Synopsis: Communication For Productivity
Letters written to some 7500 Workers / Managers /
Union Leaders, following a period of strike / Go slow / Murders (1979 -
1987), at Mumbai factory of Larsen & Toubro Ltd. This direct / open /
honest communication led to a remarkable atmosphere of trust between
Workers and Management, which, in turn, increased productivity at 3% per year
(ave).
|
8 June 1981
To:
Dear friends
THE NEW
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
"Industrial Relations" are the two
most inaligned words of English language these
days. Thousands of learned people, all around the world, are
writing millions of mostly
not-so-learned words about IR.
As far
as I can see, industrial
Relations are really "Human
Relations in an industrial
Situation". And there are
any number of situations where
humans get together and transact
business (using human relations) such as:
-
Medical
Situations
-
Legal
Situations
-
Religious
Situations
-
Family
Situations, etc. etc.
But we do
not hear much talk of:
Medical
Relations, or
Legal
Relations etc.
Why is that so?
Simply
because, in those situations, the
relations involved/ invoked are
basically treated as "Human
Relations" and tackled as
such.
Also because,
in most such
cases, the relationship
is between two individuals, viz:
- A Doctor
and a patient
- A Lawyer
and a client
- A Priest
and a parishioner
- A Father
and a son.
But
when it comes to an
industrial situation, the picture
suddenly changes !
Here, all kinds
of "third-parties" get
involved. And for some of these,
their
very existence
depends upon getting
"involved" !
These
"third" parties are :
-
The Labour
Commissioner
-
The Labour
Courts
-
The
Labour/Management Lawyers
-
The
Labour/Personnel Professionals
-
The Union
Professionals
-
The
"Advisors"
-
The
Government, etc.etc.
The list is
endless.
So what should
be essentially a "person-to-person" affair has been turned into a
"public affair"! The attitude of the "third"
parties is, "How dare you settle
the issue all by yourself just the two of you?"
Coming
to think of it, left to
themselves, the worker and
the supervisor are incompetent to "mess-up" the matter -they need "third" party
help to do this.' I
Thank God,
"third" parties have, as yet,
not
discovered how each one of
us manages his/her
"person-to-person" relationship after working hours!
I enclose herewith first part
of an article on
"The New Industrial
Relations". Although there
are those
"omnipresent"
third-parties in the article,
the message, essentially is to get back to the "Human Relations" - on a person-to-person basis.
I hope those
of you who believe in "Miya Bibi Rajee, to Kya Karega Kazi" and waited
to practice
it, would be able to renew their faith through this article, in any case, please feel completely free to
share your views with
me - in writing or across the table.
