Sapient Craft

Douglas McGregor, a social psychologist of Harvard and MIT fame, authored The Human Side of Enterprise in 1960. The book outlines two distinct styles of management. Theory X AND Theory Y. Theory X promotes an authoritarian management style, that emphasizes that 'management' must counteract an inherent human tendency to avoid work'. Theory Y promotes the idea that 'people will exercise self-direction and self-control in the achievement of organizational objectives to the degree that they are committed to those objectives.'' McGregor believed that Theory Y had the capacity to motivate human beings to the highest level of achievement. He, therefore, recommended Theory Y for adoption by companies.

Charles Handy, an Irish protestant, auhtored The Empty Raincoat and The Gods of Management. Handy'books focuses on how companies cant think beyond the pursuit of profit, by transforming into communities that are sustainable.

Kenichi, a Japanese and an MIT-trained nuclear physicist, put forward the idea of a time frame as the distinguishing factor between Japanese firms and their western competitors. Ohmae argued that Japanese firms emphasized the long-term, while western firms were mainly motivated by short-term profits. He insisted that the short-term focus negatively affected customer service. Ohmae was the head of the Tokyo office of Mc Kinsey-a period during which he authored Triad Power, his most famous book.

Henri Fayol, a French engineer, salvaged a distressed mining company by turning around its fortunes at the tail end of the 19th century. Fayol separated management tasks into planning, organization, coordination, command and control. He placed emphasis on specialization and the need for each employee to report to only an individual. He died in 1949.

Sam Walton founded Walmart in 1962. Walton made Walmart the dominant retailer in the world by cultivating employee loyalty, direct interaction with workers and easy accessibility of his stores to ordinary people. He was America's richest man at the time of his death in 1992.

W illiam Hesketh Lever was born in Bolton in the north of England. Lever was among the first manufacturers of soap and was the founding partner alongside James Lever of Lever Brothers. The duo discovered an essential raw material for soap, vegetable oil, rather than tallow. And from this, sunlight soap was manufactured.

Sumanthra Ghoshal wrote that the functional and geographic reporting lines of managers in an organizational structure resulted in ''conflict and confusion'' . In complex organizational settings, ''separated by barriers of distance, language, time and culture, managers find it virtually impossible to clarify the confusion and resolve the conflicts.'' Ghoshal wrote the paper jointly with Christopher Bartlet in 1990. The duo emphasized that companies needed to modify their organizational values and the systems of information channels in the organization before they commence the redesign of the reporting lines. Ghoshal, an Indian, had doctorates from Harvard and MIT, and started his career in Indian Oil. He also worked at INSEAD and the London Business School. He died at the age of 55.

A statistician, W. Edwards Deming, made use of the principles of variation as proposed by American Mathematician, Walter Shewart in business processes, in relation to quality and productivity in Japan. In recognition of Deming's efforts, the Japanese business community put in place a prestigious annual prize, the Deming prize, for companies that achieve visible advancement in quality. He successfully established the fact that business processes are exposed to deterioration in quality through variation. This has, to a great extent, assisted Japanese industrialists to improve the quality of their products. The quality circle or Deming circle is now known as Total Quality Management(TQM). Te circle comprises a group of workers who seek to improve the processes of production through planning, implementation of the plan, assessment, evaluation and correction.

Marven Brown was the brain behind the dominance of the McKinsen firm for several years. The firm's activites were modelled around a set of values tyhat put the interests of clients first before other considerations. Bower died at the age of 99 in 2003.

Be humble in all your activities and you will be exalted.

Be careful not to be led astray by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

Put your trust in God rather than man, because man will fail you.

Always exhibit rational thinking and sound judgment in your interaction with others.

In your quest to acquire a great abundance of material things, put God first.

Develop the power of true and right discernment, to confront the multifaceted challenges of daily living.

Strive to know the truth and the truth will make you free from bondage.

Your destiny revolves around your relationship with God.

Your meditations, to a great extent, mold your personality-positively or negatively.

Do not keep mute when confronted with harsh and unjust situations. Speak out

Be focused as you develop the talent and aptitude to achieve high standards in all your activities.

Be painstaking in your quest to leave behind an enduring legacy for those coming behind in every facet of life.

Be conscious of the diversity and variety that constitutes daily living and ensure you alter your attitude and principles to be in tandem with the changing times.

Strive to attain excellence in all you do by exploring various possibilities you identify.

Do not be worried about the daily vicissitudes of life, rather explore ways of wriggling out of such situations.

Make out time for work and pleasure, to achieve satisfaction in your endeavor. Both cannot take place simultaneously.

The end goal of all human activity is success.

People should take the pains to thoroughly screen those who they intend to occupy public office, to ensure accountability and responsibility.

Do all within your ability to acquire wisdom. It will take you through life's journey.

Do not allow the thoughts of failure to distract you from your goals. Be focused.