MANAGEMENT -- 1 ::

‘CHANGE MANAGEMENT’ IS THE NEED OF THE HOUR

BY P S SUNDAR

“Before Facebook, we had real-life friends but after Facebook, we also have virtual-life friends.   In many cases, nearly 75 per cent of these virtual-life friends are not known to us personally!   We maintain hypocrisy to retain such virtual-friends in Facebook!   But a sad development is that we have lost some real-life friends because of Facebook!”

I mentioned this in the course of my key-note address on ‘Change Management’ at a programme National Institute of HRD and Advancement (NIHA), New Delhi, had organised for the executives of select Public Sector Units (PSU) from North India just before Republic Day.    And, the executives cheered reflecting their personal experience of this.

Losing real-life friends because of Facebook?  Yes.  Once a person opens Facebook Account and starts posting in it and Facebook Groups etc., his/her expectation to receive many ‘likes’ goes up.  And, when he/she notes his real-life friend not marking ‘like’, displeasure starts, irrespective of the insignificant content of posting.   Relationship drifts to low-ebb if he/she notices that a real-life friend marks ‘like’ for another’s posting and not for his/her posting!  Fortunately, there is no provision to mark ‘hate’!

Very petty issue, no doubt, but we cannot deny the existence of this culture in this ‘Facebook’ era.   In some cases, quarrels bordering slum-area public tap street-fights decimate the quality of Facebook relationship.  “To avoid intolerant reciprocation, I pretend to welcome the posting first and then voice my dissent to the crux!”, a friend told me.  So, if you voice dissent, enmity happens and if you keep ‘quite’, displeasure settles.  Besides, jealousy surfaces in some cases when they see postings of going places!

And, relationship crashes to new low when people notice that a ‘like’ has been withdrawn or a ‘friend’ becomes ‘unfriend’.

Nevertheless, we cannot ignore this time-consuming unproductive Facebook platform these days.  This is not a debate on the merit or demerit, being addict or adjusting to it, but a stress on the reality that admittedly, social medium has come into stay.  We get many communication, including business ones, through Facebook messengers, Twitter, WhatsApp, Telegram etc besides SMS and e-mails.   

I reminded the PSU officers that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi communicates to the country through Twitter forcing media, both print and electronic, quote him from his tweets.   Soon after the cabinet meets, he communicates through Twitter.   This calls for ‘change management’ in communication.

For that matter, since Modi took over in May 2014, there have been visible changes in policies, strategies, institutions and technology usage besides communication.   There is a paradigm shift to establish ‘direct connect’ with the people.   Prime Minister is encouraging people to send e-mails to him and his Ministers on many important issues and during important occasions.  Even police stations in many States have started receiving complaints through WhatsApp.  And, the Prime Minster is directly answering people’s questions through All India Radio.  He did this along with US President Barack Obama during the latter’s visit to India for Republic day.

Changes are also visible in the form of National Institute for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) replacing Planning Commission and becoming a policy think-tank rather than fund-allotter to states.   Prime Minister’s ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ (clean India mission) has become a catch-word and so will ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padao’ (girl child welfare).  Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of LPG subsidy (PAHAL) linking with Aadhar has come into operation.  Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana has entered into Guinness Book of World Records for opening 11.5 crore bank accounts in just five months.  Government has planned to transfer Rs 15,000 crore annually directly to beneficiaries’ accounts for rural employment.   Likewise, over Rs 51,000 crore had already been transferred under various rural job schemes to direct bank accounts.

All these call for ‘change management’.

(article published in March 2015 issue of THE NILGIRI ROTARIAN).