Wings of fire - Sir APJ ABDUL KALAM Wings of fire | Page 116

motivational inventory of a leader is made up of three types of understanding : an understanding of the needs that people expect to satisfy in their jobs , an understanding of the effect that job design has on motivation , and an understanding of the power of positive reinforcement in influencing people ’ s behaviour .
The 1983 re-organization was done with the objective of renewal : it was indeed a very complex exercise handled deftly by AV Ranga Rao and Col R Swaminathan . We created a team of newly-joined young scientists with just one experienced person and gave them the challenge of building the strap-down inertial guidance system , an onboard computer and a ram rocket in propulsion system . These exercises were being attempted for the first time in the country , and the technology involved was comparable with world-class systems . The guidance technology is centred around the gyro and accelerometer package , and electronics , to process the sensor output . The on-board computer carries the mission computations and flight sequencing . A ram rocket system breathes air to sustain its high velocity for long durations after it is put through a booster rocket . The young teams not only designed these systems but also developed them into operational equipment . Later Prithvi and then Agni used similar guidance systems , with excellent results . The effort of these young teams made the country self-reliant in the area of protected technologies . It was a good demonstration of the ‘ renewal factor ’. Our intellectual capacity was renewed through contact with enthusiastic young minds and had achieved these outstanding results .
Now , besides the renewal of manpower , emphasis had to be laid on augmenting the strength of project groups . Often people seek to satisfy their social , egoistic , and selfactualization needs at their workplaces . A good leader must identify two different sets of environmental features . One , which satisfies a person ’ s needs and the other , which creates dissatisfaction with his work . We have already observed that people look for those characteristics in their work that relate to the values and goals which they consider important as giving meaning to their lives . If a job meets the employees ’ need for achievement , recognition , responsibility , growth and advancement , they will work hard to achieve goals .
Once the work is satisfying , a person then looks at the environment and circumstances in the workplace . He observes the policies of the administration , qualities of his leader , security , status and working conditions . Then , he correlates these factors to the inter-personal relations he has with his peers and examines his personal life in the light of these factors . It is the agglomerate of all these aspects that decides the degree and quality of a person ’ s effort and performance .
The matrix organization evolved in 1983 proved excellent in meeting all these requirements . So , while retaining this structure of the laboratory , we undertook a task-design exercise . The scientists working in technology directorates were made system managers to interact exclusively with one project . An external fabrication wing was formed under PK Biswas , a developmental fabrication technologist of long standing , to deal with the public sector undertakings ( PSUs ) and private sector firms associated with the development of the missile hardware . This reduced pressure on the in-house fabrication facilities and enabled them to concentrate on jobs which could not be undertaken outside , which in fact occupied all the three shifts .