In Search of the Motherly Manager: Unlocking the KADAMBINI code
"All that I
am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." - Abraham Lincoln (the
16th President of the United States of America)
"Achieving
the highest possible return on human capital must be every manager's goal."
- Brian Tracy (Canadian-American motivational public speaker and
self-development author)
'M' for Mother, 'M' for Manager!
Mother! She conceptualizes us during her marital bliss, being unaware of
who we are or will become. She bears us in our embryonic state, compromising
with many of her normal ways of living. She gives birth to us, being in
unbearable pain. She grooms us, sacrificing much of her comforts. She wipes our
tears away, even if she's chocking inside. She attends us when we are sick and
weak, spending sleepless nights. She ties our shoelaces, enduring back pain at
times. She helps us in our homework, forgetting her favorite soap operas. She
enlivens us when we're alone, forgetting her relaxation often. She protects us
from evil elements, even at the cost of her wellbeing. She sends us money,
cutting her expenses on many occasions. She attends our graduation day, standing
under the scorching sun. She lifts us up, despite falling down in the process.
She lets us get married to our fiancées, even if she knows that she will lose
much of her say in our lives; and even if that means she will live her life
alone and with much solitude. She is never satisfied in serving us, tries to do
better and better with each passing day. Finally, one day, she passes away,
naming us as the heirs of her fortunes. In death she also tries to serve us
better. Why does she act in a manner to serve us?
Action is underlined by three core elements: Affect,
behavior, and cognition (ABC) (Allport, 1935). Broadly speaking, affect
refers to an emotional response, behavior to behavioral intentions, and
cognition to (rational) thinking. To be a mother also involves a complex web of
affective, behavioral, and cognitive factors like emotional bonding with the
child, a sense of accountability to meet societal norms, and enhancing her
self-esteem by seeing her child becoming successful respectively
(e.g., Belsky, 1984). Mother’s goal is to let her child succeed. One can notice
the ABC facets in the aforesaid motherly actions. For example, the dominant
facet behind sacrificing her comfort is a motherly act that is affective.
Similarly intending to help us monetarily is an instance of the predominance of
the behavioral aspect. And, to plan to attend our graduation day has more of
cognitive elements. Mother in a nutshell is our 'carer and handler' in the
material world. This functionality side of the mother has striking resemblance
with manager!
The word manager comes from the root word 'mano' or
'manus' (Latin), which in English means hand. Its equivalent Italian word is
'maneggiare,' which means to handle. The functionality of the manager
encompasses five basic functions, namely planning, organizing, staffing,
leading, and controlling (Koontz, 1980). Thus, manager is our handler in
the professional world. Looking at the above mentioned mother's
functionalities, we can see that a manager by definition is akin to the mother.
Often I ask my students, "Who's the ideal manager whom
either you've interacted with or heard about?" I mostly receive
stereotypical answers, "JRD Tata," "Steve Jobs,"
"Indra Nooyi," "Bill Gates," "My ex-manager so and
so," and so forth. Do they care to compare their mother with these
managers and appreciate how superior their mother as a manager is?
Who is a motherly manager? In searching for the motherly
manager, one needs to find out the following attributes in a manager (see: Gerzema
& D'Antonio, 2013).
KINDNESS: Empathetic, not merely sympathetic!
ALLIANCE-ORIENTATION: Cooperative, seeking relationships in stakeholders!
As we can see, to be kind is mostly loaded with
affective aspects; to be assiduous, directed, non-traditional, and brevity mainly
behavioral; and to be cooperative, strategic, and intelligent are primarily cognitive.
They are akin to seeing the forest, at the same time not missing the trees. Shouldn’t
a manager strive to create successful employees like a mother shapes her child? To build individuals
who are personally, professionally, and socially responsible? This needs managers to
think like a woman (Gerzema & D'Antonio, 2013). A Mother to be precise! To
conclude, motherly manager is a big promise not only for creating sustainable
business but also human sustainability. See more at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxgTsyL4y0E
(A blog on the first death anniversary of my mother--Kadambini)
References:
Allport, G. W. (1935). Attitudes. In C. Murchison (Ed.), Handbook
of social psychology (pp. 798-844). Worcester, MA: Clark University
Press.
Picture source:
Google Images
Mother! She conceptualizes us during her marital bliss, being unaware of
who we are or will become. She bears us in our embryonic state, compromising
with many of her normal ways of living. She gives birth to us, being in
unbearable pain. She grooms us, sacrificing much of her comforts. She wipes our
tears away, even if she's chocking inside. She attends us when we are sick and
weak, spending sleepless nights. She ties our shoelaces, enduring back pain at
times. She helps us in our homework, forgetting her favorite soap operas. She
enlivens us when we're alone, forgetting her relaxation often. She protects us
from evil elements, even at the cost of her wellbeing. She sends us money,
cutting her expenses on many occasions. She attends our graduation day, standing
under the scorching sun. She lifts us up, despite falling down in the process.
She lets us get married to our fiancées, even if she knows that she will lose
much of her say in our lives; and even if that means she will live her life
alone and with much solitude. She is never satisfied in serving us, tries to do
better and better with each passing day. Finally, one day, she passes away,
naming us as the heirs of her fortunes. In death she also tries to serve us
better. Why does she act in a manner to serve us?
Atleast someone is bothered to write about unsung heroes - our mothers🙏
ReplyDeleteMy friend, there are several types of mother, including those who could have many children and do not want to get fat, and there are those who should never have children, have no capacity to love and do not know how to receive love.
ReplyDelete