Tata: Values of steel

The day the news of Air India going back to the house of Tata was announced, I carried out a cursory survey. Though not very scientifically done, it served the purpose. I called up 25 young professionals, mostly MBAs with 3 to 10 years of experience in the corporate world. The question I asked was simple: what did they think about the fate of Air India now. The interesting finding of this survey was that they all believed that Air India will turn around and restore its past glory. It may be recalled that Air India was once a valued airline in the eyes of the customers and it gave the Maharaja experience that its logo symbolised. 68 years after the takeover by the Government, and given the shape it is in today, if the general view is that Air India will once again fly high, it speaks something about the organisation, the house of Tata and its culture. And if one word can be the defining trait of Tata organisation it is ‘Values’. The one attribute that the founders and their following generations, have been able to diligently nurse and maintain, rather meticulously. Their corporate brand veers around this one construct — values. Values have always been the essence of their tagline. If the end of the 20th century saw Tata Steel proclaim — We also make Steel, in the 21st century it has become ‘Values stronger than Steel’. The company now proudly says — We also make tomorrow. Values continue to remain the focus of the company, rather than the products. Values do matter even though they are not matter. A Rather time-tested principle of business has been to stick to values and the value of your stock will always remain high. Tata seems to know this. There may be views and counterviews on the issue but it cannot be denied that the company is known for its values imperative. Their best practices hinge around values and their actions reflect this. One reason why the human resources of the steelmaker exude a pride that is easily visible. This is why Tata culture has become a part of management literature folklore, a benchmark for many. As a researcher working for his Ph.D., this columnist had a brush with the Tata culture during data collection and has recorded this in the thesis. There are two very significant aspects of a company’s culture. One that it practices reassuring leadership so that the employees know they have something to fall back upon. The second is that policies are framed such that productivity targets do not come in the way of people friendliness. Tata knows how to do this, even though many management theories find it difficult. Employee commitment is not forced or bought but earned and this leads to a high degree of engagement. Management gurus often say that for successful companies customer comes first. But the secret is that this can only happen if the employee comes first. This insight has kept Tata maintain the legacy for all those decades across several generations of leadership. Corporate branding is something that all top organisations aim at and try all sorts of strategies to build company goodwill. It is this that lends sustainability to a company brand. But knowing and practicing are two different things. In an era driven by competition and deep rooted commercial motives, surprisingly enough it is values that still matter.

It is Goebbels’ World

Joseph Goebbels was the chief propagandist and a key advisor of Hitler known for his skills in public speaking. He advocated that a repeatedly told lie tends to be believed. Ironically, this was the biggest truth he gave to this world. That he committed suicide is another story. This happens with most liars. They keep on repeating their lies so often that they themselves start believing them. But we are not to debate over the psychology of lies. We are discussing how lies affect psychology of people. Lies are euphemistically called misinformation. Goebbels would have been astonished to find that in this era of post truth there is no need to repeat lies. Truth simply does not exist. Only lies abound. And sell. They are the truth in the present times. Call them by whatever name you want. Call them data, call them information, call them findings, or even statistical models. This reality of falsehoods has now been supplemented by a study. Though it is altogether a different matter that the truth behind most studies are equally questionable, yet this one seems to be believable. A recent study analysing 9,657 pieces of misinformation originating from 138 countries was recently published in a globally reputed journal brought out by Sage, an internationally acclaimed brand in the field of academic research publication. It was fact checked by 94 organisations to find out the prevalence and the sources of misinformation in different countries. India was found to produce the largest Quantum of misinformation according to the research. India was also the maximum affected by the misinformation. But the headlines usually do not show the real picture. Whether India produced misinformation or Indians disseminated misinformation is the issue that needs to be understood. High internet usage and lack of internet literacy may be the reason for the findings that suggest that obsession with social media is a favourite pastime for most Indians who spread messages without thinking. More out of enthusiasm than anything else. However, it is also important to identify the sources of origin of the misinformation which are more motivated than accidental. Gullibility and over enthusiasm are common Indian traits and the propensity to share information first due to excitement may be a weakness with most, yet the sources that generate such information that are more of disinformation have to be handled with a heavy hand. Nevertheless, the fact that infodemic was the cause and pandemic was the result can also be deduced. Indians also need to exercise caution and guard against the mischief mongering that such information are aimed at. Though the research was against the backdrop of Covid-19, India has proved to be a fertile ground for spread of false hoods. Fake news may be a term used in the specific context of social media but the fact is that news itself is fake in the sense that there is an inbuilt tendency to economise on truth. Marketing, branding, promotion are all different names of camouflaging the truth. Something that is a global trend and something that people in power use to gain and then retain power. Who succeeds will depend on the strength of the lies.