04 August, 2011

The Raavan Durga Principle of Management

Many of us would be aware about the Hindu mythology’s star villain Raavan and icon of lady power Durga Mata.


Now, note how they are generally depicted:







The relevance of these images to  corporate organisation structures is immense.

Raavan as we all know met with his end in a battle with Lord Rama and the reason that I see is the fact that he had just one pair of hands (the actual guys in operation) being cross guided by 10 heads (the think tank/management). The second image on this page is an even better recipe for disaster where there are multiple heads and hands providing a confused cross and multiple reporting scenario(straight line, dotted line, convoluted line, etc). What's worse is each  hand thinks it is empowered but runs the risk of being overruled by any of the heads. A reverse pyramid or a connfused matrix can never ever work. At best, the hands may prefer to get severed from such confused leadership with conflicting directions.
Both go against the natural rule of unity of command and failure is guaranteed. Even with the best of intentions both at head and hands level, such a structure is dangerous.

Now, take a look at Durga Mata's image. There is one head and multiple hands which indicates clear direction for the operations team and each of the hands have a particular object in hand which ranges from a flower to a sword. A team for all seasons, one clear thinking head. Does success need anything more? Hence the respect from everyone and celebrations galore.

Okay, time for gas refill...!