Managers have to cultivate the habit of constantly doing reality checks to keep their ships on course. Such vigilance will allow the managers to make midterm corrections. It is said that desire always misreads fate. It follows: If managers play up fate, and play down efforts, preparation, and planning, they are in fact abandoning all attempts to sculpt their future. They are becoming irresponsible.

Governments are slowly removing the legal sheath around jobs, thereby considerably diluting unions' stranglehold, and freeing 'work' from their clutches. Now, management's responsibility does not end with declaring voluntary separation schemes and providing outplacement services to employees. It has to go out and persuasively communicate the paradigm shift in economy room "guaranteed employment" available "remunerative work".

Changing the mindset and creating the required ambience would, to some extent, reduce the pressure on management towards creating more jobs which it can ill afford.

If management contributes to managing the expectations upstream, it would be attuning the mindset of its employees and culture to new reality of the organisation. Thus, the purpose behind advance spotting of trends and patterns, and constructing new paradigms, would achieve its stated purpose - to show that the old set of assumptions no longer hold true, the new ones do. And the thought leaders provide us with the new insights.

Management has therefore to think anew, which means it must test its policies and measure results against the touchstone of new paradigm. Management must responsibly husband the resources within its domain control and even those beyond its legally defined boundaries because they affect its performance and results.

The Hallmark of Thought Leaders is Giving

In the 21st Century, certain shifts in consciousness are symptomatic of the new paradigm:

• From "seeing is believing" to "believing is seeing". It has led to recognizing that the inner experiences of the subconscious of an individual play a role in ushering new reality.
• The data based shared belief system anchored beyond speculation in the realm of centrality and causality of consciousness accepted among scientists, artists, environmentalists, and businessmen has increased our sensitivity about global connectedness, creativity and compassion for all living things and environment.
• There are some constants of the change process, like economy and community, visualization and vision building, cooperation and co-creation, transformation and turnaround, alignment and empowerment, and learning potential connected to individual development, which need serious husbanding.
• The institutional context invariant like disappearance of hierarchy to team thinking, benefits to bonuses, seniority to performance and results indicate that there is no static template of criteria but an evolving process of TQM that matters in providing customer friendly products and services.

The World Business Academy considered the issue of control, competition, co-operation, and co-creation in the context of new business paradigms. Its objective was to enhance business leaders' awareness about situation specific choices they could make in operations both under their control and beyond. It became abundantly clear that unless there was appropriate resource allocation, commensurate to the ecological and psychological needs of the community, the desirable results could not be achieved. As Drucker says, "All results are on the outside. The inside is only about cost and effort".

The Latin roots indicate competition means striving together, cooperation is working together, ad co-creation is creating together. The togetherness is unavoidable because ecology and economy are interdependent.

If one sees the process of globalisation in a limited context within the zero-sum game, then there will be winner and losers. Since competition is based on assumption, "winner takes all", the CEOs' pay packages of bonuses, stock options, what have you, are sky high. In fact, the remuneration of those working in such affluent pastures becomes an eyesore when compared to that of employees labouring in unorganized sectors of the economy.

If the paradigm shift is towards team scores, then the rules of equitable sharing must apply because the process-oriented, cooperative mode provides more balance. It is not the same for all, but the differentiate must maintain a balance between providing scope for individual motivation and team synergy. Ideally, the same principle must guide corporations and nations towards sharing global wealth; at least the direction must be set for achieving some harmony.

In cooperation, different parallel forces operate, while in co-creation there is a fusion of forces. To face today's competitive world, management builds strong flexible working groups, like project teams to create the ambience required for cooperation. In this exercise, the TQM device has become a strong binding force for each company.

In many instances, organisations favour joint ventures where the balance of advantages gives an edge while competing against giant MNCs and other conglomerates. It is an arrangement of limited cooperation to fight the Godzillas of global market forces.

In this context, Drucker noted that political jurisdictions had ceased to be sovereign in controlling alliances, partnerships, joint ventures, and all kinds of multilateral relationships which cause business growth. Political and legal aspects are separated from economic reality in many such transactions; it is a question of interpreting law, bending it, seeking exemptions, or lobbying for change with the governments.

However, when a corporation aims at complete synergy, it must operate on the principle of total fusion, i.e. the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It has to move beyond its boundaries to embrace the factors of ecology, which directly affect the roots of its business.

However, the total sell-out of production assets to exploitative market forces unleashed by globalization has the potential to uproot earth's ecological infrastructure. The networks of small village cooperatives therefore, have to rise above the local political fray to protect their natural resources through co-creation.

In Sur/Petition, de Bono points out that those organisations that focused on value creation did well while those that concentrated on competition did badly. The business leaders have the competence to create value monopolies. They also have the clout and financial muscle to provide leadership. This is the clarion call of the 21st century that they must take (de Bono, E., 1993).

Creation is envisioning a piece of art, a product, a service. It is brining forth something that did not exist before. You produce something that gives you divine satisfaction. If working together is a difficult process, creating together is still harder.

When you create together, you have to assign proper roles to group members by identifying their strengths. Some, as collaborators, are good at defining reality, forming a concept, and evolving a vision. Some are good as amplifiers - they add to the power of creation by making it louder and stronger. Technicians provide technical expertise, and supporters the necessary support. Different role players are required for different types of enterprises.

Furthermore, the role players need guidance, direction, and practice in the process of creation. They have to stretch beyond their current accomplishments into unfamiliar, new territories. It is an exploration where you focus on creation and not on your identity as creator.

Said Ricky Pointing, the Australian cricket captain, "We focus on making scores, which will raise the level of the game to new heights". This means the players, the artists, and the leaders, learn to expand their capacities. Such men and women question previously held assumptions. They set new goals for themselves and others in their teams, because they envision a better future. They immerse themselves in the act of creating. The exemplars of the new paradigm in games, art, philanthropy, social work, business are already functioning for the rest to emulate.

Excerpted from:

Amrita Patel: The Missionary by Shrinivas Pandit. Copyright 2008 by Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited. Price: Rs 125. Reprinted by permission of Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Company Limited. All rights reserved.