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Flexible
When Ishmael reports for duty aboard Captain Ahab's
ship, ‘The
Pequod', on the mission to locate and destroy the great white
whale Moby
Dick, he goes to sleep in the cabin allotted to him, only to be woken
at midnight by the uproarious entrance of a huge Black man of frightening
appearance carrying a razor-sharp harpoon. On finding Ishmael, apparently a
White interloper of questionable origins, the newcomer (actually an ex-cannibal
and Ahab's chief harpooner, Queeqeg by name) almost kills Ishmael before
Starbuck, First Mate, resolves the misunderstanding. Later, they became the best of
friends, with deep respect for each other's religions and personal philosophies.
“ Better to lie down with a sober cannibal than a drunk Christian” is a
well-tried saying.
Stereotypes limit our perception
of people. And rigidity
in our perception of people can lead to assumptions about subordinates:
1.
Women get too emotional to manage others, even other women
2.
Successful women are aggressive
3.
Engineers are poor communicators
4.
Red-heads are short-tempered
5.
Men who speak with regional accents are not as clever or sophisticated
6.
Men are male chauvinists
7.
The physically disabled are unintelligent
Stereotypes limit our perceptions of
people and limit, thereby, our own chances of
development, because we
generally get from people just what we expect from them… no more, no less. Bosses who
have high expectations from their staff generally get a high performance.
Stereotypes are indispensable for movie-makers but
deserve no place in real life, like The Wild Bunch, a group of desperados who
terrorized the West before succumbing to change and retribution. There are
enough rigidities in working life, as it is, without our prejudices further
limiting productivity and individual development. Sir Ernest Rutherford,
working with the team that cracked the atom, first saw
Niels Bohr as a student, swinging a pair of football boots by their
laces. Rutherford got his way and the unconventional Bohr was allocated to his
research group. Another fine judgment, based on instinct, but tempered by the ability to think flexibly…you can, too:
a.
Go for flextime
b.
It's results that count, not hours put in
c.
Allow your team time off to think, plan, R&D
d.
Encourage flexible attitudes
e.
Examine fresh ideas carefully; they may be too revolutionary for you to grasp at
first
f.
Resist pressure to recruit people who fit pre-conceived notions of what the job
needs; don't judge the banana by its skin
g.
Amend rules to promote development and results
h.
The organization that adapts fast and best to the changing environment thrives.
QUESTIONS:
1. How can an inflexible approach retard
progress?
2.Can you present a brief case study to illustrate
the state of a problem before adoption, as well as after adoption, of a flexible
approach to the situation?
