Michael Serena
Managing Director
TBM consulting group
In the last 10 weeks, Michael Serena, managing director, business development, TBM, has visited India several times. What he realises every time is that ?India is a land of opportunities?considering the people, their work ethics and their interest and enthusiasm in learning things.? And since he is in the business of ensuring quality at low labour cost ? otherwise categorised as ?lean principles? ? Serena feels India is the place where this can be enforced easily. ?Opportunities in both discrete and process manufacturing are unlimited,? he observes.
Serena has long been following the lean business model and is a partner with TBM Consulting Group, since 2002. Being an educational psychologist, he feels that India, with its strong cultural background, offers good opportunities and service for those who visit it on business. The best thing about India is ?its people and their willingness to learn and improve incessantly? says Serena.
He has visited several cities in the country, but so far Mumbai has primarily been his entry point, where he has often done business. And, Bangalore is where he sees the greatest amount of industrial development. Overall, Serena feels India has the infrastructure to do lean business and the potential to compete with other countries. And, the low labour rates in India never cease to surprise him.
Citing India?s workforce as its greatest strength, Serena feels it is the combination of education and the willingness to work hard that makes Indians stand out. He is happy to find that a lot of emphasis is given to employee training and development at all levels in the organisation. Also, about ?ensuring that senior management is engaged in key initiatives and in holding up the credibility of their people by ?doing what they say?. The fact that they model the desired behaviour rather than assuming and delegating to the middle management levels of the organisation is also a big plus,? says Serena.
However, like all other countries, India needs to work harder on certain aspects too. Serena, as an educational psychologist, finds that at times the ?managers have a negative approach towards embracing new ideas that they might not be familiar with. And, many times they don?t have the skill sets to know how to optimise team effectiveness by engaging the hearts and minds of the workforce.?
So far, Serena?s visits to India have purely been for business. But he says that each time he goes back realising the value of the many relationships that he has ?established with professional colleagues and friends here.?
