recruited, trained, placed

100

and compensated may be
integrated into a job in such
a manner as to motivate them
to work together productively
and co-operatively and with a
sense of economic, social and
psychological satisfaction.

101

9
Military Lessons For
Business Managers

The Art of War by Sun Tzu is the
oldest military classic known in
Chinese literature, Sun Tzu’s Art of
War is in fact a very short book.
It contains less than 6200
characters of classical Chinese
literary writing. The book has only
13 chapters with each chapter barely
a page long. The fact that the
original work of Sun Tzu was in
literary writing has created many
problems for scholars in capturing
the full meanings and implications
of his thoughts. This is largely
attributed to the complexity of the
Chinese Language. Prof. Wee of the
National University of Singapore in
his book, has provided the closest
meanings in English for the terms
used in Sun Tzu’s original writings.
The idea of an analogy between the

104

world of business and that of the
battlefield is not a novel one. One
would hear of car wars, cola wars
and such economic wars almost daily.
Various studies relating to the
application of military strategies
to business practices have been
published. For example Marketing
Warfare by Rie’s and Trout (1986)
has been based on the works of the
German General Karl Von Clausewitz,
which were written in 1832. The
word strategy comes from the Greek
word strategos. Originally
referring to a general, the word
came to refer to “The art of the
general” or “What the general does”.
Today, strategy refers to the art
and science of directing resources
to optimise the chances of victory
and reduce the effects of tactical
defects.

The business world is like the
battlefield. In fact businesses
have collapsed through poor
planning, resulting in the loss of
capital and employment. This is no
different from war, where poor

105

planning can lead to the loss of
men, equipment and the battle
itself; in the case of Companies in
the business world, the impact of
losses can at times be felt
throughout many other sectors of the
economy, just as losses in war can
literally tear a nation apart. Thus
the challenges facing a Military
Head of State and the CEO of a
Company is comparable. Please refer
Table 1.

Table 1: Comparison between a
Military Head of State and a CEO of
a Company

Military Business

1. To consolidate 1. Protect the
his present Market Share of
government business.
within a
defined
territory and 2. Finding new
to protect it markets whose
from external needs might be
aggression met by the
current
2. To expand his products.

106

present
territory
either by 3. Exploring and
conquering developing new
neighbour products for
states existing
markets.

Or
3. By embarking 4. Developing new
on more businesses with
ambitious new products in
expeditions to new markets.
far away lands
and
territories.

Influence of the Rulers in the Government

In war, people should be in perfect
accord with their Ruler and be
willing to accompany him in life and
in death without any fear of danger.
If the leader is wise and capable he
will be able to gain the moral
support of his subjects so much so
that they will be willing to

107

accompany him through the thick and
thin of a battle and the ups and
downs of the state. While this may
seem unthinkable, in reality there
are examples such as suicide bombers
who are willing to lay down their
lives for their leader (although
this may evoke some uncomfortable
feelings among us). This kind of
influence can be observed outside
the battlefield when one examines
the role governments have played in
the success of industries in
countries like Japan, Singapore and
South Korea. For example, the
Japanese Ministry of Trade and
Industry (MITI) is known for
charting the overall industrial
policy for the country. The
Japanese government will also not
hesitate to support their industries
in various ways such as through
government guarantees and financing
similarly in NICs, the governments
have greatly encouraged their
companies to have an outward
orientation and have packaged
various incentives to help them
achieve such objectives. The result
is that these countries are export

108

driven. On the other hand one
witnesses corrupt and weak
governments that are responsible for
the decay in their national
economies. It is well known that
many African, Asian and Latin
American countries suffer
economically because of incapable
governments that are unable to
exercise leadership. In today’s
business world, many countries
including Sri Lanka rely on foreign
investment to stimulate economic
growth. One key determinant of the
inflow of foreign investment is the
level of political stability, which
in turn depends heavily on political
leadership. An enlightened ruler
will create the climate for the rise
of the nation. For business a
capable government will provide
political stability and hence
attract foreign investments and
stimulate economic growth, while a
corrupt government will only sow the
seeds of economic decay. The first
step in the strategic decision
making process whether in military
or business is Situation Appraisal.
This involves assessing the

109

desirability of engaging in combat.
Having thoroughly appraised the
situation, one would next proceed to
formulation of goals and strategies.
The choice of strategies has to be
compatible with the goals selected
and has to be appropriate to a given
situation. Next would be the
Evaluation of Strategies at which
the strategist has to assess the
effectiveness of the proposed
strategies. Once they are evaluated
as feasible and effective, the next
stage would be Implementation.
During this stage the tactical &
operational aspects of effective
implementation is considered.
Finally to ensure success, there
must be Controls with Feedback
Mechanisms.

The Principle of Detailed Planning

Strategic Management must begin with
detailed planning. Focus is not
whether a Company or an army plan or
does not plan, rather it is how
detailed the planning is. This
would encompass consideration of

110

facts, which are micro as well as
macro, controllable as well as
uncontrollable, internal as well as
external, static as well as dynamic,
human as well as non-human, tangible
as well as intangible. In short,
detailed planning has to be
exhaustive in coverage and
consideration. Detailed planning
cannot be carried out on the basis
of intuition, gut feeling,
calculated guesses or other
subjective means. It must be
based on intelligence, which can be
obtained by men who have knowledge
of the enemy or the competitive
situation. Thus there is a need to
actively collect, store, analyse and
utilise information for the
development of more effective
strategies. The successful
acquisition and utilisation of
information for strategic purposes
is an important factor, which
determines the competitiveness of a
country or a business.

Mission

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In the days before radio and other
forms of modern communication,
ancient armies solved the problem of
keeping the combat unit together and
moving forward with a ‘standard’ or
‘ensign’. This device was simply a
tall pole with a flag or other
symbol representing the combat unit
that could be seen above the dust
and confusion of the battle.
Soldiers used this standard as a
rallying point, giving them a focus
and helping to ensure unified
efforts in combat. The mission and
mission statement, we believe, serve
the same function for the modern
enterprise – to provide a sense of
guidance, orientation, and direction
in the complexity and occasional
flurry of the enterprises day-to-day
existence. In an era of
discontinuous change, the Mission
Statement takes on even more
importance as the single statement
that provides long-term focus for
the efforts of the enterprise. Thus
it should have a vision component,
describing what the enterprise needs
to accomplish, what business it is
in (or intends to be in) and what

112

significant contribution it expects
to make. Then the mission statement
should have a ‘theme’ component
describing how the enterprise
intends to achieve its objectives.
This theme component helps to
distinguish the enterprise from
others by defining its unique
characteristics.

Values

Like in the battlefield, in business
too people have to operate under
tremendous strains. It may be the
‘religious faith’ or ‘faith in their
ruler’ which provides the support
and guidance for the military
general in the battlefront.
Similarly, in business management,
we need to believe in something. It
has to be a belief in something more
important and immortal than
ourselves that will give us a will
to succeed and a kind of serenity in
stress. What we mean here is a set

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of values which communicates itself
to those are who are being lead, and
helps sustain their determination to
be successful. This is extremely
important in difficult situations,
because people who are so inspired
and motivated really can do the
apparently impossible.

Choice of Battle Ground

In military combat as well as in
business one of the important
factors to ensure success is to
choose battlegrounds carefully.
Choosing the right battleground
enables the army and the Company to
exhibit its strengths better and
camouflage its weaknesses. In
addition it will also enable the
firm to exploit opportunities in the
market – for example through niching
strategies one could cushion the
effects of threats in the
environment. In choosing a

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battleground to compete, a Company
should opt for one in which it has
distinct advantages over its
competitors. It can also look for
areas ignored by the competitors.
An understanding and appreciation of
the characteristics of different
battlegrounds will help decide the
appropriateness of a given strategy.
Let us examine the different types
of battlegrounds.

Dispersive Ground

This is a battle situation in which
the army is fighting in its own
territory. For example, one of
Israels’ military strategies has
always been to avoid fighting a war
within her own territory. Its
occupation of the Westbank, Golan
Heights and Gaza Strip typify her
resolve not to fight in her own
territory. In the business world
one observes that the United States
is facing a problem of exports from
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hongkong
and Singapore. The US has chosen
passive and defensive strategies by

115

trying to fight on its own soil,
rather than concentrate on a more
aggressive and offensive export
drive (which would be analogus to
fighting beyond one’s territory).
On the other hand a Firm competing
with two many brands in the same
market could be in a dispersive
battleground. In such cases,
Company has to ensure the unit of
purpose among all personnel
involved.

Accessible Ground

This is a ground that is open and
equally accessible to the enemy and
yourself. In such grounds ancient
war strategy was to prevent the
enemy from entering your territory.
In the business world one finds
businesses where the market entry
and exit are very easy. There is
then the need to protect market
share by building up strong defenses
through improvement of the total
system that include production,
marketing, advertising and
promotion, inventory control,

116

planning and distribution outlets –
so much so that the walls become
thick and impenetrable.

Frontier Ground

When the army has made only a
shallow penetration into the enemy’s
territory the ground is considered
frontier in nature. Military
strategy would be not to stop in
frontier ground and to keep the
forces closely linked. In the area
of foreign market entry, the
Japanese can be hailed as gurus of
this strategy of never stopping at
frontier ground. With the
coordinated efforts needed in a
frontier ground situation, without
rushing into foreign markets
simultaneously, Toyota entered the
US market followed by other Japanese
Automobile Companies.

Entrapping Ground

One in which it is easy to get in
but difficult to get out. It is a
type of ground that is filled with
boobytraps. Businesses with low

117

capital but high operating costs can
be entrapping too. This is
especially so where there are strong
labour unions or labour laws that
prevent management from retrenching
workers. At times the unions may
even obstruct any modernization or
mechanization efforts.

Constricted Ground

In essence, a constricted ground is
one in which the access route is
narrow and retreat route is
tortuous. It is the type of ground
that is difficult to get into and at
the same time difficult to get out.
To survive in a constricted
environment, resourcefulness is
required in the design of
strategies. This is because the
competitive advantage enjoyed is
often very narrow and at the same
time this advantage is vulnerable to
attacks. If technology is the
competitive advantage it becomes
very important to build on this
strength and defend it as much as

118

possible through continuous
upgrading.

Key Ground

Is one which is equally advantageous
to the enemy and yourself. Owing to
its importance, it is highly
contentious and the forces of both
sides are likely to contest bitterly
for it. For example, with the
opening of China many multinational
Companies view the Chinese market as
a key market owing to the vast
business potential. It is
therefore, not surprising to witness
many Companies rushing into Chinese
markets. If one were to apply
military strategies one should avoid
attacking the enemy on key ground.
Rather, it is important to improve
your supporting skills – rush up all
your rear forces and elements. The
way the Japanese have handled the
Americans and Europeans in the world
markets is a good example.

Focal Ground

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When a state is surrounded by three
other states, its ground is
considered focal. In such a ground
the enclosed state forms the key to
the other three states in that the
one who captures it can have a
commanding situation over other
states. Thus it can be expected
that the focal ground be always
under threat of siege. The strategy
here is to be-friend neighbouring
states and to strengthen ties with
the allies. The small producers in
an oligopolistic market structure
are in focal grounds. If you are
the small producer, it is very
important not to agitate the larger
competitors. It is better to follow
the leader than to lead them. To
survive in such a business
situation, there is a need to also
strengthen ties with allies. These
allies would include the suppliers,
customers, bankers, labour unions
and government bodies. One
remembers how the strong support
received by Chryslers allies
prevented it from going bankrupt or
being squeezed out by much larger

120

Companies like General Motors and
Ford.

Indifferent Ground

Indifferent or indecisive ground is
a situation that is dis-advantageous
to both the enemy and yourself. In
such situations, there is absolutely
no advantage in making the first
move. When China first opened up,
many Companies were hesitant to go
in as they were uncertain about the
Chinese Policy. Many Companies
sidelined themselves and preferred
to gain from the experiences of the
early entrants. In the same way
Japanese concentrated on applied R &
D and Production Technology of
American and European Firms.

Treacherous Ground

When the Army is travelling in
mountain forests, dangerous passes,
marshy swamps or other difficult

121

terrain it is in treacherous ground.
In such a situation the Army does
not encamp but should move swiftly.
In the mature state of the product
life cycle, the market is saturated
with all kinds of competitive
products. It is therefore,
important not to stay too long in
matured markets.

Desolate Ground

In war, as the battle progresses,
grounds that were originally
captured and deemed valuable might
lose their appeal as they become
less crucial to the subsequent
conduct of war. One should not
linger on that ground. Much the
same way Companies should not stay
in declining markets. Japanese
Companies abandoned labour intensive
industries such as textiles, once
they realised that the other
developing Countries are able to
operate more cheaply than them.

122

Distant Ground

In distant ground both sides are
away from home base and are equally
matched in forces. It is to the
best interest of both sides to avoid
direct battles which would confer
little advantage to either side.
The Japanese penetration of foreign
markets again provides a very good
example of this avoidance of direct
battle in distant ground.

Serious Ground

It is one on which the army has
penetrated deep into the enemy
territory and has left behind many
of the enemies fortified cities and
towns. In this case the army
normally plunders the resources of
the enemy but protect its supply
routes to ensure a continuous flow
of provisions. In the same way, a
Company operating in a foreign
market should seriously consider
relying as much as possible on local
resources, which include all factors
of production like labour, capital,

123

technology, management, raw
materials and other supplies.

Death Ground

This is a situation in which the
army can only survive if it fights
with the courage of desperation,
where the only way to survive is
fight. Chrysler Corporation of
United States was on the verge of
bankruptcy between 1978 and 1982.
Lee Iaococca made it abundantly
clear to his employees that the only
way to survive was to fight. His
efforts resulted in a drastic change
in the behaviour and loyalty of the
workers towards management.

The Principle of Concentration of Forces &
the Need to Attack

This means economising of forces; In
other words application of minimum
of strength to a point other than
the decisive one in order to pave
the way for the application of mass
force at the point of decision. The

124

idea is to use one’s limited
available force to strike at the
enemy’s weakest point where victory
can be better assured. What is
important is relative strength and
not absolute strength at the point
of contact. Relative superiority
can be achieved by clever choice of
battleground, maintaining strict
secrecy of one’s battle plan and
using deception. In war, the
invincibility in defence depends on
one’s own efforts, while the
opportunity for victory depends on
the enemy. It follows that those
skilled in warfare can make them
invincible but cannot cause the
enemy to be vulnerable. In ancient
times, those skilful in warfare
first made themselves invulnerable
before waiting for opportunities to
defeat the enemy. Even when one is
playing a competitive game like
football, the only way to win is to
kick the ball into the opponent’s
goal, as one cannot win by only
defending one’s goal. Similarly in
competitive business, one has to
compete openly for market share,
rather than defending one’s own

125

market share. This may be specially
done when the market is not growing
and in times of recession. Over the
last two decades, countries like
Japan, Singapore, South Korea and
Hong Kong had been pursuing
attacking strategies in
international trade. However as in
war, in any corporate planning
decision too, it is essential to
have a contingency plan.

Swiftness in Execution of Plans

Once a detailed plan is developed
based on information gathered
through intelligence and the
battleground chosen, it is important
that the plan be executed swiftly.
Swiftness includes perfect timing
(as it catches others off guard, and
hence minimizes opposition), the
maintenance of momentum and the
avoidance of protracted campaigns.
It also demands that the co-
ordination be perfect. All these
are equally valid in business

126

situations. Like in war, throughout
the business one should maintain
adaptability in manoeuvres.
Adaptability in manoeuvres entails,
provision for creativity, innovation
and the exercise of initiatives. To
move ahead of competitors, a Company
must encourage the flow of
innovative ideas on all fronts –
products, service, marketing
strategies etc.

The company must be capable of
capitalizing the opportunities as
and when they arise.

When large-scale integrated circuits
(LSI) first appeared, western
countries quickly explored them for
usage for missile and space
development. Whereas the Japanese
saw the opportunity for the use of
same in pocket calculators and
watches. Price of the LSI circuit
dropped, due to large-scale use in
the Japanese industries, and the
product quality was also stabilised.

127

Deceptiveness in Actions & Strategies

All warfare is based on deception.
The enemy should not know where you
intend to attack; If he does not
know where you intend to attack he
must defend in many places. The
more places he defends the more
scattered are his forces and the
weaker his force at any one point.
In order to achieve distinct
advantage in combat, one must choose
the battleground that is more
advantageous to oneself than to the
enemy; and bring the enemy to where
you want to fight through the use of
baits and deception. At the same
time one should not succumb to
enemy’s baits. While the term
deceptive tactics seems very
unethical the truth is that baits
are used in the business world too.
One of the commonly used methods for
less developing countries to attract
foreign investments is the offer of
incentives such as exemption from
taxes through pioneer status,
unlimited repatriation of earnings

128

etc. Even among developed
countries, baits have been used for
economic and political reasons.

Anticipation of the Enemy’s Reaction and
Changes in Environment

It will be naive to assume that when
one embarks on an offensive, the
enemy will not react. In other
words, it is dangerous to assume
that the enemy is not capable of
strategising nor is developing
effective responses. In essence,
there is a need to modify a strategy
that may be carefully evaluated and
implemented because of the reactions
of the enemy and the changes in the
environment.

Planning for Victory & Combat Readiness

One over-riding principle for
victory in war is that of unity. To
win there must be unity of minds and
hearts from the ruler to the
subjects of the state. To make the
war a successful one the appointment
of the generals must be based on the

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ability of the skills of the
candidates. Just like in the army,
the way a business is structured and
organised will have a serious effect
on the success. This aspect
includes effective policies,
programmes, operating procedures,
channels of communication, lines of
authority and responsibility. The
organisation and structure of a
company is one area that must be
considered in strategic Planning.
What would be the best way to
organise the Company to face the
future. Very often the strategy is
decided based on the structure. The
structure should follow the strategy
and not the other way. If a company
wants to encourage creativity,
innovation and entrepreneurial
spirit, what is the best way to
structure the company? The strength
of an army does not depend on large
forces. Army should not advance
relying on sheer numbers. What is
more important is the training of
men and officers in the army as well
as in the business. The quality of
the people is definitely competitive
and it is very interesting to note

130

Humantalents Management byJayadeva de Silva

Humantalents Management byJayadeva de Silva

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