Personal Learning Paper #2 -Divanshu Dubey Roll No 26

Sessions 4 & 5: It is not clear that intelligence has any long-term survival value. -Stephen Hawking These sessions were unique in that there was hardly any reading to do. The couple of sheets that had to be read were very interesting indeed. But first let me start with Desert Survival Exercise. Since I had undertaken a similar exercise earlier, I had the opportunity to be observer for one the groups. This group had a gentleman from the services who convinced the others that he had experience in this regard (he asserted, Maine desert survival kiya hua hai). Luckily, though he faltered on many counts (importance of mirror, uselessness of the first-aid kit, etc) the overall group score had improved because of him. While I narrated some interesting observations in the class, I also observed that some of the members of the group resented his leadership & questioned the premise that we assume we have a member from the armed forces. They wanted to act in the situation as if all of them were non subject matter experts. But this only led to tangential discussions. One of the takeaways from this exercise is that in a group of equals, members do not always like a self appointed leader. When there are multiple claimants, there is likely to be resentment. This is a novel experience since in the organisation where I come from has a well defined hierarchy and such a problem would seldom prop-up. But come to think of it there are incidents were people who resent you as a leader may use their influence with a higher authority to bring you down. Such minor incidents happened in the past when I was sometimes the victim & sometimes the higher authority. It is incumbent upon the person in charge in such cases to hear all sides and take a fair decision in the overall interest of the organisation. Usually I have seen good sense prevail. I hope my experience continues to be like this in the future. It is of paramount importance to get a group such as this to focus on problem solving in the most optimal way. The reading on Decision Making by Consensus was most useful in this context in retrospect. Lessons: In terms of lessons for the future- this exercise and the ideas that emerged in subsequent discussion- made these sessions fertile ground. Now it is upon me to sow & reap. The foremost lesson was to not assume things and jump to conclusion in problem situations. There were a few people who got the mirror idea but were neglected in their respective groups. The member who is not being heard has an equal chance of being the one with the

best ideas in the group as the self appointed leader. I must try to get the underdog to participate. All views must be heard and analysed by the group without any prejudice or bias. We must not only give weaker members of the group a chance to speak, merely for the token value of it, as is often done, but actually hear the ideas and seriously evaluate them. This point was taught to me and practiced in earnest in my previous organisation. It was covered under Team Building practices. This exercise reinforced these ideas and served as a good validation for their practice. The reading on consensus building is most pertinent to a future group leader. The role of a group leader would be to identify and prohibit the hindering factors while facilitating consensus. I discovered through the reading that I had some skills in problem solving & group building. I need to work on my task-facilitating skills as well as improve on the others. Public Agreement, Private Disagreement The Abielene Paradox was as interesting to read as was the discussion on it in class. This is not only because both were brief. The phenomenon can be linked to the perceptual mismatch that we at times suffer, leading us to do things that are best not done. One such incidence or rather a series of them would take place in the name of tradition. One of the traditional (British legacy) dresses to be worn in formal ceremonial dinners involves wearing a cummerbund. While nobody enjoys this, it is particularly uncomfortable when one has put-on some weight (as most people over 35 have). I am sure the seniors feel this way too, but feel obliged to carry on in the name of tradition. On one such occasion the person in whose honour the dinner was being hosted; himself suggested that the dress code be open collar (read shirts & pants, no ties). Thankfully the incidence of ignoring this tradition is on the rise, to great comfort of the heavy weights. On the personal front I have been passively saved from such a situation. One of my parents (applicable before marriage), and my wife (applicable now) are extremely outspoken, the last ones to suffer silently. So the question of their agreeing to such a thing does not arise. The take away is loud & clear. We must express our feelings in a correct and acceptable way when we are not in agreement with the plan of action. Our sacrifices for others interests or the greater good may be a good thing but there is no point if they are wasted away. Yet another occasion to be thankful for having the otherwise irritatingly outspoken people around.

Session 6:
Strike in Space
If any in your household, in your Council or among your courtiers is/ are responsible for allowing matters to come to such a pass(soldiers not getting their dues), punish him/ them exemplarily without loss of time and send him/ them to serve for four cycles of seasons (Chaturrutuchakre) alongside the soldiers, on the border outposts. If they perish, those would be their just desserts. If they survive, they will return wiser and wizened, more responsive to and with greater empathy for the soldiers cause........... ........... It is my bounden duty to caution you, My Lord, that the day when the Mauryan soldier has to demand his dues or, worse, plead for them, will neither have arrived suddenly, overnight nor in vain. It will also bode ill for Magadha. For then, on that day, you, My Lord, will have lost all moral sanction to be Rajadhiraja! It will also mark the beginning of the end of the Mauryan Empire!! - Kautilya in Arthashastra advises the Rajadhiraja on his responsibilities to the Mauryan Army as the Head of State

Not that a soldier will ever go on strike, but the circumstances did remind one of a similar situation in recent times. This was one of the reactions that the case invoked in me when the professor gave examples of people in remote locations, suffering institutional neglect, shutting-off communications thereby shaking-up the higher-ups from their comfortable slumber. The situation in Skylab 3 was a very good example of unreasonable behaviour by leadership. The reading for the session would have been helpful for the flight director, but clearly he wasnt trained in OB. Though not uncommon for me to see bosses telling their sub-ordinates things like Orders are Orders, those of the true-blue leadership ilk seldom committed such errors of judgement. The most bandied word in recent times in my erstwhile organisation comes to mind in this regard- Empowerment. The empowerment of junior leadership in true sense was the call of the day. It is human nature to be wary of too much control or always having someone looking over your shoulder. This was oft the situation in communist armies, where a party man would be appointed as the political representative within army units, being vested with supreme powers, even higher than the commanding officer. It was no surprise that often in heated moments soldiers would attack this person or in extreme cases even murder him (with grave repercussions). The reading on associated with the chapter was insightful. In my previous work place we encouraged religious belief and practices amongst members to an institutionalised degree. This helped them get a better sense of acceptance of the powers, even those less than divine, in a more positive way.

Lessons: This was a very unique case in that it happened in space. Otherwise this happens on the ground all the time. The lesson is to inculcate the skills of exercising positive power based techniques among the leaders of the organisation. Also it is important reinforce win-win behaviour. Luckily this was also a part of the teachings for me so far. I would do well to build upon these. Session 7: Win as Much As You Can The group that I participated with made one of the worst choices in the game (Maximum Xs). We looked at the numbers and forgot that this was the OB class & started thinking in terms of a probability based strategy to win. We did not realise that the aim would also for be to make the overall larger group also win. The plea of a minority group to vote Y all the time went unheard. It was someone from this group who made a remark Commitment kya hota hai when voting for round 5. The only thing worse was that had we played along with all Ys, we would still not have been able to influence the overall results materially. Looking back I feel it was okay since had we all behaved differently it would probably give the professor sleepless nights when she would be due to conduct the game again. In a larger context I feel that even rivals can cooperate provided they are tied together for a higher cause or purpose. I have witnessed many examples of this in my work life. There may be selfish people setting bad precedents at times, but the larger picture is rosy. The rival armies such as our own and that of our western adversary work very closely together in a United Nations Assignment. The organisation regularly benefits with the sharing of all kinds of useful information amongst various teams working on or dealing with a similar set of problems. There is total exchange of information and sharing amongst various agencies. So much so, that the paper on Collaborative Rules could well be modelled on my organisation. The reading on Tit for Tat was bang on target after the game. It sort of reminds one of Gandhijis teachings of Ahinsa & the idea of showing the other cheek. The lessons on the subject are significant. The awareness that we are a part of a larger group should be inculcated in junior leaders. They must be tutored, encouraged and empowered to see the good in collaborative behaviour not only within but also without. It is of crucial importance to establish these norms & rules within the organisation. The majority of the people will not find it in them to work negatively harming others for short term gains in an organisation with an otherwise positive culture. It is the responsibility to weed out the bad apples from within our organisation, groups & teams, lest they spoil the whole bunch. At the risk of talking on national issues going against the guidelines/ feedback our foreign policy stance has always been that we need our neighbours to prosper. Only that will ensure lasting peace in the region. Everybody wins or nobody wins.