Sensible Autocracy Vs Senseless Democracy

I think, sometimes, autocracy is better. Be it our home, or our workplace or the country !!

At home, sometimes I feel there should be someone to take strong decisions and say that ," Let's do this only!" and lo, that thing will be done! My husband takes that role most of the times and then, at times myself! 

Similarly, even in an organisation, sometimes I feel its better to have that strong one person decision,rather than having too many people around to decide!! 

I will narrate an incident.. (oops..a STORY - with a disclaimer:- all characters in this story are fictional and any resemblance is merely coincidental!) 

There is this big company which was built and run by a single autocratic man, who was   called as a terror by the workers! This boss wanted a new design for his website and wanted to "launch" it by some celebrity for a function.  

He expressed his idea to a few of his subordinates and then asked them to do it themselves by finding a suitable vendor. But unfortunately, the subordinates have never been in such a situation before! For them - they have only acted what the boss dictated and did not know to take decisions on their own! 

One of the young members of the team suggested a lady designer and then the entire team  had a first round of discussion with her and asked her to bring the proposal. A few days later, she came up with a proposal, which was pretty good and in line with the boss's expectations. The team was about to award the work to her.  However,at that point , came up another proposal from another vendor , referred by some other members of the team. 

When different sets of proposals came, it seemed better to have a group decision and hence all the board members and other relevant personnel were invited for a meeting and demo of the various options. During that meeting, came a few more ideas and a few more proposals. 

They kept on waiting for the new proposals and days passed by. As it was a tight schedule, they were then forced to decide upon a single person and to award the work. They conducted two more detailed meetings, where each member had strong opinions to share and the detailed discussions reached no where. In the meantime, some members came up with corruption charges and having hidden agendas by some other members in the team! A point reached , when some members actually told that "let's drop this plan for the time being and do it only when we have time".

To cut the story short, after several rounds of discussions and "tea and biscuit sessions", it was ultimately decided to award the work to the same lady designer because her works were of good quality and her proposal was good!! 

Well, I know, you are also able to relate to this story in your organisation / home ..right?

Friends, what's benefit of this exercise? I would say, one can understand how deep organisational/relationship politics can go, even in very small matters! and also, how easier it is to take decision when there is a Single Strong Sensible, Intuitive  person rather than too many people who appear to be a walking encyclopedia ! 

Its the choice between  believing in gut feeling or going through the  "scientific" or "systematic" process of decision making which ultimately may arrive at the original decision! 

What's the irreplaceable loss here ? - Time. 

In the above story, the project would have completed much earlier, if this decision was taken by the boss alone and if there were not many people involved.

So, that's when we say, "Sensible Autocracy is better than Senseless Democracy !!"

I think, the same is applicable for our country and governance.. and yes, the same is applicable even when I go shopping for clothes !! 

Go for your intuition - That's mostly the right one! and even if you failed - you wont feel sorry for it! 

And  I reiterate :- I meant " sensible autocracy " and not just autocracy ! 

Jai Hind! 

CeeVee 

May 2013