Modern day approach to management is too methodical. Almost everything, tangible or otherwise is tried to be quantified and set within a mathematical formula, and every other business function is derived by said formula. Want to know how much raise to give to an employee? Use a particular formula! Want to know why an employee isn’t being so productive? Use a formula! Such behaviour really makes one think of corporations as human robot breeding machines, no wonder there is a term “corporate drone” in existence.

In the quest to quantify everything as a measure to perfect operational efficiency, qualitative ethos such as morals, integrity, loyalty etc are codified in most large corporations. While it does look good on paper, it seriously undermines the human aspect of work. On the one hand, such a measurement rewards the hardworking, regular and punctual employee, while on the other, it can wrongfully penalize someone for doing something they thought was right at the moment, without taking into consideration the entire situation. After all, ethics is an extremely subjective topic to deal with.

Let’s take an example of this. Mr X works as the safety inspector at a power plant. He is responsible to check whether everything is running smoothly or not, and if anything is wrong, a sharp red light flashes on his computer screen, at which point he must notify the concerned repairman immediately. As such, in theory, he’s barred from leaving his chair even for a moment. There’s a window in his office that gives a nice view of the street.