Redefining Horizons

Dumb Terminals? The stand-up comedian’s program was well subscribed. Each one sitting there was  from the corporate world  and had paid a tidy sum for the laughter riot. Jokes galore followed, few intelligent, some sane, many insanely hilarious and few outright vulgar. But the joke that elicited laughter and claps the most was about the corporate team leader who merely forwarded reports upward and distributed tasks downward to manage the numbers required. The narrative laced in humour painted management hierarchies as endless maze of meaninglessly inter connected, remotely controlled, ‘dumb-terminals’ which receive and send whatever came its way.  It looked as if every one sitting there was familiar with the picture painted and knew some dumb-terminals. Whether they laughed at someone else or at themselves, only they would know, but each one, someone high or low in a vertical in some MNC, laughed at being called a dumb-terminal. The The...

Prologue The distraught CEO informs the chairman that the lady entrusted with the responsibility of conducting the mega event is insisting on chucking out the time-tested canvas and experimenting with an entirely new roll out. The gravity of the situation is accentuated by her insistence on adopting a line, visibly very contrary to the views held by the establishment. The CEO is convinced that if this attempt at questioning authority is allowed to pass, it could open the flood gates for dissent across the board, lead to erosion of authority, weaken controls, adversely affect organisational efficiency and jeopardise the very existence of the organisation. The CEO seeks intervention of the Chairman to ensure continued conformity. She also informs the chairman that she has already identified someone willing and conforming.   Visionaries and Dissenters Customs, practices and policies evolve as organisations grow. In the course of evolution, organisational prac...