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Corporate Governance and the role of it

Author: Stephanie Moore
CMO, UST Global Inc
It's a fact: today corporate governance and IT governance are inextricably linked. However, while it is obvious senior executives cannot properly govern without relying on information from IT systems and external data sources, many senior management teams do not view IT or IT leaders as critical components of their corporate governance strategy. In fact, in many companies, CIOs do not even report to their CEOs, but rather to the CFO – leaving not only the financial risk, but also the risk of IT failure (failure to secure, to comply, and the inexcusable failure to innovate) up to one person.

Where does the CIO report?

Going forward, CIOs and IT executives must have a seat at the CEOs table.

CIOs have been asking for this kind of access and influence for years, with varying degrees of success. CIOs reporting to the CFO often do not fully understand the importance of ITs role in the business, but instead view IT as a utility. This typically means that ITs mission is to keep the lights on at the lowest possible cost to the business and make certain laptops and email are up and running.
In contrast, CIOs who report to the chief business executive are often responsible for not only ‘keeping the lights on,’ but also have an important role in moving the business forward as the force behind driving innovation. In such companies there is an acknowledgement that IT underpins everything a company does … and that not properly governing IT imposes dire risk. That risk could include both short and long-term survival of the business.

Today, IT is more important to the survival of your business than ever before

Despite claims from authors such as Nicholas Carr that IT doesn’t matter, IT matters more today than ever before, and will matter more tomorrow than it does today. As we move into the age of technology democratization and social networking, the role of the CIO and the criticality of IT governance are further elevated and infinitely more complex.

Not only are CIOs responsible for ‘keeping the lights on,’ IT innovation, data security, compliance and customer service, but also they must determine how to govern and manage new technologies now resident in every company, on every desktop or laptop.

IT employees are no longer ‘just in the IT department,’ they are in every department and every employee with internet access is an IT employee.

Risks of Social Networking and Technology Democratization

If rules and processes are not put in place to accommodate these new IT employees and control their activities, the risks to the business are potentially catastrophic.

As employees join social and business networks, business risks increase and include situations that most corporate executives never considered. A prime example would be if your company signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with one of its clients. An employee, with no understanding of the contract between your company and the client on whose account he works, innocently posts that he works on that account on his favorite social networking site.
The client, routinely monitoring the most popular sites, finds his company name prominently displayed. In the worst case scenario, the situation escalates, the client sues for breach of contract, your company winds up paying untold damages, as well as losing at least one client (not to mention the adverse publicity generated by the litigation).

IT executives have to make business executives aware of potential risks and put technology and processes in place to protect against risks associated with business and social networking. These risks could include (but are certainly not limited to):

*Exposure of competitive secrets; i.e., internal systems

*Corporate liability due to violating NDAs when employees name customers or discuss proprietary customer information giving their competitors a marketplace advantage

*Naming individuals / providing contact information breaching their internal privacy.

Lost Opportunities: Risks of NOT Exploiting Social Networking and Technology Democratization

Just as IT executives must protect their companies from the risks of social and business networking, so too they must figure out how to capitalize on these new technologies and connections. And they need to work with business executives (in most cases, the Chief Marketing Officers of their respective companies), to help them deploy strategies and to use business and social networking to their advantage. In order to make a business case for allowing use of social and business networking, here are some questions CIOs are asking:

l *What is Twitter®? Can my company ‘tweet’ to improve our business? Can we use Twitter to sell more products to different audiences or to improve customer service?

*When you use Twitter, remember it is a publishing medium. In many cases, tweets can be picked up by Google. So be careful what you say, especially if you talk business using Twitter (as many people do). What you say can affect your business, boss, clients, competitors, just about anyone. You need to remember, it’s publishing, and the whole Web can read what you tweet.

*How can YouTube or Orkut or Google help my company recruit employees? Are the risks associated with using these sites superseded by the potential benefit of finding great employees at a reduced cost?

*How do I control use of my employee’s time when they are on a networking site?
*Can my company find innovation outside our four walls? Does mass collaboration really work and what are the risks and benefits? Since Proctor and Gamble improved its business through mass collaboration, does this mean my company can?

*What do I want our corporate participation/acquiescence to accomplish?

Lead / Idea Generation
Converse with Customers
Build Excitement
Create & Reward Loyalty
Stimulate a Passion by Creating Enthusiasm
Build & Maintain ‘Buzz’ re New Product or Service

What should you do? Findings and Recommendations

Obviously, the days of the CIO being a pure techie operating on an island with limited access to the business are over. Indeed, in most industries, the CIO is perhaps the most pivotal member of the executive team. Unfortunately, some business executives and corporate governance teams have yet to realize that the CIO may hold the keys to the future. In addition, IT governance is not a nice “to have” it is a “must have.” It is impossible to have strong corporate governance without strong IT governance. With today’s technology environment and availability, organizational threats (and opportunities) can come from inside the walls of the business or outside. The IT organization is required to secure the business through the use of procedures, policies and technical safe guards. This governance should ultimately secure the business while at the same time allow it take advantage of knowledge capital and innovation available internally and externally.

Recommendations for the CIO

CIOs need to pick their battles. What are their critical priorities, what are their companies’ core competencies? Where should their focus really be? Can CIOs know enough about social and business networking and IP laws and paths to innovation if they are fully engaged in making sure batches are processed properly overnight or whether their direct reports have thoroughly reviewed time cards before they sign off on them?

Certainly outsourcing has grown in popularity over the last decade, not just because it saves companies millions of dollars every year, but because it allows CIOs and the internal IT organizations to focus on what is really strategic to their business. Perhaps the answer to the CIO is to outsource the tactics based upon his company’s strategic direction.

Recommendations for the CEO
CEOs need to redouble their efforts to understand the benefit / risk ratio of technology democratization while at the same time considering exploiting its benefits. They need to make sure that their IT governance strategies are subsets of their corporate governance strategy and that their CIOs are capable of developing and executing an appropriate IT governance strategy.

Further, corporate leaders need to ensure their technology executives are focused on social networking issues and are able to understand, articulate and advise the corporation about strategies for each.

However, in order for corporate and IT governance to be conjoined, your CIO must be capable of being both strategic and tactical with a firm grasp of IT governance requirements. CIOs who are more comfortable talking about batch windows and middleware are not going to be comfortable mapping their IT expertise to your business strategies or, better yet, helping you create business strategies based on their IT expertise. They are certainly not likely to understand best practices in IT and corporate governance and help you combine the two.

As the Chief Executive Officer, be certain your CIO is a direct report. Too often, the CFO filter causes CEOs and their companies to focus only on tactical cost savings opportunities, resulting in innovation being lost in the translation. CEOs need to brainstorm with their top IT executives to figure out how to protect the business and leapfrog their competition by making innovation part of everyone’s job description.

When this occurs when IT governance becomes part of corporate governance, the company will find itself on a path to accept and use the technology of the present to develop tomorrow’s innovations!
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Reader's comments(24)
1: From: Mrs. Mary David

This mail may be a surprise to you because you did not give me the permission to do so and neither do you know me but before I tell you about myself I want you to please forgive me for sending this mail without your permission. I am writing this letter in confidence believing that if it is the will of God for you to help me and my family, God almighty will bless and reward you abundantly. I need an honest and trust worthy person like you to entrust this huge transfer project unto.

My name is Mrs. Mary David, The Branch Manager of a Financial Institution. I am a Ghanaian married with 3 kids. I am writing to solicit your assistance in the transfer of US$7,500,000.00 Dollars. This fund is the excess of what my branch in which I am the manager made as profit last year (i.e. 2010 financial year). I have already submitted an annual report for that year to my head office in Accra-Ghana as I have watched with keen interest as they will never know of this excess. I have since, placed this amount of US$7,500,000.00 Dollars on an Escrow Coded account without a beneficiary (Anonymous) to avoid trace.

As an officer of the bank, I cannot be directly connected to this money thus I am impelled to request for your assistance to receive this money into your bank account on my behalf. I agree that 40% of this money will be for you as a foreign partner, in respect to the provision of a foreign account, and 60% would be for me. I do need to stress that there are practically no risk involved in this. It's going to be a bank-to-bank transfer. All I need from you is to stand as the original depositor of this fund so that the fund can be transferred to your account.

If you accept this offer, I will appreciate your timely response to me. This is why and only reason why I contacted you, I am willing to go into partnership investment with you owing to your wealth of experience, So please if you are interested to assist on this venture kindly contact me back for a brief discussion on how to proceed.

All correspondence must be via my private E-mail (dmary4love1@yahoo.fr) for obvious security reasons.

Best regards,
Mrs. Mary David.
Posted by: mary lovely david - Monday 26th, September 2011
2: hi mam
first time read your post realy fact

Regards
Servesh Dubey
dubeysk1@yahoo.co.in
Posted by: Servesh Kumar Dubey - Sunday 10th, October 2010
3: i want to become your friend. my id is: amits5769@gmail.com
Posted by: amit kumar singh - Thursday 23rd, September 2010
4: i want to be your friend.
Posted by: amit kumar singh - Thursday 23rd, September 2010
5: From
MU.Solomon,M.A.,L.L.B.,
Human Rights Advocate
Tamil Nadu.India.
Email id:idayam123@gmail.com

Dear Friend Stephanie Moore
I am pleased by your posting of this blog regarding "The today corporate governance and IT governance".Really your this blog is a mile stone to the present younG generation and I do hope that those who are all reading your this useful blog will get more useful tips and will utilise the piece of advices that you have provided.

Now I am in India for my vacation and will go back Om,an after one month.Take care and bye
By
MU.Solomon
Posted by: Saloomaan Salaman - Saturday 24th, July 2010
6: Social networking is a huge issue right now at my organization, a large midwestern (US) financial institution. Currently, we block access to social networking sites. Further, our policies state that if you are using a personal social networking account, you cannot mention the corporation's name. We're in the process of trying to develop a social networking policy, because we know we can't hold it back forever.

-- Michael Seese, author of "Scrappy Information Security"
Posted by: Michael Seese - Friday 12th, March 2010
7: BATTERY-ORIENTED BLOG....PL CONTINUE LIKE
Posted by: DR R N SINGH - Friday 05th, March 2010
8: Thanks a ton for this article. If you can write something on recruitment or HR that would be great.
Posted by: Amit N Bhagwat - Tuesday 02nd, March 2010
9: Hi Mam, Only few people like you, Narayan Murthy, Ratan Tata, Ambani's understand the importance of Corporate Governance in today's corporate structure. Its pretty imperative now to have thier own CG for every business who have higher returns.
Posted by: Manjunath Narayan - Monday 22nd, February 2010
10: ARTICLE IS REALLY EXCELLENT. EVEN NON-IT PROFESSIONALS CAN ALSO UTILISE AND ENJOY....
BUT THERE SHOULD BE LIMITATION OF SPECOFICATION OF THE COMMEMENT-SIDE. SOME ONE HAS QUOTED AS GITA, GITANJALI, GURUDEV.... THIS IS GOOD NO DOUBT BUT MATCHING/LINKAGE SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED WITH THE ARTICLE, WRITER, WRITERS ENVIRONMENT/COUNTRY AND SO ON. ANY WAY COMMENTS OVER ALL ARE ALSO GOOD ENOGH...
Posted by: DR R N SINGH - Wednesday 03rd, February 2010
11: If I become Minister, What will be my strategy to stop price rise?



I will Increase production at farm level, enforce efficient distribution system, ensure safe keeping of buffer stock, tightening of measures against hoarders, blackmarketeers and profiteers, put restriction on traders who create artificial crisis monitoring market trend of prices every day through public relation officers posted in each district, and if possible fix prices where prices are going up and up without any reasoning, stop future trading in commodities and completely ban all speculative activities. I cannot allow exploitation of poor in the name of reformation and privatization or liberalization. I believe excess of freedom is also harmful for any nation and necessary regulation of activities is in the health of the economy and social peace. I will ensure that all officers from top to bottom are vigilant on price movement because it is prices of essential commodities which can make or mar the career of any person.



Last but not the least I will try to stop all unwarranted talks and promises on prices control without making it practically possible. I believe in doing first and informing later and I hate politicians who talk much but do nothing. I hate media who make so much hue and cries, fire Ministers, show useless fierce interviews with politicians but do nothing to expose the real culprits behind unabated and sky rocketing price ruse. Individual shout in street corner meetings or on road and media cries on TV channels but government keeps eyes and ears closed and enjoy to the maximum possible extent.



Is it true that for every selfish leader there is a dedicated leader?





Yes in India it is an open secret and common in all offices and in all departments. All bosses and all top leaders at all levels have a dedicated leader called as Chamcha in common language. Similarly all political heavy weights have dedicated team of political workers behind him and it is only such yes-men who can move ahead in their career .One who is actual worker, performer, real patriot, devotee of God and lover of the country cannot survive and cannot imagine prospering. This is the main reason behind all corrupt activities and all crimes taking place in the country. This is the reason that criminals are moving free without fear of punishment and innocent person are made victim, facing frustration and depression in their life.



Should anyone demand resignation from Mr. Sharad Pawar for current price rise?



I cannot ask for resignation and neither can I suggest this. If the minister is ineffective he should be sacked and his position as MP should also be dismissed. Fresh election should be there. It will be ridiculous if Sharad Pawar resigns as Agriculture Minister and UPA makes him defense minister. Undoubtedly he will spoil Defense ministry.



When Lalu was charge sheeted by CBI, he resigned from CM post of Bihar. But later he became Railway Minister at Center. This is not the solution.



Shiv Raj Patil was inefficient and if he is made governor of a state what will be the fate of that state. Similarly it is possible that Mr. Pawar is offered the post of President by UPA. Question is therefore how to punish an erring Minister in such a way that none of the minister dare to be lazy and ineffective. A simple officer cannot survive in any office if he is not performing well, how a minister in our country is allowed to move up and up even if he does not perform. But it is unfortunate that the post of Minister as also all top posts in government departments have become a tradable commodity in Indian politics.



Danendra Jain,

Agartala

13th January 2010

Posted by: danendra jain - Tuesday 12th, January 2010
12: RBI's idea of allowing private companies to set up local banks will prove to be a blunder and lead the country back to pre nationalization era.. Already thousands of Non Banking Finance Companies (NBFC) are scattered all over the country like post offices and they are almost beyond the control of RBI and Government of India. Every year we come to know ten or fifteen NBFC promoters have closed their office and flied away from town after cheating crores of money from innocent small villagers , traders and farmers by promising them to double their money in two or three years. Similarly cooperative banks and many regional rural banks in the country are mostly running mismanaged and their assets shown in Balance sheets are mostly irrecoverable.



If small private banks are set up in all small villages, towns and cities, more and more people will be cheated, lending will be done after keeping gold as done before nationalization of banks or credit will be disbursed only after mortgaging landed properties of farmers. Same Zamindari system and exploitation of poor by money lenders in disguise of local banks will come in operation and become the way of life as was prevalent before Nationalization of banks and before freedom of India. It is not exaggeration to say that even now small traders and farmers have to depend on local money lenders and it is also an open secret that these money lenders are charging huge interest and exploiting their poverty.



When RBI is unable to control less than thirty Public sector banks and thousands of NBFC, regional rural banks and cooperative banks already in operation and doing the same job, how can RBI imagine of controlling of additional numerous private banks. If the monitoring is not possible, allowing private companies to set up local banks will prove fatal and make the life of local poor residents more miserbale.Through this new concept of local banks RBI will do nothing but add fuel to fire. Government banks are already in mess and there is no doubt in it. Even farmers and small traders cannot dream of any relief from such local banks for whom Local banks contemplated by RBI will be set up by private companies.



It is to be kept in mind that government can waive loans disbursed by government banks, but cannot force private companies to waive agricultural loan or small loans. Obviously private companies will hold full securities and charge maximum interest from needy person and extort more and more profit as private airlines are looting air passengers keeping in mind the necessity and urgency of passenger. As such, the said idea of local banks contemplated by RBI in not going to help poverty ridden person in any way. Government is indirectly attempting to discard agenda of social inclusion and leave poor person on the mercy of local goondas and local money lenders in disguise of local banks.



Every one knows that private banks cannot allow their assets to become NPA (Non Performing Assets) and cannot depend on the current legal framework and ineffective judicial remedy for willful defaulters. They may also seek the help of recovery agents to apply force on defaulters which government cannot manage to support in our country and which was vehemently opposed by RBI itself in the recent past when private banks like ICICI or HDFC used local goondas to recover their money.



Moreover setting up of lacs of local banks as visualized by RBI and promoted by private companies is against the very concept and plan of Government of India directed towards consolidation of existing banks. It is ironical that on the one hand existing banks are advised by Finance Minister to go for merger and acquisition to reduce the number of banks and on the other RBI is advising private companies to set up local banks. There is no doubt that Government of India must ponder over the idea of RBI , invite opinion from experts and seek opinion of various political parties before putting the said dangerous idea in action.



Danendra Jain

Ganaraj Choumuhani

Agartala

Posted by: danendra jain - Tuesday 05th, January 2010
13: Very informative.Even people in govt. get into trouble due their comments in the social networking sites,Mr Shashi Tharoor is an example.
Posted by: NATARAJA Konamme - Thursday 26th, November 2009
14: In a present scenario the scope of corporate governances have been criticized due to its board functionary and role of its executives in core corruptions involvement . I think there must be a code of conduct and review board over their functionary.
Posted by: Nem Singh - Thursday 19th, November 2009
15: Very impressive article..it is nicely written about the It field and corporate Governance in this field. I really like this article....thanks mam for giving such an insight into this field and linking the corporate Governance with Information Technology...
Posted by: Kunjkant Pandya - Thursday 05th, November 2009
16: Dear Stephanies,
Really very well written article from idea generation to maintaining business. Pl. give some details on ' How to retain IT employees.
Regds
H P Singh
Posted by: H P Singh - Monday 26th, October 2009
17: Working in IT Field is very terrible job who knows about tomorrow so better switch over to Management Field. Some day we will reach our goal.
Posted by: Lingamallu Naga Venkata Hemanth kumar - Tuesday 20th, October 2009
18: Stephanie's article is very relevant. Many of the CEOs , I have advised, inter-acted , observed , find it difficult to think, ORIGNIALLY, may be unless induced. They continue to follow, what they observe , rather copy. It is true, most of the companies, the IT chief Reports to the Finance Head. In these GRADE of companies, the CEO feels that FINANCE , PRODUCTION ( if manufacturing company ) , MARKETING and HR are the most important functions to report him. Mostly because these are TANGIBLE RESORUCE units. As INFORMATION is not a visible resource for the CEOs without VISION Same is the case of Corporate Planning in many companies, which is pushed around under other important div
isions.
Thus, it is appropriate to say, many CEO , hold the position without adequate attributes , like vision, fast learning ability etc.Many of them also fail to attract good advisers / consultants.

Thus, the challenge is to orient the CEO to take the right direction with the right advice.
Posted by: Ranjan Mohapatra - Thursday 08th, October 2009
19: Sub: Evolve Structure to Creative Function
I gave a few Lectures to Management schools- Summer Training to Professional and professors - Technical Universities. A pyramid structure is essential to generate Inoovative Spirit. This Three Layered structure -based upon Bhagavat-Gita-helps to identify Technology Management issues in he right perspecive.
Going further, from Cosmology studies- A Three Tier Double Matrix structure can spread the Network to Core Function, Subtle Management and Wide Social acceptance.
Concentration, Meditation and Dedication are the Keys for Progress Index. Comprehension helps to remove even Social in-equalities.You can interact through "Technology Manament-Developing Countries'posted on Silicon Blogs
I find this forum can develop insights further
Vidyardhi Nanduri
Posted by: vidyardhi Nanduri - Sunday 27th, September 2009
20: Excellent article.
CSR creates harmony in working together - equilibrium in thoughts and actions, goals and achievements, plans and performance, products and markets. It resolves situations of scarcity, be they in the physical, technical or human fields, through maximum utilization with the minimum available processes to achieve the goal. Lack of management causes disorder, confusion, wastage, delay, destruction and even depression. Managing men, money and materials in the best possible way, according to circumstances and environment, is the most important and essential factor for a successful management.
Posted by: mulavana parameswaran bhattathiri - Wednesday 16th, September 2009
21: Hi Stephanie.... thnks for de blog... it was truely amazing and very much interesting... being a part of the IT Team in an upcoming telecom operator in India , i truely understand the importance of IT Governance | the vital role of CIO... must say , our CIO - Mr. Rajeev Batra is one of such a kind... a gr8 maestro ...
Posted by: Anish Rajendran - Monday 14th, September 2009
22: My self being an LA in ISO27000, I throughout enjoyed the article. Good day.
Posted by: Nandakumar Kartha - Monday 29th, June 2009
23: Excellent article.
There is an important distinction between effectiveness and efficiency in managing.
· Effectiveness is doing the right things.
· Efficiency is doing things right.
The general principles of effective management can be applied in every field, the differences being more in application than in principle. The Manager's functions can be summed up as:
· Forming a vision
· Planning the strategy to realize the vision.
· Cultivating the art of leadership.
· Establishing institutional excellence.
· Building an innovative organization.
· Developing human resources.
· Building teams and teamwork.
· Delegation, motivation, and communication.
· Reviewing performance and taking corrective steps when called for.
Thus, management is a process of aligning people and getting them committed to work for a common goal to the maximum social benefit - in search of excellence. Major functions of a manager are planning, organizing, leading and coordinating activities -- they put different emphasis and suggest different natures of activities in the following four major functions..
The critical question in all managers' minds is how to be effective in their job. The answer to this fundamental question is found in the Bhagavad-Gita, which repeatedly proclaims that "you must try to manage yourself." The reason is that unless a manager reaches a level of excellence and effectiveness, he or she will be merely a face in the crowd.
Old truths in a new context

The Bhagavad-Gita, written thousands of years ago, enlightens us on all managerial techniques leading us towards a harmonious and blissful state of affairs in place of the conflict, tensions, poor productivity, absence of motivation and so on, common in most of Indian enterprises today – and probably in enterprises in many other countries.
The modern (Western) management concepts of vision, leadership, motivation, excellence in work, achieving goals, giving work meaning, decision making and planning, are all discussed in the Bhagavad-Gita . There is one major difference. While Western management thought too often deals with problems at material, external and peripheral levels, the Bhagavad-Gita tackles the issues from the grass roots level of human thinking. Once the basic thinking of man is improved, it will automatically enhance the quality of his actions and their results.
The management philosophy emanating from the West is based on the lure of materialism and on a perennial thirst for profit, irrespective of the quality of the means adopted to achieve that goal. This phenomenon has its source in the abundant wealth of the West and so 'management by materialism' has caught the fancy of all the countries the world over, India being no exception to this trend. My country, India, has been in the forefront in importing these ideas mainly because of its centuries old indoctrination by colonial rulers, which has inculcated in us a feeling that anything Western is good and anything Indian, is inferior. Gita does not prohibit seeking money, power, comforts, health. It advocates active pursuit of one's goals without getting attached to the process and the results.
The result is that, while huge funds have been invested in building temples of modem management education, no perceptible changes are visible in the improvement of the general quality of life - although the standards of living of a few has gone up. The same old struggles in almost all sectors of the economy, criminalization of institutions, social violence, exploitation and other vices are seen deep in the body politic.
The source of the problem

The reasons for this sorry state of affairs are not far to seek. The Western idea of management centers on making the worker (and the manager) more efficient and more productive. Companies offer workers more to work more, produce more, sell more and to stick to the organization without looking for alternatives. The sole aim of extracting better and more work from the worker is to improve the bottom-line of the enterprise. The worker has become a hirable commodity, which can be used, replaced and discarded at will.
Thus, workers have been reduced to the state of a mercantile product. In such a state, it should come as no surprise to us that workers start using strikes ( gheraos) sit-ins, (dharnas) go-slows, work-to-rule etc. to get maximum benefit for themselves from the organizations. Society-at-large is damaged. Thus we reach a situation in which management and workers become separate and contradictory entities with conflicting interests. There is no common goal or understanding. This, predictably, leads to suspicion, friction, disillusion and mistrust, with managers and workers at cross purposes. The absence of human values and erosion of human touch in the organizational structure has resulted in a crisis of confidence.
Western management philosophy may have created prosperity – for some people some of the time at least - but it has failed in the aim of ensuring betterment of individual life and social welfare. It has remained by and large a soulless edifice and an oasis of plenty for a few in the midst of poor quality of life for many.
Hence, there is an urgent need to re-examine prevailing management disciplines - their objectives, scope and content. Management should be redefined to underline the development of the worker as a person, as a human being, and not as a mere wage-earner. With this changed perspective, management can become an instrument in the process of social, and indeed national, development.
Now let us re-examine some of the modern management concepts in the light of the Bhagavad-Gita which is a primer of management-by-values.
Utilization of available resources

The first lesson of management science is to choose wisely and utilize scarce resources optimally. During the curtain raiser before the Mahabharata War, Duryodhana chose Sri Krishna's large army for his help while Arjuna selected Sri Krishna's wisdom for his support. This episode gives us a clue as to the nature of the effective manager - the former chose numbers, the latter, wisdom.
Work commitment

A popular verse of the Gita advises "detachment" from the fruits or results of actions performed in the course of one's duty. Being dedicated work has to mean "working for the sake of work, generating excellence for its own sake." If we are always calculating the date of promotion or the rate of commission before putting in our efforts, then such work is not detached. It is not "generating excellence for its own sake" but working only for the extrinsic reward that may (or may not) result.
Working only with an eye to the anticipated benefits, means that the quality of performance of the current job or duty suffers - through mental agitation of anxiety for the future. In fact, the way the world works means that events do not always respond positively to our calculations and hence expected fruits may not always be forthcoming. So, the Gita tells us not to mortgage present commitment to an uncertain future.
Some people might argue that not seeking the business result of work and actions, makes one unaccountable. In fact, the Bhagavad-Gita is full of advice on the theory of cause and effect, making the doer responsible for the consequences of his deeds. While advising detachment from the avarice of selfish gains in discharging one's accepted duty, the Gita does not absolve anybody of the consequences arising from discharge of his or her responsibilities. Attachment to perishable gives birth to fear, anger, greed, desire, feeling of "mine" and many other negative qualities. Renounce attachment by regarding objects for others and for serving others. Depend only on God (not body, nor intellect), and the dependency on the world will end. Renouncing attachment is the penance of knowledge, which leads to His Being - Truth, Consciousness and Bliss. ( Bhagavad-Gita 4.10)
Thus the best means of effective performance management is the work itself. Attaining this state of mind (called "nishkama karma ") is the right attitude to work because it prevents the ego, the mind, from dissipation of attention through speculation on future gains or losses.
Motivation – self and self-transcendence

It has been presumed for many years that satisfying lower order needs of workers - adequate food, clothing and shelter, etc. are key factors in motivation. However, it is a common experience that the dissatisfaction of the clerk and of the Director is identical - only their scales and composition vary. It should be true that once the lower-order needs are more than satisfied, the Director should have little problem in optimizing his contribution to the organization and society. But more often than not, it does not happen like that. (" The eagle soars high but keeps its eyes firmly fixed on the dead animal below.") On the contrary, a lowly paid schoolteacher, or a self-employed artisan, may well demonstrate higher levels of self-actualization despite poorer satisfaction of their lower-order needs.
This situation is explained by the theory of self-transcendence propounded in the Gita. Self-transcendence involves renouncing egoism, putting others before oneself, emphasizing team work, dignity, co-operation, harmony and trust – and, indeed potentially sacrificing lower needs for higher goals, the opposite of Maslow.
"Work must be done with detachment." It is the ego that spoils work and the ego is the centerpiece of most theories of motivation. We need not merely a theory of motivation but a theory of inspiration.
The Great Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941, known as "Gurudev") says working for love is freedom in action. A concept which is described as "disinterested work" in the Gita where Sri Krishna says,
"He who shares the wealth generated only after serving the people, through work done as a sacrifice for them, is freed from all sins. On the contrary those who earn wealth only for themselves, eat sins that lead to frustration and failure."
Disinterested work finds expression in devotion, surrender and equipoise. The former two are psychological while the third is determination to keep the mind free of the dualistic (usually taken to mean "materialistic") pulls of daily experiences. Detached involvement in work is the key to mental equanimity or the state of " nirdwanda." This attitude leads to a stage where the worker begins to feel the presence of the Supreme Intelligence guiding the embodied individual intelligence. Such de-personified intelligence is best suited for those who sincerely believe in the supremacy of organizational goals as compared to narrow personal success and achievement.
Indian theorists, of course, have a wide range of backgrounds and philosophies. But many of the most influential acknowledge that common themes pervade their work. One is the conviction that executives should be motivated by a broader purpose than money. Another is the belief that companies should take a more holistic approach to business.
Posted by: mulavana parameswaran bhattathiri - Sunday 28th, June 2009
24: IT related risks are not limited to their IT executives or people who uses the IT resources from organization but it can extend up to competitors intention to trap the information related to their buisness or contacts.
Truly CIO is as important as CFO .Need of CIO's direct reporting to CEO is that confidential data security related to finance shall be presented to CEO without single manipulation to take vital strategic decision while running the buisness.
It can happen CFO may be unable to give data analysis of IT info as CIO.
IT related policies are one of the core fundamentals of the most of the manufacturing companies (Apart from IT Firms).
These policies should be communicated to the new joiners to the organization during induction.Only signing the policies does not make change employee should be motivated to accept IT secrecy policy.

Posted by: Prashant Bahiru Hadawale - Monday 08th, June 2009
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