Raghubir Singh Rathore zipped his travel bag and buckled his bedding, ready to join his first place of posting at Banskata in Rajasthan and Gujarat border and also not very far from the Indo-Pakistan border. Rathore will be heading a Government of India unit at Banskata. The place is famous for smugglers and also for government officials who regard it as a prize posting but considered a hard posting. A lucrative posting for some and a place to show one’s caliber and mettle. Banskata was famous for smuggling of acetic anhydride (generally used for processing of heroin) from India to Pakistan and narcotics from Sindh (Pakistan) to India.
Rathore was briefed by his immediate officer Mr. Madhab Singh of what he is expected to do. Rathore just out from his college with high ambition and morality loved to live in a utopian world. He was an upright person and hailed from a royal family from Ajmer in Rajasthan.
The five hour journey from Barmer town through the sandy terrain to Banskata had Rathore’s face caked up with the tiny sand particles. Rathore felt irritated, he never lived in this kind of hardship. His clothes smelled of the “beedi” smoke generated by his co-bus passengers. He was received by his colleagues at the bus stand. He went to his office cum residence. He slowly surveyed his new home. The rooms were plastered with mud and were tinned roof. His only companions were the squirrels. He headed for the bathroom to have a shower. He found two earthen pitchers and a mug. He was told by his cook that water is scarce here and one has to use it judiciously.
Rathore has a seven member team which includes four individuals who are above fifty five years old and suffer from various age related diseases. The other three are below thirty years old whose main objective in life was to get a government job which they got. Most of them got posted at Banskata as “punishment posting”. They are inefficient and trouble makers so no officers liked them. They were shoved to a place where there is hardship though the place was very good in terms of work output. Rathore thought how to get work from these deadwoods. He must do something to motivate his workforce.
The next morning he called a meeting. He addressed his team members and urged them to put in their best and make use of their experience they have gathered over the years. Rathore’s tried his best to motivate his dead army. His predecessor had never gone out of his way to show his output. He just completed his tenure and played cards with other government officials of different agencies operating in the area.
Six months passed, Rathore was working almost single handedly. He believed in “The leader shows the way”. He did achieve some good results which were appreciated at his Headquarters. Rathore was called for the half yearly progress meeting. He went to attend the meeting at Jodhpur. He was felicitated by his senior officers. He was buoyed by his achievements. He started to apprise his senior officers of the HR problems being faced by him, but no one was ready to listen to his problems. “Your problems will be taken care of” was the pet reply from the officers.
One year had passed. Rathore was working well but the rift was widening between him and his subordinates. His staff asked him to pass their false Travelling Allowances bills and Medical bills as they thought it is was a rightful compensation from the government and a prerogative for making them stay in a hardship area. It was also the time for Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs). Rathore gave very low assessment marks to most of his subordinates. The ACRs were accepted by the reviewing officer also. Most of them got “bad remarks” which were conveyed to the staff individually.
The senior officers in Jodhpur were in a huddle. They watched wide eyed. The anonymous letter contained vivid details of how Raghubir Singh Rathore made huge money through smuggling of narcotics from Pakistan. The phone rings. The PA transfers the phone to his boss, the call was from the head of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). The NCB officials were after Rathore like a pack of hungry hyenas. The officers were desperate to save Rathore. They knew the anonymous letter was the handiwork of those deadwoods posted at Banskata unit. A special SUV was sent to Banskata immediately with the direction to move Rathore to Jodhpur.
Next morning Rathore signed the attendance register at Jodhpur. A new team was formed at Banskata unit.
Lessons learned:
1. The management saying 'that all progress is done by the unreasonable man' doesn't seem to work on all occasions and the probability of the 'unreasonable' man being hurt by the system is high.
2. The management concept 'of working at the fringes to create results' also seems suspect.
3. One is limited by the constraints imposed by the system. 'Free will' can only be exercised within the given circumstances and the state of the system.
4. Doing something out of the context always produces disasters. One has to understand the context and work accordingly. That is what is actually meant by 'going with the flow'.
5. A collapsing system can't be revived by bringing in an effective and efficient leader. The only effective way is to totally restructure or revamp the system.
Mr. Sitendu De is the contributor of this post.
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