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).
|
16 July 1984
To:
Dear Friends
ESCALATOR - CULTURE
A few days
back I was going through the shops and talking to
the Shop-Representatives and the Shop-Supervisors about the pressing need to
raise the productivity.
"Let us
all work harder - and smarter", I was telling them.
At one shop,
the Unit Manager proudly introduced to me the Shop-Representitive
and added, "This shop has an
enviable record of improving the labour-productivity, both after the 1979 Agreement and the
1984 Agreement. On both occasions, the workmen have exceeded
their productivity-targets".
I heartily
congratulated the Shop-Representative for such an exemplary performance.
I said I was
very happy to hear about this.
It was the
Shop-Representative's turn to say something.
He
said, “but we are very
unhappy".
When I
composed myself, I asked.
"What
for ?"
He said,
"We are not getting promotion to a higher grade".
I did not argue much (shop-floor is not an ideal
place to argue), but I asked him
to carefully study the "job classifications"
which have been recently revised under the new Agreement.
Whether the
workmen of that shop (or for
that matter, any worker anywhere in
Powai), deserve to be promoted
to the next higher grade depends
upon three things:
1. Whether a higher grade exists in that particular "trade/ job", in
a given area.
2. Whether a particular worker has already acquired sufficient proficiency in the
specific
"skills/capabilities"
described in the job-classification of that higher grade.
3. Whether, in
his shop, there is
so much work of
the higher classification
that, for atleast
6 hours out of 8 hours, he can
be expected to be doing such higher classification work.
Higher
productivity (doing more in less time)
must not be confused with higher
"skills".
Everybody is capable
of giving higher productivity. to produce
more (in less
time) is not
merely a moral responsibility of all
who are beneficiaries of the recent Settlement. It is equally
a matter of saving our jobs - our very
existence as a company.
On the
other hand everyone is not capable to acquire higher skills and very often, higher "skills" are just not needed to perform certain
tasks. So the "grade" simply
has to stop there.
Unfortunately,
some of us do not understand this difference whereas some
others do not WANT to understand'. If you have
any doubt about my statement, please read-on the following article of Bakul Tripathi.
Whether as
an individual or as a company, if we want to get ahead of others, let us get
rid of the "mental escalators!
