The Great Indian Class Struggle.

I am writing this blog after pondering over an issue which has consumed a lot of thinking space of mine from past few days. This post is about the people who are working for back-end processes and feel that there is something missing in their day to day jobs. I am very new to the private sector just shy of completing 1.5 year in this sector. It’s not been enough time for me to become confidently judgmental, but the following is an estimations made by simple observations. 

I would expand on my observations which can be biased, baseless or painted with my own perceptions, but would try my best to keep out the unaltered versions of truth and talks which I had across dinner tables, on drunk cold nights and in those corporate parties where after people after getting drunk are either dancing or talking about their bosses being bitches.

Let’s start this time by categorizing the kind of people we all have around ourselves in our organizations. I am categorizing them here into four categories:

1.  The Indifferent Tyagi's:  These are the people who are generally the neutral ones on the face of every situation. They don't really have much complaint nor do they talk much about the organizational procedures. 

These people are generally the people who are either working for a bigger cause i.e. self-development, and have an achievement oriented attitude or these are those who don't feel that the organization plays any role in building their career up they themselves are the ones who are building it.

These are people who always are good to go with and continue strive for the performing better. Generally people of this lot are 'Silent Achievers'.

2. The Rampal Yadav's (strugglers): These are the ones which are always toiling with work they are doing they may be doing a menial task but they would continue to wail in the   agony of work and performance pressure. these are generally the people who have either achieved the level/position at which they are earlier than they would have had acquired it (in short they are not able to handle the pressure) or they want believe in that school of thought (not even a thought but a 'Mis-Thought') of 'Third World County's Back-end Processes (TWCBP)' where according to the them a person who is wailing more is the one who is working hard. 

These are probably the most tricky ones to manage, they are the ones who are difficult to trust by the managers as their true capabilities are not known as they try to abstain themselves from the full utilization.

3. The Gyani's: These people are my favorite category, rather than a category these are the off shoots/ are an advanced stage of people of 'The indifferent Tyagi's'. These are those enlightened ones (who are actually better than their manager pool) these are the ones who form the basis of the teams and act as a value enhancers they are given recognition by the juniors but seldom appreciated by the top management because:

3.1.   These are the ones who openly challenge the systems and conventions of conduct.

3.2.   These are the ones who have polarized the similar potential equivalent of themselves in the teams.

To avoid getting overpowered these Gyani's with technically stronger acumen are not easily promoted. One other reason also came out while discussing this category with one of my friends (Having 12 years of Experience in IT consulting) is that these are the people who over perform and their productivity is high these persons if promoted are hard to replace and probably the replacement can't be met in the quality of the resource so, it would be compensated by the number of resources and that will directly impact the profitability. And, moreover what the guarantees are that this resource will be loyal to organization for long enough to serve his promotional purpose. So, these employees work hard to get the promotions but being outspoken they have only one choice either to switch the organization or change the line of thought. The latter one is hardest so generally they go for a switch.

4. The Middle Class of TWCBP: These are the employees who are generally moderate performers and their managerial skills are not very efficient. This lot, needs guidance at times and seeks for approvals. These are the ones who adhere the strict hierarchical culture of the organizations and do not cross their lines of authority. They try to prove their knowledge and skill in every seldom chance they get (but only at times when they are asked for it). 

These ones are proud in nature and admire the Gyani's but silently abhor them for their views.This lot is the one which is best suited for mid-managerial level promotions. They are often given promotions up to the middle level managerial positions as they are good Goofies to be kept and will stick to the decisions of the managerial strata without questions. 

This lot takes the vision and values of company more seriously than the client relationships. As a result in the Capitalist setup of corporate these Socialist's win sympathy votes. I don't want to demean this lot, but this lot is the one, for whom I am not able to foresee a position in the real world, outside corporate offices. They are characterized by their hoity-toity attitudes which can hardly be substantiated in any kind of fulfilling experience, other than slogging at work.  Many of these after 7-8 years in their job profiles, when asked about the nature and quality of their jobs they do? The typical replies are like this "I know my job is not a good one and I don't really feel like that I know anything other than what I have learnt in past few years" this is a typical attitude which will make your careers stagnant long run.Because of this the acceptability in the market becomes low and the person is restricted to a small area of specialization.

                                   

                   (Why you will fail to have a great career | Larry Smith | TEDxUW)

Conclusions and questions yet to be answered:

So these were the types of people whom I have come across. This is an entire picture which I was able to build up of TWCBP's basically everyone in the midst of chaotic curry of client satisfaction is struggling hard to break the shackles of the social class in which one was born. Yes, undoubtedly people do had been successful in attaining the better social status and improved their standard of living but at what cost? I fail to answer this question.

 People here in BP's do have skill but they are trained like an assembly line worker who only knows a bit of his job and doesn't know a whole process from start to end. This is a sole reason because of which these services have a high attrition rate, low employee satisfaction. These employees are well trained but not skilled in their craft because purview of their work is very narrow. So for you out there in the TWCBP the career sustainability is a big question. This sector hasn't yet seen the first generation of retirees and moreover this class is like a footloose labor (Footloose or fractured work identity) who is seldom able to make their own piece of real estate in tier-1 cities these questions again raise a mark on the sustainability of the idea.  

 Will this person be able to sustain his class where he has settled in for now, after 30 years of service as the rate at which this sector is growing and the rate at which the facilities for the non-working population is growing is not in line with each other? Questions have not been resolved for me till now but each day I am talking to people and knowing things but still it is a start of an exploration but wouldn't comment on it how it is going but it is somewhat a hilarious experience. Let’s keep that aside for another blog.

This was a summary of thought process of mine till date. I invite further views and thoughts on this please feel free to write them in comments section.

Tiger's Lunch.

“D.Rajkumar” was the first thing I noticed on the waiter’s breastplate when I called him to my table for ordering the desert. And don’t forget this is five star dining hall of one of the leading clubs of India. Rajkumar coming to my table with the menu, when somebody called out his name in a harsh, authoritative tone. The sombre expressions of Rajkumar changed from a formal smile to a serious frown he turns towards the voice mustering every inch of courage in him and walked towards the table from where the tiger had growled. I was sitting there at my table and eyeing my menu while keeping an eye on the events happening on the table next to mine. There was an actual tiger there it’s not a metaphor he was the Colonel Sachdeva a stern tough and disciplined man of the Indian Army decorated with bravery awards and several regiment based honors standing tall on the side of his table and goggling him with an eye of contempt and as soon as “D” reached there. Sachdeva told him very calmly with a serious tone “CALL YOUR MANAGER” he gave little hunch and a brief bow and turned gracefully and walked hurriedly to call his manager. And shortly, a man clad in a suit and bow tie was standing there at the table, giving a wry smile and asked in a very soft tone “Yes sir”. Everybody on Tiger’s table turned their eyes towards tiger and then towards the manager. The next dialogue between was the most awaited one for everyone but on the contrary no dialogue was exchanged, there was a simple gesture of the graying Tiger towards his table and pointed towards the plates and asked manager is IS THIS THE SERVICE I GET FROM THE BEST?

I am sorry sir but I don’t get the point.

I don’t have cutlery on my table and when I gave my order to the waiter and asked him what is Masala Vanakya he told me sir, "It’s the same mentioned in the menu" and I had to call him each time I have to order, where is the discipline and decorum of the place shall I have to report to “Kedhar Manglam” I later came to know after asking “D” was the president of the club and was one of the fast friends of Tiger. There was a long bout of talks and accusations by tiger and finally matter was settled by an apology from "D". After this episode everyone got back to their places and occupied there places and a waiter was appointed on the side of Sachdeva’s table to take down the orders and the second one was given task to complete the orders and the third one was entrusted with the responsibility of the supervision of the other two.

Later the “D” came to my table where I was waiting eagerly to see “D” and his complicated reactions reflecting the conflicts of his job's tradition of smiling and personal dilemma of sorrow that will he be able to keep his job or not. But against all odds, he came back to my table smiling and asking in a same emollient tone and apologized for being caught up and got late for fulfilling my order I told him its okay and sent him away with my order of Mud Apple Soufflé he greeted me with smile and completed the order under a minute’s time and asked me to put a good word for him with a manager. The army decorum of mine didn't allowed me to smile at him because of his inefficiency in following commands. I just gave a nod of head to him and thanked for his service for today and told him to bring my bill. Shortly he brought the bill and adjusted my charged amount to my membership card and brought me the card back. In the meantime tiger’s family was having lunch peacefully and enjoying their royal bites of soufflé’s. My lunch ended this time with a story to tell and this story wasn't very pleasant to tell from a civilian point of view but here in army you are told to go by the rules otherwise you take down many things down along with oneself.