World's most Modern Management:India

Ever thought that you’ll be allowed to raise tickets against your own boss and also close it when you are satisfied by the response of your boss. If you thought that it may happen in some MNC but not in India, think again. David Kirkpatrick says that the world's most modern management exists in India.

“I have seen the future of management, and it is Indian. Vineet Nayar, president of India's 30,000-employee HCL Technologies (Research), is creating an IT outsourcing firm where, he says, employees come first and customers second.”

Every employee rates their boss, their boss' boss, and any three other company managers they choose, on 18 questions using a 1-5 scale. Such 360-degree evaluations are not uncommon, but at HCL all results are posted online for every employee to see. That's un-heard-of!

And that's not all. Every HCL employee can at any time create an electronic "ticket" to flag anything they think requires action in the company.Explains Nayar, "It can be 'I have a problem with my bonus,' or 'My seat is not working,' or 'My boss sucks.'" The ticket is routed to a manager for resolution.

Amazingly, such tickets can only be "closed" by the employees themselves. And Nayar is vigilant that managers not intimidate employees about creating or closing tickets. Managers are evaluated partly based on how many tickets their departments are creating - the more the better. Nonetheless, I'm sure it continues to be recommended not to be the employee who regularly posts a "my boss sucks" ticket.

In addition, every employee can post a question or comment on any subject in a public process called "U and I." About 400 come in each month, and questions and answers are all posted on the intranet.