An Interview with

Mr. Santanu Banerjee ,

Finance Superintendent (Managerial level)
ITC (Tobacco division).
Phone No. 98305 75478
Appointed on 21.06.2008.
I started the interview with Mr. Banerjee by knowing from him
that he is a middle level manager who is happy and satisfied with
hi performance so far. The work he is doing includes, i) Credit
Controlling, ii) Payable Handling, iii) Supervision of Work, iv)
Approving of Vouchers and controlling other areas. As he is
Finance department the works done by him is mainly accounts
and fund related. Credit controlling and approving vouchers are
very important and tough to handle, because these two needs
very nit and conscious analysis. For executing this entire works
Mr. Banerjee follows certain systems, among which the most
important two are Six Sigma and maintaining Dash Board.
Six Sigma, which was developed by Motorola
corp. in 1988, is basically, a process quality goal. As such it falls
into the category of a process capability technique.
Dash Board is nothing but
performance evaluation of the subordinates throughout a
particular period of time. It is an overview of the work done for a
project in due time.
When I asked Mr. Banerjee
about the kind of skills he requires, he divided the skill factor in
two categories. First is Conceptual Skills which includes i)
Planning ii) Controlling iii) Organizing iv) Leading etc. These are
the basic skills which every manager should have. The second
one is Technical Skills which are particularly required in his post
are, i) Fluency in English, ii) Adequate Knowledge about the
Market, iii) Knowledge of SAP ( System Application & Products)
and iv) Very good Knowledge on Microsoft XL.
 According to him there is a massive change
in the managers of today with the managers of 5 to 6 years back
from now. He stated that past managers has more detailed
knowledge and experience about the different fields then those of
today. Their conceptual knowledge has more depth. But as the
work flow has changed heavily, today’s managers are more
advance and well equipped. In the past managers had to go
through all the levels to reach the top slots. But now a day’s short
cut are available. If you have the right degree for the right job
then the top slots are available for you.
He stated that there are
two groups of subordinates. First is Union staffs, who are mainly
into clerical and production units. The other one is Nonunion
staffs. To maintain a good relationship with them a friendly
atmosphere is must and also constant communication to be
maintained.
I asked him about any crisis
he faced and how to cope with those situations. In reply he told
that once there was an inadequacy of labour to complete a
project. The project required some specialized labour to execute.
But due to the non availability Mr. Banerjee and his boss had to
manage by completing the work by other labour. This is a good
example of resource management.
According to him the main
conflict areas are in the root of management and the solutions
should be as simple as possible. For example to solve any
problem of (petty cash system) maintain a Fund Management
System. If there is any flaw in planning then solve it by
implementing the correction it to all unites of the company.
Mr. Banerjee told that to be a
good manager you need to be a good learner of your
surroundings and should consider every detail very carefully. You
need to be loyal towards your company and work. The most
important thing for you is to maintain secrecy.
 At the end he confessed that
he is a proud man for what he had achieved and to him the best
part of the job is, he is an approving authority.

By

Debashis Mondal

Roll No. 14

Bennis.

Dated: 06.09.2009