Once the largest tax-payer, Janakpur Cigarette Factory, today is a losing venture. Outdated mindset of the management and constant political bickering has bled the factory white.
Mismanagement has, over the last decade, forced many a reputed institution to the brink of closure and none remembers any of them. Companies have risen and fallen because they trusted the wrong managers and successors with management duties.
There is no dearth of talent and natural resources in the country but Nepal still remains under-developed. At a time when the northern and southern neighbours are emerging as economic powerhouses, Nepal is trailing pathetically.
The root cause of poverty and undevelopment is mismanagement of resources. Manpower, water, land and forests that Nepal can justly be proud of, had these been managed properly, no other country could have matched Nepal.
Realising the great mismatch, professionals in 1979 established the Management Association of Nepal (MAN) as the apex body of management professionals. The corporate sector also supported their efforts actively to make it an important forum for developing management professionalism and a performance-oriented platform as well as engendering a socially responsible work culture in the country.
Over the last three decades, how much MAN has contributed could be a debatable issue but an institution with a strong membership base of over 1,700 individuals and 180 institutions from different disciplines and myriad sectors of the Nepali economy and society is languishing under shadow.
"MAN could be a synonym for management," said immediate past second vice-president of MAN Rajendra Khetan, who thinks that the organisation needs more participation from the new generation of CEOs that Nepal has seen over the last decade.
For long, the organisation that is one of the founding members of the Asian Association of Management Organisations (AAMO) was dominated by bureaucrats but it has changed with time. "The new breed of managers need to make it more dynamic," Khetan said.
Echoing his views, new executive member of the new committee elected by the 28th National Management Convention Ashwini Kumar Pudasaini said, "The new committee is definitely more dynamic."
MAN has forged close ties with various well-known professional bodies like the American Management Association (AMA) and All India Management Association (AIMA).
These linkages help MAN to get access to information on best management practices and techniques available in other parts of the world.
MAN has also started a weekly debate on burning issues, resulting in making it a more vibrant platform over the past years. The existing scenario people are increasingly tending to realise that the ongoing processes of the restructuring of the state and the ongoing transformation in Nepal require to be followed by management development process for their effectiveness and sustainability.
MAN -- a common forum of professionals representing different sectors and disciplines -- has a tremendous role to play in the management of overall development of Nepal and it has been awarding Manager of the Year Award from 1987, recognising the competence of certain individuals in order to encourage fresh talent to emerge from the block.
From its first president, late Nanda Lal Joshi, to present president Janak Raj Saha, MAN has tried to live up to its charter that says "It is essential to apply, develop, promote management science and make necessary arrangements to offer such knowledge."
MAN has also created a Management Development Centre (MDC) in 2005 as a think-tank for its important professional pursuits and activities.
Just as President Dr Ram Baran Yadav opined during the 28th National Management Convention, the country needs managers whom MAN can groom to take the economic leadership of the country.
The Manager of the Yearspeak:
"I think manpower is essential to the management of family, organisation and the country as a whole. Nepalis are hard working and honest folk. I can give examples of urban and rural people in different districts. They not only serve in their own land, they even join the Indian Army, British Army and get work around the globe because of their hard-won identity as hardworking and honest people.
A void of managerial skills exists here at home. An organisation may be good or bad, depending on its management. In the conflict period, many companies did a sterling job. They got along due to the skills of the managers who headed them. Lack of good political leadership is our weakness though we are blessed in terms of manpower, land and water resources..
Earlier, there was discrimination on the basis of caste but now the Constitution has put a clamp on such discrimination. However, the new trend is that people are being treated like pariahs on the basis of their political ideology. A leader or a manager is like the conductor of an orchestra. The conductor does not play any musical instrument himslef but coordinates all the instrument players. If the conductor himslef starts playing musical instruments, the orchestra will not fucntion as a unit or a harmonic whole. It will fail.
The conductor very well knows which musician can play what instrument to his/her best capacity and accordingly arranges for the particular player to do his/her best for a composite melody.
Consequently, just like an orchestra conductor a leader or a manager should recognise the core competence of each worker in the workplace and create the right environment for that worker to give optimum performance and output. Having the right person in the right place is the leader's quintessial quality. Leadership should institutionalise the system, as a correct means to the natural evolution. We should be proud of our organisation even after 50 years after leaving and be able to say and remember that we did contribute our best to the institution.
I think that collective status is more important in comparison to personal status. I suggest that in view of Nepal having a pool of talented manpower, the right person in the right place is the most important rather than touted ideology. -- Anil Shah, CEO, Nabil Bank, (Manager of the Year 2008)
MEN in MAN
1. Janak Raj Shah (president)
2. Dipak Prasad Upadhyay (First vice-president)
3. Asha Adhikary (Second vice-president)
4. Saroj Kumar Pradhan (secretary general)
5. Chandra Kanta Bhandari (treasurer)
6. Rameshore Prasad Khanal (executive member)
7. Ashbin Kumar Pudasaini (executive member)
8. Avanindra Kumar Shrestha (executive member)
9. Bindra Hada Bhattarai (executive member)
10. Dr Shailendra Sigdel (executive member)
11. Keshav Raj Jha (executive member)
12. Kunj Bihari Kayal (executive member)
13. Shanti Laxmi Shakya (executive member)
14. Suman Neupanne (executive member)
15. Sushil Kumar Aryal (executive member)
16. Thakur Raj Pandey (executive member)
17. Umang Bagaria (executive member)
18. Vijay Bahadur Shrestha (executive member)
19. Kedar Man Joshi (executive director)
The winners
2008 -- Anil Shah -- CEO -- Nabil Bank Ltd
2007 -- Dr Bhagawan Koirala -- Executive Director -- Sahid Gangalal National Heart Centre
2006 -- Gyanendra Lal Pradhan -- CEO -- Butwal Power Company
2005 -- Sujit Mundul -- CEO -- Standard Chartered Bank Nepal
2004 -- Parameshwor Mahaseth -- CEO -- Salt Trading Corporation
The Women Managers
2008 -- Anuradha Koirala -- chairperson -- Maiti Nepal
2007 -- Sangita Niroula -- CEO -- SWATI
2006 -- Lily Thapa --chairperson -- SWE
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