CROSSROADS

RAJIB KUMAR

Will the service business in India lose out to the service experience?

Despite the phenomenal growth of the serviceindustry in India over the last some years, thebasic awareness of service management amongthe people resource of sector affiliates is dismal.

Each of us has had our share of murkyexperiences with our service providers: be itcellular services, restaurants, banking servicesor tour operators and on a full range of issues:problem assessment, abnormal lead times forexecution of requests, and erroneous billing toname a few.

Service Providers in India operate bereft of thebasic commandant that services should not justaim to meet customer expectations but mustalso exceed the same. Alas, service providers inIndia -even those with “high brand equity” barelyend up with service levels of 70% on aconsistent basis.

World over, the intangibility and other servicecharacteristics like direct organizational-customer relationship and high perishability ofservice products make achieving a consistentand competitive service difficult.

Further, services being a people centric model,cultural issues in the country stifle efforts to

realize our full potential in the industry. On thecontrary, the across-the- board systemsapproach in the West facilitates the process ofmaking service measurability easier toimplement and therefore offers service providersa framework akin (if not exactly) to qualitycontrol tests of a manufacturing unit.

While Service Quality and its assessmentcontinue to be an elusive construct in view ofvariables like customer perception andexpectation in the judgement (along with both anobjective and subjective component involved)services can still be measured by the levels ofinteraction, customisation and labour intensity.

Indian service providers need to do considerablework of educating its people resource andequipping them with relevant skills in this regard.Academic Curriculum has in recent timesresponded to this dynamic but the gap is asphenomenal as the growth of the sector. Beforeconsumers reinforce their paranoid aboutanything connected to “service” to an irreversibleparadigm, its time industry decides to stand upand get counted.

The service business in India might just lose outto the service experience otherwise.

OOOffffffllliiinnneee……… Engaging Journaling

The Material World Manag-EzineVolume-5, No-8, August 2009

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CAMPUS CONNECTIONS

The Battle for Aravali

VARUN ARYA

The Director of Aravali Institute of Management gives a vivid account on how he and his teamoverturned a corrupt system.

Dear Friends & Well-wishers:

You all will be very much pleased to know that atlast we have got the much awaited and covetedapproval from All India Council for TechnicalEducation (AICTE), after our long struggle for thelast nine years to get it strictly based on merit. TheLetter of Approval has been issued by AICTE videF. No. 09/10/Raj/PGDM/005 dated 30 June 2009.

For the last nine years we have been workingsincerely to provide truly top quality managementeducation in an out of the way place like Jodhpur inRajasthan, as a model of no compromise. We havebeen getting some of the most distinguishedpersons (like late Dr. I. G. Patel, Dr. Montek SinghAhluwalia, Dr. C. Rangarajan, Mr. Rahul Bajaj, Mr.J. M. Lyngdoh, Mr. T. S. Krishna Murthy, Mr.Tejendra Khanna, Dr. Abid Hussain, Mr. T. K. A.Nair, Mr. Pradeep Baijal, Mr. N. K. Singh, Mr.Subodh Bhargava and Swami Agnivesh), topacademicians from all over India and abroad and alarge number of IIMs & IITs alumni & facultymembers visiting us at Jodhpur. We have alsobeen able to ensure a large number of leadingorganisations from all over India and abroadcoming to our Institute to facilitate 100%placements of successive batches. Today ouralumni are doing extremely well all over India andabroad, with some of them having risen upto thelevel of Directors in top companies. Five years backwe also purchased around 100 acres of private

land on which we planned to built a unique campus.I never knew that this all was building up deep envyand vested interest amongst certain individuals andinstitutes in Jodhpur, who would one day gang upwith dirty conspiracy to do extensive damage andharm to the Institute and me.

It all started on 28th April 2009 with the beginningof the most severe crisis the Institute has everfaced when the parents of one of our studentsabused, threatened with damaging the reputationand closing down of our Institute, threatened tofinish me and my family, tried to blackmail invarious ways and did many extremely disgustingthings to pressurize the Institute to bend the rulesrelating to the summer placement of their daughter.Despite all such unfortunate provocations, we keptcalm and quiet and refused to succumb. We neverknew that this small matter would be blown out ofproportion and turned into a well planned extremelydirty and damaging conspiracy against the Instituteand me. Soon it emerged that promoter of a localmanagement institute was its kingpin who hadthrown in a lot of money and had a number ofpawns working for him including someblackmailers.

The summary of sequence of events whichfollowed was as under:

08 May 2009: A case was filed against the Institutein District Consumer Forum, Jodhpur. However,

after we filed our reply based on the facts anddocumentary evidence, they decided to withdrawthe case. Thus their first conspiracy failed.

11 May 2009 : We were informed that a case forcheating and fraud was filed against me and theInstitute in the court of District & Sessions Judge,Jodhpur stating that before admission, we hadinformed about the Institute being AICTE approvedwhereas now they had come to know that it was notapproved. A large majority of our alumni of nineyears from all over India and abroad and presentstudents submitted affidavits on their own to conveythe truth that they were all told in advance aboutthe Institute not being AICTE approved, andreasons thereof. They all also wrote in theiraffidavits about the excellent career and life theyand their family had got, courtesy their education atthe Institute.

18 May 2009 : Late in the evening I came to knowthrough a well-wisher that there were plans toarrest me and seal the Institute on 19 May 2009morning, for which a lot of money had been thrownin to manage the things. I immediately got in touchwith our various well-wishers outside Jodhpur, inDelhi and abroad to inform them of the unfortunatedevelopments and requested their help. Our well-wishers stepped in promptly and got in touch withthe powers that be to ensure that nothing notallowed as per the law was done. I was alsoadvised by legal experts that I should immediatelygo for the legal protection by applying for andgetting the anticipatory bail since the conspiracyhad become extremely dirty and they were all out togo to any extent to cause maximum harm to theInstitute and me.

19 May 2009: We hired a good advocate who washonest and could not be purchased and throughhim, I applied for anticipatory bail based on factsand supported with documentary evidences. Theanticipatory bail was strongly contested by theother party but the judge wrote in his judgementthat there was no documentary evidence producedby the other party to prove that the Institute or I haddone anything wrong and therefore, the anticipatorybail could not be denied. This judgement in ourfavour was given on 21 May 2009 and I got theanticipatory bail. With this, their second conspiracyfailed. Their plans to have the front page newsabout my arrest and the Institute being sealed alsogot jeopardized.

29 May 2009: We came to know from a well-wisherthat a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) had been filed

in Rajasthan High Court asking for our Institute tobe closed down, in view of it not having AICTEapproval. The court did not issue any notices and itwas kept for hearing on 03 July 2009. The plans ofthe conspirators were to have the notices issued on03 July 2009 and get the news about it publishedon the front pages. This would have been highlydamaging for the Institute and therefore, it wasimportant for us to get the AICTE approval latest by02 July 2009, without any compromise.

03 June 2009 : We engaged a really good youngdynamic senior advocate, who had been earlierAdditional Advocate General of Rajasthan andthrough him, filed a writ petition against AICTE inRajasthan High Court.

After the above we began a serious all out exerciseto get the AICTE approval strictly on merit, withoutany compromise, on top most priority basis. Weprepared a detailed docket with documentaryevidences on our struggle of nine years for gettingthe AICTE approval on merit and sent it to all therelevant persons in the government anddistinguished people from different walks of life.This soon started giving results. A large number ofthese persons, most of whom had visited ourInstitute over the last nine years and witnessed forthemselves the merit in our Institute, spoke to theAICTE Chairman, Secretary in the Ministry of HRDof Govt. of India and other relevant authorities.

19 June 2009 : Our faculty member Mr. SanjayDiddee and I arrived at Delhi. In the morning wemet a well-wisher of the Institute who had seen themerit of the Institute over the last nine years and weexplained him the entire matter and the urgency.He later met Mr. Kapil Sibal, new Union Minister forHRD and explained him the details of merit of ourInstitute. At noon, we met Dr. Montek SinghAhluwalia (Dy. Chairman, Planning Commission ofIndia) in Yojana Bhawan and briefed him in thematter, since he had visited our Institute for twodays last November and seen for himself the merit.In the afternoon, alongwith two other personsassociated with our Institute, we met AICTEChairman Prof. R. A. Yadav in his office and had aone hour long discussion with him where he told usthat he knew about the merits of our Institute andguided us to submit a fresh proposal with all thedocuments in support of the merit. In the evening,we met Mr. Ashok Thakur, IAS, AdditionalSecretary (Higher Education) in the Ministry ofHRD, Govt. of India in his office at Shastri Bhawan.

24 June 2009: In the forenoon, we submitted to

AICTE Chairman our fresh detailed proposal inaccordance with AICTE guidelines and with all thedocumentary evidences in support of our merit. Itwas handed over by the AICTE Chairman to theconcerned senior officials of AICTE for immediateprocessing to find out that it was as per therequired guidelines without any deficiencies. In theafternoon, we had a really good meeting with Mr.Kapil Sibal, the new Union Minister for HRD, inShastri Bhawan, courtesy a member of ourAdvisory Council since inception of the Institutewho flew into Delhi specially for taking us to thismeeting. In the evening, we met Mr. R. P. Agrawal,Secretary (Higher Education) in the Ministry ofHRD, Govt. of India in Shastri Bhawan.

25 June 2009 : I met the High Powered Committeespecially constituted by AICTE to scrutinize ourfresh proposal and to interview me. This committeewas headed by an ex-Director of IIM and had twoother eminent management educationists asmembers. During the interview, I told the committeeabout the uniqueness and merits of our Institute,with documentary evidences. At the end of it, thecommittee said that the gross injustice had beendone to our Institute, which was a role modelinstitute for the country, and recommendedimmediate redressal in the matter, to undo theinjustice without any further delay.

26 June 2009 : I was at IIM Ahmedabad to attendIIMA Governing Society meeting. While there, I hada long meeting with the Director and a number offaculty members of IIMA to brief them about thecrisis and they all assured their support to ourInstitute since we had the requisite merits.

28 & 29 June 2009 : AICTE Inspection Teamconsisting of four experts, including one senior IIMBangalore professor and one Dean of a topBusiness School, visited Jodhpur for interviewingour faculty and students and physical verification ofthe details submitted by us in our proposal.

30 June 2009 : Executive Committee of AICTE metto discuss our proposal, the report of High PoweredCommittee which had interviewed me and thereport of the Inspection Team which visitedJodhpur.

01 July 2009 : In the afternoon, I met AICTEChairman in his office. He handed over to me the

Letter of Approval. As the pleasant coincidencewould have it, we got the victory at last on a daywhich happened to be when I turned 50 years. Icould not have desired any better birthday gift. Withthis, the PIL filed by the conspirators has alsobecome null and void and thus their thirdconspiracy too has failed.

At last the battle won and struggle successful, onour terms of no compromise. In fact I told everyonethat we were ready 24x7 to showcase our meritwithout any prior notice and we did not need anypreparation. To ensure that the merit andgenuineness of our case was proven beyond doubt,the best known and top experts of high integritywere made members of the High PoweredCommittee as well as the Inspection Team in ourcase. At the end of it all, everybody including UnionHRD Minister, Secretary, Additional Secretary andAICTE Chairman said that our Institute was a rolemodel for the country, gross injustice had beendone to it and there was urgent need to redress thiswithout any further delay. So at last our battle andstruggle with truth and merit alone as the basishave won. Satyamev Jayate.

I would like to express my grateful thanks to all thealumni & students of our Institute, their parents, ourfaculty & staff, members of our Board of Governors& Advisory Council and a large number of our well-wishers who stood by us and provided exemplarysupport during this entire crisis. But for theircooperation, support and prayers, we are clear thatwe could not have won this battle and would nothave been able to come out of the worst crisis weever faced.

With all the humility, we take pride in what hasbeen achieved against heavy odds, without anycompromise and get prepared to achieve manymore such milestones in the future, in the service ofour nation and the society at large.

Thanks and best regards

Varun AryaThe author, director of Aravali Institute ofManagement is an alumnus of IIT and IIM.

IN LIGHTER VEIN

After having failed his exam in “Logistics andOrganization”, a studentgoes and confronts his lecturer about it.

Student, “Sir, do you really understand anythingabout the subject?”Professor, “Surely I must. Otherwise I would not be aprofessor!”Student, “Great, well then I would like to ask you aquestion. If you cangive me the correct answer,I will accept my mark as is and go. If you however donot know the answer, Iwant you give me an 'A' for the exam.”Professor, “Okay, it's a deal. So what is thequestion?”Student: “What is legal, but not logical, logical, butnot legal, andneither logical, nor legal?”Even after some long and hard consideration, theprofessor cannot give thestudent an answer,and therefore changes his exam mark into an 'A', asagreed.Afterwards, the professor calls on his best studentand asks him the samequestion.He immediately answers, “Sir, you are 63 years oldand married to a 35 yearold woman, which is legal, but not logical.Your wife has a 25 year old lover, which is logical,but not legal. The factthat you have given your wife's lover an 'A',although he really should have failed, is neitherlegal, nor logical.”

(Contributed by Anurina Kumar)

Wake Up, You Bum!

12 explanations that employeesmight say when they’re caughtsleeping at their desks.

"They told me at the blood bank this mighthappen.""This is just a 15-minute power nap like theyraved about in that time management courseyou sent me to.""Whew! Guess I left the top off the liquid paper.You probably got here just in time.""This is in exchange for the six hours last nightwhen I dreamed about work."

"It’s okay ... I’m still billing the client.""I wasn’t sleeping! I was meditating on themission statement.""I was testing my keyboard for droolresistance.""I was doing a yoga exercise to relieve work-related stress.""Rats! Why did you interrupt me? I almost hadfigured out a solution to our biggest companyproblem.""The coffee machine’s broken.""Someone must have put decaf in the wrongpot.""Amen."

(Contributed by Anuran Ghosh)

(Courtesywww.glasbergen.com)

Team OfflineEditor: Rajib Kumar

Associate Editor: Anurina KumarMaterial World Board of Advisors: Biswajit Matilal,Gautam Chatterjea, Amal Roy, Hirak Bhattacharjee

& Suvendu Narayan Ray

Offline invites contributions from the managementfraternity. Views expressed in the online journal are

personal opinions of the authors and do not necessarilypurport to constitute an official position of Offline or the

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may not be reproduced without written permission ofOffline/Material World and the authors. Editor: Rajib

Kumar