Some thoughts on the day of Viswakarma Puja

I am joining Well Logging Department on 1^st October, 2012. It will be a new beginning for me in the department. I am going to bring some positive changes to the department.

When Head Personnel told me sometimes back that I have to join my parent department after completion of my project, I was not surprised. It did not create any kind of negative feeling in me. When I was going through my studies in MDI, many a times it came to my mind that I can bring changes to my department with my learning. When I was going through my learning sessions, I always tried to correlate my learning with my experiences and it really helped. My only experience is in Well Logging Department. So it came to my mind that I may be able to bring some changes to the way we work in Well Logging Department with my new learning. When I was told that I have to go back to the department, I thanked God for giving me an opportunity to make my dreams come true.

Today, I was really touched by the attachments that the workmen showed to me. They remember so many things from the past. Good words that I said to them and helps that I offered to them are fondly remembered by them. Some of them even I failed to recollect. It was a wonderful experience for me when I came to know how much they love and respect me. That is my treasure. I am fortunate that I will have a chance to work with these people again and I am confident that I will be able to bring some positive changes for them.

One of the main areas where I have to give my attention is building the communication bridge. It was hurting to see that the gap between the workers and the engineers had widened. This gap has to be reduced at any cost. I have some plans in my mind which I am sure will help me to bridge the gaps. From my interactions I understood that the workers feel alienated when they see that they even don’t know the names of the new engineers and do not recognize them. It is also a failure of the senior people in the department that the juniors are not properly groomed. I observed that there is a cultural shift taking place. The new incumbents no longer feel that they have to gel up with the people in the workshop. I asked myself why this cultural shift is taking place. One of the reasons may be that they the new generation people feel that they need not learn anything from the workers as they can easily learn from the internet. Another aspect may be that they are too busy in their involvement in internet and other activities and they do not consider mixing with the workmen as an important task. Again, the senior people should come forward to guide the juniors so that the existing bond between the workers and the officers do not break down. The reason why the senior people are not doing their part in this may be the feeling of frustration and lack of motivation. The absence of challenges and lack of recognition of the hard work of the people are some important factors that are demotivating people in the department. This is a hard nut to crack. But we should strive to create such an environment within the department in which everyone feels important and derive pleasure from his work.

I appreciate the feeling of camaraderie and fellow feeling shown by S N Singh sir when he invited some of us in the department for a couple of drinks and snacks. It was really a nice gesture shown by him and the way he made the gathering lively is appreciable.