AN INSIGHT ON "PETERS(PEOPLES)PRINCIPLE"

Every one of us,start our life, like any one else,we crawl at 6 months,stand at 10 months,speak when we are one year old and follow a set pattern,and we call them mile stones ,and as time march past miles ahead we turn back to see that we are no more the same people with similar milestones, some have surpassed us ,while certain people,are staggering  finding some means to become a sucess
Even within an organisation, we find that people with like qualifications and similar intelligent quotient, perform differently,ever wondered what could be the reasons?why we have climbed the ladder up, while some one is still  stuckdown in an hierarchy .or vice verse.
I was recently reading a book by Dr.Lawerance J.peter and Raymond Hull,where he has also been perturbed about this major issue "Why thingSsalways go wrong "made a wide study on various items of issues in an Hierarchy and formulated his theory THE PETER PRINCIPLE.
Well the high lights of his theory are just produced below for the knowledge enhancement of every one.:
In a hierarchy every employee tends to Rise to his level of incompetence
That is every employee would be considered for promotion to the next level,,till such time that he reaches INCOMPETENCY.,SO IF ANY ONE IS STRUCK at the level of PEON,AND NOT considered for further promotion as a clerk.,he has reached his level of incompetence, so it goes,for a teacher to headmaster/principal/manager to gen. manager,Asst director to director, MD TO CMD,Further it may so happen that every one in that particular organisation would have attained the level of incompetence.and what ever little the organisation,is doing might be due to a few competent people still available. well we can relate this to our real life stories in our field of work .and Smile at what Peter has said.
Well even though the book deals with a vast serious issues which we encounter day in and day out. here was some very interesting observation made by the Author,which goes as follows,If we start plotting the profile of our staff in ant organisation, the distribution would,turn out as a bell curve ,where a major portion of the people would fall within the range of average competence,beyond this we have people distributed on either side as in competent and competent, Further beyond you have  a special group super incompetent and super competent(Pl see the fig done for your benefit)
Inference and practicality of the data
It is widely believed that bosses are not very comfortable working with these two category of people,and are more comfortable with the average competent ones.
the COMPETENT and incompetent people have  possibilities of getting fired and removed from the hierarchy's, However chances of a competent person getting remover/fired is much higher than an incompetent person getting fired, because bosses prefer incompetent persons,better than competent ones
Both super incompetent and super competent are not liked by the bosses and both of them stand great chances to be fired, and surprisingly both of them have equal chances to be removed unlike the upper model where,the in competent has a better chance of survival.
Well now go back to the hierarchy what you hold,now think about your chances of moving up(oh! you are still competent all the best and good luck).Also be prepared for being pushed out of the chain you see you are competent
If you have NO more levels to migrate, feel happy you have reached your level of incompetence,but you are still a preferred lot because of the logic stated above.
But the most important thing for all of us(including me) is to ensure that we get always plotted within the Average competent  range,see it is the safest parking lot for a peaceful career,And let us really thank Peter for this wonderful enlightenment

PARENTING??? PAMMPERING!!!

I have been thinking about parenting and brining up children for quite some time .And often confused about what good parenting means?,and it remains  a riddle, like the chick and egg, not knowing  which prompts what ,well guessing ?yes its just a process to asses whether all good parents groom good children, And whether all good children have wonderful parents .what  attributes define  parents as good and bad and what bench marks have to be drawn to adjudge a child as good/ bad.
Well let us see a few cases which have made headlines in the recent days,which can give us some glimpses of the topic under discussion
Case 1: A student of class 9 has stabbed his lady class teacher to death in the school premises,enraged since the teacher wanted to discuss his performance with his parents,what was more amusing is that this happened in a very conservative and cultured city like chennai.and not in any rural or ultra modern city.
Secondly it has happened in a private institution,unlike any government school,which we normally,relate to be a haven for all such misdeeds.
Third the boy was supposed to be a well pampered child at home,which defies the normal conclusion that he was a attention deprived child,and hence under depression..
Case 2 well the same news paper carried a cute looking boy's photo of standard XI,who had committed suicidesince he could not meet his parents expectation academically.
Here too the boy was studying in a institute of repute, parents were slightly critical on his performance,and the incident happened in chennai city .
Case 3 Competing with the above two news,here was yet another suicide of a girl of class IX  jumping from her terrace who scumbeled eled to injuries and this tim it was rather a very silly reason,she had a disagreement with her girl friends? and here too the school was a good one.
well all the three incidence are of equal concern ,because three valuable human life has been lost /robbed.But, while the first incident created a flutter,debate and sympathy the other two incident just lost its sheen,because of their merits.
Following the incident at case 1 lots of issues are being debated,And a complete astro/social/economical analysis has been made to find out, what could be the triggering rage that would have made a boy to commit a crime of this magnitude?
And the first reaction comming forth from public/ media was that The boy was a very very pampered boy by his parents,so is pampering and showing excess love and attention a negative attribute?which can  make people,mad?The next reason was that the teacher was critical on his performance,which required his parents  attention,and asked the boy to bring along his parent,the boy felt insulted ,demoralised with the class teachers initiative to correct him, But this is the mildest action what the teacher could do,which cannot be said to be wrong.The teacher was performing her job assigned well within the ambit, But why such a irrational response from the child for some rational actions.
well if we believe it was  due to excess  pampering and wrong parenting(failure  on the part of parents to imbibe good values,stress  goodness and better behaviour, to weigh pros and cons for any action and wrong parenting)or Due to excessive pressure from the school/teacher
If so is there any method to rationalize and say this much of pampering and this percentile of strictness if exercised than perhaps these children  would have grown  UP with a much better attitude?
well this just made me to think back on my childhood,where our parents never had any reservations in using the stick and kept piling up their abuses,when ever they felt my academic performance or conduct was not up to the mark.But we never turned into such aggressive beings Further with the number of children being more than 2 in each house, Personalised attention was very rare,which kept shifting to the youngest,and the eldest were added with the responsibility of taking care of young ones.

While this was the scene at home,we were not spared at school too,Teachers had all types of liberty to infuse discipline and to make children fall in line with academic requirements.No parent had the nerve to question any teacher against any corporal punishment or punitive methods used, in fact THE PARENTS left the job of moulding their children to the teachers.So it is an integrated effort of both parents and teachers to turn a child into a good child.

This principle has been accepted by me in bringing up my children,with an addition that they have to bear the brunt when ever i am in a foul mood following,a bad day in office.And of course having a cynical pleasure that Iam passing on,a portion of what I have received.But they have taken this correction in the good spirits, Because there has been a reasonable quota of strictness shown right from the beginning
But than every child is unique and every parent is unique too,we really do not have,any defined results or algorithms, which can be documented and said this is the best way of bringing up a child.But as quoted by Roger lewin "'we too often give children answers to remember ,rather than problems to solve" which is one reason  for such news ITEMS  to creep . and We  feel happy that our children are not like the ones stated above , which gives you a pep of a GREAT PARENT .

"online services" a bane!!....

Tomorrow even though I have a series of activities to do on my scheduler.I have fixed up that I will not handle, any thing else before I first book a railway ticket using the online sevice.

Well the time ticked 8.am and I was one amongst the many people who had logged on to the site to reserve a ticket on the tatkal quota.Hitting the site button I was sitting with expectation and. anxiety and praying my luck(for a ticket ultimately)but to get started with at least the login window, should open, after a long wait, my first level of computer game started, you see the rules for this game is too stringent It has every possibility to throw you out, on one pretext or other, so beyond expertise, luck is very very important, and after each,(level) wait, when I was proceeding to the next level, I was excited that I am going to successfully seal the deal.

well this is when some stupid message appeared saying I had hit a wrong button and hence my attempt is terminated, So I was again at the base waiting for the log in window, and this game of excitement and anxiety continued. where every time after 15 to 20 min I was logging on with reduced chances of securing a ticket, because the availability was c0ming down 58 to -8(waitlist).This is when I was reminded about the entertaining snake and ladder game which we used to play at our young ages, getting excited when ever you found a ladder only to be met with snake and sliding down, which coincided  with the Railway  reservation system.

Incidentally I was also amazed how I was literally used by the railways, to do their job of issuing a ticket for me, by making use of me as their staff, using my resources of computer, internet, mobile facility and taking away my productive time of an hour to just meet my demand of getting a ticket. And in this process the service provider for internet service has got his share of business, the credit card fellow has earned his charges and the railways have taken their charges, for no service renderded   by them except for providing an access to their server,( which means ultimately I have been indirectly made to pay much more, than the ticket cost, which has gone in as indirect gain for others(broad band charges,mobile charges,stationary,electricity,etc,etc).

Lets see how this system would have worked had I been to a manual counter, I would have been into a queue, made use of stationary of railway, used the services of their staff, computer and other resources and demanded other facilities like a seat to rest water in case of thirst, ventilation and air/fan and any other thing deemed to make a customer comfortable and happy. and beyond that would have had the right to express,my displeasure when the service delivery was not to expected level .And WOULD have  accomplished this job in no time.,My only inconvenience would have been to reach the nearest booking counter/or depute any one with this job, bearing a transportation charge, and the rest would have been borne by railways.

Taking a very cynical look, you would observe during this  period of time, irrespective of your status(employed/unemployed/studying).you have been either been reduced in status  or elevated in status and occupied the position of a booking clerk/computer operator.

Not only in the case of Railway reservation service,ANY OTHER ONLINE SEVICE, SUCH AS BANKING ,booking your air ticket,etc.etc  the story is the same.who are using this trump card of easy, instantaneous, hassle free ,service slogan and making us to  slog , to reduce their operational cost, maximize profits.

To conclude, I was reading a book, Rich dad Poor dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki,where he had quoted that “I don’t work for money!” “Money works for me”And if every person learns the knacks of making money work for them, instead of working hard to make money.richness and abundance would follow.So this is what is followed by these companies which is pushing them towards profits.And we are the innocent people working for them to make money

"Money value"

I am sure we would have been affected by this syndrome at least a few times(just to keep you in good    spirits) in our life time(till now,remember any life time offer in telecom parlance is not eternal but for a limited period)

And would have tried our best to achieve the desired results. Wondering?????, what it is all about? well nothing serious weight management . I was a victim  of this  long ago, when every one,who ever see’s me at the first instance, would really ask my mom ,why is she like this so thin, are you not feeding her properly?.And my mother would say, what can I do?she is made up of lots of mischief(kurumbu).that’s why she is not adding flesh to her bag of bones.

Walks to my  school and giving her a helping hand in all her chores, this in spite of being fed very conservately

 Little did my mother know that I was burning out more calories by way of regular work out, draining water from the well ,running up and down to the petty shops attending to all her errands, making four Walks to my  school and giving her a helping hand in all her chores, this in spite of being fed very conservately

Days rolled, by and now again I am a victim to this querry ,who ever sees me, Exclaim, Oh you have become soo fat  Why don’t you cut on your diet?(fat)    and every one suggests ,me their method and system of reducing this extra pounds of flesh. While I  am too docile to tell them  that I have gained all good qualities and that’s why I am now a cylindrical person(just look up the reasons for being thin what was given by my mom).

Bogged by this negative comment, I started  making efforts earnestly to reduce my weight, to start with, I purchased a skipping rope(that’s the cheapest), I tried over it for a day or so, and I gave up,Fearing the floor may give in.(but i am a very focused person)

I was lured with an advertisement, which showed a cycle, and suggested do cycling, you can get slimed thighs  and flatten your tummy,. Not knowing cycling, this was a real boon to me because I can do cycling at a stationary point,whether I reduce weight or not, I can proudly say some one I am cycling.

Well fancy for this too died, once I found my calf muscle ache, after a few strokes of pedaling,

now I had to find a permanent place to park it.

Peep ,peep  came an sms and I looked into it .it said lose 10kg of weight with out any

efforts, all you have to do is purchase a sauna belt, and tie it around the areas where

you desire to lose weight., when I was finding every thing difficult this was a very

promising one that too 10 kg was too big a deal, I landed up for making this purchase,And it became one immedietly as my weight reducing accessory,

only later did I learn that I have to be glued on at particular place near a electrical plug point

at least for 45 min, for remarkable! results, I did not even see mark able changes

so I shunned this too.(yet another parking lot).

a warm lemon juice sweetened with honey every morning would give excellent results,

Now my morning tea was replaced with this  drink and still no results, only thing was

that I was adding sugar to my blood.

Let me tell you all discreetly, I never gave a heed to the other side of the THE OPERATING manuals of these advices ,which was saying I should walk for at least 45 min(because this was some thing impossible),  this being the case I saw yet another catchy Advertisement, it said walk 10000

steps in 15 minutes, by just lying down. Thank god this is what I was looking for,

so this became my immediate, procession only to be parked in yet another corner.But i was neither guilty nor feeling bad that i have been spending money in accumulating a mini gym without any utility.
GYM ropes, sliming oil, herbal drinks and what ever course was suggested for weight reduction was purchased and stocked. but never used because the results were not remarkable and very important i was finding some reason to avoid that 45 min walk.

Well this is when I came across an advertisement which showed a fat person(than)

and a skimmed person (now),which assured, me some confidence to try it and landed

into a slimming centre, to start with  First I was made to pay an upfront fee, with an

assured weight loss goal. Than I was directed to a nutritionist who enquired about

 my eating habits ,and said a big NO to the minimum items what ever I ate ,instead

gave me a spread of items to eat and lo, I had to maintain a diet dairy which I had

 to show every time I visit her, And I had to walk for 45 min every day, any gain in

weight, I would not be allowed to have my thermal treatment, this is when I realized

the real value of Money, SO I started to take my 45 min walk seriously, AND TO MY

 surprise I started losing my extra pounds, and the realization came very late that it

was not the treatment, but my walking which was the trick behind every thing,  Had i done this in the very first instance i  would not have had to lose so much of money.  

I COULD REALISE THE VALUE OF MONEY ONLY THAN,WHICH I DID NOT UNDERSTAND WHEN I WAS PURCHASING SOME APPLIANCE AND KEEPING THEM IDLE.   

BUT unfortunately nowagain I am enquired by many more peoplewith a lot of sympathy, Are u sick?, why are you losing weight, you look lost wit out those extra pounds, so Ihave started the process of eating and sitting. And I know that this process is going to be a vicious circle.And I also know

unless I pay a big sum again I am not going to walk and reduce my weight .

So the only activity that can bring you down is size is to walk,walk and walk

(which I never do)and i am sure they may be many others like me.