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Part - III

Sun Tzu talks about planning as a prime component of success. According to him, ‘The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his mind where the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. It is by attention to this point that can foresee who is likely to win or lose.’ Thus, war is not an affair of chance. A great deal of knowledge, study and meditation is necessary to conduct it well.

He underlines 3 ways by which a general can bring misfortune upon his army: -

• By commanding the army to advance or to retreat, being ignorant of the fact that it cannot obey. This is called hobbling the army. This only reflects on how disconnected the leader is with his organization and his employees and their skills. Modern organizations stress on the need for a healthy, open culture which emphasizes on decentralization and greater accountability to the employees.

• By attempting to govern an army in the same way as he administers a kingdom, being ignorant of the conditions which prevail in an army. This causes restlessness in the soldiers' minds.. So, in warfare there are no constant conditions that lead to victory. One only needs to be prepared to adapt to change and to the unforeseen attacks.

• By employing the officers of his army without discrimination, through ignorance of the military principle of adaptation to circumstances. This shakes the confidence of the soldiers. Hence, know your men well and be constantly on the alert for potential leaders - you never know how soon you may need them. Delegate authority and not responsibility. Train the followers so that you can trust them to do any job delegated to them.

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* Contributed by: -
Minu Batish,
PGP 2003-05,
TAPMI, Manipal,
Published in Bi-annual Journal of TAPMI - 'Amartya'.