BY ISA ISMAIL

NATURAL rubber is Tan Sri B. C. Sekhar's primary passion. When
the government recently proposed setting up a
multi-million-ringgit sports academy in Brickendonbury, it was
the former chair of both the Rubber Research Institute and the
International Rubber Research and Development Board who had
voiced the most credible and irrefutable objection to the plan.

Sekhar had pointed out legal and historical facts showing that
the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre is, among others, not owned
by the Malaysian government and that the land at Brickendonbury
may not be used for anything else other than the development and
study of natural rubber and related materials.


 
Fondly known as Mr Natural Rubber, Sekhar is not quite your
average corporate captain of industry.

Admitted into the Court of Fellows of the Malaysian Institute of
Management on April 15, 1977, Sekhar has also served as
President of both the Malaysian Scientific Association and the
Institute of Chemistry.

This is to be expected as Sekhar had graduated in chemistry from
the University of Delhi and later received a United States
government fellowship to study polymer chemistry at the
University of Michigan.

For his contributions to science and for his steadfast
dedication to managing his research centre, Sekhar has received
numerous awards and accolades. These include the Colwyn Medal
(1969), the Ramon Magsaysay Award (1973), the Tun Abdul Razak
Award (1982) and the Second Asian Science Lecture Award from the
Academy of Science, India (2004).

A research scientist and academic through and through, Sekhar
lends a rather different approach to management, having been a
leader among the country's top researchers in the field of
natural rubber.

Rebel to Convention

"I'm a rebel to convention," proclaims Sekhar who started his
career as assistant chemist at the Rubber Research Institute of
Malaysia (RRIM) in 1949. There were no vacancies at the time but
Sekhar's numerous "searching queries" were enough to impress the
two English officers who promptly offered him a job.

Sekhar went on to become the first Director of the RRIM (in
1966) and later Chairman of the Malaysian Rubber Research
Development Board. Many distinguished positions and awards
later, Sekhar is still involved in rubber and holds strong views
on the management of fellow researchers.

Leader, not commander

"The director for research is a person who leads rather than a
person who commands," opines Sekhar.

When he was heading the RRI, Sekhar would get his research staff
to come to his house in batches.

After accepting Sekhar's offer for drinks, these researchers
would be more predisposed to tell Sekhar everything he wanted to
know.

To the wily director of research, it was a win-win situation:
"You help your staff let their steam out and you get in return
information that you're looking for," argues Sekhar on his own
home-grown management style.

Management is not about knowing "how" but knowing "what".
Researchers, those who know "how", are all cogs in a wheel. The
manager who is the person who sees the larger picture brings
these cogs together in the wheel and makes the wheel go around.

Objectives must be clear, Sekhar iterates, especially when there
is competition. He cites that when synthetic rubber was becoming
the rage, he led his researchers to make sure that weaknesses of
natural rubber were reduced to maintain their attraction in the
market place. As a result, the RRIM created 37 grades of natural
rubber to cater for the various needs of industry.



Managing Researchers

It is easy to assume that managing highly qualified researchers
is much like a conductor leading the members of a world-class
symphony orchestra or a chief of surgery leading a team of
medical specialists. Everyone knows their role and require
minimal supervision.

Sekhar, however, doesn't agree with this.

"Management in research is an art in itself," he says.

"Researchers want to tell you what they are up to all the time.
You ought to listen to everything they have to say and then make
some contributions."

Researchers, Sekhar explains, get a thrill out of this kind of
interaction - where ideas are elaborated in full and honest
feedback is given. In research, one cannot merely be a regular
manager and just ask the researcher for a summary of his ideas.

But much has changed since the time Sekhar began his career.
Unlike today's graduates who ask about entitlement to a car
loan, housing and other allowances during the job interview,
researchers of yesteryear began their careers under different
motivating factors.

"In those days you would be keen on getting a research programme
to undertake for yourself," says Sekhar. "And you'd get a high
when your research goes well."

Creating Centres of Excellence

In his paper presented to the Organisation of Islamic Countries,
Sekhar had rather cheekily come up with three "Sekhar's Laws" of
research management modelled after the Laws of Thermodynamics
(see chart).

But unlike the First Law of Thermodynamics, which says matter
can neither be created nor destroyed, Sekhar's First Law is that
a scientific institution can be created and destroyed.

The second Sekhar's Law is that centres of R&D excellence can
not only be created, but also sustained and enhanced.

The final Sehkar's Law states that visionary leadership, and
scientific excellence coupled with giving scientific thinking
unhindered wings, unrestricted by bureaucracy and financial
instability generates an intuitive, innovative, creative and
inventive society.

In order to achieve the required critical mass necessary for an
R&D centre of excellence, the following ingredients are crucial:

· Necessary human resource
· Adequate facilities
· Stable financing
· An understanding of current political leadership
· The national relevance of R&D and operative efficiency
· Independent audit of relevance and progress
· Sustaining and improving visionary scientific leadership

Maintenance Culture

One "administrative" task that gets special mention from Sekhar
is maintenance of equipment in his research centre. This is
important because resources are often limited.

Sekhar cites the example of one researcher who had asked to buy
a new microscope saying that the lenses on the old one had
cracked. However, it was found that the microscope was in
perfect working order and that the "cracks" the researcher had
seen were just cobwebs.

On improving productivity

As the success and profitability of the private sector is
sustained by innovative science and technology through their
people, Sekhar argues for a socio-economic conscience among
corporations towards their workforce.

Instrumental in establishing monthly wage at statutory rates for
all labour in RRIM plantations in response to the appeal of the
RRI staff union, Sekhar made the following remarks in a paper he
presented at the Asia Science lecture in 2003:

"This conscience must be manifested in apportioning a percentage
of profits 'to benefit the workforce that shows loyalty,
productivity and maintains high standards in morality and
quality.

"With such incentives, the Asian worker productivity factor can
match and exceed that of the West. Without such increase in
productivity of the workers, competition from the industrialised
countries cannot be overcome."

Sekhar retired from the RRIM in 1987 and has taken on new roles
including as Secretary General of the International Rubber Study
Group, based in the United Kingdom until 1993.

Nonetheless, he is adamant that much must be done to bring
Malaysia's many research centres back to the level of excellence
that they once enjoyed. And there is no other short cut to
achieve this except hard work, dedication, giving ample
attention to fellow researchers and cultivating a healthy
maintenance culture.
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