In the previous column, I described a successful collaboration between academia and industry; I emphasised the need for managers skilled in boundary spanning because they are invaluable. The term refers to "individuals within an innovation or transformation system who have, or adopt, the role of linking the organisation's networks both within and outside".
Boundaries exist within every organisation as also boundaries of the organisation with external agencies. Managers inevitably face obstacles to their creativity and dynamism at the boundaries. Professor Michael Tushman of Harvard University wrote a seminal paper on the importance of boundaries. (Administrative Science Quarterly, volume 22, No 4, December 1977)
Successful organisations nurture innovation managers; they encourage boundary-spanning behaviour, and support with organisational processes and practices. Boundary spanning includes (i) negotiating with non-group members, (ii) resolving disputes within the group, (iii) obtaining resources,(iv) establishment of influence networks, and (v) helping followers deal with the external environment. In 2013, the Center for Creative Leadership published a white paper, "Boundary Spanning in Action: Tactics for Transforming Today's Borders into Tomorrow's Frontiers".
Robert Thomas, managing director of research at Accenture, told me that "the best boundary spanners are intensely curious. They get real pleasure from understanding how others live. Boundary crossers are great at learning new languages and idioms; like consummate travellers, they are forever on the prowl for new places, food and ideas. They may not make friends everywhere they go, but they earn respect because they show respect for difference".
There are fabulous Indian boundary spanners like Homi J Bhabha, Verghese Kurien, C Subramaniam and Narasimha Rao. The remarkable transformation of a filthy Surat by a boundary-spanning IAS officer, S R Rao, has been chronicled (Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen, Porus Munshi, Collins Business, 2009).
In short, enormous value is extracted by leaders who can adapt, stretch and operate at the boundaries, thus creatively disturbing the silos into which managers get slotted.
Anthropologist and writer, Gillian Tett, has pointed out that the word "silo" means a tall tower or pit to store corn. She says silos are a state of mind, a cultural phenomenon. Telling stories about the silo effect can be rewarding. I can think of two fantastic silo busters whom I have encountered.
I learnt from Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) Chairman T Thomas, who led a path-breaking trajectory from 1974. Squeezed between rising costs of raw materials and price controls, HLL recorded losses for the first time in its history. Meticulously and patiently, Thomas and his senior officers met secretaries, ministers, and even then prime minister Indira Gandhi, and made data-rich presentations. There were setbacks and rebuffs, but they just would not relent. Finally, on September 20, 1974, soap was decontrolled, a turning point in the history of HLL.
The other major advocacy and boundary spanning act I experienced was the retention of a majority shareholding for Unilever. Although foreign companies like BAT, Metal Box and Dunlop diluted their foreign shareholding according to the FERA, Thomas was convinced that HLL's management culture would erode if Unilever's shareholding reduced to 40 per cent. It took 10 years, spanning two chairmen, hundreds of meetings at various levels and persistence in the face of more than one rejection. The government finally allowed 51 per cent shareholding with the provisos that (a) the company should have 60 per cent of its turnover in the core sector and activities involving sophisticated technology and (b) exports should constitute 10 per cent. At that time, I led the company's exports.
Nani Palkhivala also struck me as a fantastic boundary spanner. I knew him a bit, but his boundary spanning attribute was striking. Although he was a brilliant writer and speaker, he told me that he had a stammer and had difficulty in writing due to a cramp. Unbelievable but true. He also narrated how he had accepted the brief for Ms Gandhi's 1975 election appeal, got an interim judgement for her continuation as prime minister but returned her brief when her government clamped Emergency on the nation. He needed to be "consistent with my lifelong convictions and the values I cherish". When J R D Tata expressed concern, he offered to step down from the Tata board. Later he served as India's ambassador to the US.
TCS was a Tata start-up by MIT graduates, Ashok Malhotra, Nitin Patel and Lalit Kanodia. Soon an accomplished and senior MIT engineer, Faqir Chand Kohli, moved from Tata Electric and built TCS, brick by brick. Kohli generously attributesa part of his TCS success to Palkhivala's chairmanship of TCS. "He had vision and was a good mentor… he never interfered in the details… and gave full backing to me, especially during times of crisis." Quite a boundary spanning behaviour for a non-technologist.
Indian innovation and economic development require several boundary spanners; for sure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi knows this. But in the corporate sector, are we CEOs trying to be magnets for boundary-spanning managers?
The author is a writer and corporate advisor; rgopal@themindworks.me
Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper
