Lessons from Application of Principles of Management @ NITIE, Mumbai

What the Principles of Organisation and Management course at NITIE was all about and my learnings from the course. You can also watch it here.

Entrepreneur vs Employee

Art vs. Maths

Entrepreneurship is like art. You are never sure whether it will yield the result that you have been looking for. The ending may turn out to be quite different than the way you had planned it.

Job is like Math. First, you concentrate on getting the right education, then look out for the job that enhances your professional experience. Then you work towards getting promotions till you reach the peak of career in terms of satisfaction and capability.The path is logical, traveled many times and  like a simple math equation, parameters are few.

Certainty of pay check vs. none

Entrepreneurship is not really for people who cannot survive without pay check. The entrepreneur makes nothing for months, sometimes for years. He/She toils for what interest her than what pays immediately.

Jobs pay immediately. Within one month of taking a job, one starts getting salary in the account. It is usually fixed and certain.

Incremental vs. explosive

Entrepreneurship is difficult. But it can lead to explosive growth if worked through with patience. The explosive growth can make you rich and famous. Think Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and many others.

Jobs are logical increments over time. You start at the junior level and move on to become a senior. A few gets into higher levels. Salary increases consistently with every rise in position.

Creation vs. continuation

Entrepreneurship is about ideas, creation and developing something new, It is about solving problems in a unique way. It is about thinking out of the box. It is about targeting opportunities.

Job is often about continuation of same work and doing it in much better way. Creativity may be useful but is not necessary for survival. You need to do work on time. Organizations appreciate creativity but nurturing that it is not the priority.

Direct vs Indirect job creation

Entrepreneurs find and exploit opportunities that create thousands of jobs. They look for improvements and then utilize them to start companies that bring in more jobs.

People holding jobs indirectly create job. They take loans, buy houses ,cars. This keeps money in circulation. Businesses invest to fulfill needs of job holders often creating jobs in the process.

Wealth creation vs. being rich

Wealth is different from richness. Wealth is when you have assets that generate income for you. Rich is when you get a fat salary to spend.Entrepreneurs generate wealth in long term. They may be rich but they are more wealthy than rich.

Risk

Entrepreneurship is risky. You could lose all your money. You have to plan and move ahead.

Jobs have relatively low risks unless you are working in risky, hazardous job. Even if you lose your job, you will not lose a lot of money and often you will get similar job,maybe at lesser salary but still.

So which is better?

No one can answer but only you. It all depends on your drive, your capacity to take risk, the goals of your life. These are just a few pointers that help you decide.

Theory X and Y Managers

Our professor Dr.Mandi introduced us to an interesting concept of “Theory X and Theory Y”. Though I had heard about it before, its true essence is understood only now in context to management. 

The theories were created and developed by Douglas McGregor. They describe two different attitudes towards employee motivation.

Theory X managers think that the employees are inherently lazy. They dislike their work. They need to be controlled and coerced to work.

Theory Y management has strong faith in its employees. The management thinks that the employees are self-motivated and enjoy their work.

Both these approaches are two extremes and as human beings, we would be somewhere in between. However the intention is to be closer to Theory Y in real life.

Suppose a manager finds an employee wiling his time in a work station. Instead of reprimanding the person, the manager needs to act as a guardian and have strong conviction that the employee is productive. The manager needs to stand by such employees and believe that they are better than the way they have been acting.



Surprised! 

I asked my professor if the manager has to act dumb and ignore the obvious. 

My professor explained that the manager doesn’t ignore but believes. 

In spite of having the full knowledge about the undesirable behaviour of its employees the management needs to treat them as family.


The idea is to build a congenial and trustworthy environment by acting in that way. As an example, consider a scenario in which you were spotted by your father doing something unwanted, but instead of scolding he ignored and went about being proud of his child. Such an instance shames the person into doing what is right. Theory Y is thus desirable as it intends to change the employees’ outlook into being productive.

  
Logically, either theory is not completely encompassing. In theory X, active employees would suffer while in theory Y there would be free riders. The difference is that Theory X under tight control by management would create a depressed culture while Theory Y would lead to an open and sanguine atmosphere. 


And common sense tells us happy people are more productive!

AkzoNobel

Akzo Nobel N.V., trading as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational, active in the fields of decorative paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, and employs approximately 55,000 people. Sales in 2010 were EUR 14.6 billion. Following the acquisition of ICI, the company has restructured in 2 January 2008, and rebranded itself in 25 April of the same year. It is Global Fortune 500 company

Headquarters - Amsterdam, Netherlands

Origin

AkzoNobel has a long history of mergers and divestments. Parts of the current company can be traced back to 17th century companies. The milestone mergers and divestments are the formation of AKZO in 1969, the merger with Nobel Industries in 1994 forming Akzo Nobel, and the divestment of its pharmaceutical business and the merger with ICI in 2007/2008 resulting in current day AkzoNobel.

Milestones

ü  1871
KemaNobel is established in Sweden. More than a hundred years later, in 1984, KemaNobel will merge with Bofors to form Nobel Industries, which will in turn be acquired by Akzo in 1994.

ü  1895
Alfred Nobel (the man behind the Nobel Prize) founds Elektrokemiska Aktiebolaget – known as Eka – in Bengtsfors, Sweden. Its aim is to make chlorine and alkali. Today Eka Chemicals is AkzoNobel's Pulp & Paper Chemicals business.

ü  1918
Koninklijke Nederlandse Zoutindustrie (KZO) kick-starts the Dutch salt industry in response to salt shortages during World War I.

ü  1923
Saal van Zwanenberg establishes Organon to produce insulin from the pancreases of animals.

ü  1968
UK man-made fiber company Courtaulds acquires International Paints.

ü  1969
Algemeene Kunstzijde Unie NV (AKU) merges with Koninklijke Zwanenberg Organon (KZO) to form AKZO.

ü  1994
Akzo and Nobel Industries merge to form AkzoNobel.

ü  1998
AkzoNobel acquires UK company Courtaulds. Their products include high-tech industrial coatings and man-made fibers such as Courtelle and Tencel.

ü  2007
AkzoNobel sells Organon BioSciences NV to Schering-Plough Corporation.

ü  2008
AkzoNobel acquires Imperial Chemical Industries PLC (ICI).

AkzoNobel is the world’s largest Coating supplier

Geographic Spread

Global Brands & Products

AkzoNobel is the global leader in decorative paints and the largest manufacturer of performance coatings. They also make a huge number of specialty chemicals that find their way into hundreds of everyday products. Many of their products are household names, used and trusted by their customers to brighten, protect and preserve their homes, buildings, offices and factories.

AkzoNobel Key Facts

Organisation Structure

Observations

Strengths

Ø  AkzoNobel is the largest global paints and coatings company and a major producer of specialty chemicals

Ø  With operations in 80 countries and having human capital of around 55,000 this Netherlands’ paint major is in Global Fortune 500 and one of the leaders in Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes.  

Ø  The world's best-selling paint: powder coatings, wood coatings, coil coatings, marine protective coatings, aerospace coatings.

Ø  Wide variety of products ranging from paints to industrial chemicals to organic chemicals provides them scope of diversification compared to other conventional paint companies.

Ø  Continuous R&Ds with international facilities and minds coming together has helped them stay at par with competitors.

Weakness

Ø  In decorative paints Industry Customer tastes and perceptions change very fast and products may become obsolete with change in trends, hence production planning and inventory problem.

Ø  Large working capital required.

Opportunity

Ø  Capitalizing on emerging Asian Markets is critical.

Ø  With more advertising like Asian paints, Nerolac and Berger Paints they can create more brand awareness for their lesser known products.

Ø  Being an international company and financially strong company they can use their muscle power to enter potential markets in a strong way.

Threats

Ø  European markets are in bad shape; growth opportunities very limited.

Ø  Local competitors who offer few products at lesser price

Ø  Government rules and regulations regarding the quality of products and manufacturing facilities as Environment policies are given more emphasis.

Ø  Raw material scarcity, volatility in prices