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).
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2 May 1985
To:
Dear
Colleague
CHANGING ORGANIZATION-CULTURE-THE INDIAN STYLE
Last week I
sent you an article which gave an
account of the efforts of the Japanese giant
- NTT to
change its organization-culture
to suit
its metamorphosis from a
"public-sector" monopoly to a "private-sector" competitor.
Desire to
alter the culture of one’s organization is however not
a "monopoly" of the Japanese!
- nor a prerogative of giants ! So, I
am not surprised that such an experiment is under way
right at our
door-steps, at RHL
(Richardson Hindustan Limited - the makers of Vicks Vaporub).
Whether
one wants to
agree or disagree
with S.K. Bhattacharya (for saying,
"RHL is almost unique in Indian corporate history in
that it has taken
up the issue of cultural change
as a company project),
the fact remains undeniable that there
is so much
"freshness" and
"innovation" in whatever RHL is
attempting.
As I read
the enclosed article
again and again,
it re-inforced my personal
belief that "right
attitude" (whether on part
of a manager, supervisor or a
worker) is not something you can
"buy" at the
corner .drug-store.
Paying our employees high wages and
salaries and bonuses and perks
is not a magic wand
which you wave
and presto,
employee-alienation gets instantly
converted into employee-involvement.!
Any change
and especially change
involving "attitudes", is
bound to be a slow-process, full
of ups and downs. And although I have no quarrel with the people who
say that the change must start at
the "top" (and presumably proceed downwards ? ), I wish
to remind these people that in space
there is no such thing as "top and bottom" or "upward and downward".' Can we learn
to disassociate "need for
change" from the hierarchy and the organization structure
and the status and the designations and so
on and so forth
and simply begin with ourselves
(wherever we happen to be) and radiate whatever
happens to be our surroundings ?
Would anyone of you
like to visit RHL - to pick up
some of their radiation ?
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