HUMAN RELATIONS - CLIENTS & STAFF A SYNOPSIS BY PRAKASH SHESH

The purpose of maintaining healthy human relations (HR) is to generate happiness on both sides. Happiness is thus used as an acid test to assess HR initiatives and policies. Increasingly, good business management practices are being measured on how they maximize happiness and not just wealth. ROI (return on investment) is no longer a purely financial parameter – the numerator in this ratio must contain some element of happiness. Let us dwell for a few moments on how to increase happiness before specifically discussing what needs to be done while dealing with clients and ones own employees.

What increases happiness?

Has happiness increased over the last fifty years? Human beings get so habituated to the luxuries in life that though the quality of life is better today (air conditioners, cars, fast communications etc.) we don’t necessarily think that we are happier. Many possessions that were considered a luxury yesterday, have become necessities today – and acquiring these may not therefore improve happiness. Religion has of course been saying for long that beyond a certain minimum level, money does not increase happiness.

Surveys have now established that relative prosperity does increase happiness. This means that I don’t mind what I earn or possess but if it is more than that of my neighbor, I am happy. The envy that is generated by still being at a “lower monetary ranking” eats away any happiness that might have got accrued through a stronger financial position.

How to increase happiness while dealing with ones employees?

1. Remember each employee is different and must be treated as an individual. What excites one may not be as exciting to the other. An employer who recognizes this is well on his way to be a super employer.


2. Are you good at recognizing others’ ego? If not, better learn it fast and then proceed to satisfy that as much as possible, for increasing staff productivity.


3. Can you empathize? All successful bosses master this invaluable art.


4. When did you last praise good work done by your staff? Publicly praising a good job multiplies the “feel good” factor amongst the staff but remember, this is a double edged sword – so chastise people only privately, away from colleagues and compatriots.


5. Do you reward performance or good behavior? Experts say it is the former that you should.



Do you realize that the speed of a group is that of its slowest member? Concentrate on improving the weaklings and you will find the whole group “moving” faster.

How to do the same while dealing with clients?
A chartered accountant (CA) offers services related to statutory audit and financial consultation. A client is not a customer in the normal sense of the word especially when audit services are being rendered. Though the client “buys” the service offered by the CA (pays audit fees), the CA is acting like a “custodian” of the government of India in putting his seal of certification (signifying authenticity and compliance with the existing rules and laws) on financial statements of the clients’ business.

Normal principles of marketing management would have challenged the provider of the service (like internet or cellular phone service provider) to do his best for customer satisfaction or even go a step farther towards what is called “customer delight” (when the customer is offered services that he wasn’t expecting). A Chartered Accountant however is not even allowed to advertise his “wares”. The entity that he should satisfy therefore is the government or the ICAI that has given him the license to use his professional expertise without bias.

Consequences of what happens when auditors try to “delight” their clients are there for all of us to see (Arthur Anderson and ENRON)

The ideal approach of a CA towards his clients (in the formers’ role as an auditor) should therefore be that of a legal judge - firm, honest, compassionate but aloof.

"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." He was recently Rotary International district governor of Rotary district 3030 spanning the whole of eastern Maharashtra. He can be reached at creativepds@satyam.net.in