You all will agree that anything bothering us must be brought up for discussion. Bringing up the uncomfortable stuff is the only way to evaluate how well we communicate, negotiate, and work together as group. We should never be afraid to let other know what bothers us. This is also a way for us to test how vulnerable we can be with each other.
Very few in our society dare to speak truth. Fewer dare to listen to the truth. Much fewer who accept truth and much smaller in number who act on truth. We as nation are reactive mob, which lack systematic or analytical approach, because we all are groomed through skewed wisdom/vision during our education spanning over 20 years. We as nation do not hate fire but the ONE who shout FIRE. We are not afraid of failure rather afraid only to accept ourselves as failure even if we are fail. We as a nation are failed in all field. Starting from education, medicine, engineering, banking, politics, science. You name any field and we are total failure. Like fallacies of appraisal there are so called fabricated excuses and fallacies of our total failure. Namely Education, Mullah, Sectarianism, India, Army Rule. etc etc
In last class, with the necessary sensitivity, I was disappointed by the comment that I should have not referred to Quran/Islam. Why? I can refer to any Book but not Quran. I can refer to any Philosophy like socialism, capitalism but not Islam. It’s beyond my comprehension. Islam is not a religion rather a DEEN i.e. A Way of life. I always think why we are so irritated by anyone/thing which is related to Islam. As I said earlier that we do not have any systematic or analytical power, because we all are groomed through skewed wisdom/vision therefore for us Islam/Quran seems irrelevant in all our problems. For past 100 years, we’ve waited for “somebody from our western style Schools/Colleges/Universities, SO-CALLED SEAT OF LEARNING” to do a miracle. But alas it is DISGUSTING TOTAL FAILURE for more than 100 years in all fields and it will be failure for next 1000 years.
Some of my fellows objected to comparing TABLEEGHI JAMAAT as NGO with Southwest Airlines. If I am wrong, please correct me by identifying any NGO in the whole world which every year mobilize more than 3 Million people in different parts of world for its annual gathering and they have presence across the globe in every city. TABLEEGHI JAMAAT (only 30/40 years old) as NGO and Southwest as Airlines are organizations wherein members/employees are productive and efficient. TABLEEGHI JAMAAT and Southwest Airlines both are similar with each other from culture point of view however very different from rest of NGOs and Airlines. Instead of the blue sport coats worn by other airlines, a uniform of short pants and polo shirts is a summer standard for Southwest Airlines employees. The pilots and flight attendants might sing or tell jokes to passengers, but they are serious about customer service and efficient operations. Similarly TABLEEGHI do not use IT, technology, HRM or appraisals but still they are best in networking. So far no western educated Muslim (those including LUMS/IBA/SZABIST graduates) have not given us any such high performance NGO, organization, product or brand. The glory is not serving in Shell, BP, BC, Microsoft, Google, Coke, Unilever but making such giants. The similar working style of Southwest Airlines and TABLEEGHI JAMAAT implies a relaxed environment, their levity indicates a certain degree of openness, and shared responsibilities of the front line and management solidify the importance of—above all—getting the job done. It is no wonder that Southwest Airlines have been the most consistently profitable airline over the past decade. At the same time TABLEEGHI JAMAAT is wonderful growing NGO during past 3 decades. I am not preaching you to join TABLEEGHI JAMAAT or judging them as absolute RIGHT/WRONG but trying to highlight the essence of culture in TABLEEGHI JAMAAT. Just imagine a MNC or business which has similar culture and exponential growth like TABLEEGHI JAMAAT. AT SAME TIME I AM ALSO NOT TRYING UNDERMINING MY SHIITE BROTHER’S FAITH. My Shiite brothers can identify/explain their own version of glories and wonders to us from our own soil. What I am trying to prove that wonders/miracles will be done only with REJECTION (INKAR). The GUTS for rejection will not come from Western Style Schools/Colleges/Universities but will only come through Quran and Islam. Any version of Islam (i.e. Shiaism, Wahabism, and Sunnism etc) may work for this rejection (INKAR).
Another example to which some of my fellows objected was comparing performance of US Marines with Taliban. Dr Lee in his Book “Performance Conversation” has mentioned US Marines Corps as world’s finest military organization. According to Author Dr Lee it has been in battle for well over two centuries and its reputation has become synonymous with success. Marine Corps is unique in both its success, weapons and technology. Despite the fact that US Marines weapons, tactics, and resources are much more/advanced than Taliban, the Corps has a very low performance in Afghanistan if compared with Taliban. Taliban unrelenting pursuit of success is evident in all resistance to US in past six years without any resources. I am not saying that Taliban are absolute RIGHT and US Marine wrong or vice versa. What I want to highlight is uniqueness in the Taliban culture, their morale and commitment to hard work. Culture, morale, commitment and hard work are more critical for performance than appraisal.
I have got serious reservations about Taliban and TABLEEGH overall philosophy but at the same I have to acknowledge following the reason for their success as a Management and HR student.
1. Their leaders have ensured that their culture supports individual performance.
2. Work/Processes have been designed to keep their members engaged.
3. Their superiors are partner with members in a way that allows them to do their best work.
4. Each system within the Taliban and TABLEEGH are aligned and coordinated to achieve optimal performance.
I was also disappointed as I was unable to raise class interest in proposed Model from the teaching of Imam Ghazali for optimum human performance. May be I was unable to explain following premises for this model due to shortage of time:-
1. Performance will be optimum if we have good human beings.
2. For any system/machine its Manufacture Manual has to be consulted. For optimum human performance we have to consult Manual given by its CREATOR.
3. All prevalent Western Performance/Appraisals Models is concerned with employees 10 hours during office/work. Human can’t be divided between ON/OFF work. Because at back of our mind we have our work even when we are in home and vice versa. What is effect on the performance of employee, incase he is at ease in his home or he has discomfort in his home? He spends whole night drinking at bar. Will his performance be the same in case he takes sound sleep with his family? Therefore we need a model which addresses the issue in totality on larger canvas of organization and society not just individual unit as an employee. Kindly refer to the comment of Herb Kelleher CEO Southwest at the end of this email.
4. This model seems to me one of real motive for successful performance of all Muslims as individual/group in past. As I said earlier that I do not consider Taliban/ TABLEEGHI absolute right and they do not follow this Model from top to bottom but nevertheless due to their immaturity and innocence they think that they are following this model.
“It’s not my purpose to shock you – but the simplest way I can summarize is to say that there are in the world, humans that peep, that gossip and that discuss freely even the greatest taboos you could find around. Moreover their ability to do these things has what made them damned in the eyes of many who are acclaimed as chosen ones – the range of issues they can handle is coexistent with the nature of their ability to speak openly without any boundaries, limits or constraints.”
Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi
I pray for all of your legitimate dreams to come true. Always think positive and try to spend valuable life not only for you but for others also.
Only Urs
Syed Fida Marvat
Flight Lieutenant
People will forget what you said… People will forget what you did…
But people will never forget how you made them feel…
“I’ve tried to create a culture of caring for people in the totality of their lives, not just at work. There’s no magic formula. It’s like building a giant mosaic–it takes thousands of little pieces….The intangibles are more important than the tangibles. Someone can go out and buy airplanes from Boeing and ticket counters, but they can’t buy our culture, our esprit de corps.”
Herb Kelleher CEO Southwest Wall Street Journal 8/31/99
