What I Got From my Employers-3

 I have worked at 3 different IIMs in the past 25 years. Let me try and expound on the first IIM I worked in, Lucknow, first.

Went there in 2001, stayed till 2003. I was slightly nonplussed by the unfamiliar weather pattern, but learnt to enjoy what I could. Had good friends, old and new. Prof. Akbar was one of the new ones I met, along with Bharat Bhasker (now heads IIM A), Shailendra Singh, Avinash Mulky, Vinay and Madhu Karmakar. Their wives too became family friends. BK Mohanty was a long-time friend from XIMB days-one of the reasons I applied to Lucknow. We were neighbours at Bhubaneswar.

Student quality was good. I remember among them was the daughter of a Cashew king of Goa (Zantye?) -Poonam, I think was her name. And a nephew of my BIL too. And Sameer Ghurye, grandson of my parents' contemporary from the company in Andhra Pradesh. Got along well with JK Das and others in my area- marketing. Neelam Kinra, Prem Purwar and Avinash Mulky were some of them. I also became area chair for a while.

I published my first book-Marketing Research, though it was mostly written at Kirloskar Institute. Tata McGraw- Hill was the publisher. Now in its fourth edition, the Third edition was a bestseller. Also attended a conference at MDI, and met a co-author, Gurvinder Shergill with whom I got a journal paper later in the Journal of Global Marketing. On Marketing Innovation.

Vivek Gupta was a great colleague, and we shared a large office space. He was an IT wizard, and taught me a few tricks on using computers.

The kababs and biryanis in Hazratganj and Ameenabad were out of the world. Not a bad 2 years at all!

What a Workplace Should Strive For

We all know what makes you successful, and what you as an employee should bring to the table (the job-you may have a table or not). This is about what the workplace should think about. And do, hopefully.

Dignity of labour is in my view, number one for a human in any job. He or she must be treated with dignity, and not as a robotic or mechanical cog in the wheel. The latter is beautifully demonstrated by Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times.

Show him a reasonable future in terms of what he can do to progress to a level above his current one. This need not be in terms of just salary, but a good mix of work where he gets to use his skills best.

Anything that fosters an element of camaraderie among his team-mates will create an atmosphere where he wants to come back every day.

Autonomy to the extent possible, is crucial for many. In my view, this is what brings people into teaching, particularly to autonomous institutions which also provide autonomy to its faculty and staff. An empowered employee usually does far better work than a hyper-controlled one.

This is apart from practical solutions to his/her problems, such as transport, or a creche for young mothers to be able to work.