MBO...MBE...MBF

 

MBO - Google Images

Three alphabets, just the last one changes.. And it means a world of a difference. A difference between a person going out of his way to do some thing against a person going into a self induced trauma, unknowingly and subconsciously, that may scar him for life. Some of you may have already realized it.. If not, all about Management.. By Objectives, or by Example, or simply, by Fear

Surely, most of us go through it at various times during our work environment. We all have our times, when we are guided by our peers, either through defined objectives and goals, which the peers themselves believe in, and lead by example and living up to the objectives that all try to attain.. A common goal. The Manager or the leader takes the first step, clearly reiterating the common goal and objective, the vision, the road that we all must reach to. The team follows like lambs, the goal common, the vision clear.



MBF: Google Images



Come over to the other part of the world.. Fear, coercion, threats to get the work done. Peers simply ensuring that there are always threats looming over the team to get the work done. Irrespective of the fact that the work is being done, but the fear has to remain.

The threat and the fear of losing one's job is sufficient motivation to scare the living daylights out of a person to ensure that he / she performs to his maximum. Never takes a light moment. Always on the run, from the time one enters the office to the time one leaves.. Lunches are at supersonic speed, the 15 minutes spent could be better used to do some work.. A joke during a cup of tea is a luxury!! Of course the Manager gets all of it.

We all go through life in the same manner. We all have had or still have our shares. There are hundreds of instances daily where one sees various Managers following one example or the other.. Unfortunately, it is the MBF more often than the MBE (explaining why we never had another Gandhi or Martin Luther King or a Lincoln). And they thrive on it. And it succeeds, because, it is part of life, it is part of our psyche.

We live on the fear and our peers know it. We go through it in school with the bully, in college with the ragging, in life, not wanting to take that unknown step as to what would happen, if we challenged it. Many managers believe in it and continue this mode. Screaming, shouting, are simply mechanics to have the fear installed and kept, even if unwarranted.

How do we stop this, how does this reduce? Of course, not propagating picking up a base ball bat and having a swing at the crop of the hair, covering the head. That would be criminal, but one way would be to start at home. Why? Because in one way, it all starts there. How many of us, use the MBF with our kids to get them to do what we want? How many times have we dangled the sticks and bones theory. In some places it even applies to the wife or the wife to the husband? It is always the blame game.. If some thing goes wrong, you are responsible for it. Failure cannot be accepted, as it is a high stakes game. You have to be the winner and you cannot let your peer lose..

We start this as being kids studying in fear for that elusive grade.. We see it at work when we join, with the Managers instilling fear in us.. We learn this and take this to our subordinates, and at some point, we take it home with us and start this all over again. Life indeed comes a full circle. Where do we stop this, or can we stop this? I believe we can, and it all starts with Self Education.. Or the life we want our future generations to live.