Beacons of Business - 5

[Guest guest]

Sairam Sisters and Brothers,

Today we will see a quote from S. K. Welling, Executive Director, HMT

International Ltd. (a wholly owned subsidiary of HMT Ltd. a public sector,

government owned, corporation), Bangalore, India.

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"When I was the Executive Director of HMT International, there was an internal

advertisement put out to recruit and fill some open positions within the

international division. There were several people whom the Chairman wanted to

have placed into these positions as a favour to him.

The day the interviews were called, the union leaders came to my office, about

twenty of them, in order to put pressure on me not to hire these specific

people. I called them all into my office, and they began to shout and tell me

how these two people should not be hired because of pressure from the Chairman.

 

I first told them: "You should leave this to me. I will not accept these two

just because there is pressure from the Chairman. Nor will I not take these two

fellows just because you are saying that I should not take them. I will apply my

own mind, my own judgment, and I will only go by the merits in each case. I will

see how they fare in the interview and where they stand and I will take my

decision from that. If you think that I am going to take them based on pressure

from the Chairman, I am the last one to do that. I would resign and go away

instead. And just because you are saying that I should not take these two

fellows, I will not bow to your pressure either. I will not work under pressure

from either of you."

Once I said this, they all calmed down. Then I invited them to sit and have

coffee, and we were able to talk harmoniously."

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