Is Corporate Responsibility Self Sustained or Slave Trade?

In every business organization, there are fault-lines beneath the impeccable

structures of work ethics and corporate responsibility enforced by policies and
procedures. Most often it’s these very fault-lines that reflect the total employee
dedication levels and satisfaction quotient. And these fault-lines are simply
overlooked or ignored, buried under the tremendous pressure to increase revenues
through the compulsive standardization and forced process mapping of human
creative endeavors.

Organizations are to keep in mind the basic value propositions that initiated the
coming together of a group of people who had compatible dreams, and who wanted
these dreams to become a reality. Nearly all the time this basic value proposition is
either a product or service, or a concept that needs grounding in terms of financial
investment, creative development and sustenance. Then why is it that these very
people forget the importance of developing the basic value proposition, and place
more significance on the policies that govern this process of development?

It is logically understood that for sustainable development, we definitely need a

structured approach and a systematic way of proceeding with the various phases of
exploration, planning, implementation, testing and innovation. However, logic is
not to be confused with an obsession with systemization and control of all the
working elements. One of the hazards of systemization is the tendency to overdo it.
Time-frames and deadlines are meant to be only tools, a means to an end and not
an end in itself. Every element in this created system, and I mean each and every
one of them, has certain probabilities of degradation and failure already built into
them. These probabilities are interrelated, simply for the fact that the elements
themselves are interrelated and inter-affected, and hence the created inter-
dependencies form the fault-lines of any organization.

Now, it is very easy to take a narrow proclivity to the decision making process in an
organization, by viewing every element as an isolated and independent agent,
without considering the inter-dependencies. By focusing only on the tip and taking
action, we ignore the hidden iceberg and the inherent dangers posed. Managers
should make it a point to see the bigger picture, to understand that every element
in the system is an inter-dependent agent of change, and lastly to never lose focus
on the cornerstone of the business – the basic value proposition. In fact, by
preserving and protecting these inter-dependencies, it has been clearly observed
over a period of time, that the probability of failure for each element is significantly
reduced, which in turn addresses the fault-lines of the organization automatically.
A typical example of this disconnect is the way human resource management
(HRM) is conducted in the organizations of today. Most of them believe in a policy
enforcement methodology rather than inculcation of responsibilities and values
through the freedom of creativity and individuality. We must never forget, not even
when blinded by corporate ignorance and ruthlessness, that the employees who
work for us are no less human than us, with their share of conditioning and life
patterns. People can, and definitely will, change as and when the respective
situations in life call for the change; but to force the change for measuring
quantifiable results is demeaning to the human spirit, the same that exists be it in
employee as well as employer.

Policies and procedures were created to streamline the developmental process, and
these are not binding in any way. The developmental process is the paramount
aspect to any business, the central objective and task, around which all other
efforts and engagements take place. It is the primary responsibility of all these
support engagements to adapt to and find workarounds for any issues that might
impede this developmental process. However, in many organizations, especially
startups and those without a clear idea of workforce management, the rigidity of
human resource management (HRM) policies proves to be otherwise by actually
impeding the developmental process. Where is the adaptation that is much required
to handle the potential of the workforce in an effective and efficient manner?

Human beings are by nature, individualists and freedom seekers who need this
environment of independence to evolve into their finest potential, manifesting their
true capabilities. With the world as their playground and life as their instrument of
application, there is no limit to the grandiosity of human endeavors. But, to stifle
this basic requisite of freedom is to curb the powers of imagination and creation
that helped mankind make the world as we know it today. Man is not to be tied
down and made to work on his creativity, as oxen are made to plough the fields.
Any attempt to do so will only result in grave consequences and frequent delays to
whole projects.

Any project working on developing an idea or a concept, a product or a service will

definitely involve creative elements that require unconditional leniency to pursue
their individual techniques. A creative element most always goes through a three
phase cycle of learning, incubation and visualization, and each phase has its own
distinctive modus operandi, which is very much related to the psychological profile
of the creative element. To ignore this relation, to suppress or ‘discipline’ this
profile to prevalent stereotypes in society, is tantamount to ripping the very
creative power off the element.

Human resource management (HRM), as well as all other functions supporting the
developmental process of any organization, should therefore, drop all rigidities and
attempts to form regulations without considering all the inter-dependencies
between the various elements, as well as the creative freedom of those involved in
key design areas of a project. Take examples from major innovators like Apple and
Google, where creative excellence is given the highest regard and hence their work
culture is also suitably adapted to keeping this flow of creativity going. It is no
wonder then that these companies are the leaders in their respective fields, and will
continue to flourish as long as that spirit of human freedom and exploration of
experience is kept alive.