CHESS, CHOICE MAKING AND MANAGEMENT RESEARCH – PART I

Prof. T. N. Krishnan

With the blitzkrieg of Carlsen against the (ex) World Champ Anand, the Chess world seem to have shifted back to a youthful era. Not long ago was the pseudonym‘lightning kid’ applied to the ex-world champion extolling his prodigious rise at a young age and his immense speed of play (and analysis). Perhaps age is no longer in his favour, perhaps consistency at the very top and for such long time requires ‘Godly’ effort or perhaps Carlsen was the better player who deserved to win or perhaps all the three … one never knows. For India,Anand’sincredible chess trajectory has done its work by revolutionizing chess with the country now boasting of one of the large contingents of Grand Masters(GM) – a contrast to the time in 1988 when it was anxiously hoped by the chess fraternity that Anand wins the Shakthi Finance Chess tournament in Coimbatore to complete his GM norm requirements (after just having won the World Junior Championship) to get the GM title and become India’s first Grand Master, which he did!

But what is interesting and possibly could be relevance to Managers and Management researchers is to contrast how Chess players make choices, and is there anything which we can learn that can be or cannot be applied to choices made in organizational situations. 

In grand old times before the advent of computers, Chess Mate in India and Chess Informantglobally was like a Bible carried by rated Chess players where the printed books carried annotated games which provided useful leads to ‘theories’ and ‘novelties’ that could be applied to forthcoming games. However many of the average players hardly worried about these and believed in ‘thinking through’ the various opening choices and this lead to interesting situations. One of the popular tournaments in 80s was the one held in the temple town Palani in Tamil Nadu (also the place famous for hair tonsure as an offering to the deity), which used to have a huge ensemble of both FIDE rated and unrated players. The FIDE rated players were on top boards which had the time clocks and the vast majority of the ‘normal’ players played without the clocks which essentially meant there was no time restriction in the games played by them. It was normal practice that players wandered around looking at other boards after making their moves. In one of the boards a player realizing that he could make better use of the time taken by the opponent to make his move, went over to the temple, had his hair and beard cut, came and sat back at his table. The opponent protested that this was an impostor and only after the tournament arbiter’s intervention could it be resolved.

We may not be faced with these lively situations at present times - with the proliferation of clocks and online chess repositories containing ‘theories’ and annotated chess games, I guess any decent club player in India is adept at most opening theories and could rattle off the opening moves in quick succession and at the same time pounce on any opening mistakes of the opponent. Theories in the chess context provides a framework for understanding a suitable response to a well-studied chess situation. With calculations as the engine and a single predominant goal for a chess player (winning as the sole aim), computers could perhaps perform better than humans in chess as revealed by the historic match between Kasparov and Deep Blue more than a decade and a half back. They could even challenge established ‘theories’ and suggest new alternatives because of the enormous increase in computing power[1]. The result of the Deep Blue match is not surprising; it is said that the number of possible choices in a game of 42 moves is in multiple billions. Obviously one does not expect any human to do even a fraction of these calculations while making the chess moves / choices. The paradox then is to resolve how does a top ranked player rattle off the moves in a simultaneous match when she/he plays tens of hundreds of opponents at the same time and still win the majority of games?Are there some parallels between choice making in chess and organizational contexts? Possibly not all chess choice-making is relevant to choice making in organizations but there are similarities and differences which we’ll explore.Management researchers (in organizational psychology and human resources) have some interesting insights into these questions.The attempt is to make some broad stroke comparisons and do some loud thinking rather than a thesis.                                                                                              (to be continued and concluded in Part 2)

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[1]Chabris, C and Goodman, D. (2013). Chess-championship results show the powerful role of computers http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304337404579209980222399924, accessed 23^rd November 2013

T. N. Krishnan is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources at IIM Kozhikode.

FORD, TISCO, FACEBOOK: THE COMPANY TOWNSHIP THEN AND NOW

By Prof. Aparajith Ramnath

Prof. Aparajith Ramnath

Facebook’s plans to build a 394-flat residential complex for its staff in California, and the ensuing discussions in the media, raise an interesting historical question. Why do companies set up townships?

There are strategic reasons: the seventeenth-century walled cities of Fort St. George (Madras) and Fort William (Calcutta) were established by the East India Company as trading outposts, racially exclusive enclaves for its functionaries, and barracks for its troops.

Logistics also play a part: around a century ago, the township of Jamshedpur was built to house the employees of the Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO), as the ideal site for the works (close to iron ore, coal deposits and running water) was far from any urban centre.

But history also suggests that companies set up townships to streamline their workforces. A recent study shows that the immigrant workers pouring into the Ford Motor Company in the early twentieth century were encouraged to leave their allegedly squalid ethnic settlements in nearby Detroit and move into company-organised housing in Dearborn, Michigan (where Ford had its plant). They were put to school to learn English and dissolve their ethnic identities as far as possible, thus becoming American.

In Jamshedpur, ingenious techniques were used to promote efficiency. In his 1943 memoir, John Keenan, an early General Manager of TISCO, recounts how a race course was created to channel the energies of the steel operators. Earlier they used to disappear to the nearest city for a flutter on their days off; now, ‘[w]ith racing in their own backyard … the boys stayed at home and made steel. And as the output of steel increased, wages rose and big bonuses became the order of the day ... Heavy drinking ceased.’

Townships also tend to reinforce, subtly or otherwise, the hierarchies of the workplace. A colleague who grew up in an Indian mining township in the 1970s and ’80s recalls that the distinction between ‘officers’ and ‘workers’ was expressed in many ways: not only did they have separate recreation clubs; their children went to the same schools in separate buses.

But do such objectives still hold true in the age of flat organisations, open-plan workplaces and air-conditioned offices? Yes, albeit in modified form. They may not be residential, but anybody who has worked in the IT ‘campuses’ of Bangalore, Chennai or California is familiar with the feeling of being in a world within a world. Whether by design or otherwise, catering, comfortable lounges, and facilities for sport and leisure encourage the twenty-first-century employee to extend his or her hours at work. Some companies take day-to-day errands, like paying utility bills, off employees’ hands; others provide washing machines at work; yet others clean employees’ homes for free. In this context, we may conclude that developments like Facebook’s proposed residential complex would not represent a major change. They would only confirm what is already true: that the company continues to loom large in the life of the employee, whether in the knowledge economy or the industrial.

Aparajith Ramnath is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Humanities & Liberal Arts in Management at IIMK Kozhikode.

SHAMELESSLY CHANGELESS

By Prof. Mahesh P. Bhave

Prof. Mahesh P. Bhave

If you go to Reliance Fresh or Big Bazaar, and are about to pay for the merchandize you have bought, chances are greater than even that the person at the cash register has no change to give you. He will ask you if you could produce the exact amount.

If asked as a sheepish request, I am able to occasionally forgive. Yet most times, the tone is: what kind of a shopper are you that you do not carry exact change for my convenience?

I once tried telling the film-star wannabe behind the cash register in Pune – tight shirt, even tighter trousers, and hair slickly perfect – that it was his and his store’s duty to always have change before letting customers stand in the line. He did not say anything. But his expression was: Your advice for your own galaxy; this is India. In lieu of change, he offered me Cadbury’s candy.

Despite Consumer Behavior courses taught en masse in MBA programs, customer centricity is absent in new Indian retail (and elsewhere in India too, but more of that in future articles). I am all for the convenience of open shelves, and putting things in the basket, or taking things out of it, until I reach the point of payment. Lines are bad enough, but I could do without the quasi-robots on the other side of the counter.

LOST IN THE AGGREGATES- COMMENTARY ON THE REPORT EVOLVING A COMPOSITE DEVELOPMENT INDEX OF STATES

By Prof. Abhilash S. Nair

Prof. Abhilash S. Nair

Since independence, successive governments have endeavored to develop an egalitarian India whose economic development percolates to citizens living across the country. A major step in ensuring this outcome has been the various studies that have identified backwardness of different states in India. Accordingly, the central resource allocation is channeled so as to bridge this development gap. The Raghuram Rajan Committee report is yet another step towards achieving this goal. The report emphasizes on an objective method of identifying backwardness and linking it to central assistance to state, though this issue is being independently studied by the thirteenth finance commission set up under the chairmanship of Shri. Y.V. Reddy. 

Any report on central development assistance sets off a race, among the states, to be backward. This report is no exception. The states that have garnered the ‘least developed’ status, seem to have no complaints against the report while others seem to be upset about the report. Having said that, there are some serious concerns which this report may look forward to address before being taken up for implementation. As has been highlighted in many other commentaries on this report, the dissent note by Dr. Shaibal Gupta addresses almost all the concerns raised by academicians and policy makers. However, what is interesting is the way in which the report deliberates and attempts to allay the concerns raised by Dr. Gupta by looking at the impact at an aggregate level. Interestingly, many states that may loose out on central assistance if the report is accepted also raise the same concerns as Dr. Gupta. I shall be commenting on some of these issues in the context of Kerala:

  

Excerpts from his recently published article in The New Indian Express on 19th October, 2013 Op Ed. For full article please visit  http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/174148/The-New-Indian-Express-Kochi/19102013#page/9/2

Abhilash S. Nair is an Associate Professor of Finance, Accounting and Control at IIM Kozhikode.

PASCAL’S WAGER: A MEDIEVAL GOD VS. A MODERN GOD

Prof. Kausik Gangopadhyay

By Prof. Kausik Gangopadhyay

Blaise Pascal, a gifted French mathematician and physicist of the seventeenth century, was an interesting character. Working on his own, Pascal discovered most of the Euclidean Geometry in his early adolescence. By his early teens, he invented a calculating machine—with no less than 20 prototypes called “Pascalines” made—to perform all four arithmetic operations. Unfortunately, prohibitively high making cost of that device impeded the commercial success of this venture, patented by Pascal. Far from being an exhaustive set of Pascal’s scientific endeavours, these are merely illustrative of Pascal’s all-compassing genius!

The other side of Pascal’s character was his deep religiosity. In fact, bidding science adieu he turned to metaphysical pursuits at an early age of 31. The remaining eight years, he dwelled on the Christian philosophy and lived a life of “Renunciation, total and sweet”.  This is the time when he came up with a philosophical argument, now known as “Pascal’s Wager”, which is a gambler’s take on the basic question: “God is, or He is not”.  Unsurprisingly, Pascal was an avid gambler for quite some time in his earlier life.

IIMK RESEARCH SEMINAR BY PROF. P V ARAVIND

Prof. P V Aravind (Delft University of Technology, Netherlands) delivered a very interesting talk entitled "Energy, Renewable Energy & Fuel Cells" at IIMK on 18th October. According to Prof. Aravind, fuel cells are versatile energy generation solutions that can use a variety of fuel sources including natural gas, bio-gas from waste, ... and can thus be a component of the energy generation mix for the future.

IIMK RESEARCH SEMINAR BY PROF. NILAY YAJNIK

Prof. Nilay Yajnik of  NMIMS Mumbai delivered a very interesting talk entitled "Global Virtual Teams and their Relevance in Management Education" at IIMK on 15th October. According to Prof.  Yajnik, working in Global Virtual Teams has now become a standard practice in several business organizations.

ERUDITION: THE LOST CREED

By Prof. Kousik Guhathakurta

Prof. Kousik Guhathakurta

I was flipping through the pages of a reasonably fat book when a student entered my office for some usual reason (which could be anything between a request for reconsideration of evaluation and a genuine academic clarification). I do not quite remember what he exactly wanted and how I reacted. That is neither interesting nor too important. What is definitely interesting and what I definitely remember is what followed the initial exchanges.  His eyes fell on the fat volume in my hand and his looks changed to one that showed a mixture of surprise, anxiety and may be even disgust! He could not help himself asking “What is that book, sir?” I can assure you of his vision –he could see exactly what the book was. Nor was he particularly perturbed with the size- B-school boys are exposed (I only said exposed) to fat books also. What seemed to disturb him was the title of the book- “The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language”. If you still have not gauged his exasperation let me also tell you that I happen to be on the faculty of Finance.

DO INDIAN B-SCHOOLS MAKE THEIR GRADUATES SUSTAINABILITY-SENSITIVE?

Prof. Keyoor Purani

By Prof. Keyoor Purani

As the large corporations, the world over, jostle to find a place in various sustainability rankings having realized that the stakeholders are getting more and more inclined to ‘clean & green’ capitalism, sustainability is on the top agenda for most companies. Business performance measured by triple bottom-line demand complete paradigm shift in how an organization functions asking for a new mind-set and newer models of doing business.

Are business schools in India preparing their young MBAs for these changes in the business world? Are Indian b-schools aligning their curricula to the changing demands of the employers who hire their graduates? If we have to evaluate leading Indian business schools on their ‘compliance’ to provide sustainability-sensitive graduates, what kind of picture is likely to emerge? Our recent research (with Daragh O’reilly and Sunil Sahadev) attempt to explore these questions as we prepare a roadmap for business schools to bring sustainability in their curricula as part of a project funded by the British Council.