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).
|
12 Dec 1984
To:
Dear
Colleague
INFILTRATING
THE UNION ?
I may be
accused of giving you an overdose of
Japan but that only goes to show that
I have such a high respect for your capacity to absorb things Japanese ! When it comes to ball pens, digital
watches, cameras, two-in-ones,
tape-decks, colour-TV, walkman and a
hundred other Japanese things, we
never seem to have enough !. So why
leave out "Japanese
Industrial Culture" from our list ?
In the
enclosed article.
Dr. Maheshwari tells us how labour unions are organised in Japan.
Now those of
you who belong to our
management-cadre may wonder why you should worry how labour unions are organised in Japan - or for that matter
even in India .!
To me it is obvious why the managers amongst us must think about the organisation of labour
union. Someone has said that "health is too serious
a matter to be
left to the Doctor - and
education is too serious a matter to be left to the Educationists."
It is
for the same
reason that I think that organisation of labour unions
is too serious a matter
to be left to the workman .!
Which is not
.the
same thing as saying
that we should interfere in the
internal affairs of a union and
that we should try to run their show !
Quite contrarily ! Managers
have enough "management-problems" on their
hands as it is,
without taking
on a union's "internal
affairs".
But if those "internal affairs" start hurting the long-term interests of our
organisation
and the interests
of our employees at large, I do not think we should remain silent. It is then time to
do some plain-speaking and say
"enough is enough" .!
We must
not give-up our right to "influence" (not interfere
with) the union
organisation when issues
crop-up which cut-across the
subscription-barrier. And
this is where the Japanese labour
union organisation is of interest to all of us at L&T, because, at one
place the article reads,
"For
all employees of Hitachi Ltd., upto Asst. Manager level, union membership is compulsory.
In other words, every senior
executive of Hitachi spends at least ten
years as
member of the Union
and may have
even functioned as an office-bearer of
the Union during this period."
or that,
" - The rank-and-file of Hitachi union has been polluted by future managers masquerading as union-members ?
"
And for my unionised friends who will receive
this note,
I would like to quote
MR. MISU (in
1977, Executive Vice-President
and Director of Hitachi Ltd., - and now
Advisor to the Board
of Hitachi Ltd.) from
"Management of Human Resources in Japan",
"The
Japanese workers do not necessarily work only for money and
it is customary
for us not
to raise complaints about monetary matters.
If we think of the total
benefit of the country, there is no doubt
that we would be better off
without any strike, and the economic growth of Japan
was largely accelerated by
this moderate behaviour of
the Union. The fact that the labour union
exists, does not mean that it has to
fight every time. Reaching an amicable solution is the
best way for both the Union
and the company. We know that
frequent strikes endanger the
base of the country as is
observed in United Kingdom. I have
an impression that when both
parties persist in their opinion at
the sacrifice of national interest, it
is a wrong choice."—
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