A521.5.8.RB_KumarHarish

Value Narrative

This story demonstrates the power of Boeing processes and a great example of employee loyalty and trust in company values. The value in question here is ethics. This is something that is taken very seriously at Boeing and nobody is immune to it. If the employee decides to take action and feels that ethics is being violated, then it can be against anybody, even the CEO. Boeing has a separate ethics department where all kinds of ethics questions are promptly answered so that the employee can take the right decision. Ethics committee is headed by senior Boeing people who are very conversant with the Boeing processes and procedures. They also have special powers to take action against anybody and everybody. No messing around with ethics and all employees are encouraged to contact ethics in case of any doubt and before they take any decision that might go against company values. This can save them from a lot of trouble in future. 

The protagonist in the story is an employee who thought it was unethical to release the incorrect drawing and fix it later just because of pressure of the schedule. A manager, his boss, asked him to go ahead and sign the drawing and get it released. When he asked that the drawing needs to be fixed, the manager replied that the drawing can be fixed later but at that moment adherence to schedule was the only important thing. The employee decided that it was an ethics issue but was also afraid not to make the manager angry as the manager had the power to stop his raise and promotion. Still he decided to do the right thing and contacted ethics through the ethics hotline. Hearing the whole story the ethics department decided that the manager was wrong and promptly took action against the manager. The unnecessary details about the drawing and the release process have been omitted. The manager was demoted right away.

The story is a characteristic of Boeing's strong processes and employee belief in company vales. Boeing trains employees to do the right thing and not compromise any company values. The story was broadcast all over the Boeing intranet with concealed employee names as an example of courage and loyalty. There are more stories that we read at the Boeing internal website where some employees have violated company values. These stories encourage employees to do the right thing as well as set an example of violation and the consequences.

A521.5.4.RB_KumarHarish

Aligning Values

The three basic components of ethical community are trust, loyalty and solidarity. Surprisingly, the company can define these in any way but the people in the organization have their own definitions for these components. I have seen people with varying character and how they define these components in different circumstances. The same people would preach something else and practice whatever they think is ethical. Organizations spend lot of money and resources in developing their people who they can trust and think would fulfill the vision and mission. The above components are defined by text as, trust is the general expectation among members that their fellows will behave ethically towards them. Loyalty is acceptance of obligation to refrain from breaching one another’s trust and to fulfill the duties entailed by accepting that trust. Solidarity is caring for other’s interest and be ready to take action on other’s behalf, even if it conflicts personal interests. These values are nor enforced but are cultivated in the employees with time.

I would not say these values are missing from my organization but the interpretation varies with certain individuals. Most of the people are well aligned with the company values but there are a lot of them who misuse these values and get away with it. Even managers can be seen using company resources where they should not be. The company policy of keeping the employee first does not mean compromising values. Trust is assumed in every situation at Boeing, no compromise. Any information you need to provide has to be complete trustworthy or just say that you could not get it for any reason. Do not make up information or it will come bite you. Loyalty is again an individual thing but in general everybody is assumed to be extremely loyal to the company. There have been cases from unionized employees, when they did compromise on loyalty. There was a gap in the 787 production line and the body parts did not fit together. Some employee took a picture and sent it to press. Boeing stock dropped the next day.

Cases like these bother me and make me think why is the company harboring traitors like these and spending money on their welfare. With what Boeing does for employees, no other company in aerospace can do. The benefits for the employees are out of the world and hence loyalty and trust is expected. Employees feel proud of what they do and the quality of airplanes they make but some cases of compromising on values bring a bitter taste to our mouth. Solidarity is something good employees manifest and I have seen it all around. Supervisors and leads stand up for their employees and are ready to take action on their behalf. But then I have seen managers who would not stand up for anybody but only themselves. These are few and far between but they are there. I have seen more solidarity at the shop floor where workers build the airplane than in the offices. It can be a union thing but it is still prevalent. Solidarity is something which most managers practice and is visible. Most of the values above are fully practiced at Boeing.

The above values are individual because either you are trustworthy and loyal or you are not. Solidarity is something only leaders possess. These values can be learned from environment by continuous training and aligned with the organization.

A521.5.1.RB_KumarHarish

 Core Workplace Value Assessment

Very interesting assessment, made me think about what our organization does and what we expect from it. I had only three items as fours and three as two, all others were ones. It did a comprehensive assessment about asking for my needs from our organization. Having a personal mission statement is very important as Steven Covey says “first things first”, should be done first so that after spending years and climbing the ladder of success, we might not find our ladder resting against the wrong wall. It is of prime importance to decide what we want and then take the next step. I also understand that deciding what we want is the most difficult thing to know but procrastination can lead to spending years and years in search of what we really want. This is a very personal decision and the whole idea of doing the masters degree is self analysis and introspection to figure out that inner need and urge of what we want to ultimately do.

SWOT analysis is the best tool to understand and figure out what our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are and then analyze the data on our own self to figure out the mystery of what we want. While strengths and weaknesses are internal features the opportunities and threats are external features that help us understand our self and the surrounding environment. I did lot of SWOT analysis on organizations but never on my own self till now. It was interesting to note down my own strengths and weaknesses as internal features. My master’s degree is going to be my strength and a major one. Well, I did write down my strengths and weaknesses and then went over the external factors. I cannot control these factors but can take advantage of the opportunities and mitigate some of the threats that I face at my job. Very interestingly I was able to define a number of such external factors that affect me.

 Talking about aligning my values with my work place, I think I have the necessary skills and values that can take me ahead. My values do align with what Boeing needs and desires in its workers. I should say that integrity, honesty, hard work, social skills, perseverance to get things done are my top values and that Boeing desires. I can communicate verbally as well as analytically for any kind of job and challenge and I have a proven track record. The only thing that stops me from getting ahead is my non permanent status in the company. I have to become permanent in order to do what I have always wanted and live a dream life. Not that I am not living a dream life now but then it would just become much better. Over the period of time I have understood how The Boeing Company works and seeks in its employees. I have learned the art of survival and also figured out how to be successful in the company. I have been contract engineer for six years now.

There are some things that I can only learn if I am a permanent employee as Boeing has very strict policy of distributing proprietary information. I have been treated very well at Boeing due to my hard work but there are some rules due to government regulation that they do not let the contract engineers learn certain technical aspect of core engineering. Good thing is I know what to do and in the coming years I am going to do it. I will have an MBA and a MSLD, double masters to support me when I need it. That is the plan.

A521.4.3.RB_KumarHarish

Subtleties of Communication and Hidden Messages

The concept of body language has always intrigued me but I never went into any details of the study and application. I know it is widely used character study and analysis in many different organizations as well as government. Criminals are studied for behavior prediction and lie detection. Almost all big organizations have people who are master of body language. Body language study can be very useful for any leader for interaction with other leaders as well as with members of their own organization. Body language can tell a lot about the state of mind of the person you are talking to and also what they are thinking about the current conversation. A leader can use this to their advantage and take better control of the situation and better understand the people they are interacting with. The book has a few chapters dedicated to body language communication and hidden messages which I would normally fail to understand. Hopefully this will me more aware and increase in improving my self awareness and social as well as emotional intelligence.   

It was quite interesting to see that body language consists of 55 percent of the message being conveyed. I can study the facial expression and figure out what the person is going through but I need to understand better body movements such as arms and hands, legs and feet as well as breathing. Some are very obvious but the deep understanding lies in the subtleness of these movements which I fail to capture in a conversation because I am not aware of what to look for. Spatial relationships are not too difficult to figure out and are understandable. It is much easier for a woman to walk into anyone’s space and get away with it than a man. There is a comfort level of personal space that we all are accustomed to and can handle but there are moments when people walk into our personal space and make us uneasy. A big example can be our bosses. They just feel they have a right to enter anyone’s personal space and the other person should feel good about it. I have seen at Boeing one old manager making many women feel very uncomfortable by being in their personal space too often and with much ease. 

Paralanguage and Metamessages is what we do on daily basis, sometimes intentionally and most of the times not even being aware. Now knowing about these I can definitely relate to paralanguage being a part of my daily communication. Pitch, articulation, resonance, tempo, volume and rhythm are some factors that I can observe in my dealing with kids at home and co workers at work. Now I can say with confidence that after becoming more observant about the surroundings around me, I can notice the paralanguage and Metamessages. I have noticed while playing cards, players do talk in Metamessages to convey messages to their partners. I can recall numerous moments when I did not catch the metamessage and only figured out later when the time had passed. I believe I can become a much better communicator if I can get used to looking for such subtle hints. I think by nature women are much more aware and powerful in understanding and conveying these metamessages to each other and whoever they think can understand. Nature has bestowed this gift to women, men are just too careless.

Hidden agendas are used by us and the people around us all the time. These are intentional and people just have the habit of doing so. I can relate to all the agendas with a number of people in family and friends. We do get bombarded with incongruent messages all the time and if we are not able to translate those messages to our advantage we can lose important deals and pieces of information that can benefit us. Even management in big companies provide subtle hints to employees and see how much aware the employee is and if they can figure out what the management is looking for, especially when someone wants to get promoted. I try to be aware of what is expected out of me and what action I should be taking in different circumstances, but sometimes I fail to notice subtle messages. But now after this module I will try to be more aware of what is thrown at me and how to become better at communicating with others. I do believe in sincerity and congruence in communication and so most of the times become oblivious to hidden agendas. I feel this will make be a much better leader for future.

A521.3.4.RB_KumarHarish

Personal Reflection

There have been some situations that have had a formative impact on me. These situations made me what I am today. I am quite sure there are turning points in everyone’s life where we feel a change in the thought process or a new outlook to life. I had to think deep to get some stories out and the timeline when these happened. It is interesting to note that life’s lessons are usually learned the hard way. Not only me, but I think most of us have to go through a trying period in order to learn to survive. By survive I mean to learn to behave and prosper in the corporate world as well as life in general. Some of us do not have to go through much struggle but I really had to work my way very hard to get to any small achievement. I try to teach my kids not to do some of the things that I did and had to fight my way because they are born in the age of technology and hence can leverage it to their advantage. The survival of the fittest is still true, no matter what age you are born in.

The first story is from the time when I was in high school and had to study hard in order to get into engineering. That was something I wanted to be but this required a lot of hard work and persistence due to very high competition. I had the habit of leaving things to the last minute, even when it came to studies. I would play around and wait to the point when there was just enough time left for preparation for the exam. My mother always used to warn me of missing some important things if I kept doing that and can cost me dearly in the exam. She always said be consistent and prepare thoroughly and at a constant pace rather than rushing everything at the last moment. She also said if I did that I would have plenty of time to revise and make sure the minor details are covered. I became a mechanical engineer and missed the computer engineering by very little margin. Had I not left every preparation for the last minute I would have made it to computer engineering. 

The next story is what my dad always used to teach us. If you want to get the job done, begin from the top. What this would mean to me at that time was if you are in a situation trying to deal with people and get a project moving, they will give you run around. If you just approach their boss or even higher authority that can make an instant decision, the job will happen much faster and all those people who gave you run around will be happy to assist you in getting the job done. I always remembered that but could not understand its full implication till I entered the work world and struggled in the beginning to get the job done which involved many other people also. What my dad had taught me, I even apply that every day in my life at work or whenever things need to be done at a faster pace than what they are now. Sometimes I stop and brood over some situations as if I should approach the highest authority that can make a decision. But then I ended up sticking to this theory and things move fast.  

This is the story that still makes me sick. This was in 1995 and we as friends went out for drinks and I had just too many to drink. It was not just too many but the cocktail that drove me absolutely cuckoo. I was not falling on the ground but struggling to walk. I had a motorcycle that I had to ride home and was in no position to ride. I went to the bathroom and force vomit myself, then had lemon juice and sat at the restaurant for one hour with spinning head. This was a kind of worst lessons learned for me and never ever after that I did that till today. I sat in the restaurant for three hours trying to sober myself and I remember it like yesterday. I am not a heavy drinker but that was just too much. Drinking and driving is a crime, as told by my father and I had that in my mind very clear. I got a lot sober after having a lot of lemon juice and a lot of other things. Drive home was much easier but I would have still been categorized as drunk driving because it was only couple hours after that cocktail. 

All the stories I mentioned have made me what I am today. These stories have made me a batter person and have affected my behavior in corporate world as well as in my general life. I guess I am a better person now, especially when it comes to drinking. I do drink a beer occasionally but no hard liquor. This makes my wife very proud and happy when at a party she observes people drink too much and I am always driving my own car home. Happy wife is a happy life.

A521.2.3.RB_KumarHarish

The Danger of a Single Story

The danger of a single story is a very interesting video that made me think about things that I have had in my mind as single story, until the truth dawned upon me and things turned out to be much different than what I thought. Knowing and believing what I had learned all my life, about a particular subject has proved to be life changing by the major decisions taken with existing knowledge. Video provides great examples of what was known to her because of what she was taught. On discovering something different gave her a shock and a similar shock happened to her roommate. The video also provides insight about looking at things with a different perspective and not judging anything based on single story. 

Looking at my own life and thinking about the times when I had a single story in my mind I came up with a number of examples. Even now, sometimes I look at things with a guaranteed story in mind; I am always in for a shock. Over a period of time I have learned to reverse think about my worst fears that I believe would be true. That just gives me a directly opposite side of the story and reverses the outcome. Now here I start by asking myself “what if” question and that is what reverses my outcome. So far I have been extremely satisfied by the results and have noticed that most of the times my fears because of self created beliefs were just my belief in single story. The outcome was much pleasant and rewarding with a different perspective. 

I cannot explain how much I have been able to relate to this video. The coincidence is really funny. It is strange that we, most of the times, preconceive things which become our beliefs and it becomes very difficult to get out of those beliefs. The narrow mindedness creeps in and we start to protect those beliefs. It needs a very strong will and self awareness to fight these beliefs and look at a different perspective. I can now see what impact education has on our life. How education can make us aware of such conditions that exist and make us capable to overcome them. I have always believed in education removing the blinds of darkness and shining a bright light on our minds. 

To become a successful leader self awareness and social/emotional intelligence are the main skills that we need to either have or learn. Single story can lead to failure as a leader. It becomes pertinent for a leader to not only gather information about all the aspects of any condition or circumstance but also analyze the same. Sometimes a leader has to make a quick decision. In such a situation, a mind that is prepared and trained to quickly weigh multiple aspects, can make a much informed and better decision than others. This course in leadership communications is an eye opener in looking at the multiple stories before coming to a conclusion. We all can relate to our beliefs that are inherent part of our personalities.

To conclude I would say Adichie touched on a very sensitive subject and made people feel guilty (which includes me) about what we think and present to others with the limited information we have. She had a point to prove and a story to tell. She told her story in a very successful way or I can say that she “told the right story” in the “tell the story right” manner which created a huge impact on not only the live audience but also people like me who were just watching the video. This video has also made me a better person by making me aware of the condition of single story. I am not only able to relate to the presentation but am also able to improve my thinking. This will make me a better leader for the future.