Like GOD who is popularly referred to as a male, the word "manager" too usually brings forth a masculine image in front of our eyes. This may be because of the male dominated society in which we live. Why do people still feel odd to report to a female boss and why is it presumed that managing is essentially a masculine activity? Why is the proportion of girls passing out of management schools, so miniscule? Why do we still feel that managing a business is something that the fairer sex may find too much to handle? Are we unfairly keeping half of our population away from a profession, just because of some biases that we carry?

I have met male chauvinists with a belief that our unemployment problem could be partially solved by not allowing females to seek plum jobs in banks and similar offices, for that will then allow boys to get more employment - as girls rightfully belong at home. The view is unfair to the extreme, because it presupposes that lesser skills are required to manage a home than any work at the office. I am not going to discuss here the kind of jobs women should perform; but let us examine the skills that are required to manage a home. Just remember, housewives are called "home makers" in the western world. This nomenclature does not seem to have caught on in our country, yet.

Housewives are great visionaries:
If the family which she manages could be, for a moment, considered as a company, an average Indian housewife seems to know fairly well where she wants to take her company. The moment a daughter is born in the family, it is the housewife who starts thinking of "twenty years hence". Some of the decisions that she takes today are because of what she wants to do, twenty years hence. If it’s a boy, she fine-tunes the strategy to decide how much and what jewellery she wants to give to her daughter- in-law. She advises her husband (let us think of him as a non executive chairman of this family company) about the size of the house that they should finally settle for or other long term measures that ensure health of all family members. She seems to have naturally acquired this skill of strategic planning that is so essential to any business manager.

Housewives are good parallel thinkers:
One of the essential characteristics that a successful manager requires is that of parallel thinking (as against serial thinking). Research says that women are better parallel thinkers meaning that they can think simultaneously about many related jobs. Men on the other hand, tend to be serial thinkers meaning that they tackle the next decision after finishing off with the current problem. If you have observed the way a housewife packs off her husband and children to their destinations in the morning hours and also how she manages to simultaneously execute other jobs like cleaning off the beds and the house itself, you will realize the she actually has a PERT chart in her mind (without knowing it, of course) whereby all activities get successfully completed at the very end - much like the perfectly executed crescendo of a musical piece.

Housewives are first - rate motivators:
Just think of how in our younger days, we did everything that our mother asked us to do. All of us always had this unexplained urge to defy our father but never the mother. She had this uncanny art of bringing out the best in us by shaming us in front of our brothers and sisters or by promising us something from her kitty (a favorite dish to eat may be) or even by using the simple expedient of threatening not to speak to us unless we fell in line. Can you imagine what a manager may have been able to do with such talent for motivating those in his charge? Mothers/housewives probably learnt all there was to teach in the art of motivation, much before the evolution of modern theories.

Housewives are superb trainers:
You just have to watch how a housewife trains her sons and daughters to become truly social and civilized, to convince yourself that this important managerial quality is available in her, in abundance. She firmly believes that training is a must; so girls are trained to become future housewives (even so called career minded women in our society will admit that they would want their daughters to first become good housewives and then only good professionals); boys are trained to do house hold chores and even the husband (remember he is the chairman) to be social. Where else can one think of getting such managerial talent available, naturally? While training her wards, the housewife always reposes in them a lot of confidence, telling them that they are indeed capable of acquiring the necessary skills. Research shows that children always learn deeper, the concepts taught to them by their mothers. Such trainers with deep insight into the psychology of their wards would achieve miracles in business.

Housewives are ace budgeters:
Not only can housewives prepare good family budgets, they have this knack of remaining within them - an essential characteristic of a good manager. They have this endearing habit of getting the entire family to approve of the "cuts" that they want to implement, say, in the next month. They know that a group decision is easier to implement.

Housewives are spendthrifts:
Recently a research found out that millionaires in this world have this dominant habit of "hunting for bargains" when in actuality they could easily afford whatever came their way ,without really looking for "acceptable prices". The survey also went on to say that these “money bags”, after having all the luxuries of life, soon start believing how unnecessary most of them are. Housewives without being millionaires, practice this. Just watch how they deal with the vegetable vendor (at one end) and a jewelers (at the other end of the spectrum) & you will realize that they are probably born-spendthrifts.

Housewives manage inventories like professionals:
You just have to watch how a housewife trains her sons and daughters to become truly social aHave you ever heard of stock outs in your home kitchen? It is estimated that there are about 50 consumable items in the kitchen and possibly an equal number outside, in the house, which require good inventory management. There are no calibrated instruments available here to help her - how is it that she still manages to run the show efficiently? Indian housewives can reel off the approximate quantities available in their "stock registers", without resorting to any computers. Had this talent got transferred to the industry, India and not Japan would have been the inventor of "just in time" management.

Housewives are experts in managing others' egos:
Many a good manager has failed because he could not manage egos of his subordinates or colleagues or his boss. Having an ego is essential to good performance but we are all aware of the havoc that an inflated ego can create. Housewives manage egos of everyone else in the family, as if they knew how to tackle the issue, since times immemorial. They seem to know exactly when to retreat tactically or to praise someone, in order to achieve what they have in their mind. Managers would give their right hand to acquire this skill.

Housewives are ever willing to sacrifice for the team:
They would always spend last on themselves, from the family budget. They would be happy to take the last small portion of the ice-cream slab brought for an after dinner desert, after the other family members have gluttoned through it - and they would do this with a contented smile. If a manager could do that for his "family" in the office, he'll probably acquire the status of GOD.

Did you know that women are in general, healthier than men and are known to possess a similar IQ. Dear friends, housewives will certainly make formidable managers if they are given a chance to improve these inherent qualities in them. Where else could one find managerial talent in such abundance? The best part of the story is that this "institution" called the "housewife" keeps on producing more of its kind without anyone egging them on. It is like a natural source of managerial talent.

Why can't we reserve some seats for housewives in all our leading business schools, to ensure that this segment of naturally available managers is honed into professional powerhouses to run our businesses more efficiently?

"Mr. Prakash Shesh, the author, has done his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad after his Masters in Physics from I.I.T. New Delhi. You may send your feedback to him by choosing an option at the top right corner of this page."