Manager ‘Babu’

‘Management’…the buzz-word in contemporary educational & industrial landscape! After all, what is so enticing about the concept of ‘Management’ that attracts people, irrespective of age & class??...Actually, being a ‘manager’ according to popular belief, is akin to being someone important, someone whom people look up to. However, this glorified image of a ‘Manager’ is fairly a recent phenomenon. It was not like this always , specially the feudal era , when the real leaders were the landlords, whereas their affairs used to get managed by the ‘Nayab’s , a refined version of a clerk, which during the British era, started getting framed by the ‘Euphemism’ called ‘Manager’, followed by a typical ‘desi’ suffix…’babu’!
Truly, even today how much of the job done by so-called managers is ‘managerial/strategic’ in the true sense of the term , & how much of it is actually outright clerical?? 1000s of management-schools across the world, umpteen MDPs happening round the year, self-help books propagating ideas on ‘how to manage your life’ becoming bestsellers & their authors, consequently, getting termed as ‘Management Gurus’…are all these actually worth it or….adherence of over-importance to ‘Management’ as a concept??
Even MBA-students themselves confess, after passing out of b-schools & joining the industry, that two years of studying management-theories & organization behavior is hardly of any use at workplace. Popular opinion says that ‘management’ is an inherent trait, as fundamental as any other emotion like bravery or laziness or hypertension. Going by the said theory, Home-maker Mom’s can be perceived to be the best managers! Indeed, if it’s all in the mind , & everyone has it to greater or lesser extent, why an ‘MBA’?....Is it just glamourizing or packaging??
The answer, according to me, is a definite ‘No’ if an individual/professional is engaged in assignments strategic enough necessitating analytical insights & managerial acumen. But, often specially in govt organizations , Mba’s holding managerial positions are working as ‘glorified clerks’ only, doing mundane routine-jobs, without having any opportunities at all, to add values to their organizations. Many of them are possessing experiences of woring on challenging case-studies in their MBA-course, & winning award in national-level competitions…but, are just lost in the dreaded ‘Tunnel-vision’ of PSU’s. What happens invariably after that is that, the fresh-minds from b-schools become like the typical ‘Manager-Babu’s of the feudal era , spending useful working-hours reading newspapers, gossiping about transfers & DA-hikes & anitipating a fat salary-rise in the next pay-revision. But, this is remotely close to the classic concept of a ‘manager’. Prior to the feudal era, there was the age of kings & emperors when, the minister of state, was actually the most intelligent, at times, cunning person working as the personal advisor to the ruler. Even in the game of chess, the minister has the greatest power, more than the king. Also, the hindu mythology projects the shrewd ‘Chanakya’ as a manager, who was actually a philosopher as well.
A manager, I feel, sould actually be an Ideator, someone who innovates & leads. Regardless of how much any goddamn facilitator or co-ordinator likes the tag of a “manager”, even in the guise of a hotel-caretaker or a head-clerk, the term ‘Manager’ has to be reserved for someone who truly deserves to be at the tip of a pyramid, by dint of foresight , intuition & humanism.