Why some systems work and some don’t

The idea for this post emerged from two recent incidents. Let me start by narrating those.

I was travelling with a senior colleague recently. He is a Canadian of Indian origin and has been back in India for about five years now. He had to collect a print out of his ticket at the airline counter. He politely stood in line and waited his turn and as expected, there was a white kurta clad politician type who tried to elbow his way in front of him. My colleague yelled. The kurta clad politician type stepped aside for a moment. Then as my colleague was about to give his PNR at the counter, our man tried again. The only thing which would prevent our offender from trying to break the line seemed to be a cattle prod.

 

Later on, I asked my colleague about the major challenges he had to cope with after returning. He said that he always finds it difficult to cope with how insensitive we Indians are about our fellow citizens.

 

The other incident again happened inside a plane. By the number of calls Indian fliers tend to make before they are officially allowed to use their mobile phones inside the plane makes me wonder whether India is a country of a billion CEOs or better, rescue professionals. There is no other way people need to make so many life and death calls (or check life and death mails on their blackberries) while the stewardess is crying herself hoarse requesting passengers not to use their phones.

 

Anyway, there was this gaudily dressed businessman type who started yelling into his phone even while the plane was decelerating on the runway. Of course, he was talking to his driver. While the conversation was in Hindi, it may be paraphrased in English as follows: “No, don’t you park the car in the designated parking space, you moron! Just plonk it right at the passenger exit. You will see a big “No Parking” sign. There is usually free space below it. Just park it there and wait!”

 

Which brings us back to the billion dollar question: Why are we the way we are? Why are the British so good at forming queues and why are we so lousy? Why do we break established systems with such impunity? The most quoted answer of course is “We are like that only!” More serious analyses also exist aplenty.

 

To my mind, any system exists for two broad purposes. First, to ensure “order and predictability” in the way a certain activity is performed. To ensure this order and predictability, the system relies on time tested principles such as fairness, equality, concern for fellow beings and non-violence. Most Indians would wax eloquent about how our “rich and ancient cultural heritage” identified and implemented these exalted principles (It’s written in our scriptures, I tell you!) before those western barbarians came down from the trees.

 

The second purpose of a system is to penalize those who err. Even in this, order and predictability is necessary. The punishment should be proportional and assured. To be fair, I have noticed that the Bangalore Police has implemented a certain amount of “predictability” in the way they check for drunken driving. They simply put their pickets at the same place for months on end. As a result, drunken drivers are able to accurately “predict” the check points and simply drive around them.

 

While it is not too difficult to design a system based on the above aspects, whether a system works or not, to my mind, depends on how much trust the system can generate. If people do not trust the system, they will not follow it. I think that this lack of trust in the system is at the core of why we Indians are the way we are.

First, systems are designed in such a way that gives the impression that they are meant to be broken. Let me give some examples:

• There was this narrow flyover near my house where there was a sign that indicated the speed limit to be 30 km per hour. Made perfect sense, given that the flyover was narrow and clogged. Then the flyover was widened to six lanes! But the speed limit still remains 30 km / hour! Only cattle carts can now follow the speed limit

• There is this property tax payment center with eight different tables for eight different regions. None of the tables are marked. And there is a sixteen page form to be filled before approaching the table. The only option left for most sane people is to bribe a junior official to fill the form and direct to the right table!

When the “system design” is so ridiculous, most of us feel no qualms about breaking them.

 

Second, system implementation is a disaster. System implementation has two aspects. One is external and enforced implementation, such as by the police. Will I get caught if I break the traffic signal? In most cases, no. Because the policeman will be having a cup of tea by the road side. Even if caught, I can get away with a small bribe.

 

The other is implementation by the members of the system internally. If I stand in line and wait patiently for my turn, will the guy behind me do the same? If you are in an Indian line, then no. So if I choose to stand in line and wait patiently, I am the prize fool and my stupidity should be rightly exploited by the clever ones behind me. Result: I too break the line so that I can get my work done.

 

It’s all a game, as Prof. Raghunathan puts it so well in his game theory based analyses of Indian public behavior in his book: Games Indians Play.

 

I don’t know whether the “Indian system” will ever change. I am not even going to pretend that I care. I employ most of my efforts and resources trying to “insulate” myself from this system and live in my own little comfortable cocoon.

 

But there are important lessons to be noted as far as systems and processes go within a business firm. At the core of the success of a system lies trust. This trust is built only when the management is seen to follow the system as rigorously as it expects the employees to. For example, employees will rarely take performance evaluation deadlines seriously if the management does not stick to promotion or increment announcement deadlines. Employees can be scarcely expected to fill their time and expense reports on time if there is no certainty on when reimbursements would actually be made.

 

Not a great insight, but systems work only when they are well designed, assiduously implemented and glorified through example. To my kind, the last one is most critical in a business environment.