The Hindu Business Line : `Explore your mind to become a good manager'

TO become an efficient and successful manager one needs to develop oneself first, said Mr S. Aravind, Director, Madurai ACME Enterprises and President, Madurai District Tiny And Small Scale Industries Association.

Mr Aravind was addressing a meeting of the members of the BL Club of the Department of Management Studies, Fatima College (Autonomous) in the city.

He said inter-personal relationships played a vital role in the success of a manager in a rapidly changing environment as has come to be under globalisation.

Over the years, the old, arrogant and autocratic ways of management has changed to a more open and receptive management environment.

Today's manager has to match the pace of change and keep in touch with the expanding horizons of knowledge in the respective managerial areas. To succeed, one needs to become self-disciplined first, he observed.

Management faces many problems such as survival and growth in competitive atmosphere, creation of a conducive work culture to bring about higher productivity, manage stressful situations, life on the job and off the job etc. To handle them and face the challenges, the manager has to gain a sense of equanimity and have control over doubt, anger and fear.

He has to lift himself from egocentric vision and make others see the issues in the right perspective and utilise the potentialities of the employees for the benefit of the organisation. This could be achieved if one started introspecting one self, he explained.

Introspection is necessary because it leads to a change in human interaction that involves dependence, independence and interdependence. One can make an excellent manager if one understood this as this leads to an application of principles of interpersonal effectiveness towards progress.

This is a journey in which every step would need a paradigm shift from the past, from a perceived self to the present and the desired self. It would be understood that one cannot reap what one has not sown.

Life is pairs of opposites and self-management is the key to balance between them. In other words, a successful and efficient manager would be required to develop a healthy attitude towards life that includes concern for people and service environment.

Excellence in management is a continuous journey and not a destination by itself. Please explore your mind and rise up, he exhorted.

Mr T. Murali, Regional General Manager, The Hindu, and Prof P. Uma, Head, Department of Management Studies, were present.