BHUBANESWAR: The scintillating turnaround of Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) from a sick Government undertaking to a profit-making public enterprise under the leadership of top cop Binoy Behera has become an academic treatise at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A).
Recognising management techniques and astute leadership of current Additional Director General (ADG), Training and Director, of Biju Patnaik State Police Academy, Binoy Behera - who headed the dying enterprise from 2003 to 2008 - the top management institute has included his case study in MBA syllabus.
The IIM-A case study traces the course of OSRTC over the last half century, attributing the decline to wrong decisions of the State Government on mergers, short-term stop-gap arrangements, indiscriminate privatisation, poor implementation of schemes and corruption among others.
In 2003, the situation was so dismal that the Government decided to close down the Corporation and appointed IPS Officer Binoy Behera to preside over the closure. In six years as Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD), Behera was able to revive the Corporation by avoiding mistakes, improving work culture and operational efficiency, cracking down on corruption and releasing value of immovable assets. The case describes the steps taken by Behera to transform the Corporation and prevent closure, the IIM-A paper summarises.
“Some of the innovative steps in management drew the attention of the premier institute. Making it a case study in syllabus for MBA students is unique as Government-owned undertakings are seldom found worthy of being discussed, let alone taught as management lessons. In all humility, this is a greater recognition for me than anything I’ve achieved in my career,” Behera said.
Behera’s achievements have also found special mention in a chapter on ‘Leadership’ in the global bestseller on corporate management “Organisational Behaviour”, co-authored by Stephen Robbins of San Diego University, Timothy Judge of University of Notre Dame and Neharika Vohra of IIM-A. Prescribed as text book in management institutes, the chapter actually advances a new contingency leadership theory called ‘Situational leadership theory’ based on the innovative style of functioning and management of the almost defunct enterprise by Behera.
OSRTC today runs on profit, commanding a prime space in the State’s public transport scene. It plies around 428 vehicles on 170 routes touching remote parts of Odisha. In 2012-13, the Corporation covered 320.53 lakh km transporting over 57.21 lakh passengers and earning more than `64.32 crore.