Satish Mandalia, Founder and CEO of Autorounders Technology Pvt. Ltd. Zealously supports No Sir No Madam drive. Autorounders is a multi-brand car services network that offers comprehensive post-sales assistance, including regular maintenance, car spa, denting, and painting repairs.
Satish is a certified chartered accountant from ICFAI academy. He has worked in several domains before realizing, finance is not the field that interests him. Satish eventually quit his corporate job as VP Big Bazaar Direct and ventured on Auto rounders to be an entrepreneur.
He believes that company runs because of people involved in its operations.Therefore, when you are toiling asa team, there should not be any disparity between the team-members. Consequently, he has implemented No Sir No Madam culture in his firm.
Satish states — I have a small team in my organization. There are people who have quit their previous jobs, where “Sir/Madam” custom was prevalent. As a result, they take time to adapt to a salutation-ridden tradition.
Satish continues, “I have noticed a person is more relaxed and expressive when communicating on a first-name basis. Whereas, the other individual who has to address his colleagues and seniors with salutation, always feels suppressed and is not able to share his or her views.”
In continuation, he is fortunate that he never had to follow any salutation edict. Satish narrates — I used to work very closely with the CEO, and I never had to address him as “Sir”. We would always converse with each other on a first-name basis. I reckon that salutation custom makes the workplace feel very archaic and ceremonial.
On other hand, corresponding without any salutations makes you feel connected to the person and makes it easier for you to approach anyone.
Even in his organization, people who come for interviews are informed not to address the interviewee or any other person with the salutation. Satish enumerates, “Whenever we have a person coming for an interview, especially freshers, they are nervous. I make it a point to let them know about our casual workplace culture and about the salutation-free custom.
You can see the change in their body-language, once you start conversing with them without displaying your hierarchy. They start talking more about their experiences and are more confident.”
Furthermore, Satish shares his insights and encounters while dealing with government officials. He voices — Anyone who has been given authority by the government feels entitled to demand respect. I have seen people addressing their seniors with a prefix “shri” and a suffix of “sir” in the same sentence.
Even in the public finance department, people are very egoistic about being addressed with a salutation. You have to adjust yourself to refer them with a formal obeisance, if you want your work to be completed by them. However, I do not understand why we have to impose such compulsions. As the government employees are paid for their job, and it is their duty to do so without demanding anything.
Moreover, salutation edict has plagued the country and created further inequality within the society. In India, people are judged on the basis of their income. Subsequently, there is a sense of inferiority among blue-collar workers. Satish remarks, “We being citizens of the same country should have a right to be treated equally.”
I remember, recently, the watchman of my office building lost his wallet and was frantically searching for it. On noticing him, I went and inquired about his trouble. He told me that he had lost his wallet. On further inquiring, I found out that, he had eighty rupees in his wallet and did not have any money for traveling back home.
I offered him some money, which at first he was reluctant to accept. I even told him that, he could approach me for any help whenever required. I was happy to see that he had a big smile on his face, when I told him so.”
It is motivating to see someone go out of their way and help such people, whom others often ignore. Even though we depend hugely on petty-job workers for our day-to-day chores, few actually give them the respect they deserve.
To spread awareness about equality and respect, Satish suggests teaching about No Sir No Madam culture in schools. “Kids should be taught to respect people irrespective of financial background. This will go a long way in molding them to be respectful and empathetic adults.” No Sir No Madam doctrine with its many agendas, is working on teaching kids on how to treat everyone equally.
Satish winds up by quoting — Respect people based on their quality of work rather how much they earn.”
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