Managing employees in India

For a Foreigner or a Non-resident Indian coming and working in a country like India can be very daunting. First there is huge difference in cultures along with conversing in correct English. When I was studying in the UK for a post-graduate degree, I used to work to earn a bit of extra money. I had four employers during my total stay in the UK, namely a brokerage firm, KFC, Phones4U and Gnutrade N.V. My experience there as an employee taught me to be self dependent, honest and motivating to others. In my last company, Gnutrade N.V., I showed interest towards bring the customer support wing of the company to India, since I planned to come back for good. The company was delighted that this was another way of outsourcing which will save them money.

Back in India, I was all geared up to open my own company, and bringing in more work for myself other than the work from the UK based company. It was time I employed a few people who could help me smoothen out the day to day activities. The point where I stand now and look behind, I see a few employees who were self obsessed, dishonest and the least motivating people I ever worked with. Presently 2 people work under me and only one of them is a dedicated person like me. Managing employees in India is a huge task where you not only have to do your own work, but also finish theirs too just to save your own ass. Many employees who have worked under me lacked confidence, imagination, creativity, will power and most of all the discipline at the work place.

I do not say that all Indians are the same, but if one is working in a professional arena, discipline, honesty and hard work form the most important part of a job, which many Indian employees lack. This is where managerial skills of the boss comes in, getting work done is a more challenging task.

A manager can only see success in his employees if:
- he himself is disciplined in checking how his employees work and correcting them when needed.
- Answerable to the manager from time to time keeps employees under check.
- Placing realistic goals for employees keeps them interested in their work.

I hope these pointers are useful to both managers and employees to be best at their work.

Who is in more trouble - Europe, US or Asia?

'Who is in more trouble?', well all 3 are and there are no exceptions and no continent can escape economic recession. It is like a huge chain, downfall of the housing market and dire unemployment in the US directly affected the European and Asian countries. That is why we see governments in all these continents have been coming up with stimulus packages to minimize the problem if not stop it.

According to Nader Naeimi, a Sydney based investment strategist with AMP Capital Investors, said: "These sorts of stimulus measures are steps in the right direction. We need circuit-breakers to unlock the credit logjam." (source: bloomberg.com).

Australia wants to be away from recession as hence the government announced $42 billion Australian Dollars more. But there is still pessimism floating in the market, like one Chief Asian economist at Credit Suisse Private Bank in Singapore, Joseph Tan said:"Stimulus measures will help minimize the downside to some degree in the short term. There’s always that shadow hanging down our heads. Jobs are still being lost, consumption is coming down and economies are falling." (source: bloomberg.com).

Hence, all economies are in trouble and are likely to come to the stage of recession at some point in the future and stimulus plans are going to give relief in the short-term and not long term. There are tough times ahead for all, so be prepared.

Bailout plans are they a neccessity or a conspiracy?

Well every other country and even a sectors within countries and planning to bailout banks, airlines etc. After the US government came forward to bailout the US financial sector, European governments and in fact Central Banks all over the world have also come up with plans to rescue their respective big banks. In India, there are also plans to rescue the airline industry which is in doldrums.

The question is whether this is really neccessary that the governments are coming forawrd to do this with the tax payers money? If these governments really had so much spare money why did they not come forward to rescue Africa as a whole country, I am sure if they made an effort to do something Africa would have been above poverty line a long time back. Don't these countries have a little courtesy to atleast bring some stability in the African countries after taking away their resources like coal and diamonds to make themselves rich and wealthy?

I think these bail out plans are nothing but a huge chance for politicians to fill their pockets before leaving their postitions. And the so called bad assets which they claim to take over are nothing but wealthy businessmen who had falsely valued houses and taken huge loans against them, but in fact the houses or lands costed much lesser than what they claimed to be. This was widely done by many businessmen, taking the housing market down. So why are the governments saving them?

I think this is a huge conspiracy, when one government started doing it, other countries have also come forward with similar plans, no one knows how far this is going to last, but I am sure that it is going to get even worse in the next year.