Comments on: Satyam Debacle: Seeing it from another side

By: Sundar

Sundar — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:48:25 +0000

It might not be correct to say that employees failed satyam. Most of the employees remained with satyam after the revelations and I am one among them . Rules are there everywhere and I know (having worked) in some of the best companies in the world where most of the managers dump the work lower down the hierarchy and move out and yell over mobile in the evening!

Nobody can be called intelligent if the intelligence does not deliver and I firmly believe this.

Almost every top student in academics from IIM wanted to join Lehman brothers (from what I read in media) for the kind of pay they got. Assuming that some of these so called top made it, what were they doing when Lehman brothers went down and took the world along with them? So many brilliant economists all over the world now point the reasons for this recession and even my grand ma can do that and the essential difference is she can do it post the happenings. Why could not they predict/open their mouths? Were they paid to remain silent?

One of the ex-directors of Satyam is a harward school professor? With what moral values, can he go and teach in the class about governance and ethics involved?

Sir,
My little experience tells me, When greed overrides core values, no rule can come in the way.

By: Ganesh.S

Ganesh.S — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:19:49 +0000

Yes, I absolutely agree with Ram, that the employees failed Satyam, when it needed them most. But it is also true that Satyam failed to keep proper check on its employees at the right time, allowing them to grow into a disorderly bunch. This is true of every organisation that has failed and went defunct. An organisation needs very strict organisational laws, and compassion will not rule the roost.

By: ram

ram — Wed, 13 May 2009 06:33:13 +0000

yes i do agree with u.Employee loyalty is a significant factor in the success of any organization.All i saw during those times was a hoard of satyam employees sending their resume’s in search of other home instead of standing up to the challenge.Yes i do agree that was a tough situation to face and they have their own responsibilities to look after.But all these years they had been reaping benefits from the company more than anybody else and and they are the first one’s to flee when the company needed them most.cant they donate money from their pockets for having sufficient cash reserves to operate the business.

By: Raghu Sharma

Raghu Sharma — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:02:34 +0000

This is an emotional outburst of sorts from a person who’s really lived the “satyam” dream and believed in it.
I personally believed in it too.
I’d like to quote the story of a small time man(My neighbour)living broke and who even tried committing suicide because he couldn’t stand the taunts of his in-laws. This man was hardcore diligent n talented however was very short of capital, and thanks to the stiff competition in the markets his entrepreneurial dreams had been shattered and capital exhausted when he tried starting things twice. A few days after his unsuccessful attempt at taking his life, he invested Rs. 5000 in satyam shares on the recommendation of my father. A few months later th returns were so phenomenally high that this guy now runs his own successful and content life. All thanks to the “satyam dream”.

i truly echo with your point here.
Every man is driven by a greed( for sucess/money etc.)
But there are very few who are able to keep the greed within the boundaries of morality.
In case of Raju, the greed won over.
Raju is a man at the end of the day.
But his achievements surpass his failure, n i am sure given a second chance he’ll do a phoenix.

By: Prashanth Hegde

Prashanth Hegde — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:07:42 +0000

Hmmm.
This is indeed an interesting read. I did not know that there were so many loopholes in Satyam. This article was written with more of an emotional point of view. But let me explain why, even looking in an emotional point of view, it would be a wrong judgement to take Satyam’s side.

After reading this, I feel that the employees betrayed Satyam, if not Raju. I don’t say that all the employees are like this. I am refering to only those employees who are not loyal to their work. It is not only Satyam which has lost, employees of Satyam also have lost. Let me explain why:

Satyam is not a match finding company to find the right partners for its employees. Satyam is an IT company. Its employees are supposed to do technology development/maintenance instead of finding their matches and preparing for some exams.

And Satyam was not doing a favour by employing so many people and helping their families. Satyam was doing business. Hey Satyam Employee, Satyam gave you your daily bread and sustained your families. What did you give back to Satyam?

When the employees are not loyal to their work, they will not learn new technologies and the tactics of working in a corporate world. Now, after the Satyam debacle, if they are to attend an interview for a new job, how are they going to face the interview and convince the interviewer they are capable of carrying the work on their shoulders? If also they get another job, will they be able to do justice to their new job with their limited knowledge/experience? People who were working well in Satyam will somehow thrive and flourish – no doubt about that. But they are not the majority.

It is not a matter of shame to employ graduates with 50-60% of marks. They could have been honed to be the top executives in the industry. Let us not forget that the topmost people in this world like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs did not even complete their graduation and Warren Buffet did a very limited amount of schooling.

If the managers were not able to trace whether the employees were present or not, if the managers did not ensure all their employees did not get the required knowledge/experience, then the managers were doing damage to their subordinates as well as the firm in an indirect way. One might argue that with such a huge strength, it is difficult to maintain and monitor all of its employees, but frankly, there are companies which are tracking a bigger number of employees successfully. It is only a system that has to come into place and everything would run smooth. The absence of such a system means the failure of the Human resource officials.
So Basically, the Satyam employees have failed Satyam in every level and in every aspect. I totally agree that blaming Raju alone would be a bad proposition.

But honestly speaking, (I am not harsh here, I am on the side of the failed employees) it is a good thing that has happened. A hollow tree has fallen down. It is time for every employee to introspect and stand up for his/her company. Also, Nature’s law is to punish the wrong doers, or it would be an injustice on the part of hardworkers and the society. So it is rightful that this hollow tree has fallen down, and a new, healthy tree can be grown in this place.
I hope that there is a lesson to be learned from such a debacle and correct ourselves so that a healthy society can be built. Because it is only after removing the weeds, a good crop can be grown.

Regards