MYSURU: The ability of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to handle issues and solve them swiftly is the reason behind the success of the space exploration agency, said its former chairman K Radhakrishnan.
Speaking at the foundation day lecture at the Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Institute for Management Development here on Friday, Radhakrishnan quoted the recent postponement of Chandrayaan 2 mission and said though the mission was delayed due to a small leak, what is remarkable is ISROs ability to swiftly correct the issue and be ready for a launch in a week.
The former ISRO chairman also offered management lessons to the students including the ISRO’s work culture.
“ISRO’s work culture is such that the credit for every successful project or mission is given to the entire team whereas in the event of a failure, the leader of the team takes up the responsibility,” he said.
He said another element of ISROs work culture is the liberty to raise questions regardless of the rank.
“Every launch and project is executed with the help of our elders, including former chairpersons and scientists. However, even a junior engineer has the right to raise a question which will be considered with the same importance,” he added.
Responding to a query on management lessons from ISRO, he said wisdom of elders and innovative power of youngsters are the two management tenets one should always consider and added that a leader should always be ready to get challenged and should make everyone feel that the goals of the organisation are their own.
The former chairman also had HR lessons for the management students while responding to a question on the HR practices in ISRO.