Congress, the happy corporate: Part-1

The party's top bosses are clueless about the sweeping changes in the environment in which they operate

Corporate chieftains have always maintained that running a knowledge corporation is a greater challenge than presiding over a happy corporation. But they also admit that in the long run, a knowledge corporate is more successful than a happy one.

In this part, let us understand what a happy corporate is.

In a happy corporate, there are well-defined hierarchies and communication flows only in one direction – top to bottom. The top levels of hierarchy decide the strategy and issue directions to the lower levels, who are supposed to implement the strategy without any questioning. In fact, the lower levels of management are not even supposed to analyse the decision in their minds, let alone questioning. Such an organisation remains happy, since the top management's decisions are never questioned and the lower levels get rewarded merely for implementing those decisions.

The success of such an organisation lies in the ability of its top management to constantly take decisions that are in sync with the dynamics of the environment in which it operates. In such organisations, the lower levels lose their relevance since they are only used to following and no intelligent thinking is expected of them. The problems for such an organisation begin when the top management loses touch with the environment and stops reacting to the constant changes in it. Since the lower levels of management are incapable of any intelligent thinking, such an organisation begins to sink under the burden of faulty strategy formulation by the top management. The top becomes arrogant and that adds to the organisations's woes.

The current state of affairs in which the Congress finds itself is typical of a sinking happy corporate. The top leadership (Manmohan, Rahul and Sonia) has no feel of the changes that are sweeping the environment in which it operates. In order to run the party as a happy corporate, the trio has systematically stripped the second and third rung leadership of the ability to think intelligently, and this has contributed to the bankruptcy of intelligentsia in the organisation. Further, the culture of one-way (top-down) communication has completed the alienation of the top leadership from the dynamics of the environment or ground realities.

Given the short time left for the general elections, the Congress has only two options left. One, the top leadership should go out and acquaint itself with ground realities and try and re-orient its policies in that direction -- going by the track record of MRS (Manmohan, Rahul and Sonia) this appears quite unachievable. The second is to sit back relax and be HAPPY even if it means winning less than 100 seats in the polls. Time will tell us what option the Congress chooses.