Moving on from Ceylon Ceramics Corporation

Lessons from my career: Synthesising management theory with practice – Part 16

- BY SUNIL G WIJESINHA

The previous episodes described my experiences at Ceylon Ceramics during the one-year contract period. It was both challenging and rewarding at the same time. The external environment was quite concerning, being responsible for the lives of 4,500 employees who were under stress caused by the threats of the southern rebels. One of our employees working on reforestation (because our brick and tile factories used substantial firewood, we had undertaken reforestation to compensate) was shot dead.

At our Piliyandala factory, someone had lit a triangular firecracker in the post box opposite it, and our workers on the night shift were dead scared, presuming it was a bomb. I was up till early hours of the morning coordinating with the factory and the police station. Our transformer had to be protected with special arrangements with the Navy. Many of our executives received threatening letters. The Board informed me that, as the CEO, I was responsible for handling these threats and should not expect Board intervention. The whole institution was on edge, wondering what the next disruption would be. Despite the turbulent environment, I was able to make a significant impact and turn the Corporation into a well-managed one.

I learned how to handle subordinates who were much older and experienced. My multidisciplinary knowledge, with qualifications in Engineering, Accountancy, and Productivity Science, rounded out with an MBA, was a great advantage. Despite being less than 40 years old, they respected my superior knowledge. I also learned how to navigate from one crisis to another, and my training in Japan proved very useful, particularly with techniques like behaviour modelling and respecting all employees. No doubt I learned much from the subordinates as well, who had superior technical knowledge and much more experience in handling labour and unions than I did.