DailyPost 924
DO NOT DISTURB!
Do not disturb, I am not working! This seems to be the most popular refrain of the world. Cut throat competition has been breathing down our neck for quite sometime and automation is knocking on our doors ceaselessly, the do not disturb, quite paradoxically seems to have come to stay. Corporatisation, consumerism, and work / leisure theory has brought us to this pass. Having not gone through the rigours and pains of creating business enterprises or world class services, it is presumed life is a fun ride and work is a honeymoon which would automatically keep vending cash for all times to come.
The world seems to be very neatly divided between work days and weekends. Weekends are pious days when a corporate employee is under the banner of Do Not Disturb. This happens to be the me time, when the work can stop. There was a time when work was a pious duty and the private sector could accomplish in the shortest possible time. This led to the reputation of the private sector being efficient. The non-availability adds to the work starting afresh or a time lag for sure. Continuance is the name of the game for smooth seamless operations / project work and these regular breaks are not factored in, in the Indian scenario.
If the corporate is on a holiday, the mail does not operate and you get a snub reply. If the guy is travelling abroad you might end up in a similar plight. Now you are left with post working hours scenario, there too you might again come up with the same scenario. Now you are left with working hours and in the merry go round of business, the scheduling of meetings is a humungous task. Managing work and the business interface with different stakeholders sufficiently intensively and of long duration sufficient enough to yield business results does not seem to happen in this Indian format.
This seems to be the curse of the digital age. Without getting into the pains, we want the digital world to deliver. In the physical age, you could get in touch with anybody anytime, returning of calls was normal, appointments happened with precision and results were nearly always guaranteed. Friction was less and quality of life was never debated. Do not disturb was not needed.
IF WORK IS DISTURBANCE, WHAT CAN YOU DELIVER?
Sanjay Sahay