The following are the causes of loss of productivity for departments or projects due to managers failing to achieve the productivity goals required from them:
- Ignorance of the work to be done or of the rules, regulations and work practices;
- Laziness and disinclination to hard work;
- Neglect of duty due to indulgence in sensual pleasures (for example chit chatting, browsing, social networking sites)
- Timidity due to fear of public discontent or uproar, (reactions from) evil persons or of untoward results;
- Corruption, particularly showing favors to selfish persons with whom the manager has had dealings;
- Short temper and tendency to violence (alienating those from whom he has to inspire to perform);
- Arrogance about his learning, his wealth or the support he gets from highly placed persons;
- Greed for incentives or higher pay which prompts him to use false metrics, observations, standards, or to make false assessments and calculations.
In such situations, Kautilya recommends that the penalty and disciplining shall be commensurate with the (gravity of the) offence. (i.e., not follow a rigid pattern but to take into account the circumstances of each case.)
This write-up is based on a section from Kautilya’s Arthasasthra dealing with productivity and economic wealth generation of the state. Though this was originally meant to assess the government servants in Maurya Kingdom in 3rd Century BC i.e., 23 centuries back. The wisdom is applicable to any business organization. In fact, to any organization including voluntary as well as government.
This write up is heavily modified from the original text because the social structure, livelihoods and economic activities were very different from the current economy and social situations. However, the negative characteristics of human nature specific to officers/managers have mostly not changed despite 23 centuries since the book was first written.