In India we have the habit of choosing short-cuts to doing things which we like to call ‘Jugaad’. Unfortunately, the word has been misconstrued to mean resourceful and has been promoted as the right way to doing thing.
Jugaad is an inefficient way of doing something and in the long run detrimental to the organization. At a very early stage, when resources are lacking or absent, it might be effective to get around problems; but in established or growth stage jugaad can be extremely detrimental.
I will illustrate this with an example:
When cricketers use a bat, the bat tends to start chipping after a while because of the repeated impact of the ball on the bat. In order to protect the bat, players often cover their bats with bat tape, which ensures the integrity of the bat. A jugaad in this case would be to use duct tape, if the right type of tape is not available. Not the optimum solution, but it might help you get around.
Similarly, in planes, especially around the wings there are times that small cracks or loosening of screw takes place. In such cases, repairs are undertaken using what is called ‘Speed Tape’. The tape looks like duct tape but is way more stronger and can withstand high speed usage. It keeps the plane together
Would you like the jugaad approach here? Would you get on a plane where duct tape was used instead?
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