Managerial Interview
(Report)
By- Rishabh
Mehta
13pgdm108
Date
SubjectInterviewed a manager with more than 7-8 years of experience in order to
understand in depth the followinga) The dilemma of managing the aspects of being a person and being a
manager
b) Life goals and aspirations
c) Challenges of fitting in the workplace
d) Challenges of managing people- one on one and in groups
e) Managing peers
In order to get a fair idea and analysis of the above mentioned themes, I prepared a
set of questions through which I tried to cover the theme asked for. The interview
was email based, since the manager I interviewed stated his preference for that. An
email transcript has been attached which contains the answers mailed by the
manager to me. Following is the managers profile, followed by my observation and
interpretation of the views expressed by the manager I interviewed and basically an
idea of what I feel personally and intellectually about it.
Managers Profile
Dr. Rajesh Kumar Attri is the Deputy General Manager with the National
Insurance Company since 1982 under the ruling of Ministry of Finance. He has 30
years of experience in marketing and HRM throughout his career.
Born in HP, he has worked in various states like Punjab, Haryana, UP, Gujrat etc.
He is a science graduate, along with being an LLB, MBA and also fellowship under
his list of academia.
He is also a regular visiting faculty with Kurukshetra University, Panjab University,
NIT-Surat and Symbiosis, Pune.
occupational hazard of being a very successful person, since the top rung of
the ladder of success is always empty.
Email Transcript
1)
What are the challenges to creating a work life balance culture today?
The challenges to create a work life balance are greater nowadays because
people are finding it more difficult to prioritize things. There is the always
existing dilemma of how much is too much. With office hours increasing and
work being carried home, it becomes difficult to maintain this balance. In my
experience, I feel that work life balance is attainable only if you know where
to draw the line. Overtime is needed at various junctures, but work has to
stay in the domain of office only and not brought in the home atmosphere.
Once outside the work domain, I prefer spending time with my family and
hobbies. One should have these zones, family time, hobbies, meditation etc.
also, one thing essential to work life balance is to know your limits. Proper
diet, health maintenance also contributes as an important factor in work life
balance. I also make it a point to do some amount of self audit every now and
then, to see what all I have done and whether what all I have done is in tune
with my ideology and vision.
2)
When we hear the term work life balance we think it from employee
perspective only, can you throw a light on how it is relevant from a
managers perspective?
From a manager s perspective, work life balance acquires an even more
important role since employees have to do what is assigned, whereas the
manager has to do what he is assigned and that too by managing various
people to do it. That is why employees can leave office once their set of work
is done, but the manager cannot since he has to compile all that is done and
see the overall result has come out or not.
3)
How do you unplug from work when you get home at the end of the
day?
I have a policy to leave the work in office domain itself, and not carry it to the
home sphere. I unplug by spending time with my family, some hobbies that I
have, and meditation.
4)
Rat race is a very apt term that is used here. People are in the mad rush of
achieving that they forget everything else. From my viewpoint, I believe that
some amount of self auditing is necessary to evaluate where we stand in life
and ask ourselves that whatever we are doing is worth it or not.
6)
How often do your personal ethics and work decisions clash, and how do
you resolve these inner conflicts?
There are many instances that this happens, but apart from morality issues, I
believe my personal ethics or beliefs should not come in the way of how I go
on with my work. Work is something that should be diligently done
irrespective of what I feel as a person or individual, and not a manager. Work
decisions have to be made indifferent to personal set of emotions and
focusing on the work requirements only.
7)
What is your life goal or aspiration, both on a personal as well as
professional front?
On a personal front, my aspiration is to be a good human being, to be known
as a good person by all.
Professionally, my desire is growth. I feel the need to go upper in the pyramid
of management in the organization, that after a period of time I am elevated
to another level which brings me a new set of challenges to work on.
8)
and the nature of people you are dealing with. I believe in focusing on what
best a teammate can provide, and the shortcomings will disappear gradually.
I would rather have a team of 4 good people than of two best experts, since
good will evolve into experts in the right framework.
9)
What kind of difficulties you face while dealing with people one on one
and as a team?
On a one on one basis, it is more interpersonal and easy going
communication, where I can be somewhat informal and open in the way I
comment or critic someone. However, in a team, I have to be particular, and
careful with my words as what I portray to someone personally one on one
may not have the same perception when I follow that informal approach in a
group. So I have to take care of the team sentiment as a whole while team
interaction.
10) How will you solve the problem of a team member who is worried about
burnout?
My only advice to that teammate will be to self audit, and instead of worrying
focus on his part of the duty. For instance, I had one employee who was
worried about not being able to achieve his desired results. I told him to write
his apprehensions and keep them aside. Three months down the line, he was
free of those inhibitions after having done the job, and a very good job for
that matter.
11) Describe for me a time that you dealt with a sarcastic or know-it-all
person who was your peer. How were you able to work effectively with that
person?
This is a problem faced by most of the people in workplaces today. My
interaction with such kind of people has been to just ignore the know-it-all
part and focus on the work part. I focus on the positives rather than
negatives. However, if such behavior gets in way of work and becomes
intolerable, the only way is to show that person the door.
12) Situations at work can sometimes be difficult. Give me an example of
how you quickly build rapport with a peer.
very quickly with me because of my one habit, see what they have and focus
on that, bring that up and show it.