office design Standardised Design Personalised ABOUT THE AUTHOR Aparna Piramal Raje writes Head Office, a popular monthly column in <strong>the</strong> Mint. She is also <strong>the</strong> author of Working Out of <strong>the</strong> Box: 40 stories of leading CEOs. Table 2 - Workplace archetypes and work styles Build Organisational Capital Collaboration Craftsmanship Purpose Agility Integrative Thinking Nourish Personal Energy Accessibility Learning & Re<strong>new</strong>al Partnerships Portfolio Lives Resilience Spirituality Sustain <strong>the</strong> Environment Sustainability Communicate Brand Values Personal Branding Story Telling Innovation Internal Assets External But since <strong>the</strong> title of this journal is Indian Management, I would like to highlight one workstyle in particular: spirituality. Spirituality is not commonly construed to be a business tool, as it is associated more often with philant<strong>hr</strong>opy, or as a retirement vocation. Yet, it is an element of daily business practice for several business leaders, including Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of <strong>the</strong> Aditya Birla group of companies, and Ajay Piramal, chairman of <strong>the</strong> Piramal group of companies, both of which are diversified industrial conglomerates. Birla and Piramal draw on <strong>the</strong> Bhagavad Gita for business inspiration in several ways, which include developing greater mindfulness and equanimity during business negotiations, as well as cultivating a sense of legacy t<strong>hr</strong>ough <strong>the</strong> notion of long-term trusteeship. These workstyles are echoed in contemporary business management literature, which emphasises emotional intelligence as an essential leadership trait. For example, renowned psychologist Daniel Goleman, writing in ‘What Makes A Leader?’, published in 2004 in <strong>the</strong> Harvard Business Review, explained that emotional intelligence comprised five specific skills: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill. Many of <strong>the</strong>se skills, including selfawareness, self-regulation, and motivation in particular, are just as central to ancient Indian notions of spirituality as <strong>the</strong>y are to business management literature. These values are reflected in <strong>the</strong>ir physical work environment. The C-suites of both Birla and Piramal are archetypes for contemporary ‘spiritual business retreats’—luxurious and refined in form, while calm and peaceful in mood and atmosphere. I hope this example illustrates how workspaces reflect workstyles, and how workstyles in turn underline leadership traits. I am usually asked one question in particular, so I would like to take <strong>the</strong> liberty of pre-empting it: What is <strong>the</strong> business impact of an effective workplace? There is no short answer, unfortunately, since workplaces impact intangible assets that are, by definition, hard to measure. Many companies, especially multinationals, regularly assess employee satisfaction at work. This serves as a proxy to gauging employee productivity and is especially helpful to understand if a <strong>new</strong> facility is successful. The Head Office series highlights that <strong>the</strong>re is little doubt that chief executives are closely involved with decisions relating to <strong>the</strong>ir spaces, and that <strong>the</strong>y adopt different strategies to create an effective workplace. Ra<strong>the</strong>r than trying to identify if and how much <strong>the</strong> workplace can contribute to business success, my goal is to present tangible ways in which it can do so (and why). 64 INDIAN MANAGEMENT NOVEMBER 2015
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