Nepotism and favouritism are the antithesis to efficiency and should be avoided at all costs, particularly in the corporate sector.
These views were expressed by former State Bank of Pakistan Governor and former IBA Dean, Dr Ishrat Hussain, while speaking as chief guest at the launch of the book, ‘Emerging Dynamics of Management”, by noted banking figure, Sirajuddin Aziz, who is currently CEO of the Habib Metropolitan Bank. The event was held at a local hotel on Friday evening.
Dr Hussain said that often the two negative traits were based on ethnic factors, or religious or cultural aspects. Another aspect he talked about was duplicity and in this regard he mentioned expletives directed at employees by managers which, he said, was a highly demoralizing factor hampering employees’ efficiency.
He said incorrigible managers shirked sharing knowledge, as a matter of egotism. “Egotism is a hallmark of poor management,” he added. Lauding the just-launched book, he paid tribute to the author, saying he had learnt a lot from the book.
Dr Hussain said there were gems of wisdom in the book which he hadn’t found in any other work. “We have to reward mentors and trainees of the younger folk”, he commented.
Former federal minister and Senator, Javed Jabbar, lauded the book and in particular, praised the human quality that emerges in it. “Corporates who convey the truth to the workers will last longer”, he said. “It all boils down to ethics and efficiency”, he said.
Jabbar said ethics, basically, was the human element while efficiency was the mundane, mechanical aspect. The book, he said, made one think about the correlation between ethics and efficiency.
Talking about the oft-quoted complaint these days that the younger generation had lost interest in reading, Jabbar shot down the idea and in support of his contention, said that recently he interviewed a bookstall owner at the Karachi airport and asking about his daily sales turn-over to which the bookstall owner replied that he daily earned Rs25,000.
Journalist and former army officer, Ikram Sehgal, said, “The author has been very truthful in his analysis”. Quoting a British General, he said, “It does not matter what happens to you. What matters is how you behave when it happens”.
Applying that dictum to Sirajuddin Aziz , he narrated how once when there was a mad run on the banks and people were withdrawing their money left, right, and centre, on account of an ill-founded rumour, Aziz intervened most sagaciously and stemmed the phenomenon which otherwise could have spelt disaster for the banks and for the national economy.
Speaking next, the author, Sirajuddin, attributed his writing skills to the fact that his father who read profusely was his role model. He said his first write-up was published when he was just 10.
Parents, he said, had to instil confidence in the children through their behaviour. “It is through behaviour that we draw delimiting lines”, he said. Insecurity, added Aziz, was a major issue among employees.
Iqbal Saleh Muhammad, managing director of the Paramount Books, publishers of the work, said, “I read some of the 122 chapters of the book and it convinced me that Sirajuddin Aziz had a very refined personality.”
He said he gathered this from his chapter headings which were totally different from the mundane headings associated with a dry subject like management. “Subject headings like ‘emotional vigilance’, ‘respecting the respected’ and ‘humility’ convinced me of the importance Aziz attached the human factor,” he added.
The author’s brother, Mirajuddin Aziz, dwelt mainly on the sentimental factor, their early childhood and family life. He recalled two incidents. The first one was where he and Siraj, as under 10s, shot a woodpecker and after the bird fell dead, Siraj went into contemplation and said to him, “Now what”, to which, Mirajuddin said, he replied, “Now bury it”. So, he said, they dug up some earth from a flowerbed and buried the bird there. After that, Mirajuddin said, his brother used to go and stand at the burial spot in a very contemplative mood for days. “This showed how mentally mature he was for his chronological age,” he added.
The second instance that he narrated was about what a sparing eater Siraj was. So he said there came a time when his sibling ate even less than what he ate normally. So one evening he followed his brother and found that he was saving on his meal and giving part of it away to some very financially challenged people living in their servants’ outhouses. “All this was supposed to be a tribute to Siraj’s sensitive and considerate nature,” he added.
Ali Abdul Aziz, son of Sirajuddin Aziz and senior manager of the Banking and Capital Markets at Deloitte LLP, narrated how his father had been a role model to him and paid tribute to his journalistic skills.
