BT Master Class: Great Resignation a ‘classic design thinking problem’, says Prof Srikant Datar

In the uncertain times amid the COVID-19 pandemic, both businesses and employees were searching for answers to burning questions around post-pandemic work, the great reset, globalisation and the big opportunity ahead of India. While speaking at Business Today Master Class with Rahul Kanwal, News Director at AajTak, India Today, and Executive Director at Business Today, the globally renowned management guru, Professor Srikant Datar, Dean of the Harvard Business School, shared his thoughts and insights on navigating the uncertainties in the post-pandemic world.

Professor Datar highlighted three management practices that are changing in the post-pandemic world. “Firstly, the pandemic has accelerated the speed at which companies are now engaging in digital data. Business is a force for good in the world and the role they can play in society was the second big thing that happened. The third major trend occurred in terms of the future of work.” He said that the great reset, which some call the great resignation, is exactly how we should be thinking about the way we engage individuals inside organisations. He addressed the great resignation as a ‘classic design thinking problem’, stating that companies are going to have to figure out ways in which the development of these individuals (employees) is going to be seen as more important.

Sharing his expertise on the problems of how to get the young talented employees back in the workforce, Professor Datar said, “It was actually fascinating to think about what some of the data already shows. It shows, on the one hand, individuals wanting this flexibility. But on the other hand, it shows a desire for individuals to want to stay connected in some way to the work that they're doing. And of course, these are sort of contradictory in some sense. As things will work out over the next few months, and perhaps next couple of years, organisations are trying to think about if there (is) some innovative way where you can actually respond to both.”

Addressing the need for upskilling in today’s age, and more so in the absence of technical know-how, Professor Datar explains that one must always think about technology and people as two sides of a coin. “The more you build technology, the more you have to think about its impact on people. Much of this learning and understanding came from (Mahatma) Gandhiji…My father was part of the freedom struggle, and very much a follower of Gandhiji. So we learned Gandhiji’s seven deadly sins… lessons to absorb. Imagine what science without humanity, the potential for commerce without morality, the potential for knowledge without character would do. But I think it's crucial that every time we keep raising the bar on what happens with technology, we are at great peril if we ignore humanity or the connection with people.” Technology such as Web3.0, Metaverse, Quantum Computing, and Edge Computing, will continue to evolve but the risk is if it is done at the cost of people. Even as these technologies grow, management and thinking about people will be important skills, he said.

Professor Datar explained that to become more global, companies need to think differently about the particular context they are operating in, which is a little challenging.

Also, having worked at Tata Administrative Service with Ratan Tata, Professor Datar reminisced that the problem he was working on was about how to share risk on the one side and create incentives on the other, on which he had written four-five papers in his academic career.

While the world is focusing on globalisation from the material viewpoint, Professor Datar spoke about a thought-provoking area of skilling individuals for the right opportunities. “You see companies like Microsoft and Google are already investing heavily in developing talent, in reskilling. That's already needed for the new digital world but they are investing a lot of talent in reskilling because it's not just the return on one side but the risk on the other.”

With the Master Class shifting towards how some of the biggest superstars of academia also happen to be of the Indian region, Professor Datar said that of the total number of people who have gone abroad, one knows the ones who have succeeded and those are the ones that we always think about. “But one has to be extremely humble about this and just recognise that we were extremely lucky,” he said.

Sharing his views on what an MBA from here on looks like, he explained the mistake people make when they think that the MBA degree is just the knowledge that they get in different subjects. “But it is the ability to get things done, to engage in different discussions and debate so that you're constantly learning is a huge part of what happens in MBA education,” he added.

Lastly, answering to Country Head and Group General Manager of HSBC India, Naina Lal Kidwai’s question on how India scores in the repurposing of business, Professor Datar said that it’s amazing to see 2 per cent of profits of our public companies being dedicated countrywide. “This says that we care about what bigger role business can play and we did that presumably because we felt that businesses because of the way they do things can actually make a difference in these areas,” he said.

The Business Today Master Class was attended by Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, along with leading business leaders from across the country.

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