Random Ramblings

Politics: an Art!!!!

March 14, 2009 at 6:11 pm (Uncategorized) (business, politics, viewpoint)

Politics!! Well most of us to allege that the country is run by incompetent people. Recently I saw a debate where in people were very sure that the only way the country could develop itself into a super power is to have well educated, learned and young dynamic leaders. They said that they should have proper management training before managing the country!!! Whoa!!!! Well do u mean to say that the politicians are not- competent? Well yes, I agree that you might not have Harvard educated guys; neither do they hold degrees from Bschools…but they are anything but incompetent. The Politicians in our country are better. I might add much much better than any B school grad. Management is an art that they have mastered..well I know it might be a little tough for the B school grads to digest….i know ppl with the degrees that you have read loads of books and theory it is a little tough to swallow..but it is still the truth!! Let me explain!! Will try and relate this to what B schooolers study.

Every party is as good as a multinational company. They have a high command which is analogous to the board of directors of the company. And like any board of directors they just discuss and take into account the various issues. No action. They are more like the policy builders. Both of them are defunct. Like any organization the party has a

Mission: to stay in power for the maximum time. to ensure that if they are not in power then to somehow have an overbearing influence on the people in power

Vision: Have you ever read the party manifesto?? Man that is the best piece of literature you will ever come across. Vision of a company is generally long term. So if the manifesto. Take the manifesto of the party in the last elections, you will find a tremendous similarity, which shows how committed to their vision they are Strategy: well if you thought planning and maximizing the utility of the resources that a company had at its disposal was difficult., then reconsider… think the amount of planning that one has to put into ensure that strikes are declared at the right moment!! They have limited manpower but they have to conduct so many dharnas, walk outs , demand resignation of so many govt ministers, and all this is in addition to the task of running a government in a certain region.

Finance: raising the millions to fund their ever clean and thrifty campaign that they run, they have to ensure that they donot take more than the maximum donation from a single person. They have to safely stash the millions that they have in black money. They have to manage the numerous numbered accounts that they have in the various parts of the world. They have to keep tab of where the white and black money is deposited, how the cash flow is happening. And then even declare their legitimate assets. Phew!!! You think this is easy??? Operations: internal operations are highly efficient. They efficiently manage the 24hrs to include chamchagiri, dharnas, giving speeches, staging walkouts in parliament. Have you ever seen the efficiency with which the MPs storm the well of the house. The clock work like precision with which they halt the proceedings of the house, the way they uproot the mikes and chairs and hurl them at each other. Their aim is to halt the proceedings, and tell me if they are not good…..man if someone did an operations research on this event, I am sure you will find them to be functioning at more than 99% efficiency.

Marketing: well this is another aspect at which they are aspects. They have a very deep and thorough understanding on the local market ( the electorate). They very efficiently target them by dividing them on the basis of religion (caste) & affluence. They have a customized approach to target each segment of the market segment They have the local goons to help undertake the market research and to implement their program. They have an efficient supply chain of lobbyists and goons to ensure that their marketing has the maximum impact and the widest reach possible. Advertising via print,electronic media is done. The performance is reflected in the results of the elections.

Strategy: Like any organization, i cannot stress the importance of this function. the only difference is in organization it is only a select few who are involved in developing a strategy but in politics it is every one. every individual has to taken into account, the external factors (popular vote, and which party “supporters” are more powerful) and internal factors ( how keenly does he want a ministerial berth, does he want to expand his horizons and now try and get their hands on a bigger treasury). he needs to constantly adapt to the changing scenario ( by changing parties and realigning their support) to ensure that he attains the chief ministerial/ prime ministerial position

Human resources: they are the best HR managers in the country. They run a team of thousands sitting in one place. They ensure that their rallies attract the most people and their dharnas have the largest gathering. They also have efficient decentralization. They local goons are empowered to take independent decision to ensure the success of their programmes and they control their own small team of delegates. They generally have self managed groups. Their compensation is completely performance driven. If they win in the region then the team is paid extra. The internal distribution of the award is left to the team, with the leader also being awarded regular promotions to move from the lowest level of a goon to higher in the chain of power. They also have to ensure that their MPs are well looked after so that they donot defect and also give them attractive perks to lure the MPs from other parties.

Phew!!! Name the function they do it. I could go on and on drawing parallels about this.. so next time you say that you want competent managers running the country…of some guys with fancy degrees,think again..these guys are better ..way better