On the last day of my service in Army uniform , I had to introduce a guest speaker from the Army Ordnance Corps [ AOC] to a batch of senior executives undergoing a training program in management at our Alma Mater MCEME at Secunderabad where I was performing the duties of Dean of the Industrial Engineering department .
Our Technical Corps [ EME ] and AOC worked complimentary to each other , the AOC in charge of procurement and we in charge of maintenance and repairs to military equipment . We were bound to clash at many points of crisis and at times blame each other for equipment outages in the field army .
I touched upon this trend and told my students that from my thirty years of Army experience , one take away I can offer before I retire is that they should all be aware that it is possible to maintain three different levels in relationship – in the instant case with AOC . It can be adversarial [ we can blame each other till the cows come home !] , it can be symbiotic [ I scratch your back and you do it for me when the need arises] or it can be a synergistic effort to fully achieve the mission of the Army . It was entirely upto us – both AOC and the EME .
When I reflect on this after 15 years now , I see a very deep meaning to my extempore advice then . It is a lesson for life and goes much beyond the realms of management or work .