Sunday, August 31, 2003		Books

Write view
The boss of all management techniques
Randeep Wadehra

Boss Management
by Meena Nanda. Vikas Publishing. Pages xv+222.
Rs 180.

ON Mumbai’s sidewalks I’d often come across poster-sellers peddling the lewd, the hilarious and the sublime. One poster that attracted me the most showed a chimpanzee on a chair ‘talking’ on the telephone, with the legend "Boss is always right". The behaviour of a simian, like that of a boss, is invariably unpredictable — hence the honcho-as-chimp.

A boss influences his subordinates’ lives in myriad ways. He can make or mar their professional careers, and also impact their personal lives. So, for a professional, it is important, nay, vital to "manage" his boss. But how does one do it? Every one has his own homemade brew for the purpose, and Nanda comes up with a well-thought-out programme for the same.

With her tongue firmly in cheek, Nanda observes, "Like Hindu pantheon of Gods, the BOSS gets a new face, new form, a new identity in each stage of productive activity. So accordingly, like a devotee, the professional has to know the likes and dislikes of the particular incarnation, the purpose or goals, the modus operandi of achieving the goals etc, while steadfastly sticking to his/her own singular goal of moving up the ladder..."

Chapters like The Three Paths, The Seven Circuits, and The Seven Short Circuits can be both entertaining and thought provoking. Facing obstacles in your climb up the corporate ladder? Read this book, but do use your judgement while applying its pronouncements, remedies or conclusions.

Creating a New World
by Bharat Dogra. Social Change Papers. Pages 104. Rs 80.

Skewed development, poverty, malnutrition, disease, crumbling social structures and other such factors have piled agony upon misery for the hapless millions around the globe. Bharat Dogra comes up with telling facts to strengthen his argument that the existing socio-economic structure needs change — right from the grassroots level to the very apex of the global economic pyramid.

It is important that every human being’s basic needs are met. Highest priority should be accorded to protecting our ecology – air, water and earth. This demands, firstly, an attitudinal change among the affluent few and those controlling the various levers of power. All types of consumption should be eco-friendly and the distribution pattern more humane.

This slim volume tries to argue in favor of a more equitable world. But is this really possible? The spread of egalitarianism faces stiff challenge from entrenched vested interests in every sphere of human activity. A fair deal is something that would need a concerted effort on a global scale. Perhaps, eventually, such a movement will take place. Right now it is a pipe dream.

Environment and Human Security
edited by Purushottam Bhattacharya & Sugata Hazra. Lancers’ Books. Pages 298. Rs 580.

Not so long ago, environment was taken for granted. Mother Nature was expected to clean up the mess that we humans created. But soon it became apparent that her patience might be immense, but not her capacity to cleanse man-made filth. Emerging from its "profound ecological blindness" the world community now regards environment-related issues as vital to the existence of the world as we know it. Pollution of natural systems is no more a localised affair; an ecological mishap in one part of the world sends alarm bells ringing around the globe.

This volume is a collection of selected papers presented at a seminar organised by Jadavpur University. Jayantanuja Bandyopadhyaya says that while evaluating the threat to human security both natural and anthropogenic climate changes have to be factored in. He warns that although climatic changes will adversely impact the entire world, the countries in the South will bear most of the brunt. He underscores the need for international cooperation to avert ecological disaster. This can be made possible by establishing a democratic and just world government.

However, Gautam Kumar Basu explores the possibility of ensuring human security through the extant global order and environmental politics. Rabindra Nath Bhattacharya takes a look at fashioning a new paradigm for sustainable development. Till recently, environmental consequences were managed to some extent without much effect on the socio-economic decision-making by central governments. Local communities had negligible say as all resources were controlled by the centre. Through imaginative designing of policy instruments, local and global communities’ interests and efforts can be coalesced. In developing countries local communities have intrinsic accessibility and knowledge about the natural resource base. By re-empowering them eco-friendly regimes can be established.

Joyashree Roy and Sarmishtha Das, while dwelling upon the challenge to Indian power sector, maintain that the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 still awaits implementation. Kalyan Biswas avers that a sustainable city requires the management of its total resources, and an understanding of the linkages among infrastructure, productivity, poverty and environmental health. Jayasri Ray Chaudhuri states that the functioning of forest production system amidst alternative subsystems like agriculture is of vital importance from the environmental point of view as well as for understanding the sustainability of the rural development process.

Other contributors examine climate and related environment issues. An absorbing read.