https://www.fastcompany.com/40405205/five-things-ive-learned-as-a-new-manager-at-google

Blogger Svetlana Pokrevskaya makes a bold promise to all those who carry out her plan: in just one month’s time, you won’t recognise yourself. So, for every week there’s a plan made up of three tasks, which you need to incorporate into your life and keep doing for the rest of the month. Ideally, you should continue doing them even after this, but that’s for you to decide.
Week 1: Purifying your mind and body

An early start, around 6 am. This is when you’ll find the time for yourself which you’ve never have enough of during the day. You’ll find it to be a period of peace and quiet, when you’ll be able to sort out various things which you need to do without being distracted, because everyone else is still asleep. This an ideal time for morning exercises, which will help prepare you for living the upcoming day to the max. Feeling lazy and a reluctance to get out of bed early really aren’t an indication that you are tired. In my opinion, this shows that you don’t really want to live your own life. What’s the point in getting out of bed, when it’ll just be the same depressing weather, the subway, traffic, work…But what if, instead of this mentality, you realised another great day is coming up, and your first thought when you woke up was ’roll on the morning!’? Admit it — if you felt like this, getting up early would hardly be a problem. This is just simple logic. If you’re living life to the full, you’ll want to jump out of bed. Or viewed the other way round — if you jump out of bed in the morning, life will begin to burn more brightly!

Better nutrition. The upcoming changes will demand a tremendous amount of energy from you. Most likely, you’re currently using up most of your energy on keeping your body functioning in the face of the effects of alcohol, cigarettes, and heavy, fatty or otherwise unhealthy food. Each of us has our own personal set of such vices which we need to own up to. Or rather, we need to overcome them. You can choose whichever kind of diet seems right to you. Personally, I’m vegetarian and believe in eating uncooked food. But there’s one thing which I know applies to all of us: alcohol, potato chips, sugary drinks, pre-prepared meals, junk food — none of these things fit into anyone’s idea of healthy eating. Therefore, you should cut all of these things out of your diet. Also, reduce the size of the portions you eat, and don’t fill up before you go to bed. In other respects, just listen to what your own body is telling you, or take some advice from a dietician. The most important thing, though, is to avoid burdening yourself with toxins. Instead, you need to ease the plight of your body as much as possible by eating light, healthy, tasty food. You’ll be happier and have more energy needed for an active lifestyle.

Sport. I love sport and for me it’s absolutely mandatory. I never tire of saying that keeping one’s body well-toned and healthy is vital for one’s spiritual health. To shake some life out of a tired body, you need to shake your body itself! And by any method which seems right for you. I like yoga, running and dancing. Try to move around a lot more every day, in any way you can — dance in front of the mirror when you’re getting ready for work; take a pass on the elevator in favour of the stairs; establish a full workout for yourself at the gym.

Week 2: Putting your private life in order

Clean up your personal space. Throw out everything! It’s time to bring order to every corner, table and cupboard in your home (stuffing things in the attic doesn’t count). Think about it: every single object in your house — even the smallest — not only takes up space, but also consumes some of your energy. Is it really worth holding on to it? I became so keen on this method that I threw almost all of my things out in the trash. Keep only stuff which really is useful or you actually need, which makes you happy, or which you most cherish. One other thing — if up till now you’ve kept that teddy bear which your lover gave you for Valentines Day in 1998, but you already broke up with them a long time ago, then you don’t need such ’happy’ memories any more. Rid yourself of it, without hesitation. Once you’ve done all this, you’ll find that you feel a whole lot better. Especially if you wipe up the dust everywhere, and wash the floors.

Sort out your personal business; fulfil your obligations. Do you remember how many years it is that you’ve been planning to learn Spanish? And how many times have you promised to drive up to visit your grandparents on the East Coast? How many of your New Year’s resolutions have you been transferring from the old to the new list, already for years on end? You need to remind yourself of all the promises which you’ve made to yourself and to others, and decide how you’re going to deal with them. You essentially have two options: (1) fulfil them, or (2) striking them from your ’to do’ list forever. But if you can’t give up on your grandparents, of course, then go tomorrow. Do what you need to do instead of dragging around those feelings of obligation and disappointment in yourself.

Sort out your social life. Break off any relationships which you feel pull you backwards or make you depressed. Give up talking to all those who have a negative outlook, who are arrogant, and with whom you have nothing in common. Learn to just walk away, and to say no. Allow yourself to be ungrateful, ill-mannered, to act crazy, to be unpleasant — if that’s what it takes to feel free. The only exception to all this should be your parents. In my view, you absolutely have to be on good terms with them, even if this is hard work.

Week 3: Plans, goals and dreams

Write down, and then carry out your plans. It seems we’ve ended up with a list of tasks to do from last week. How does this make you feel? Do you feel happy and enthusiastic about this? Are you rolling up your sleeves in anticipation? If the answer’s no, then maybe it’s worth striking off a few more things. Or alternatively, actually carry them out, and then strike them off. In both cases though, the result that awaits you is a surge in strength and a renewed thirst for life. Remember, what is it that you love or at some point used to love doing? Don’t forget that you should not only be taking your work and financial obligations seriously, but also plan your free time — so you can relax, see friends and loved ones, and (this is the one every one always forgets) find time for yourself. You should write the kind of plan that you’ll be itching to get started on. Write it out all in one go, and don’t forget to include specific deadlines and steps to take. Imagine the story of your life is going to be the subject of a book; it should be one you would want to read yourself.

List your most implausible dreams. This is one of my absolute favourite things to do. I do this exercise regularly, and each time my ideas become even more ridiculous. You have to make a list of all those things you dream of doing, but which is so implausible that you know it will absolutely never happen.
https://brightside.me/article/how-to-change-your-life-for-the-better-in-just-one-month-505/?utm_source=fb_brightside&utm_medium=fb_organic&utm_campaign=fb_gr_brightside

Dear fresh graduates,
Right now maybe some of you may have been receiving calls from different employers with whom you have shared your credentials (I mean you have applied for job with).
This might sound trivial, but preparation for interviews is a crucial step. From the first day I graduated (i.e. after finishing my MBA), I would try to find out about the company I had applied to and also would try to anticipate what kind of questions they might ask me.

Some of the common questions they WILL ask you:

1. Tell me about yourself. Very common question, but to be frank, many or most interviewers donot know what kind of information they are looking for from your answers!! ha ha. So I would advise you to be precise about what you tell them about yourself.
If the interviewer is a good listener, he/she will look for clues or angles they can dig more into. Some candidates I have seen say, “I wanted to study medicine, but my father told me to study business”. OMG!! don’t even mention it, even if it is 100% true. It signals indecision on your part.

rather, even make up some catchy reasons about why you studied what you studied.

Let us look at some other important questions you might be asked.

2. What kind of extracurriculur activities have you taken part in?
What they really want to know-
a. What kind of leadership traits did you display? Were you a group leader in some excursion? Were you the scout leader?

b.Were you involved in organizing a play, or a blood donation program?
My advice is; try to think of some examples where you can show such traits, you might think some if them are insignificant, but they do matter as a measure of your personality.

3. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Main tip: No one is perfect, we all have our strengths and weaknesses, but the trick is to show your weaknesses as positively as possible.

Let me give you an example: To many of us, being an Extrovert is a strength. But many forget that extroversion can also be a weaknesss if you don’t know when to keep your mouth shut in meetings or at work. Sometimes, introversion can also be a boon.

A lot of studies have been done into how the consultant-client relationship evolves and how power, expertise etc define how the relationship affects how consultants work. One such theory is the idea of ‘liminality’ borrowed from anthropology which depicts the evolution and the relationships that develop between consultants and clients. Here is my take on how we can understand the consultant-client relationship from the eyes of liminality theory (Special thanks to Ms. Elvie Tarrobal and Ms. Aqila Razali, both accomplished HR Professionals for their valuable inputs) since starting my little stint as consultant upon my return home. 

Liminality: what does it mean? Its stages and working dynamics

An anthropological term, propagated by Arnold van Gennep (1909), liminality or liminal- denotes rituals of transition; a passage between one social status and another (cited in Czarniawska and Mazza 2003, p. 269). The theory of rites highlights the concept of liminality, which stands for the “social space that is betwixt and between the original positions arrayed by law, custom, convention and ceremony” (Turner 1969 as cited in Mohe and Seidl 2011).

Liminality engulfs our personal, social and organizational lives and we are virtually moving in and out of liminal spaces and time every single day. Arnold van Gennep (1909) denoted three separate stages of the rites of passage (as cited in Czarniawska and Mazza 2003, p. 270):

i)                    Separation or Divestiture:  In this stage, those who come under the purview of a passage of change are separated from their previous social group and way of life and relationships.

ii)                   Transition or Liminality: This is the phase where individuals are in the social space that is the liminal condition; and

iii)                 Incorporation or investiture: They enter a new social space and a new life.

A good example of such rites of passage would be what international students pass through during their studies abroad. In the separation/divestiture phase, students are separated from their social and known environment as they travel abroad and enter a new culture, new institution in a foreign land. It is a new way of life, new social rules for them. Then they face the transition/liminal phase, where they are truly in-between, cannot forego their previous identities and struggle to cope with the new social/institutional rules in a different country. Finally, upon graduation, the incorporation/investiture phase starts, where students either return back to their countries, or stay back and work in their new abode, nevertheless entering a new social space and life.

Stages may vary in duration depending on the kind of passage, for example, for international students, the liminality stage is longer, while the separation phase may be longer for funerals. Again, upon entering a new job, the investiture phase is the longest one.

But while separation entails a significant deviation from the known dimension, the transition or liminal period is marked by blurring of boundaries between the known ways of life, people feel ‘temporarily undefined, beyond the normal social structure’ (Turner 1982 cited in Czarniawska and Mazza 2003, p. 271).

How it affects Consultant-Client dynamics?

Researchers have been drawing various theories to analyse the client-consultant relationship, and ‘rites theory’ (Mohe and Seidl 2011) is one such endeavour. The term liminal has often been used to illustrate the condition of temporary employees in flexible organisations (Garsten 1999 cited in Newell et al. 2008); to discuss consulting experience (Czarniawska and Mazza 2003 cited in Newell et al. 2008); and to consider the impact on individual and organisational learning (Tempest and Starkey 2004 cited in Newell et al. 2008).

According to Czarniawska and Mazza (2003), consultants go through separation stage when they are temporarily absent from the consulting firm while being involved in a particular project and experience transition phase(liminal condition) as they learn about the client, their interests, symbolic meanings, environment, etc. Newell et al (2008) further describe the liminal phase as a period of ambiguity where both consultants and clients are in a social and cultural limbo situation; where this limbo state according to them can be painful, a state of aporia, perhaps not pleasant, but definitely temporary (Newell et al. 2008, Czarniawska and Mazza 2003, p. 272). This may weaken them since they have no rights over others; yet it can also free them from strucutural obligations and create a sense of freedom, creativity and sense of community with ‘fellow’ members who share the liminal condition.

Let us have a look as to how it affects consultants, clients and their work as members of project teams:

Consulting: moving in and out of liminal space and utilizing it

For consultants, this condition is ‘a working arrangement, a consultant condition and their actions are consultancy rites taking place in a liminal organization’ (Czarniawska and Mazza 2003, p. 273). Consultants are seen as passing through the liminal spaces between the consultant firm and the client organisation when engaged in consulting projects.  The liminal organization exists in the same physical location and legal boundaries as the regular organization does for those who are occupying the non-liminal space, i.e. those not working in the consulting project team, but in a different virtual and psychosocial space through the experience of consultants.

Almost all consultants belong to a non-liminal world and they travel in and out but sacrifice their control of time to the client when they are in the liminal organization. However, consultants need to be adaptable – proactive to be exact. They have to perceive the issues at hand, interpret and suggest plausible solutions that serve the best interests of the client. They also recognize the need for changing voices depending on whom they are interacting with, as they realize power and political differences within the organization. They also do their best to create more liminal conditions, through proposing new interventions. Such consultancy rites are part and parcel of a consultant’s work within the liminal organization (Czarniawska and Mazza, 2003).

The main function of consultants is to be the harbingers of change, brought in by top management to create a liminal organization and observe, analyse and propose changes necessary.

Liminality across the consultant-client life cycle: Unfreeze-Move-Refreeze

As discussed above, consultants are not the ones that go through the change(s), but the organization or some part of it does, which interestingly creates two parallel liminalities within the organization as noted by Czarniawska and Mazza (2003). One is for the consultants themselves, the other, for the employees/departments/whole organization, who have to face the changes that may be eminent. For starters, the liminal organization is reversed, what is investiture for consultants is divestiture for clients, and the presentation of the final report signals divestiture for the consultants but a new start for the employees. The intermittent period is new domain for both (Czarniawska and Mazza 2003).

Interestingly, this process can be compared to Kurt Lewin’s 3 Step Change Model of Unfreeze-Move-Refreeze (Lewin 1947a cited in Burnes 2004) as consultancy processes do involve different degrees of change.

Lewin (1947) proposed that it is necessary to destabilize or unfreeze the equilibrium that exists through disconfirmation of the validity of the status quo, creating a survival instinct within the participants (Lewin 1947 as cited in Burnes 2004) comparable to the divestiture by employees/client and also the aporia they face when put into a liminal condition.  Cultural islands denoted by Lewin (1947) can be comparable to liminality and are part of the unfreezing regimen (Grenville et al. 2011).

Liminality offers an opportunity to find ways to breakdown the perception of being the other.  Turner (1982) explains that people in liminal space are socially undetermined which allows freedom from structural and institutional constraints and thus, allows flexibility to develop creative solutions, for example “breaking the ice” by getting to know the people involved in the project, to socialize with them and develop good interpersonal relations with the client and members of the team (cited in Newell et al. 2008).

This creates a strategic opportunity to build connections, gather information, and gain an insight on interpersonal dynamics and other relevant issues, for example, the informal activity of dining and eating together fosters communication, bonding, openness that solidifies relationships purposely to gain support for the project. They undergo a transition process of psychological unlearning and relearning with a skilled outsider, the consultant.

In order to go through the next stage of moving, emotional stability must be created. Newell et al (2008) outlined four characteristics of liminality – temporary, ambiguous, freedom and community. Understanding the freedom characteristic for instance facilitates sharing of knowledge between consultant and client. According to Newell et al. (2008), in a liminal condition, consultants and client are free to experiment because they are freed from the usual organisational constraints, thus allowing them to be creative to use or to develop new knowledge and ideas. Turner (1982) points out the ‘inter-structural aspect of liminality provides freedom in two senses: freedom from institutional obligations (technical and bureaucratic) prescribed by organisation and freedom to enter new symbolic worlds and to overstep social structural limitations and to play’ (cited in Newell et al., 2008). Liminality therefore facilitates thinking outside of the box, enabling consultants and clients to produce creative solutions, to swap information and experience through trial and error basis, all available options towards attaining targeted change. It is here people ‘can talk about how they normally talk’ (Grenville et al., 2011). This also helps groups move from a set of unacceptable to more acceptable set of behaviours, as Lewin (1947a) recognized that, without such reinforcement, change could be short-lived (Lewin 1947 as cited in Burnes 2004).

The second characteristic of liminality is temporary and both consultants and clients should be aware that consultancy project(s), by definition is only temporary assignment, therefore they should know that they will eventually move on once the project is done. Understanding that consulting project is temporary in nature is critical as it helps consultants and clients to create sensitivity to socio political dynamics of the organisation. Although by all means temporariness allows project members to be flexible (Garsten 1999 as cited in Newell et al. 2008) it is however crucial to address that temporary characteristic in liminality helps to indirectly outline the ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ while working on the project.

The final step of refreezing is comparable to the investiture stage that clients have to undergo once the consulting report is served. Consultants and clients need to be sensitive to the political settings and social environments. This will not only help to avoid any ‘unwanted’ or ‘unwelcome’ problems and interference but also help them to establish trust, engagement and readiness to change should there be any change initiatives following the consulting project. In addition to that, liminality too provides room for reflection and to regain insights for all individuals involved in the project. Collecting feedback and reflecting is important to measure the effectiveness and success level of the project (Grenville et al. 2011). The concept of liminality provides a safe ground for cynicism and disgruntlement (Sturdy et al, 2006), thus enabling improvisation effort to occur in future. This way consultants can get the buy in they need to help clients understand, and convince non-participants to embrace the change (Grenville et al. 2011).

Some worries

Despite the wide opportunities provide by liminality in consultant-client relationships, it can however create some challenges too. As Newell et al (2008) argue “liminality can be beneficial to cultivate within the project team but too strong a liminal space makes it difficult to incorporate learning”. Consultants and clients in liminal spaces have potential to be both the agents of change and perhaps, its victims. Those who cannot cope with the ambiguity of such transitory working environment may suffer to find the clarity of tasks and lost the actual project’s goal; resulting in poor project outcomes. Also, what may be positive for individuals, may be negative effects at the organisation level (Newell et al. 2008). A strong sense of community within the project team and being isolated from the encapsulated work practices of the organisation for example, may lead the project team to ignore the needs of those they are supposed to represent even at the beginning it gives them space to be more creative and innovative (Newell et al. 2008).

Conclusion

Although the concept of liminality does not grasp the whole idea of consultant-client relationship, it however does highlight a particular “condition” within the interaction (Czarniawska and Mazza 2003 as cited in Mohe and Seidl 2011).

On an important note, understanding the concept of liminality strengthens the need to highlight the consultants’ “soft skills” over and above their given credentials and qualifications and pay particular attention to the sensitivity of interpersonal communication while building a positive consultant-client (working) relationship. Liminality offers an opportunity to find ways to breakdown the perception of being the other, by “breaking the ice” and getting to know the people involved in the project, socialize with them and develop good interpersonal relations with the client and members of the team, consultants can be more engaging and results can be productive.

As Newell et al. (2008) suggest, liminal spaces can be ‘reflexive spaces for future strategy development’ thus it is fair to conclude that understanding the concept of liminality can enlighten the relationship between consultants and clients. 

References

Burnes, B., 2004, ‘Kurt Lewin and the Planned Approach to Change: A Re-appraisal’, Journal of Management Studies, vol. 41, no. 6, pp. 977-1002

Czarniawska, B., and Mazza, C. 2003, ‘Consulting as a liminal space’, Human Relations, vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 267-290.

Garsten, C., 1999, ‘Betwitx and Between: Temporary Employees as Liminal Subjects in Flexible Organizations’, Organization Studies, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 601-617

Grenville, J.H., Biddle, K.G., Erwin, J., and Mao, J., 2011, ‘Liminality as Cultural Process for Cultural Change’, Organization Science, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 522-539

Mohe, M., and Seidl, D. 2011, ‘Theorizing the client-consultant relationship from the perspective of social-systems theory’, Organization, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 3-22.

Newell, S., Tansley, C., and Wagner, E. 2008, ‘The liminality associated with project teams: Exploring and explaining some of the problems of ES project implementations’, ECIS 2008 Proceedings, paper 63, viewed September 10, 2013 <http://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2008/63&gt;

Sturdy, A., Schwarz, M., and Spicer, A. 2006, ‘Guess who’s coming to dinner? Structures and uses of liminality in strategic management consultancy’, Human Relations, vol. 59, no. 7, pp. 929-960.

The story of Steve Jobs is not about a person but a combination of time, place and person spanning over three decades in industrial design, visionary, innovative thinking and two companies; Apple Computers Inc. and Apple Inc. (Jenkins 2011).

Jobs co-founded Apple with his friend Steve Wozniak in 1976 and enjoyed phenomenal success initially with the Apple I and Apple II. He was fired by the company’s board of directors 10 years later due to ego clashes and differences in opinion with the Board over product lines as well as loss of market share. After his departure, he went on to establish two more companies which were also successful in their own right. In the meantime, Apple went through three different CEOs and their stock price plummeted. Jobs was requested by the Board to join back as CEO in 1997. Under Jobs, the rejuvenated Apple flourished. He led the company to the forefront with cutting edge products resulting in rising stock prices by 2007.

Steve Jobs not only revolutionized how we use computers, how we listen to music, watch videos, but his vision transformed two industries, computers and consumer electronics and he did it with products that were ground-breaking and one of the firsts to be designed in tune with what the consumers wanted (Buckley 2011). He always saw Apple to be a digital products company (Lesonsky 2011).

This write-up will look at Steve Jobs as a leader and assess how he fits in or divulges with reference to research and theories on transformational leadership and leadership more broadly.  

Did Jobs exhibit Transformational Leadership (TL)?

The term transformational leadership (TL[1])was first used by Downtown in 1973 but was seen as an important approach to studying leadership beginning with the write-up of James MacGregor Burns in 1978 (cited in Northouse 2013, p. 186). Burns (1978) clearly mentioned about two types of leadership styles; transactional leadership (TRL[2]) – which is the common type of leadership being practiced where focuses on the exchange between leaders and followers, for example managers offering higher pay/promotions to employees (cited in Northouse 2013, p. 186). But TL is more oriented towards leaders engage with others, creating connections, motivating their followers to achieve more towards a shared goal/vision. Take for example Nelson Mandela, or Mahatma Gandhi; leaders who could move the emotions and actions of whole nations. Similarly, House (1976) had suggested about charismatic leadership which is if not synonymous but very similar to transformational leadership (cited in Northouse 2013, p. 187). He suggested that such leaders exhibit the desire to influence others, have high self-confidence and are dominant personalities (Northouse 2013, p. 188).

Bass (1985) provided a more comprehensive version of TL and also stressed that both TRL and TL are part of a continuum and not necessarily mutually independent (cited in Northouse 2013).

There are four major factors of transformational leadership (TL) according to the Full Range of Leadership Model (Bass and Avolio 1994 cited in Northouse 2013, p.191); the Four I’s

• Charisma or Idealized Influence: describes leaders who are role models for followers, deeply respected and trusted.
• Inspirational Motivation: describes the ability of leaders to convey high expectations to their followers, providing them with the motivation to commit to shared vision.
• Intellectual Stimulation: describes the ability of leaders to make their followers challenge their beliefs and be more innovative/creative; and finally
• Individualized Consideration: describes leaders who provide more supportive climate for followers to convey their ideas, use delegation to help them grow and achieve more than ‘what is usually expected of them’ (Northouse 2013, p. 194).

We will, therefore, look at the two tenures of Jobs at Apple, firstly as the visionary founder who ushered a new era in personal computing and then as the saviour who came in to save and lift the company to new heights. Rather than looking at everything in chronological order, we will pick up on his major leadership patterns and milestones he made Apple achieve to try to see how much of it can be compared or critiqued as transformational.

A . From Apple to Apple- Challenges faced and relevance (or divulgence) with TL theories

i)                    Charismatic & Challenging Visionary: From the very beginning, Jobs had the ability to visualize and materialize his ideas and also to convince people that it would work.  He visited the Xerox PARC facility and was quick to spot the future of computing in the graphical user interface (GUI[3]) and use of the mouse (Bennis and Biederman 1997 cited in Byrant 2003). He was more attracted to the different strategic possibilities in computing and started Apple as an organization which is pulled towards change and action rather than being reactive. His vision & charismatic approach with the Apple Mac provided his employees with inspiration and led to greater commitment.  He thus exhibited charisma, which is one of the major factors in TL and an emotional component of leadership (Antonakis 2012 cited in Northouse 2013, p. 191).

This charisma factor makes these leaders special and enables them to make their followers strive together to attain their shared vision. It has been shown that organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and developments of the norms and practices of OCB in groups are strongly related to leadership (Euwema et al. 2007) and transformational and charismatic leadership and the leader-follower exchange quality lead to development of OCB (Podsakoff et al. 2000, Deluga 1995, Wayne and Green 1993 cited in Euwema et al. 2007).

Transformational leadership is also concerned with improving the performance of followers to their full potential (Avolio 1999, Bass and Avolio 1990a cited in Northhouse 2013).  Jobs, while articulating his visions could provide ‘intellectual stimulation’ (Northouse 2013, p. 193) by challenging employees to be creative and innovative into what they could do and achieve, and the results are for the world to see with the advent of the iPod, the iPhone and finally the iPad. Apple employees demonstrated greater creativity as they were encouraged for higher goals (Zenger 2010).

ii)                   The Inspirational Change Leader in a rapidly evolving industry: The computer industry is one which is accustomed to an extraordinary level of rapid change resulting in rapid product innovations.  Jobs style of visionary leadership may have been ideal for this kind of industry characteristics. Change management literature emphasizes on the role of the leader in introducing change and effective leaders can motivate their followers to identify with their vision of the future and work towards that aim/goal sacrificing their self interests. Jobs could see that innovating and introducing unique products which suited the consumer needs was the only way to stay ahead. Jobs and his employees were able to convert the ideas learned from Xerox PARC labs into the Mackintosh computers, creating a new grounds in computing. It was Job’s leadership that created the systems and structures at Apple that helped materialize his visions (Byrant 2003). Jobs was able to instill this among his employees later on during his second tenure as well. He famously stripped a lot of Apple’s product lines and instead asked the employees to focus on a few but revolutionary ideas.  He revamped the Mac line of products and also forayed into the consumer electronics arena with revolutionary touch enabled gadgets like the iPod, the iPad and the flagship iPhone. This kind of inspiration or ‘inspirational motivation’ (Northouse 2013, p. 193) was one of Job’s trademark abilities. He could use sybolic and emotional appeals to employees to drive them towards higher efforts, commitment by emphasizing the role they are playing in the future growth of Apple.  

iii)                 Control and Influence: People saw a totally different Steve Jobs during his second time at Apple. He was as visionary and charismatic as he was before, but this time round he was also exhibiting better business sense. Jobs was more aggressive as a businessman, as he had an intellectual and methodical approach to marketing his products. This approach was exemplified by the details that went into packaging, giving the final approval on all software that ran on the machines and even on how television ads were presented, i.e. ensuring they are conveying the correct message.  Job challenged conventional wisdom and was famous for putting products even before they had a market. In an interview with BusinessWeek in 1998 he argued that people don’t know what they desire unless they see it work (Buckley 2011). He exemplified self-confidence, the desire to influence and a dominant personality; hallmark traits of a charismatic leader (House 1976 cited in Northouse 2013, p. 188). But though he played a pivotal role in creating the changes at Apple (during its inception and later on as saviour), by playing a direct role in providing a vision, making the changes happen, and sponsoring new directions; it did shout out to outsiders that he was acting independently above the needs of the employees (Northouse 2013), branding him somewhat as antidemocratic.

iv)                 Building and Nurturing the A-Team: Throughout his career, as Jay Elliot, his right hand man at Apple during the 1980s mentioned (Business Wire 2012),  Jobs had always worked hard to find and recruit –

• Talented people who would understand his way of thinking and contribute
• Have the abilities to come up with unique solutions to problems
• Are self-motivated and have a strong sense of direction
• Can take over his role

According to Steve Jobs, the reason why his ventures were so successful was because they hired the very best people in the world to work (Morrow, 1995 cited in Finkle and Mallin 2010). While this strategy is definitely a huge part of the success of Jobs and Apple, he faced resistance from CEO John Scully and the Board the first time round. To bring fresh ideas and perspectives, Jobs immediately replaced almost all the board members with hand-picked people when returned as Apple’s saviour in 1997.

Was he a collaborative leader?

Apple under Jobs’ leadership was an extremely closed organisation; a creative hothouse where innovative individuals were challenged to try their utmost for perfection (Archer and Cameron 2012), but this collaboration was limited to the Apple HQ at Cupertino. They were very demanding and secretive in their dealings with suppliers and outside parties. Jobs was not a collaborative leader in any sense as he was not keen on sharing control with external partners (Archer and Cameron 2012).

Individualized consideration not his forte

 Due to his controlling nature and infatuation with perfection, though he allowed for expression of ideas, he mostly dominated the decisions on designs and applications of products. Jobs was at times antidemocratic in deciding about product designs, marketing campaigns and even minute aspects of some software output in iOS, his personal preferences has been the final judge in product designs  at Apple (MaryAnne 2012). Thus, individualized consideration, the final among the four factors of TL was not his most strong sides.

 Is TL situation specific? Was Jobs an effective leader?

But there are those who would argue that this style of leadership and charisma is only effective in  certain contexts  (Berglas 1999). Bass (1985) had suggested that could apply to situations where the outcomes were not positive (cited in Northouse 2013, p. 190). Berglas (1999) argued that Jobs’s style of leadership was appropriate for the infant Apple Computers Inc. back in the early 80s because those were times were the arena of personal computing was rapidly changing with IBM, Microsoft and Apple fighting head to head to get cheaper PCs to the consumer’s doorsteps. But the same approach does not work when the business is established and emloyees want autonomy and credit for success. This was the reason of Jobs was fired from the company he created initially as he was taking all the credit for himself from the successes and blaming then CEO Scully for the failures.

But Jobs did adjust his role the second time round as it seemed he had learned from his prior experience (Buchanan and Huczynski 2010, p. 617). He used a mix of TL (providing vision, motivation and inspiration) and TRL (micromanaging product details with design teams etc.) and even autocratic leadership (by replacing the whole Board with hand picked people) to steady the company. He employed a clear vision of what he wanted Apple to become which was attractive, realistic and believeable to the employees (Bannis and Nanus 1985 cited in Northouse 2013, p. 197) and the new Board. This time round he also served as a ‘social architect’ (Nothouse 2013, p.197) and created a culture at Apple which was close looped, secretive and yet could ensue a cult followng of sorts.  But he could never shake of the dogma of being an authoritarian decision maker. He practiced autocratic management in deciding to use Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer versions that were compatible with Apple’s Mac with Internet Explorer as its default browser which was considered as taboo by Apple loyalists back then. He exerted his expert and position power (Northouse 2013) as he knew that employees would not agree on such a decision (Buchanan and Huczynski 2010, p. 616).  Interestingly, Euwema et al. (2007) suggest that such directive leadership actually hampers OCB, but surprisingly that does not seem to have affected Apple’s output and people who wanted to work under him (Buckley 2011). It seems his charisma, self-confidence and his ability to rally bright and enthusiastic people around him overshadowed his directive/authoritarian traits.

Conclusion

Steve Jobs was never the traditional leader, he always wanted to stay ahead and offer something different to consumers visualizing what business can be, not what it is (Lesonsky 2011).  Jobs’ unique transformational and charismatic leadership style mixed with his authoritarian decision making seems to have been the best thing that happened to Apple. He realized that he needed to mix TL with TRL to be successful with his company the second time round. Eric Reis, a successful entrepreneur, stated that successful companies in the future would need to fast adapt by practicing ‘continuous deployment of ideas’ (Heskett 2013), and will require leaders who will spend less time in planning and more into ‘lean experimentation’, i.e. creating organizations that have the ability to cultivate, test and materialize new ideas (Heskett 2013). Jobs seems to have been perfect for the times as he not only made Apple flexible enough to innovate but also structured enough to coordinate the strategic efforts of the company to pursue with its overall strategy of closed systems. Studies also show that in terms of the large scale innovations like what Apple went through, transformational leadership (TL) was necessary (Leithwood et al. 1996 cited in Geijsel et al. 1999).   Whilst he always tried to ‘stay hungry and foolish’ (Lesonsky 2011), he had his trusted and talented lieutenants (i.e. Jim Cook as COO, Phillip Schiller as SVP Marketing and Johny Ive as SVP Design and other competent people) to look after the more conventional areas of business, hence revealing his transactional nature as well.

Reference List

Archer, D. and Cameron, A. 2012, ‘Collaborative Leadership’, Training Journal, 01 June, Viewed 18 October 2013 <http://trainingjournal.com/feature/articles-features-2012-06-01-collaborative-leadership/&gt;

Berglas, S. 1999, ‘What can you learn from Steve Jobs’, INC, Vol. 21, No. 14, pp. 29 – 31

Buchanan, D.A., and Huczynski, A. A., 2010, Organizational Behaviour, 7^th ed., Pearson Education Australia, pp. 595 – 625

Buckley, J., 2011, ‘Steve Jobs: One of the greatest business leaders?’ Christian Science Monitor, 26 August, Viewed 24 October 2013 <http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2011/0826/Steve-Jobs-One-of-the-greatest-business-leaders.html&gt;

Business Wire 2012, ‘Former Apple Insider Shares Management Lessons from Steve Jobs’, Business Wire, 25 September, New York

Byrant, S.E. 2003, ‘The Role of Transformational and Transactional Leadership in Creating, Sharing and Exploiting Organizational Knowledge’, The Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, Vol. 9, No. 4

Cox, I. W., Plagens, G. K., & Sylla, K. 2010. ‘The leadership-followership dynamic: Making the choice to follow’, International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Vol. 5(8), pp. 37-51.

Euwema, M. C., Wendt, H. and van Emmerik, H. 2007, Leadership styles and group organizational citizenship behaviour across cultures, Journal of Organizational Behaviour, Vol 28, pp. 1035–1057

Finkle, T.A and Mallin, M.L, 2010, ‘Steve Jobs and Apple, Inc., Journal of International Academy for Case Studies, Vol. 16 No. 7

Geijsel, F., Sleegers, P. and van der Berg, R. 1999, ‘Transformational leadership and the implementation of large-scale innovation programs’, Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 37(4), pp. 309-328. Viewed 23 October 2013 <http://ezproxy.library.usyd.edu.au/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/220443473?accountid=14757&gt;

Hilary, D. and Macfarlane, E. 2003, ‘Emotional intelligence and transformational leadership in retailing’, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 24 No. 6, pp.309 – 317

Heskett, J. 2013, ‘Is Leadership an Increasingly Difficult Balancing Act’, Harvard Business Review, 02 October, Viewed 24 October 2013 <http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7282.html

Jenkins, H. W. 2011, ‘The Amazing Steve Jobs Story’, Wall Street Journal, Eastern Edition, 27 August, Viewed 23 October 2013 <http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424053111904787404576530810128779104&gt;

Lesonsky, R., 2011, ‘Q & A: What can I learn from Steve Jobs?’  Fox Business, 8 December, Viewed 22 October 2013 <http://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/biz-on-main/2011/12/08/qa-what-can-learn-from-steve-jobs/&gt;

Marshall, G., Baldoni, J. and Mc Arthur, S. (eds.) 2010, The AMA Handbook of Leadership, American Management Association, New York, NY 10019

MaryAnne, M. G. 2012, ‘Innovative Different: The Legacy of Steve Jobs’, Research-Technology Management, January – February, pp. 63 – 65

Moisescot, R. 2008, Steve Jobs: A Biography by Romain Moisescot, web blog, Viewed 21 October 2013 <http://allaboutstevejobs.com/bio/bio.php&gt;

Northouse, P.G. 2013, Leadership: Theory and Practice, 6th edition, SAGE Publications Inc.,

Thousand Oaks, California.

Nye Jr., J. S. 2013, ‘The Cult of Transformational Leadership’ The Diplomat, 31 May, Viewed 10 October 2013 <http://thediplomat.com/2013/05/31/the-cult-of-transformational-leadership/&gt;

Rumsey, M.G. 2013, The Oxford Handbook of Leadership, Oxford University Press, Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016

Strategic Direction 2002, ‘Transformational Leadership @ Apple’, Strategic Direction, Vol. 18, No. 6, pp. 5 – 7

Zenger, J.H 2010, ‘Leadership’s Silver Bullet: The Magic of Inspiration’ in Marshall, G., Baldoni, J. and Mc Arthur, S. (eds.), The AMA Handbook of Leadership, American Management Association, New York, NY 10019, pp. 103-119

Why not??? – 

The time has come for HR (Human Resources) departments to call it a day. HR departments often portray themselves as a valued business partner for management and staff alike. However, how can anyone take a department seriously that refers to people as ‘resources’?

Nothing matters more to companies than the people who work there. Companies are nothing without the right people! And I am sure that not one, single individual wants to be referred to as a ‘human resource’.

So, the first point I want to make is that the name is wrong: very wrong. It signals to everyone that this department manages ‘human resources’ in a top-down fashion, i.e. managing humans in a similar way to other resources such as finance, property or machines. If departments can’t see that this is sending out the wrong messages, then they don’t deserve to be there anyway.

Another issue is that HR departments are trying to serve two masters – which, in most cases, is not very successful. On the one hand, they are there to provide support for the employees and, on the other hand, they are there for the company and the senior management to help manage (and monitor, discipline, appraise, etc.) employees. This conflict of interest can cause friction and in many instances HR departments swing to the ‘support the company’ side, rather than the ‘support the employees’ side.

There is more. We can argue about whether the name is right or wrong, or whether the focus should be on the company or on the employees, but what really matters is whether HR delivers value. I have recently seen a number of companies that shut their HR departments down completely; outsourced the function or reduced it to a minimum. The reason they have done it, and not suffered any significant throw-back, is because HR wasn’t delivering any real value. Most of their time was taken up with bureaucratic and administrative tasks or legal issues. If HR doesn’t deliver some unique benefits then outsourcing it makes a lot of business sense.

Other companies, however, have invested in the ‘people function’. They realize that they need people who ensure that the company finds, recruits, retains and develops its people. So here is what I recommend:

1. Don’t call it HR!
2. 2. Put two teams in place: a people analytics’ team and a people support team.
3. The role of the people support team is, as the title suggests, supporting all employees in the organization – from the front line to the senior leadership team. The tasks of this team include: helping employees with their development; ensuring staff engagement; identifying issues with morale and culture and generally looking after the well-being of the people in the business.
4. The role of the people analytics team is to look at people more scientifically and support the company with insights and analytics. The kind of questions this team would help to answer includes: What are our talent gaps? What makes a good employee in our company and how do we best recruit them? Which employees have got the highest potential? How can we predict staff turnover? Etc.
5. Outsource or automate the non-value adding part of HR.

Why do we need HR??

I just read Bernard Marr’s article about why we don’t need the HR Department, and I beg to differ. While I agree that the term “Human Resources” is definitely an old-fashioned term (coined back in the day when human resources were compared with financial and physical resources), the need for HR today is greater than ever.

Consider this: CEO-level research from The Conference Board and Deloitte both show that “human capital” and “talent” are now the #1 issues on the minds of CEOs. All our research shows that businesses today are constrained by their own ability to hire and develop leaders, coupled with a growing lack of technical and professional skills in the market.

Can line managers fix this? Unfortunately no. This is the work of strategic, well trained HR professionals.

Our research continues to show that despite a tremendous need to reskill and continuously transform the HR function, human resources professionals solve some of the most important problems in business today.

Consider a few examples:

* A large insurance company which suffered from tremendously high turnover in the last ten years totally transformed its business by creating a new compensation structure, facilitated talent mobility strategy, and a totally revamped employment brand and value proposition. This company’s talent team is among the best I have ever seen – and their stock is now trading at 3X its value four years ago.

* A fast growing telecommunications provider, operating in one of the most competitive markets in the world, recently changed its employee evaluation process and created a whole new set of internal training and leadership programs designed to attract and incent engineering talent. They use social knowledge sharing, video sharing, and exciting recognition programs to make engineers highly passionate about their company. Their stock has outperformed their peers by more than 50% over the last 12 months.

* A large well known manufacturer of office products has shifted its business toward services, completely transforming its operations and driving higher margins. The CHRO and CLO drove a new “culture of learning” in the company which has been responsible for retraining technical and service professionals at all levels. This company is now regarded a “Growth Play” by Wall Street.

I run across exciting, innovative HR strategies in winning companies every day. In fact I’d venture to say that there isn’t a highly successful company in the world that does not have some form of world-class HR program in place.

Yes, HR could often be more strategic and more efficient – and certainly more data-driven(only 4% of organizations can do any level of predictive planning), but that’s all coming and I for one am rooting for HR to help us transform our businesses for many years to come.

Josh Bersin writes and researches corporate talent, learning, leadership, and HR best-practices around the world. He is Principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and founder of Bersin by Deloitte

Introduction:

In the latter half of the twentieth century, there has been a dramatic rise in the proportion of women who have entered the workforce throughout the world. In Bangladesh the number of women working has also gone up in the last 20 years. As per available data of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) in 2006, of the 49.5 million of civilian workforce, about 38% are female (BBS, 2006). With women working, maternity leave is of course an issue.

Evolution of the labour laws and those relating to maternity benefits in Bangladesh

The century old labour law system in Bangladesh was enacted during the British rule of the subcontinent, in 1881. Later, laws concerning different labour issues, e.g., The Factories Act (1881), Workmen’s Compensation Act (1923), Trade Unions Act (1926), Trade Disputes Act (1929), Payment of Wages Act (1936), Maternity Benefits Act (1939), and the Employment of Children Act (1938) were a few of the employment/labour laws enacted during that period. After the separation of the Indian sub-continent in 1947, almost all the laws during the pre-partition period were kept in force with some modifications and amendments, in the form of administrative rules, by the Pakistan Government.

After the independence in 1971, the Bangladesh government retained the previous laws through the Bangladesh Laws Order (President’s Order No. 48). No major development took place in the history of labour legislation till the enactment of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006. The Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 is a major and comprehensive enactment regarding industrial relation system through codification of existing labour laws in order to avoid overlapping and inconsistencies and brought some significant changes in industrial relation system.

Before the amalgamation of all the labour laws through the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006, there were three distinct acts for the regulation of maternity benefits for women for certain periods before and after child birth and for the payment of maternity benefits to them. These were The Maternity Benefits Act 1939 (which was most widely used in manufacturing, service and other organizations), The Mines Maternity Benefit Act 1941, and The Maternity Benefits (Tea Estate) Act 1950. All three of these acts have been repealed and amalgamated into the new labour laws under Chapter IV as “Maternity Benefits”.

What are the provisions/benefits being provided to women workers, what has changed from before?

The maternity leave policy available to women in Bangladesh is 16 weeks with full payment. However, interestingly enough, there are no specific laws that exist for management level (women) staff. The law that exists is “Bangladesh Sromo Ain, 2006” or The Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 given in Chapter IV called Maternity Benefit, referring to workers that do manual work mainly in factories, etc. The leave period that is guaranteed to non-management women workers is similar to Pakistan, Singapore and Sri-Lanka from the Asian region.

Table: A comparison between the current and previous provisions

Reason for concern: ‘no practice, only paper laws’

A survey by Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (2010) on ready-made garments (RMG) and construction industries showed that factories do not provide maternity leave for four months and most establishments give maternity leave only without pay. The survey exposed that female workers many times do not want to bear child because of fear of losing their job as majority end up being fired by their employers when they become pregnant, or sent on leave without pay (BILS, 2010). While the public sector workers are privileged, where most recently the maternity leave period has been extended to 6 months or 24 weeks, the situation is much worse in the largest manufacturing sector of the country, the garments sector which is the largest employer of women.

Survey by War on Want (2011) on 988 garments workers reveals 50% of the interviewed for this report stated that some form of maternity leave is provided at their workplace. However, 48% had been denied the benefit. Also, two thirds of the women interviewed were unaware of the full legal entitlement to maternity leave. Only 24% were aware of the proper maternity benefits they deserved. Many workers also had to look for new jobs after giving birth or return to the same factory at a lower grade, as they did not know their legal rights to return to the same grade they held before their maternity leave.

So, the issues are non-compliance to the provisions of the laws relating to maternity benefits in the private sector, specially the RMG sector. But there are various reasons behind this phenomenon as discussed below.

Breach of equity in the name of profitability

The sectors which have seen the boom in business since the 1980s (mainly RMG) have been attributed to being promoters social change for women. Although neo-liberal policies have generally led to greater feminization of the labour market, they may also have had adverse effects on women; that is, on the demand side, firms employ women simply because they represent a submissive pool of cheap labour – an issue that is often entwined with the element that as Standing (1999) said ‘the relatively few women who participate in the labour market often remain confined to the ranks of the so-called ‘vulnerable’ employed’ (Standing, 1999).

In Bangladesh, availability of such a large pool of ‘cheap’ labour meant that manufacturers moved away from the traditional core worker model and leaned towards the more contingent worker models. Irregular wage, overtime and bonus payments have long been and remain one of the most significant problems workers face in the industry including women. All of this has meant that until recently, ‘few women garments workers worked longer than five years’ (Hossain, 2011). Variations in maternity leave provision across factories/industries and a lack of awareness of workers’ rights mean that this basic entitlement of employee equity has long been breached. Such malpractice from employers clearly violates a component of the equity dimension– “balancing work and non-work needs” (Befort and Budd, 2009).

War on Want’s survey (2011) showed that ‘50% still had to work overtime while pregnant, 29% had suffered humiliating treatment at the hands of their employers while they were pregnant, and 24% had been denied sick leave during pregnancy’ (War on Want, 2011). More recently, BGMEA (the apex body of the garments makers and exporters) submitted their opinion on maternity leave to the labour ministry for consideration and proposed introduction of 12 weeks or 84 days of maternity leave for female workers in the garments industries citing the example of India, Nepal and Indonesia. Their objection is that 24 weeks maternity leave for female workers of garment industry would increase birth rate in the country.  This goes to show the other side of the coin, as employers are still concerned with cost saving and profit maximization but fail to see the positive effects of workplace efficiency through enhancing/ improving employment relationships.

All the dimension of inequity comes together for these workers. They are trapped in an inadequate employment relationship where low wages, lack of paid leave (including maternity leave and benefits), no retirement benefits (not in private sector) and other entitlements (like insurance, which are almost non-existent in Bangladesh) making it exceedingly difficult for these workers to get ahead.

Lack of ‘employee voice’

Employee voice is an essential element in the modern employment society but in case of Bangladesh, apart from the public sector and a few industries where multinationals operate (pharmaceuticals, FMCG, etc.) there is little objection from employees/workers to such abject exploitation. There are two main reasons, one is the failure of the civil organizations (unions) and second, these workers were the first generation ‘rural migrants’ to the city who lacked any knowledge of workers’ rights (Rahman, 2011). Also, in Bangladesh, where there is seemingly unlimited supply of female labour in search of jobs in the garments, construction and other sectors, women are particularly very cautious about making demands or taking steps that might endanger their employment and the costs they may incur if they were to try to do so, that prevent the majority of women workers from standing up for their rights.

In this advent, when we analyse the four dimensions of employee voice for women workers in Bangladesh, there is hardly any notion of free speech rights, participation in decision making, and consultation and social dialogue. In Bangladesh, the overwhelmingly male-dominated trade unions rarely have been willing to take up ‘women’s issues’. But there is change coming, ‘as a number of the more progressive unions have sought to set up women’s wings which deal more sensitively with women workers’ (Kabeer and Mahmud 2004b: 153 as cited in Hossain, 2012). Trade unions were prohibited in the EPZs until the 2004 EPZ. A survey by Kabeer and Mahmud (2004) found that ‘only 5 per cent of EPZ garment workers, 1 per cent of export garment workers outside the EPZs and none of the non-garment informal-economy women workers reported the presence of a trade union at their place of work’ (Kabeer and Mahmud 2004). Hence, a slow development in countervailing collective voice can be seen.

Recommendations: Need for a common policy, more voice and equity

In Bangladesh, the employment relationship across industries can be characterised as having a weak voice (weak unions and protection for individuals), weak in terms of equity (due to high inequality in practice of standards) but high in efficiency (hardly any government interference, easy hire and fire). Although, the boom in these industries have given women the freedom and economic independence, collectively, these working women are ‘worse off than their rural sisters’ (Ahmed, 2004).

Following are some proposed modifications/steps that might assist to balance the negativities:

Introducing a common Maternity Benefit Provision for all working women

While extending the maternity leave provisions of public servants to 6 months (24 weeks) the government has ignored the private sector where most irregularities are prevalent (The Daily Star, Dec 19, 2010). Rather, it should be universal for employed women in all sectors. The maternity law should be reviewed and should not be used as an excuse for employing women on short-term basis. Also, the fines for breaching the law should be increased as it is only a minimal amount.

Ensuring welfare facilities for women in the workplace as an equity measure

In Bangladesh, only a handful of organisations have recently started to offer their female employees on-site child care, although this is a requirement as per law. Such additional welfare measures can create a more equitable workplace and increase employee loyalty. Such arrangements can be also made with assistance from donor organizations and community day care centres can be established in factory sites.

Facilitating Countervailing Voice through unions & social partners

Women workers need to realize that the only way they can share / convey their requirements to employers or to the state is through a collective voice, i.e. through unions. Thanks to the efforts of different social advocacy groups (like Ain-O Salish Kendra or ASK) women workers have not remained untouched by the forces of change in the larger society. Intense media coverage of their working conditions, increased attempts to mobilize them and the involvement of a wider range of players than traditional trade unions have helped to raise their awareness of their rights. Workers may also have becoming less willing to put up with instances of injustice in the workplace and recent demonstrations and strikes indicate to that (Reuters, Feb, 2012).Collective voice can improve circulation of benefits as well as support the rights and dignity of workers.

Recently, the Textile and Garment Workers’ Federation, for instance is ‘moving towards a more ratified mode of representational principles in place of the adversarial politics’ (BIDS, 2006). The Bangladesh Independent Garment Workers Union Federation (BIGUF) and Karmojibi Nari (Working Women), constituted of active, rather than token, women leaders has also been extremely active and pursues a variety of strategies to organize garment workers, visiting them, organizing cultural programs to motivate them to engage in collective bargaining with management and providing legal education as well as legal support during disputes with management.

International Buyers need to enforce working conditions strictly to create equity

With absence of direct intervention from the Government, related/vested groups should take notice of the irregularities in labour law practice including maternity issues. Recently, prolonged efforts of trade unionists, consumers and human rights activists/NGOs to exert pressure on buyers to take greater responsibility for working conditions have resulted in the proliferation of codes that garment manufacturers now have to accept before they can win an order from these buyers. Indeed, the BGMEA/BKMEA, at least have realized that conformity is the key to future survival in the post-MFA competitive environment. As a result, there has been a marked improvement in health and safety standards in the major factories as well as a range of other benefits, such as payment on time, proper overtime, maternity leave, etc. But these are the large establishments (with forward and backward linkage) who are more complaint. These types of efforts are required in all sectors employing women to create a sense of equity/ fairness in the workplace. “Women in Factories’, a five year initiative by Wal-Mart is such a program in conjunction with Care Bangladesh (PR Newswire, New York, 05 Apr 2012). As Kabeer and Mahmud indicate, ‘there is certainly evidence of greater compliance in the garment sector than in other industries’ (Kabeer and Mahmud, 2006).

Such measures can elevate the status of women as competent workers by enhancing their self-worth and allowing them the freedom of balancing work and non-work needs, job security, self-determination and hence increase equity and voice at their workplaces.

References

Ahmed, Fauzia Erfan., 2004, The Rise of the Bangladesh Garment Industry: Globalization,

Women Workers, and Voice, NWSA Journal, Volume 16, Number 2, Summer 2004, pp. 34-45

Ain o Salish Kendra, A Legal Aid and Human Rights Organization, viewed Sept 29, 2012 <http://www.askbd.org/web/>

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, viewed Sept 29, 2012 < http://www.bbs.gov.bd>

Bangladesh Sromo Ain (The Bangladesh Labour Act), 2006, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Bangladesh

Befort, S. F., and John Budd, 2009, Invisible Hands, Invisible Objectives: ‘Bringing Workplace Law and Public Policy into Focus’, Stanford University Press, California.

Cagatay, Nilufer, and Sule Ozler. 1995. Feminization of the labour force: The effects of long-term development and structural adjustment. World Development 23, (11) (11//): 1883-94.

Hossain et al., “Decent Work and Bangladesh Labour Law: Provisions, Status, and Future Directions”, BIL Research and Advisory Team, April 2010

Hossain, Naomi., 2011, Exports, Equity, and Empowerment: THE Effects of Ready Made Garments Employment on Gender Equality in Bangladesh, World Development Report, Background Paper.

International comparison of maternity leave benefits, Viewed September 30, 2012

<http://www.hreoc.gov.au/sex_discrimination/paid_maternity/pml/report/appendb.pdf>

Kabeer, N. and S. Mahmud, 2004: “Globalization, Gender and Poverty: Bangladeshi Women Workers in Export and Local Markets”, Journal of International Development, Volume 16, Issue 1, pp. 93–109

Nirmalendu Dhar, (2007). Dhar on Labour and Industrial Laws of Bangladesh, Remisi Publishers, Dhaka

Rahman, Zia., Labour Unions and Labour Movements in the Readymade Garment Industry in Bangladesh in the era of globalization (1980-2009), 2011, University of Calgary, Ottawa, Canada

RMG Workers Demand Maternity Leave, New Age Bangladesh, January 29, 2004

Standing, Guy. 1999. Global feminization through flexible labour: A theme revisited. World Development 27, (3) (03//): 583-602.

Stitched up, Women workers in the Bangladeshi garment sector, August 2011

viewed September 24, 2012 <http://www.waronwant.org/about-us/publications&gt;

Syed S. Andaleeb, Gretchen Vanneman Wolford, (2004),”Participation in the workplace: gender perspectives from Bangladesh”, Women In Management Review, Vol. 19 Iss: 1 pp. 52 – 64

Turning the tide of RMG labour unrest , The Financial Express, June 20, 2012, viewed September 29, 2012 <http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/&gt;

Working women in Bangladesh to enjoy 6 months of paid maternity leave. (2011, Jan 11). Xinhua News Agency – CEIS.

Retrieved from & viewed October 4, 2012 http://ezproxy.library.usyd.edu.au/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/837540791?accountid=14757;

Wal-Mart launches ground breaking initiative to empower women working in factories in India, Bangladesh, China and Central America. (2012, Apr 05). PR Newswire.

Retrieved from & viewed October 4, 2012 http://ezproxy.library.usyd.edu.au/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/965144908?accountid=14757;

The 10 Dumbest Things Ever Said About Global Warming

BY BROOKE JARVIS
JUNE 19, 2013 | 11:00AM EDT
Source: http://m.rollingstone.com/?redirurl=/politics/news/the-10-dumbest-things-ever-said-about-global-warming-20130619

A list of the dumbest things ever said about global warming is, sadly, almost impossible to curate in any comprehensive fashion. Politicians, talk show hosts, economists, pundits – people are saying dumb things about climate change all the time. But after much exhaustive research, we narrowed it down to 10 prize-winningly idiotic statements on this subject.

1. Carbon dioxide “literally cannot cause global warming.”

People have tried to deny climate science in a lot of ways, but it’s hard to beat a complete rejection of well-established atmospheric physics. Joe Bastardi, a meteorologist appearing on Fox News, argued that CO2 “literally” cannot cause warming because it doesn’t “mix well in the atmosphere” (it does). He’s also claimed that warming would violate the First Law of Thermodynamics, which states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. (In fact, global warming has nothing to do with newly created energy, but with the atmosphere trapping energy that’s already around.)

2. “Snow skiing will be hurt – but water skiing will benefit.”

In 1990, as the world was beginning to grapple with the devastating predictions of climate models, a Yale economist set out to determine how much was a reasonable amount to spend on combating the problem. Not that much, he concluded, since “Humans thrive in a wide variety of climate zones. Cities are increasingly climate-proofed by technological changes like air-conditioning and shopping malls.” Further, he argued, the hardest-hit sectors – like, say, agriculture – are relatively small parts of the economy anyway. And economic growth in other sectors could compensate: “Snow skiing will be hurt – but water skiing will benefit.” How reassuring!

The Fossil Fuel Resistance: Meet the New Green Heroes**

RS contributor Bill McKibben lambasted this analysis in his 2007 book, Deep Economy. “It’s nice to have microelectronics; it’s necessary to have lunch,” wrote McKibben. “If global warming ‘only’ damages agriculture, the rest may not matter much.”

3. “We must demand that more coal be burned to save the Earth from global cooling.”

The “global cooling” myth is another favorite of climate deniers, despite broad scientific consensus that the planet is in fact warming. But it’s got to be an especially appealing fiction when you’re the CEO of a coal company – this statement is from a tweet by Don Blankenship, then the head of Massey Energy.

4. Climate change is impossible because “God’s still up there.”

In 2012, U.S. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) contended that acceptance of climate science was at odds with Christianity – never mind that many Christian leaders and institutions take climate change very seriously. “My point is, God’s still up there,” he told Voice of Christian Youth America. “The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous.”

A close runner-up in this category: In 2009, Rep. John Shimkus (R-Illinois) cited God’s post-flood promise to Noah as evidence we shouldn’t be worried. “The Earth will end only when God declares it’s time to be over,” he declared. “Man will not destroy this Earth.” Well, that must be nice to know.

5. God buried fossil fuels “because he loves to see us find them.”

Bryan Fischer, a director at the American Family Association, compared efforts to burn less fossil fuels to telling a friend that you don’t like their birthday present. “That’s kind of how we’re treating God when he’s given us these gifts of abundant and inexpensive and effective fuel sources,” he observed. “God has buried those treasures there because he loves to see us find them.” And everyone knows it’s bad manners to turn down a divine treasure hunt.

6. “The President was wearing a trench coat it was so cold, but he’s talking about global warming.”

This gem, from U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) in reference to President Obama’s 2013 inauguration speech, is part of a long, confused tradition: The conviction that anecdotally observed cold weather of any kind debunks the science of climate change. See also the igloo that James Inhofe’s family built on the National Mall (they called it “Al Gore’s new home”) or the ad from the Virginia Republican Party, aired before the same snowstorm, advising voters to call legislators who supported climate actions and “tell them how much global warming you get this weekend. Maybe they’ll come help you shovel.” With probably thousands of articles out there now explaining the simple fact that weather is not the same thing as climate, this joke gets dumber every time it’s made.

7. “I thought it must be true until I found out what it cost.”

Yes, Sen. Inhofe gets two entries. Speaking to Rachel Maddow in 2012, he admitted that his rejection of climate science began with realizing how expensive mitigation would be. Not only is it flatly nonsensical to deny that a problem exists because you don’t like its cure, delaying climate action is actually the more expensive course. The International Energy Agency has estimated that for every year the world delays taking significant action to curb climate change, we’ll end up paying an additional $500 billion later on.

8. Safeguarding the climate is “a worldview that elevates the Earth above man.”

Rick Santorum was a front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination when he called climate science a “phony theology” – “a worldview that elevates the Earth above man and says that we can’t take those resources because we’re going to harm the Earth.” (Santorum has also said, “We were put on this Earth as creatures of God to have dominion over the Earth, to use it wisely and steward it wisely, but for our benefit not for the Earth’s benefit.”) This people-vs.-planet idea is another common refrain from climate skeptics. They rarely seem to have considered the fairly obvious point that functioning human society depends on a healthy planet.

9. “100 years is a long time . . . There is an extremely high chance that the very nature of human society itself will have changed by that time in ways that render this entire issue moot.”

This novel bit of reasoning is from an essay called “In Praise of Dirty Energy: There Are Worse Things Than Pollution and We Have Them,” by economist and blogger Karl W. Smith, now a writer for Forbes. Smith accepts the science of climate change – but argues that we should burn more fossil fuels anyway, in order to spur economic growth. As the climate changes, he believes that people will simply build new cities or move north to Siberia, and build a society so technologically advanced it’s somehow progressed beyond the need for a stable climate. Piece of cake!

10. “I have a theory about global warming and why people think it’s real. Go back 30, 40 years when there was much less air conditioning in the country. When you didn’t have air conditioning and you left the house, it may in fact have gotten a little cooler out there, because sometimes houses become hot boxes. Especially if you’re on the second or third floor of a house in the summer time and all you’ve got is open windows and maybe a window fan. Or you have some servant standing there fanning you with a piece of paper. When you walked outside, no big deal, it’s still hot as hell. Now, 30, 40 years later, all this air conditioning, and it’s a huge difference when you go outside. When you go outside now, my golly, is it hot. Oh. Global warming. It’s all about the baseline you’re using for comparison.”

Oh, OK: All those scientists who have confirmed a pattern of long-term climate change were just getting confused by their air conditioning. Right. Thanks, Rush Limbaugh, for the low-hanging fruit.

With all of the political mudslinging going on, now seems like a good time to focus on a lost  practiced skill: Listening !

The ability to effectively listen is one our society has unfortunately forgotten to use—especially during moments when listening is most necessary, like the crises we are facing on the future of our politics, our identity and the restlessness. 

We modern-day humans think we have mastered the skill of listening, but have we? We may claim that we put our full attention when listening is necessary, but how many times have you or someone else you know sneakily checked your mobile device at these moments? You may not do it all the time but I’d bet you have done it more than you would like to admit.

There are who will argue that you can listen and do something else at the same time, but have you actually consciously tried to multitask? We may have been able to feign listening,  but unfortunately, from what I have observed as an interviewer and counselor during my times in human resources with employees, the inability to effectively listen has been a primary cause of conflict in their lives and at work. I have witnessed adults fighting it out like preschool children because they don’t take the time to listen or say  ‘I am sorry, can we talk about this?’

Have you seen what goes on in our talk shows and even between our political parties? Most of the time, one party to the dialogue will either (intentionally or unintentionally) interrupt the talker by blatantly making an off-putting remark, or a negative facial gesture, or by doing something that distracts his (or her) attention from the talker. Believe it or not, these supposedly innocent or may be deliberate actions cause enough of a distraction for the Listener to the point where he will miss something the Talker has said.

Again, when the listener genuinely tries to repeat what was just said but misses a couple words, the talker will interrupt and charge the listener for spoiling his/her statement, rather than hearing what the listener repeats, pausing and then saying it again so the listener can try again. Just imagine, these people are supposed to be communicating with the people, and look how appalling their behavior is, either intentionally or unintentionally.  

So, no matter how skilled we are at our professions (if politics is a profession!! like being an accountant, a lawyer, a physician), we are slowly loosing our listening skills. Whether some of us may demonstrate a low aptitude in our listening skills in intimate relationships or in other settings that demand 100% of our attention, we all need to practice the art of listening—which may require disconnecting ourselves from other stimuli that usually involve a technological device.We may have forgotten the skill to listen as we have become so engrossed with electronic means of communication like emails, sms and chats. 

I believe, the conflicts of present times are because of our lack of/  or  degraded listening skills. We should endeavor to listen, we may not like what we hear or we may find something that we may be interested in, creating a commonality which our leaders seem to lack among themselves.