Management Approach

Agha Hasan Abedi developed a progressive approach to management that placed people, shared purpose, human development and institutional values at the centre of organisational success. Within BCCI, this approach became known as Real Management.

Abedi did not regard management simply as administration, supervision or the achievement of financial targets. He believed that an organisation could achieve lasting progress only when its people understood its purpose, identified with a common vision and were given the opportunity to develop their own abilities.

Employees were therefore not expected merely to follow instructions or perform narrowly defined duties. They were encouraged to recognise their potential, think independently, accept responsibility, develop confidence and contribute actively to the progress of the institution.

This approach influenced not only BCCI’s management philosophy but also its organisational structure, training programmes, staff development, international assignments and working culture.

Developing the Whole Person

Abedi believed that management should concern itself with the development of the whole person.

Professional knowledge and technical competence were essential, but in his view they were not sufficient on their own. They had to be accompanied by confidence, creativity, discipline, integrity, humility, concern for others and an understanding of the wider purpose of the institution.

His objective was to create an environment in which individuals could develop personally and professionally while working collectively towards objectives greater than their immediate jobs.

This idea was later reflected in BCCI’s training programmes. Training was not confined to teaching banking procedures. The Bank made a deliberate distinction between training, which developed professional skills, and development, which concerned broader human personality and potential. BCCI nevertheless regarded the two as inseparable.

Abedi’s approach therefore anticipated ideas now widely associated with employee empowerment, leadership development, flatter organisational structures and investment in human capability.

A Shared Vision and Purpose

A central feature of Abedi’s approach was the belief that an institution’s vision should be understood and shared throughout the organisation.

In his 1984 address on The Essence of Real Management, Abedi argued that good management required not only clearly defined objectives but a purpose capable of becoming the joint will of the manager and the managed.

Leadership was therefore not intended to remain concentrated entirely at the top.

Employees at different levels were encouraged to see themselves as participants in the Bank’s progress and as members of an international organisation united by shared objectives.

Managers were expected to communicate purpose, develop people and create conditions in which employees could take responsibility rather than merely receive instructions.

This was particularly important in BCCI because the Bank operated across very different countries, cultures and economic environments.

Trust, Delegation and Responsibility

Abedi’s management approach sought to reduce unnecessary hierarchy and replace excessive central control with trust, participation, decentralisation and delegated responsibility.

In his description of Real Management, he argued for multi-leadership, greater autonomy and a Head Office that performed a support function rather than simply exercising control. He described this approach as replacing the traditional management pyramid with a more balanced relationship between people and operating units.

This did not mean an absence of accountability.

Rather, autonomy was intended to operate within a strong shared culture, continuous communication and common institutional purpose.

Employees were frequently given opportunities to assume responsibilities that might normally have been reserved for more senior officers. International assignments and movement between branches, countries and functions further broadened their experience.

The objective was to develop managers capable of exercising independent judgement rather than simply administering instructions from above.

The Unity of the Moral and Material

One of the most distinctive elements of Abedi’s approach was his concept of the unity of the moral and the material.

He rejected the idea that commercial success and moral purpose should exist as separate parts of organisational life.

In his explanation of Real Management, Abedi argued that the moral and material dimensions of an institution were inseparable and that the moral dimension gave quality, identity and meaning to material achievement.

This did not imply that profit was unimportant.

Abedi regarded profitability as essential to institutional survival and progress. But he argued that financial success alone was an incomplete measure of performance. Management also had responsibilities towards employees, customers, communities and the wider purpose for which an institution existed.

BCCI’s own management literature subsequently described the material dimension as the quantitative side of banking and the moral dimension as its qualitative side. The two were intended to operate together.

This principle became a recurring theme within BCCI’s management culture and training.

For further discussion, see Metaphysical Management and The Essence of Real Management.

Real Management

Real Management was Abedi’s term for a form of leadership intended to identify, release and develop human potential.

It was not simply an administrative system, a method of target setting or a theory of organisational control.

Its starting point was the individual.

Abedi believed that every organisation contained a large reservoir of human ability, creativity and energy that conventional hierarchical management often failed to recognise.

Managers therefore had a responsibility to develop people rather than merely direct them.

They were expected to:

recognise individual ability and potential;
provide opportunities for growth;
delegate meaningful responsibility;
encourage independent judgement;
create confidence;
promote cooperation;
communicate a common institutional purpose; and
help employees understand how their work contributed to the organisation as a whole.

This emphasis on releasing human potential was also noted in contemporary management commentary on BCCI. Material published in BCCI’s in-house magazine in 1989 discussed the movement away from rigid control towards flatter organisations, decentralisation and the release of employee capability—trends which BCCI believed were already reflected in aspects of its own management practice.

Human Potential and Personal Growth

Abedi frequently returned to the idea that individuals possessed abilities greater than those normally recognised by conventional institutions.

Real Management therefore sought to create conditions in which employees could discover those abilities for themselves.

This philosophy was not limited to increasing productivity.

The development of the individual was regarded as an objective in its own right.

An independent German commentary on BCCI’s management ideas observed that the emphasis was not simply upon using people to accomplish work, but upon using work as an opportunity for people themselves to develop.

This helps explain why BCCI devoted unusually substantial resources to training, management development, international exposure and internal communication.

Training and Development

Training and development were central to Abedi’s management approach because the Bank could not expand internationally without continuously developing its own people.

BCCI established a network of Regional Training and Development Centres (RTADs) together with an International Management Development division at Central Office in London. The International Management Development function also maintained an office in Hong Kong and supported advanced management programmes, seminars and the development of the Bank’s corporate identity and culture.

The distinction between training and development was deliberate.

Training provided the professional and technical skills required of a banker.

Development addressed the wider individual—confidence, judgement, leadership, creativity, relationships, personal responsibility and awareness of the organisation’s purpose.

BCCI regarded these dimensions as complementary rather than separate.

Training New Entrants

New employees received broad training rather than being prepared only for the specific job to which they were initially assigned.

Programmes could include:

retail banking and computerised operations;
trade finance;
foreign exchange;
marketing;
credit appraisal and lending;
profit management and accounts;
risk management;
international trade;
treasury operations; and
management techniques and philosophy.

Graduate trainee officers could undergo extensive programmes combining classroom instruction with practical assignments in branches.

This approach was intended to produce bankers who understood the Bank as a whole rather than employees trained for a single narrow function.

Continuing Development

Training did not end when an employee completed initial induction.

Programmes were also provided for existing officers requiring additional professional knowledge, management skills or preparation for greater responsibility.

Managers and officers from different countries were brought together for courses and seminars, allowing them to exchange experience and develop relationships across regional and cultural boundaries.

The Bank also used international assignments as a form of development, enabling employees to gain experience outside their home countries and understand different markets and cultures.

Training for International Expansion

BCCI’s investment in training reflected its global ambitions.

In 1984, for example, BCCI entered into an arrangement with Pace University in New York to develop an International Management programme for graduates recruited in the United States in preparation for the Bank’s planned expansion there.

The geographical spread of BCCI’s training facilities was itself unusual. Rather than concentrating development entirely in the country of its head office, the Bank maintained regional centres intended to respond to local markets while preserving common standards and institutional values.

Training and the Moral Dimension

Training was also intended to communicate the Bank’s culture.

BCCI’s Regional Training and Development Centres and International Management Development division were given responsibility for conveying what the Bank described as a moral dimension to banking relationships and professional conduct.

This reflected Abedi’s wider belief that technical competence without values was incomplete.

Employees were encouraged to understand customer relationships, service, leadership and commercial success within a wider framework of responsibility.

Training therefore became one of the principal practical instruments through which the ideas of Real Management were translated from philosophy into everyday institutional practice.

For more detail, see Training and Development.

Diversity and an International Identity

Abedi’s management approach was particularly relevant to BCCI’s multinational character.

The Bank employed people drawn from a very large number of nationalities and operated predominantly across countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and other developing regions.

Rather than seeking to eliminate cultural differences, BCCI attempted to create a shared institutional identity capable of existing alongside them.

Abedi believed that diversity could become a source of institutional strength when people were united by common purpose and mutual respect.

Employees were encouraged to work across national, ethnic and cultural boundaries, and movement between countries became an important element of management development.

The Bank sought to create what was in effect an international management community rather than simply a collection of separate national operations.

Creativity and the Courage to Go Beyond Conventional Limits

Abedi’s ideas also reflected a broader belief that individuals should be encouraged to move beyond accepted limitations.

Creativity was treated within BCCI’s training programmes as the ability to see possibilities differently and respond to a changing environment.

In this respect, Abedi was attracted to the central theme of Jonathan Livingston Seagull—the pursuit of excellence, self-discovery and the courage to rise beyond accepted boundaries.

The relevance was not the story itself but the principle behind it.

Individuals and institutions progressed when they were encouraged to question self-imposed limitations, imagine possibilities beyond established practice and pursue higher standards with discipline and humility.

Management as Practice, Not Simply Philosophy

Abedi’s ideas can appear highly philosophical when read in isolation.

Their significance within BCCI, however, lies in the extent to which he attempted to translate them into organisational practice.

They influenced:

decentralisation and delegation;
management-development programmes;
regional training centres;
international assignments;
internal communications;
staff conferences;
customer-service expectations;
recruitment and promotion;
cross-cultural management; and
the development of younger employees for senior responsibility.

This is why Management Approach is perhaps a more appropriate description than Management Philosophy.

Abedi was interested not only in what management should mean, but in how those ideas could be applied in the day-to-day development of an international institution.

Continuing Relevance

Real Management was ambitious, unconventional and highly dependent upon leadership, communication and shared institutional commitment.

It should therefore be examined both as a management philosophy and as an attempt to put those ideas into practice within the particular circumstances of BCCI.

Its central themes nevertheless remain recognisable in contemporary management thinking:

shared purpose, employee empowerment, flatter structures, decentralisation, investment in training, cultural inclusion, leadership development, customer orientation and recognition of human capability as an organisation’s most important resource.

For Abedi, however, there was an additional dimension.

Institutional success and human development were inseparable, just as the moral and material dimensions of organisational life were inseparable.

An organisation ultimately progressed when its people progressed with it.