Management Lessons From "Chak De India"

This has reference to my earlier post titled "Bonding RBI Style". The management lessons learnt from the movie (my version) submitted to the Bank are as follows :

Introduction

‘Chak De India’ is a movie loosely based on the real life story of former hockey goalkeeper and coach Mir Ranjan Negi who had to face allegations of match fixing after India’s humiliating 1 – 7 defeat to Pakistan in the 1982 Asian Games hockey final. Sixteen years later Negi’s honour was restored when he guided India to the Asian Games gold in 1998 at Bangkok. Later he won accolades for guiding the national women’s hockey team to win the 2002 Commonwealth Games gold at Manchester. Some important management lessons can be learnt from this film which are described in the succeeding paragraphs.

Team Spirit

Team spirit is essential for the achievement of organizational goals in the present day fiercely competitive world where geographical boundaries have no meaning. Even negative instances can be utilized as building blocks for fostering team spirit as shown in the film when the girls beat up the boys who were indulging in eve teasing. The ‘will’ to excel is more important than strength for any team to be successful in their endeavours.

Goal Setting

The organizational goal is more important than personal goals. As depicted in the film the national interest comes first, the team next and the individual last. This has to be the credo each and every time. The importance of goal setting cannot be overemphasized. If the cause is big enough, support is bound to follow.

People Management

The following important lessons in people management can be learnt from the film :

(a) Conflicts can be resolved by understanding their cause.
(b) Act quickly when personal problems turn into performance problems.
(c) Make sure people know you and your expectations when you are new to an organization.
(d) Maintain personal ethics.
(e) Identifying and mentoring future leaders.
(f) Do not ignore morale problems. Try to turn them around.

Change Management

Change is inevitable but hard to achieve. Every organization needs to change with time but there is always resistance to change. Peoples reaction to change is unpredictable and often irrational. As a manager one needs to create a compelling vision in order to encourage people to change. The vision should be inspiring and dynamic. The essentials of change management are building a team, picking people with relevant skills, strong sense of motivation and purpose and good communication.

Leadership

This is an important facet of management. It is one of the many assets a successful manager must possess. The leader does not have to be a ‘nice guy’ to ensure that his team delivers the goods. If the leader is committed to the cause he can even make underdogs rise to the occasion. The leader has to be disciplined and strict with his team besides being compassionate when the occasion demands.

Strategy

Recognise individual strengths and weaknesses and assign tasks accordingly for the fulfillment of organizational goals. Formulate a plan for achieving the goal and then exhort the team to deliver the goods.

Overcoming Prejudices and Biases

Religious, regional and gender biases have to be overcome and set aside if we are to succeed as team, organization or country. These prejudices are deep rooted in our society and they have to be shunned for the success of common goals. Constant awareness and education is required to eradicate this social evil.

Overcoming Personal odds

One’s biggest failure may turn out to be the ladder to success if personal odds are overcome and energy channelised in the correct direction rather than wallowing in self pity and low self esteem.

Conclusion

The film is offbeat and is realistically made. Every viewer will relate to it despite the absence of song and dance sequences, villains, fights and car chases. Everybody will find some meaning in this film which has humour, nationalism, defeat and victory finely woven into the fast paced narrative. In the end the following lines from ‘Jamaican Fragment’ by A.L.Hendricks come to mind :

“ You may have come across incidents where a person is not judged objectively, but by virtue of his or her gender, colour, caste, race or even his or her food habits. Does it not amount to prejudicial or stereotyped thinking ?”