Babu Culture - do we need it in the Indian Corporate world?

I came to India with much hope of working for my country. Wanted to give it back the professional ethics I learnt abroad based on the knowledge imparted in me by my country. There are lot of people abroad who want to do what I have done. The 5 and 10 year plans do not work for them. I‘m among the fortunate few who have made the dream, of coming back to India after a 10 year stint abroad, come true.

India an emerging nation is well on its way to be the leader of the world. At least this was the thought I had in my mind before deciding to come back and work in the country I belong, I love the most. But when I eventually did, a cultural shock awaited me. I could not believe that we are what we were 10 years back. The only change was that this time the Desi Babus were trying to sound western. Yes! These are the babus who do not let the country progress. It was a shocking surprise that even private institutions were also not ready to do away with the “Babu Culture”.

"Babu Culture" --- incidentally a cross -fertilization of English Liberalism, European fin de siecle decadence, Mughal conservatism and indigenous revivalism inculcating aspects of socio-moral and political change. This culture was fostered in its wake by the Zamindari System, the Daebhaga System the Hindu Joint Family System, the Mitakshara System, the Muslim Zenana System , the Protestant spirit of free capitalist enterprise, the Mughal inspired feudal system and the Nautch. I remember reading an article on the web in which somebody questioned ‘Instead of IAS Officers why can’t we have professionals of different fields heading the departments. To give an example why should a defense secretary be an IAS & not one from the defense services? These bureaucrats without having an insight in the professions give guidelines & take the decisions. In the same manner the cabinet ministers should also be a professional from the field. Then only we will have a Prime Minister who works like a CEO.’

But it is very shameful that now private institutions have got themselves used to the babu culture. It is known that managing people in India requires a level of micro-management, which many western business people feel extremely uncomfortable with but, which is likely to bring the best results. India is an enormously hierarchical society (arguably the most hierarchical in the world) and this, obviously, has an impact on our management style with the managers acting like boss or the babus.

The babus exist in all the levels, top level, middle level and the last tier of the managers formed by project managers, of the hierarchy. Babus are the bottle necks of innovation. They merely concentrate on the financial side of costs and benefits and require that all projects have a positive immediate ROI to be pursued. Think about it. How innovative would you want to be if every suggestion you make is immediately evaluated in respect to financial benefit? In the name of low-cost low –value initiatives, if we have to get a nod from the CFO and/or CTO for each and every thing, how can the company grow? It only makes all levels of management unable to think in terms of growth because the ability to innovate dies.

Prudent financial management is a must at all times, good and bad. But it’s impossible to become successful by pinching pennies. It just doesn’t happen.The babus hire executives in error. With too many shortcomings, these executives are then considered “too expensive to be fired” and hence, continue to influence the course of the department for years past their “due date,” initiating misguided projects, letting some good people go, and missing great business opportunities. The cost of such a miscreant to the organization far outweighs the separation costs. Not everyone in your project or department is great or even good enough.

The main asset of every organization is its BEST people, not every warm body on the payroll. But too often, we IT leaders aren’t even sure what our people do and whether they are good at it. Many managers believe that the power to direct others is conferred by a person's official position in an organization. Such managers eventually become “follow-up” managers and block the way for other youngsters coming up the ladder. Unlike the babu culture, in a superior-subordinate relationship, the person with the most authority is not necessarily the person in command. I believe that personality factors often carry more weight than official positions. But here, if the personality traits are presented before these babus, that person is stamped with having attitude problem. The babus don’t know what they really mean by this. For example, if a guy finishes his task allocated for the day and leaves office on time, the follow-up managers question their commitment towards the company’s growth. They are then compared with the slow coaches in the team and will be looked down during the appraisal. Do we need such babus? Similarly, if one questions the non quality of deliverables, you are marked as a man against the team’s interest.

Now tell me, is it a sin to expect quality of our products before delivering it to the clients. Some people think so and even go to an extent to say that the expectations are higher. The denial is often related to ‘arrogance’ by these babus.The babu culture has much effect on the manager- subordinate dyad. Organization give much emphasis on developing the management trust and manager trust. Despite the importance of manager trust in subordinates, little has been done to examine the role of managers’ trust in subordinates, although a great deal of research has been done concerning ways to induce employees’ trust in their managers and organizations. It is evident that trust between organizational members allows coordination and completion of work. Not only do employees need to have trust in the organization, the manager, and their peers, but the manager must trust the subordinates for whom he or she is responsible. I ‘m sure the appraisal processes in the corporate world will support the need for the above.

Many babus prefer not to take decisive measures and leave employee performance problems unresolved or simply mothball them until the “performance review time,” when, frankly, it is too late. This is simply abdication of managerial responsibilities which cannot be condoned. The bias shown during the appraisal is a direct result of the “Babu Culture”. I feel that it is because of the "Babu Culture" that we are unable to install the reverse appraisal process i.e. to get feedbacks about the managers from the subordinates? Reverse appraisal is the best way to gauge how much the manager is biased towards his subordinates. Reverse appraisal will bring to light the norms of reciprocity in managerial work relationships by assessing three components of reciprocal behavior: immediacy, equivalence, and interest motive. I’m sure that most of us will agree that reverse appraisal will certainly help in eliminating the babu culture in the corporate world but do we have the courage to implement this corporate wide?

It is high time we get rid of the Babus. They are actually the ones for the ills of the corporate world. Let us correct ourselves so that we do not instill the babu culture in our younger breeds.