No – A Tool of Management

The sakhaas (friends) came to Jasoda and told her about Krishna eating and swallowing soil in hunger. When Krishna returned home in the evening, Jasoda questioned Him why He ate soil. Krishna replied, "Mother, I have done nothing wrong; I never ate soil. My sakhaas have lied to you." Jasoda caught hold of Him and asked Him to open His mouth. Krishna smiled and obliged. What happened next is strange and unbelievable! She was astonished to see the glimpse of the Trilok, all the dimensions of the universe inside His mouth. Having this miraculous experience, her anger vanished immediately. She pardoned her son and took Krishna on her lap in intense love and affection.

In the great epic Mahabharata, there is a story of Judhisthira, the eldest Pandava, saying to Dronacharyya, "Asasthama hata …… kintu iti gaja" – means Asasthama was killed …….. but it was an elephant." Dronacharyya was the father of Asasthama and could not believe that such news might ever come to him. He wanted to hear it from Judhisthira, who, as saying goes, never told lies. The news of his son’s rumored death from Judhisthira was utterly shocking. The end of Dronacharyya, the legendary father of war skills, was achieved with such disinformation.

It is a lesson on how a situation or a group of people can be managed by saying "no". From prehistoric times, people have been learning and experimenting the management of the negative or management by disinformation. Everyone has experienced it one time or another.

Once, one of my colleagues, a Superintending Engineer by rank, wanted to meet the General Manager to obtain an advance of money before going on leave. He was planning to visit his hometown in the evening on a month’s leave and was in need of money for treatment of his mother. The General Manager was in a habit of saying ‘no’ to any person, idea or concept just to stir up the situation and awake himself to the situational need. My friend decided to follow an imaginative line of approach:

He opened the office door of the General Manager and said,

"May I come in sir?"

"No", the General Manager said.

He waited for a while and again opened the door and said,

"May I come in sir?"

"No", the instant reply came.

He waited for another twenty minutes in the Private Secretary’s chamber and then, by opening the door went inside the General Manager’s room and said,

"May I go out sir?"

The instant reply came as usual, "No".

The Executive Engineer then set his application in front of the General Manager who, in embarrassment, signed the document allowing the advance to be paid.

I had come across another Chief Engineer who was promoted to Field Area Manager. He was neither able to understand work consequences nor had the ability to express clearly in Hindi or English. Whenever field personnel sought suggestions or ways to overcome certain problems, he would utter some strange mix of words and sounds; nobody could understand or follow the meaning and contents of the communication. He would just say ‘no’ to any suggestion or alternatives offered. Having learnt their lesson over a period of time, his colleagues and subordinates would start giving several negative solutions to the problems and after hearing the anticipated ‘no’ response to all these, they themselves would take decisions and plan the line of action. Success was more important than the identification as to "who is the boss!".

You may ask anyone at an opportune time, "Are you interested in this project or are you already following this line of action?" The reply might be, "Hey, I am actually thinking of something else, but let me see." Another approach might be to simply say "Moi koribo nuwaru~ – it is beyond me" – The reasons may be several reasons for expressing such inability: refusing responsibility or involvement, unwillingness to explore, avoiding controversy, and even the extreme torture of suffering from failure. Whatever may be the situation, usually there is no risk involved in expressing ‘inability’ or ‘incapacity’.

Look at the situation with grants and allowances, e.g., receiving transfer allowances, advances and other compensations. The man behind the desk finds many problems in the application pointing out discrepancies and errors, maybe to find time for ’more interesting pastime’ during working hours. These quarters believe in " Kaamoloi gole dormoha paay, Kaam korile overtime paay" - meaning – "If you go to office, you get salary and if you do work, you get overtime!" A visit to the pension office or for that matter to any of the offices granting super-annuity benefits gives the joy of hearing "no" or that the relevant documents submitted are "not in order" or are being routed through various other processing offices, or that one needs to overcome stumbling blocks; all this just to induce one to engage in the unethically organized under-the-table dealing of premiums to obtain the desired outcome. This is way to make "yes money" by way of saying "no".

Even in public life, the State announces many welfare grants, loans, subsidies, etc., for the people. The public then may run from pillar to post to avail of those benefits only to hear "no", "not possible", "not now", etc., etc. All hopes of faith in promise and process vanish in quick time. Such heartbreaking manmade sequences have become part of the social panorama in India.

Some people of have a habit of always start talking or taking any action with a pronounced "no", leading to positive as well as negative results. There are several natural instances of hereditary exposition of negativity and/or unwillingness, e.g., like-father-like-son or like-boss-like-office kinds of situations. The propensity to say "no" finds its root in the subconscious state of mind. Consciously or unconsciously people play with the word "no" to have things done or undone. Yes, if one knows the word ‘no’ and uses it suitably and in a sustained manner, the result is a big "no" in the clarity of expression; thus, it is a tool of management! You know what I mean? No?

Pradip Kumar Sarmah
Chief Manager (HR), ONGC, Dehradun