Gong Xi Fa Cai

Chinese New Year is coming. Here's wishing everyone a very Happy New Year and may the "dog year" brings you success and prosperity. To those who are travelling, please drive carefully.

Organisation

The usual beginning of year announcements are taking place. As organisations gets larger and more complex, I guess the fear of not knowing what is happening on the ground must be high for the executives. However, we need to remember that the people who counts most in the business everyday are those who sees the client day in and day out. Sometimes, decisions are baffling, particularly when we are only concerned with our own unit/dept and do not have an overall view. Please read my previous blog here as well as the NKF report which I blogged here on Jan o1 for context.

Thus, this story that I received last week is a good reminder for us not to lose sight of the main objective of what we want to do.

A company had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Management said, "Someone might steal from it at night." So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.

Then management said, "How does the watchman do his job without instruction?" So they created a planning department and hired two people; one person to write the instructions and one person to do time studies.

Then management said, "How will we know the night watchman is doing his tasks correctly?" So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people. One to do the studies and one to write the reports.

Then management said, "How are these people going to get paid?" So they created the following positions, a timekeeper and a payroll officer; then hired two more people.

Then management said, "Who will be accountable for all of these people?" So they created an administrative section and hired three people; an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary.

Then management said, "We've had this command in operation for one year now and we're $18,000 over budget. We have to cutback on overall costs."
So they laid off the night watchman.

Happy New Year 2006

Today is the start of a new year. I received the following sms from a few people which I thought was quite nice.

Today 4 persons ask me about u. I gave them yr details and contact. They'll be finding u soon. Their names are Happiness, Health, Wealth & Love. HAPPY NEW YEAR.

May I wish everyone the same in 2006. May you continue to experience Happiness, Health, Wealth and Love.

I do not believe in making resolutions as one should not wait for the new year to correct something. However there are things I wish to see and would pray for. I will just name 3 of them.

1. We need to make courtesy our way of life. All the road rages that we see can be avoided if we just display some courtesy. We should avoid doing things that may inconvenience others just because we feel we have the right. For a start, all those cars illegally parked on Jalan University outside UMMC should be parked in the new multi-storey car park.

2. More accountability from the people in authority. This statement that KPMG wrote in their report on NKF in Singapore is becoming a favourite of mine. It was reported as follows :
In its report, KPMG criticised the current regulatory system as a "confusing cacophony" of various bodies, each concerned with monitoring particular aspects of a charity, but none overseeing its entire operation.
The above way of regulating just gives rise to the statement that "I am responsible but I am not accountable" because one can say that one is only looking after one aspect of a process and don't know what the rest are doing. And the road where the 2 ton mould fell on Dr. Liew's car would have been closed if someone have reviewed the safety aspect of the construction and be accountable.

3. Better public safety. I read more reports of crimes than conviction of criminals. And long time it takes for a case to be heard means justice is delayed in many cases. It also means the suspect is probably out on bail. Not a lot of comfort, is it?

Happy New Year, everyone. Have a great 2006.