Are CEOs of Private Sector Companies as Precious as They Are Made Out to be?

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CEOs of Private Sector Companies Alone Don't Achieve; So There Is No Need to Pay Them Obnoxiously and Obscenely High Salaries

It is beyond comprehension why CEOs of private sector companies should draw terribly and vulgarly high salaries not only as compared to other employees of these organizations at different levels but also as compared to the very next level of executives who also take up lots of responsibilities and contribute towards the success of that organization.

Many organizations in public or government sectors and NGOs do pretty decently despite the fact that the chairmen and CEOs of public sector profit making huge conglomerates, CEOs of the states, judges, governmental bureaucrats etc get paid just about marginally more than the other senior employees or even the other employees. Then, what is so great about the CEOs of private sector organizations?

And it is not that after paying astronomically high salaries, all the CEOs run their companies effectively or ethically. Many of them still remain as corrupt and greedy as they could be despite getting large sums of legitimate money.

It is high time that the shareholders of the private sector companies should wake up and start exercising more control over the board of directors of their companies in order to regulate the emoluments of the CEOs they appoint.

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Is This the Right Way for the Banks to Make Money?

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Banks Should Provide Information to Clients

When you open an account (whichever type) in the bank, you are advised to maintain a minimum balance amount in that particular account.

Over a period of time, two things happen. First the bank changes the minimum balance amount to a higher level and does not inform you about it.

Secondly, your actual balance may fall below the prescribed minimum balance and the bank does not inform about it to you.

And in both the cases without informing you and without your knowledge, the bank debits a fat penalty amount from your existing balance every quarter and your money starts getting depleted and many times you do not even know about it.

When you notice such a leak in your account and meet the bank manager, he or she shows you the rule book and fixes the entire responsibility on you. You are the client or customer and because of you and your money the bank runs its business and despite it, you get such a rude and rough treatment from banks. When you request them to waive off the penalty, he/she raise hands in helplessness. You may argue that you have other accounts in the same bank and you have fixed deposits in the same bank and together your money with the bank is at far higher level than the prescribed bank balance for a specific account. Yet, the bank does not help in many cases for reversals of the debits already made.

Banks make money for doing nothing- for doing no work. Is it on? Definitely not. They should inform their clients on both the types of changes that impact the accounts of it's clients well in time.

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Does a Woman Need to Change Her Surname after Marriage?

(Read the inside stories of the corporate sector in the form of short management case studies at: http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com/ or http://management-anecdotes.blogspot.com/ or http://corporate-case-studies.blogspot.com/)

Changing Surname (Family Name) of a Female Following Marriage Is a Futile Exercise

In almost all the human societies of the earth, it is still man's world. Woman has to change her surname (family name) and adopt her husband's family name post her marriage.

Getting used to her new identity and losing her old original identity could be quite inconvenient to a lady bordering on mild irritant or even a trauma. It surely will take time for her to get used to say, "I am Mrs (family name of her husband)."

In addition, it involves tons of paper work involving numerous governmental and legal agencies. It affects her social security identification (as per country's unique identification system), her passport, her driving license, her bank accounts, her other financial transactions and many other things. And imagine thousands of people in these governmental and legal agencies engaged in incorporating these changes in millions of records and files- sheer non-value adding work.

So, is it really worth it to follow this age old hackneyed procedure? Frankly speaking is it really necessary to have a surname or a family name at all, not only in case of the females but even for the men?

As far as the children are concerned, the husband-wife team can decide if they want their children to follow any surname at all or they could decide to give them either wife's original surname or husband's surname or evolve a new integrated surname derived from the two surnames.

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Leaders of the World, What Are You Managing if You Could Not Manage Your Spouse?

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Perhaps, They Are Not Worthy Human Beings After All

Generally, people marry after considerable thinking. They think lots about the person they decide to marry. They meet the possible marriageable candidates pretty frequently, they date a lot, try to know the would be spouse inside out. So, in short, they marry with open eyes with a person who fits into their scheme of things. At the time of marriage, the selection of the candidate seems perfect.

And, perhaps, the wiser people of the world must be doing it much better; after all are they not wiser? That's why they become and get publicized as very successful, popular, well known, celebrities and great as far as the public domain is concerned (what they do to or with their spouse, we do not know as yet since that is not known and does not get publicized).

These great people get applauded in public, their photographs flash on the TV screens and news papers day in and day out as they are the leaders in science, technology, medicine, politics, films and sports etc. They are painted as icons. Many of them get crowned with the most prestigious rewards and titles. In short, the public is made to believe that they are the people who know how to lead and how to manage effectively and efficiently.

And then, many of them fail miserably in leading and managing their own spouse and marriage back at their homes. They end up in nasty divorce(s). While on one hand they are painted as leading and managing the masses in science, technology, medicine, politics, films and sports etc, the truth of life is that many of them could not even manage and lead one single individual- their spouse and a single event- their marriage. What a contradiction?

The facts will tell you that many of them have divorced their spouses of very long years of association and togetherness in marriage. Many of them have divorced even their those devoted spouses who served and loved them in their serious sicknesses. Many of these people have produced children who they know would feel traumatized by their separation and divorce. Do all of these considerations not affect them when they can not lead and manage their own married life?

These facts offer a vast field of research in human behavior, psychology, management and leadership.

However, one thing is pretty conclusive- perhaps they are not worthy human beings after all despite all the hoopla created around them by the interested parties.

Is Our System of Justice Really Just?

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The Bhopal Tragedy Makes Us Think and Act on This issue

The way the worst industrial disaster at Bhopal, India created by the irresponsible managers of Union Carbide of the world was handled shows the worst face of all of those who were connected with it inside the company and outside the company.

In a way it amounted to deliberate attempt to kill more than 25000 people and making millions of people disabled in various degrees for generations. It was deliberate because every manager who was responsible for upkeep of the plant knew about the dangerous most outcome in case of an accident in the defective plant. So it was like committing calculated murder of such a huge number of people.

This act cannot be equated to carelessness or a small crime for which the commensurate penalty in justice is pittance, normally.

It's time to revise the concept of what is a big crime and what should be commensurate sentence for committing it. The existing thinking on it is absolutely wrong and obsolete.

The bigness of an act of crime should be decided based on the end results of committing that crime. And the justice will lie in deciding the sentence commensurate with the heinousness or monstrosity of that crime.

It's high time to think and act quickly.

Do We Really Elect the Right People in Democracy?

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Money Backed Election Model is the Culprit in Corrupt Democracy

If democracy is the government of people, by people and for people, then I wonder if it is happening in any democracy any where in the world.

Elections are being fought by the political parties and its people on the basis of massive money pools created by the smart alecks- huge sums of the money largely extracted from the obscenely rich corporate bodies and such others. And obviously they throw this money at the prospective politician as their smart investments with the assurance of highest possible returns on these investments.

Then, elections are fought using such unimaginably large sums of money by the people who can afford to do so. What happens to those other more deserving candidates with no money of their own or with no dirty skills of squandering the money of others? The electorate is totally deprived of these better candidates and democracy suffers hugely.

When the contesting candidates get elected by using the money provided by the corporations and other rich bodies, they work only in favor of the corporations and the rich people and totally neglect rest of the people of the country.

Therefore, remove the money from the election scenarios. The elections should be fought without money. I suggest a following model:

• Any citizen of the country should be eligible to contest democratic elections. Some minimum and maximum age and educational qualification should be imposed.
• The candidate offering himself/herself to get elected must not have any criminal record or he/she should not have any criminal proceeding going on against him/her at the time of going through the election process.
• Every candidate will have to submit a detailed bio-data with their photographs to the body that organizes and administers the entire election process.
• This body will publish the bio-data of the candidates at governmental expenditure in the media. This will account for only marginal additional expenditure on government's total election budget.
• The candidates will not canvass the way they do now by spending the enormously huge amounts of dirty money they collected in a dirty manner. Instead, specially created TV channels or even the existing TV channels will provide certain equal time slots to the candidates to make their presentations to the public. The expenditure for this will be borne by the government; after all that is the people's money now being used very decently for a very important cause. Plus the candidates' bio-data are already available with the public now.
• The voters will be able to see and study these presentations and the detailed bio-data of the candidates contesting the election and they will decide whom to vote based on their merits.
• The voters will vote on the appointed day for the candidate they chose.
  

Does Knowledge Brilliance Has Any Correlation with Achieving Power, Money and Fame?

(Read the inside stories of the corporate sector in the form of short management case studies at: http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com or http://management-anecdotes.blogspot.com/ or http://corporate-case-studies.blogspot.com/)

Correlation between Knowledge Brilliance and Achieving Power, Money and Fame Hardly Exists

The comments here are based on just about general observations; it does not have any statistically correct research base. So, take them with a pinch of salt. But frankly what is written here is vastly true.

The observations pertain mainly to the developing countries who have yet to mature a lot in terms of professionalism, meritocracy and discipline.

In such countries success of people in terms of gaining power, money and fame is inversely proportional to the knowledge brilliance one achieves through school and college education and self study. Read on further to understand this phenomenon.

Many of the first few top rankers in the schools, colleges and universities are terrifically brilliant. They really are terrific brains though branded as nerds and also geeks. They try to achieve excellence in their knowledge and come out with flying colors in the screening examinations used for admissions in the reputed engineering and medical colleges. Those streams of engineering and medicine are invariably the first choice or preference of these fundamentally brilliant few (They are the real backbone of progress in developed or advanced countries, though not necessarily in the developing nations). We will call them Type 1.

The ones who cannot achieve such academic excellence and have not developed their cerebral powers to that extent settle for other courses; courses other than engineering and medicine. We will call them Type 2.

Many of the students drop out even before reaching this stage. They are pretty duffers as far as the learning in the class rooms goes but many of them are very good in sports and games like football, cricket, tennis etc. They start concentrating on playing these games. We will call them Type 3.

Then some start emerging as political leaders right during the school and college days. They get elected as general secretaries and presidents of the college unions etc. They are worldly wise, cunning, the popular types, political and slow on any kind of value structure and generally poor at academics. We will call them Type 4.

The last two types are none of the above. You just do not notice them. They seem pretty insignificant- the quiet types, nothing spectacular about them in terms of getting any great grades in the examinations or none of the above-mentioned manifestations described for people of Type 1 to Type 4. Most people ignore them safely. We will call them Type 5.

And some of these Type 5 types behave as if they have lost interest in everything in life early on. They don't speak much but internally something definitely must be happening to them since many of them soon become escapists. Some of them, soon in their life, escape from homes under the garb of seeking solace, quiet and god. We will call them Type 6.

Now look at what happens after passage of a few years.

The Type 1 join a government sector, public sector or private sector organization as an engineer or a doctor at a comparatively junior level and need to work their way to climb a tall hierarchy before even thinking of becoming number 1 in the organization. Invariably they stop at number 2 of the organization at best if at all they climb up to that height. Number 1 position in government sector or a public sector company is invariably reserved for and occupied by a Type 2 and in private sector by the worthy or unworthy son or daughter of the promoters or owners of the company who could be anything from Type 1 to Type 6- most important thing is the relationship with the owner of the company).

The Type 2 having failed to get admissions in good engineering or medical colleges try their hand at some other degrees etc and after graduation keep on attempting their luck in various civil services examinations conducted by the government. After succeeding in them in several attempts, they become the coveted bureaucrats in the government departments and ultimately become the bosses of Type 1. Type 2 thus have more power, more money than Type 1.

Type 3 keep on working out their energies on playing a game of cricket or football or tennis etc, particularly the money and fame making games. Few become very successful and become the national and international icons and bathe in unlimited money and fame. They also earn huge sums of money from the advertisers. They become the so called celebrities. The media pampers them lots and lots since they increase the money earning capacity of the media. All the rest of the Type 3 are misfits every where and try to seek the jobs which are normally aimed at by Type 5 people (described later).

Type 4 join an important political party or start their own party. They contest the political and so called democratic elections, win and soon become a minister (those who lose have enough nuisance value as opposition and they also have enough clout). The bureaucrats (the Type 2) report to them. Thus Type 4 become the bosses of Type 2 and Type 1. They wield tremendous power everywhere. They also become the so called celebrities. The media covers and dishes out all of their activities day in and day out. They have power and fame and they can make unimaginably high amount of money by several means.

Type 5 people mostly take up the so called very average jobs requiring little less responsibilities and initiative: clerks, manual laborers with or without skills etc.

Type 6 remain unknown and in oblivion for quite some time. And one fine day they emerge from somewhere and somehow as the god men. They start gaining popularity and soon they have millions of disciples. In fan following they beat them all; they beat all the other Types, from Type 1 to Type 5. They are showered tons of money by people and institutions of all sorts which is tax free. They exercise tremendous power and the media is also in their pocket. They become a very high order so called celebrity.

So, here ends the case of inversion.

Should the Child Labor Continue the Way It is Now?

To ensure effectiveness and success in all the aspects of life refer: Life Management: Effectiveness and Success (All about Competencies) http://shyam-bhatawdekar.blogspot.com/

(Read the inside stories of the corporate sector in the form of short management case studies at: http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com or http://management-anecdotes.blogspot.com/ or http://corporate-case-studies.blogspot.com/)

Ban the Child Labor Totally

As per numerous studies carried out by numerous agencies and people, millions of children (at least one child in 6 children) all over the world are engaged as child labor.

The children so engaged in work are exposed to health risks (including mental and emotional) or physical injury and cannot attend schools.

They are caught in various forms of labor in various workplaces of various industries and businesses like diamonds, chocolate, mining, fire crackers, hotels and restaurants, cinema and TV shows (as child artists or in reality shows), rag picking, and also in slavery, trafficking, debt bondage and other forms of forced labour, prostitution, pornography and other illicit activities. The list is long.

They are being employed by the promoters of the companies, industrialists, businessmen, professional managers, anti social and criminal elements of the human society etc. In short, good, bad and ugly- all kinds of people employ them and exploit them. It's shame that even the so called good people
at all levels do it. It is real shame.

It is essential that the child labor should be banned totally. The culprits should be penalized so heavily that they should never be able to repeat that mistake.

If children are the future of the nations and this planet earth, then bring them up with lots of care- not by making them child labor.

You may like to read another related article on http://wow-idea.blogspot.com/

What to Do With Corporations Who Pollute Environment?

To ensure effectiveness and success in all the aspects of life refer: Life Management: Effectiveness and Success (All about Competencies) http://shyam-bhatawdekar.blogspot.com/

(Read the inside stories of the corporate sector in the form of short management case studies at: http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com/ or http://management-anecdotes.blogspot.com/  or http://corporate-case-studies.blogspot.com/)

Punish the Culprits So Severely that They Will Start Behaving or Stop Existing

The biggest culprits of all who pollute the environment in every thinkable and unthinkable way are today's industries and their bosses in the cooperate sector. They spoil the oceans and seas with oil spillages, rivers and sky with hazardous chemicals and with tons of such criminal activities. They undo everything that the nature took millions of years to build. And they do it all free of cost, they pay nothing to anyone for what they draw from the nature- it's day light robbery that no one takes cognizance of.

So we asked several groups of people to recommend the punishment to such criminal organizations and its people at the helm of their affairs and we got following responses which are being reproduced unedited:

• Close such industries/companies.
• If the law does not do it, the public should compel the culprit corporations to close down.
• Punish the bosses of these erring corporations severely like life time imprisonment etc.
• Ask them to make up for the loss of environment for which they are responsible.
• Ask them to clean up the mess they have created.
• Ask  these companies to pay money to the public (as developmental funds with the government) for every thing these companies draw from the environment for their use.
• Enforce very strict scrutiny (from environmental point of view) before allowing the industries to start operating.
• Parade the top bosses in front of the people (the public) and ask them to apologise. Also ask them to repeat five times in front of the people that they would never ever commit such grave mischief.
• Take a procession of these erring corporate bosses by seating them on the donkeys through the lanes and bye-lanes of the areas polluted by them.
• Ask these companies to pay compensation to everyone who has been wrongly affected by their offenses of polluting the environment.

(If you have any more ideas, please put them in the comments).

Can Human Beings Manage the Nature?

(Read the inside stories of the corporate sector in the form of short management case studies at: http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com/ or http://management-anecdotes.blogspot.com/ or http://corporate-case-studies.blogspot.com/)

Human Being are Insignificant when Compared with the Nature

From time immemorial- perhaps for millions of years, human beings have been facing the onslaughts of the nature in the form of earth quakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, droughts, hurricanes, cyclones, tornadoes/twisters/whirlwinds, floods etc.

Even today, when human beings have started boasting of their several achievements, they are totally impotent and insignificant when facing the nature. Call all the Nobel prize winner scientists/authors/peace makers etc, all the top notch engineers, doctors, lawyers, economists and financial experts, the top hundred richest persons of the earth, the top most industrialists and businessmen, the top 500 companies (as decided by the Fortunes or the Forbes etc), all the presidents and prime ministers of all the countries, the popes, the shankaracharyas, the gurus, the mullahs, the imams, the dalai lamas etc of the world and pool them all together and ask them to save the humanity from the onslaughts of the nature's punishing activities listed earlier. We know the results well before even attempting to do so. They are incapable of controlling or managing the nature.

All of them have proved to be inconsequential and trivial entities when the world suffered from these earth quakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions etc recently or in the past. The same will be true for the future.

Let us accept that human beings are just about minor most players in the nature's vast game.