Perhaps the readers would be wondering 'what a strange title' and asking what do horses and donkeys have to do with management ? Unfortunately ,if you ask me, plenty I would say. I am giving below the analogy of what normally happens in the business world.
In any organization, you have two categories of people . The performers and non - performers. I would classify the performers as Horses and the non performers as Donkeys. The horse, as you all know runs pretty well and can reasonably carry some load. As against this, the Donkey is a beast of burden and can carry much more load than a horse but at a very slow pace. Since everybody cannot be horses , you need a mix of both animals in an organization.You identify the horses that can run and give them important assignments where speed and urgency are of paramount importance.
As far as donkeys go, you know what to do and load them with mundane work which needs plodding along. Time is not the essence, as far as these people are concerned. These donkeys need a whipping constantly to get output but they are so thick skinned and knowing their limitations, carry along unmindfully their chores. They have to be pushed and prodded regularly, if you need any output from them.
The horses just run to their target in quick time and will be ready for the next assignment. Now comes the problem with most of the management's. I would apply Pareto's Law to this situation and say it happens in 80 % of the cases. What does an average management do ?
They know, any amount of flogging the donkeys will be of no use beyond a point but the work has got to be done. Now comes the irony. They will load the horses with more work of donkeys. Since the horse knows only to run and not kick, it continues to run with a higher load. This continues and one day the horse drops dead, goes berserk or quits. The best part of it is, donkeys continue to exist and prosper. As a result there are more donkeys than horses in many of the ORGANIZATIONS. I feel, may be, it is better of to be a donkey than a horse.
The article has been written with tongue in cheek and people should not mistake the references to animals. This is more of an indictment of management's and the follies they commit. It is time, management's realize their mistakes before the situation goes "beyond salvage " to quote Mr. Robert Ludlum from "Bourne Identity".
© Copyright, Nov-28,2007 . www.madgopes.com . Without prejudice. All rights reserved
Horses and Donkeys in Management - To learn more about this author, visit Madhavan T Gopalachary's Website.
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Madhavan T Gopalachary
(Visit Madhavan's Website)
Madhavan Gopalachary, nick name "madgopes"
(g pronounced as in go) given by IIT
classmates, is a Mechanical Engineer and
an alumnus of Indian Institute of
Technology, Madras having passed out
specializing in IC Engines &
Thermodynamics.
He has nearly 35 years of experience in
the Corporate World. He started off as a
trainee and handled sales, marketing,
manufacturing, product management, profit
center management, strategic planning and
corporate development including R & D in
various organizations and at various
levels before becoming a CEO. His last two
professional assignments were at CEO level
before embarking to start management
consultancy business on January 01, 1998.
He has worked for British, Swedish MNCs as
well as very large Indian business houses.
He has spent a large portion of his time
from June 1998 till date in East African
Countries practicing as an independent
Management Consultant.
More details can be obtained at the
following web sites:
mmg.name
/mtg.html;
mmgconsu
lting.biz/
Madhavan's articles can be accessed at www.madgopes.com
.
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