However, change is extremely difficult to bring about. Most times we do not realise that change may be impossible in companies because there are many silent, but effective, barricades to change. They are like the Great Barrier Reef, which breaks the mighty ocean waves and renders them harmless.

Who or what are these great barriers to organisational change? How does one identify them in organisations so that a few heads can be shed if the corporation is to be saved? Here are 10 criteria that can be used as guide-posts

1. "Let's recruit from third-tier colleges-they are more loyal," the vice-president of a company always repeated this mantra. According to him, students from first- and second-tier colleges were high fliers. They would not stay with the company. Students from third-tier colleges, on the other hand, were less ambitious and therefore more loyal.

What the vice-president did not realise was that third-rate employees would only create a third-rate company. "If you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys", goes an old saying. First-grade employees are worth the money spent on them, even if they don't stay long with the company, because they will take the company forward.

2. "We cannot increase our salary levels." This from an old company, established 50 years ago, which was getting non-competitive in their salary structure. Raises came at a steady 10-15 percent every year, with an occasional double promotion. Was it time to review the salary structure? "I don't think we need to do that," said the personnel director. "If we grant a 15 per cent increase across the board to everyone, that will be more than what the employees expect."

"Let's begin with entry level salaries," counters the operations director. "We cannot attract good people at Rs 5,000. We must increase this to Rs 8,000 for IIT engineers." The personnel director responds, "Do you know that in 1962, I started at only Rs 400 per month. New entrants with no experience must know that they are being paid to learn. I think we are being generous to a fault." This was another aborted attempt to get good talent at a fair price in today's environment.

3. "Promotions are too fast!" The vice-president, marketing, said, "Samir expects a promotion every year. He seems to want to become the vice-president in 10 years. He is too ambitious. We will have to clip his wings." Naturally, Samir will hot-foot it to another company, where he can rise at the pace at which he works.

4. "This is a career-death trap. Look at me!" There are many managers at the middle management level who have risen in the hierarchy out of sheer weight of years, not because of their contribution. They are loyal to the company, but they are loyal because they cannot go elsewhere. "This company does not reward loyalty," they tell their juniors. "You should not waste your life like I have. Go away before it is too late! Join a company that will offer you the opportunity you deserve."

5. "The competition is an air bubble. It will soon burst. We have a long history." Some senior managers have a sense of complacency. Like Winston Churchill, they believe that it takes four generations to make a gentleman.

And so too with companies. Group president Shyam feels pedigree is more important than ability.

Unfortunately, customers do not always think along similar lines. They want something different, something new, better, perhaps cheaper, or more convenient. Where are the big units of India of 30 years ago? Gone up in smoke, while the new crop of Reliance, Infosys and Wipro are sprouting tall and strong on the industrial firmament.

6. "Our quality has been accepted for 40 years, as our sales show. How can it be below par now?" The managing director of a company that had been in business for 70 years, said this to me when I told him about consumer complaints. He was overlooking the fact that the company had existed hitherto in a controlled economy where demand was greater than supply.

Consumers took what they could get. But today's liberalised environment is different. Customers have been exposed to the world's best. They want full value for their money. Companies all over the world are hammering down costs to lower prices and give customers the best value for money. Nothing but the best will do.

7. "Indiscipline is a reflection of lack of top management control." This has ruined many companies. Some managers believe that it is necessary to approve every expense voucher and every decision at the top two levels. When this is not done, precedents are set, which later cause the company problems. Take, for example, Jatinbabu, the chairman of a large conglomerate, who always checks the monthly accounts of the canteen and the guest house. He is convinced that the maximum leaks occur in these two areas. That 13 of his 16 companies are making huge losses and that the net worth of the conglomerate is shrinking every month, is not as important to him.

Max Weber and the Bureaucratic System of Management is still practiced in the world and seems specially relevant to our country. There must be a proper hierarchy, there must be firm rules and regulations and a system of communication, preferably in writing.

8. "We are doing our best and you must appreciate this." The company, a conglomerate of four companies, was in the doldrums. In fact, only one of the companies was making big losses, but these losses were so huge, they were negating the profits of the other companies.

But the chairman was reluctant to sack the director of the loss-making unit because he was one of those who had founded the company 25 years ago. The DIC was running the plant by remote control from 200 km away. What was needed was close supervision and day to day control. The inability of the company's top management to address these obvious challenges brought the unit and the whole conglomerate to a grinding halt. But at every monthly review meeting, the DIC said the same thing: "We are doing our best. The competitive environment and government policies are against us!" The DIC was not seeking solutions, he was seeking excuses, which were, unfortunately, being accepted.

9. "We have managed without R&D for 40 years. And anyway, we cannot afford R&D." No modern company can afford to be static in either product or packaging. In the past, a standard model would last you a few decades. But this does not work any longer. Company staff may feel they are not in global competition because they do not sell their products overseas. But in 2000 AD, globalisation touches everyone, even those operating in the domestic market.

The cellphone user sees new, foldable pocket models; the buyer of shoes wants more modern styles, the shampoo user wants anti-dandruff action; the automobile buyer wants automatic gears. The list is endless. And the solution lies in anticipative marketing. Not even responsive marketing is enough. And delayed reactive marketing can be the beginning of a fatal corporate disease.

10. "Effectiveness at production and finance ensure success for the corporation." Many companies have worked successfully on the basis of this hypothesis for years. Working at 100 per cent of the installed capacity reduces the overhead per unit, thus reducing costs and increasing profit margins. Squeezing out 120 per cent of the installed capacity is even better, although in the process, it may squeeze the life out of the facility. In an age of capacity licensing in a planned economy, these concepts worked well. But no longer.

In a competitive economy, or worse in a global competitive economy, such a focus on production or on finance, can be fatal. The focus now has to be on the customer-what he wants, where he wants it and at what price.

Many times it may be more profitable to work at 60 per cent of production capacity. If the product is designed to match the targeted customer's self-image, then the company can charge a much higher price and the customer will be willing to pay. In these circumstances, the profit can be much higher than working at full capacity.

A mental fixation on production and finances while forgetting to focus on the consumer who is the reason for the existence of the corporation, is another reef, that can play havoc with corporate goals in the new environment.

These are the barrier reefs that you will come across in most organisations. The theory of change management talks of the four stages in the change process, beginning with resistance to change. But this stage of active and obvious resistance is never reached, because subtle and covert resistance keeps working successfully for many years.

(Walter Vieira is president, Marketing Advisory Services, Mumbai)