Business India dtd May
13,2012 carried a special report on
Kerala titled “ Kerala Taking Flight”. The report talks about various plans &
initiatives by the government and other bodies for the economic development of
the state. Interestingly it carried a page titled “Management medicine”
wherein it featured basically two
institutions and two personalities in the field of management education even though
the subtitle mentioned that “The state boasts an IIM and a host of institutions
of higher learning”. The two institutions it talked about were IIM Kozhikode and the SCMS
Group of educational institutions and the two people mentioned were
Prof.Debashis Chatterjee, Director
of IIMK and G.P.C.Nayar, Chairman of Kochi-based SCMS
group of institutions. Prof.Chattrejee
talked about the IIMK as “a
socially sensitive school. We are bringing in the socially underprivileged ,
not just economically deprived.”Prof.Chatterjee also talks about the Indian
approach of looking at deep-driving values and what the institute does for
achieving this.More realistic and what management(and other higher education) needs in the current context.
On the other hand,Mr.Nayar, with whose
institutions I was associated with for
about three years as a faculty and who needs to be admired for his vision of building
an educational empire in a politically unfriendly Kerala, defined the
institutions in terms of the “new Rolls Royce Ghost extended
wheelbase(EWB)” as the “quality
quotient” of the group and to depict ” excellence in every aspect.” One only wonders what Mr.Nayar wants to
propagate. Is it that excellence comes only at high costs? Or excellence is
depicted by the new and costly personal belongings or gadgets that one possesses? Is he trying
to create a feeling among the aspiring young managers that their excellence
will be measured in terms of the wealth they amass? Is Mr.Nayar conveying an indirect message that “greed is good” under
the pretext of quality? One may be even tempted to ask whether he has
been rewarding his employees well above the industry standards to live his
message that excellence in quality comes
at a higher cost. Ousted Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain could have also taken a
cue from Mr.Nayar while trying to refurbish his office suite at a cost of about
$1.22 million with quality materials like Area Rug costing $87,784,Mahogany Pedestal Table costing $25,713,19th
Century Credenza costing $68,179,Pendant Light Furniture costing $19,751,4
Pairs of Curtains priced $28,09,Pair of Guest Chairs valued $87,784,George
IV Chair costing $18,468, Parchment Waste Can $1,405,Roman Shade Fabric $10,967,Roman
Shades valued $7,315,Coffee Table costing $5,852,Commode on Legs costing $35,115
etc. If we go by Mr.Nayar’s argument,
Mr.Thain did wonderfully well to demonstrate the “quality quotient “ that the
company stood for. And if we go by what Business India describes about
Mr.Nayar, Mr.Thain must also have been
“down to earth”. Mr.Mukesh Ambani also must have been “down to earth” while he
built his home “Antilia” at a cost of about $2 billion.
My generation was first
inspired by simplicities of stalwarts like Prakash Tandon who on his last day
at Hindustan Lever (the current Hindustan Unilever)did not want to be chauffer-driven to his home and chose
to drive his Fiat instead after the farewell meeting and later by Mr.Darbari
Seth, former Chairman of Tata Chemicals, who consciously decided to use a
Maruti 800 instead of the Merc he was eligible while visiting the Tata headquarters(Bombay
House) at Bombay.Later and today, we have been and are equally inspired by the
simple and humble living styles of the former Indian President Dr.Abdul Kalam,
billionaire investor Warren Buffet, Infosys founder Narayana Murthy and Wipro
founder Premji.
While which brand of car one should own or use is strictly a
personal choice, leaders like G.P.C.Nayar has to be unequivocal in his approach
while sending out messages to the generations of future. An overwhelming
majority of respondents to a limited sample survey conducted orally either in
person or over phone by me among students, faculties and members of the public
immediately after the news of Mr.G.P.C. becoming the first proud owner of a
Rolls Royce Ghost in India, felt that through this he might be sending a wrong
signal to the society as a whole that he runs his institutions as for-profit
business and not necessarily as serving a social need.
Of course,I am not unduly surprised; I still remember an
afternoon gathering at SCMS during my initial days there in 2004 in connection with a book launch where the former
VC of MG University, Dr. Syriac Thomas was present as the chief-guest. In his
presidential address, Mr.G.P.C. Nayar had highlighted the four things that brings
quality and makes an institution successful- Administration/Management, Infrastructure,
Library and Faculty in that order. The present way of
pushing the Rolls Royce can be seen to be a natural extension of the same
thinking. Of course, in his Chief Guest’s address, the VC unequivocally said
that he would rather have a prized Nobel-laureate on his faculty than spend too
much on infrastructure.
Last, but not the least, one may continue to wonder what “down to earth”
really means.
