Sunday Jan 12, 2025
Sunday Jan 12, 2025
Friday, 20 September 2013 03:17 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
South Asia as an intellectual powerhouse
The first speaker at the launch, Dr. Ashok Joshi, opened his remarks by articulating the conference will deliberate a very relevant theme in today’s uncertain economy. Managing enterprises has been the issue for several issues, but is now a more focused concern for all governments, corporate and common citizens. The volatility in the global economy has been ongoing since 2008, and the severe economic crisis was followed by the EU slump. Managing enterprises involves managing risks in social organisations and in governance. All the different stakeholders must be integrated so that the complexity can be easily leveraged in order to manage the global economy.
Dr. Joshi articulated that “complexity is a science, which needs to be introduced into decision making. With the help of information technology, we can optimise resources and enhance global prosperity as enterprises have gone beyond the profits and loss statement and investors and stakeholders. Sustainability of organisation is extremely important, where planet, people and profit are integrated.”
He added that in this direction, South Asians need to play a key role as the intellectual power house of the globe leveraging the reputation they have for having a high level of intelligence. This reputation is based on the three key attributes that distinguish them; quantitative abilities, communication skills, and the ability to rally during crises. Thus all 8 countries must synergistically leverage their abilities – this includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka – in a harmonious manner in order to facilitate prosperity.
Business Management 3.0: The age of imagination and complexity
Commencing his keynote address, Professor Uditha Liyanage flagged a frequently glossed over key challenge that local and global corporates must face. He stated: “We think of doing and achieving, and establish the nexus in our minds between action and results, as a certain bias for action is necessary to meet goals. However, one must also have a bias for perception. It all begins in the mind- if you don’t see it right, you don’t do it right, and then you don’t get it right.”
Perception, according to Professor Liyanage, covers a variety of bases: How do we view and perceive the environment in which we operate? How do we see our role? How do we see consumers, competition and collaborators? How do we see the larger landscape? He referenced an 
exceptional piece of research done by Gallup, which asserted that mediocre managers and great managers see situations in two very different ways.
They asked 12,000 managers from various industries a set of questions, one of which was “Imagine you are a sales manager in your establishment. You have two salesmen: one is a great performer, and one is mediocre. There are two territories, the first one was traditionally strong but has seen a sharp drop of late. Territory 2 has always been average but has great potential. Which territory do you send your excellent manager to?” Excellent managers predominantly picked territory 2. The lesson here is that they did not want to just regain their previous status quo, but saw a great opportunity. Thus, Professor Liyanage stressed, results can only be achieved through the sensing and exploitation of opportunities. It all begins with perception, and then action follows.
He added that upon reading the profile of the new Indian CB Governor, Raghuram Ranjan, he noticed that the lion’s share of his qualifications result from predicting the economic crisis. Professor Liyanage quipped that it should be the everyday business of economists to predict crises – so why is it so difficult? Where does the gaping gap appear between intended strategies and planned strategies?
The problem arises, he explained, because we treat organisations as metaphorical machines. The other metaphor that has shaped our thinking for a long time is the military, where strategy was first conceived. The structures of organisations are still based in the flawed military methodology. Another flawed bit of advice comes courtesy of Frederick Taylor, who said that there is one best way of managing enterprises, and people need to find it and implement it.
Professor Liyanage claimed that complexity is the key trend that needs to be watched as it unfolds across the globe, and that enterprises will clearly be impacted. The Santa Fe multidisciplinary institute in Paris comes together to understand the nature and functioning of research.
He bolstered his point with some examples, explaining that the aircraft system is pre-ordained to operate in a particular way. If the pilot pushes the yoke forward, the plane will descend. It is pre-determined and there is no margin for error. The other system is the adaptive system, such as ant colonies, fish schools, the immune system, the stock market, and on a mundane level the stock holding of markets. If one takes quick look at Pettah and the total stock holding of sugar in the market, it easy to ascertain that there is a certain method. While there is no formula or one particular person controlling this, this is a Complex Adaptive System (CAS). There is self-organisation and the concept of emergence.
For too long we have been operating in stable, static environments. This same accustomed way of doing things has made us create a false distinction between planning and implementation or execution. There has always been this prevalent dichotomy between the two, and they are carried out by two different sets of people. Professor Liyanage added that we need to move from strategy to emergent strategy. There are no fixed concrete visions and goals as these are unrealistic. In a complex system, there is no distinction between planning and
doing. One must operate in a large frame but remain agile.
Considering management as subject matter, he clarified that it is not an art to be left to an artisan. It is certainly not a science with concrete steps, and these are at two ends of the continuum. It is, however increasingly becoming a craft. A number of incremental changes come into play as the picture at the beginning will be different to the resultant object. The manager begins to strategise on the run- this is the nature of emergent strategy.
The world is now moving into business management 3.0, a new and non-familiar phase. 1.0 was about make and sell, while management 2.0 is planning and implementation. Strategy was seen as an attempt to develop a plan and execute it. In today’s age of complexity, we have to venture and learn. The main question is do we have managers that think the right way?
The 18th century was characterised by agriculture, the 19th by industry and the 20th by knowledge – where the knowledge worker dominates. The fourth era transcends the information age, wherein knowledge is good but no longer good enough. It has been described by Daniel Pink as the conceptual age, the age of imagination. Professor Liyanage added: “Information is no longer a sustainable competitive advantage, but what you do with that information is. In this age of imagination, you’re looking at a whole new set of skills- conceptual, right brain skills and the 
ability to empathise. Those managers who will succeed are those that have twin abilities to conceptualise and relate. Thus, there is a different paradigm, and we must recognise the new responses to be challenged within this.”
Professor Liyanage wrapped up his address by affirming that we need to go beyond the “depth deficit”- beyond that blur, and the shallow thinking. With the right amount of conceptual thinking and empathy, we will be able to transcend the ambiguity.
Management in public policy
Member of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya covered the overlap between management and public policy in his comments, explaining that management principles are often implemented in politics. Managers in general, he added, are those who put theory into practice and are result-oriented.
He articulated his support for the conference, as the areas of the public and private sector will enlighten the participants with new management techniques, as the needs of the business sector will be discussed. The association of management development, and an apex body of SAARC have come together to bring about this forum as a future of business development dawns in Sri Lanka.
We find several deficiencies in some management spheres, which is unfortunate as our managers will eventually run and create wealth for the country. Some of these drawbacks in the financial sphere, he mentioned, are due to the low amount of salaries. In management, a free hand is required to run t
he organisation, and this is where Napoleon’s theory comes in, “there are no bad men, only bad officers”.
Giving the audience a few examples, Jayasuriya elucidated that the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation lost huge last year, while the private Indian Oil made large profits whilst buying and selling at the same price. He explained that although prior credit agreements factored in, this is one of the possible situations in which managerial autonomy counts.
Upgrading our craft for efficiency and transparency
Discussing the broader spectrum of management skills, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Chandima Weerakkody asserted that they are necessary across the board. He explained that as a child, his first manager was his mother, who managed home affairs such as education, care and food. “At a different level, a driver has to be a good manager, and needs to have a plan and expect complexity because a driver without imagination cannot survive on a Sri Lankan road,” quipped Weerakkody.
“These theories apply to every one of us in discharging our duties,” he added, “As a Deputy Speaker, I often find the task of management the most difficult as complexity is at its highest in parliament. I do not have a management certificate, but that task is entrusted to me. What I see in practicality in our country is a huge public service. It delivers to the majority of the country’s population, but the management skills have not always been up to a satisfactory level. At the same time, I must appreciate the advance of our public services especially with the advancement of IT. I believe it is very important that they too can compete convincingly with the private sector, where we see competent management skills in a considerably satisfactory manner.”
Weerakkody asserted that we expect efficient, transparent, management service from every sector, but in order to achieve efficiency, apart from subject matter and content knowledge, we need to upgrade our craft, by gaining and upgrading experience. This will be beneficial in order to gain knowledge on the subject but also to discuss experiences and challenges faced in careers as well as opportunities in our countries. Not only could we gain experience and exposure but also this gathering would be successful to achieve business targets and investment expectations. He ended his remarks by emphasising that the final collaborative contribution has to be toward the development of the country.
Pix by Lasantha Kumara
