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 Jun 1984
To:
Dear
Colleague:
PRODUCTIVITY-DRIVE
Do you
remember that we conducted an
"employee attitude-cum-compensation" survey
some 18 months
ago? An outside consultant (Marketing & Business Associates MBA) interviewed nearly 2500 unionised employees
to
fill-in an exhaustive
questionnaire. A comprehensive report was submitted, I had sent a
copy of the report to General Secretary of our
Union with a covering letter, nearly 15 months ago.
Since
writing that letter a lot of things have happened in Powai.
A 4-year settlement has been signed with the
Union.
But certain
things which we would have liked to happen, did not happen! One of
the things mentioned in the
letter (a copy enlosed for your ready reference) was - Acceptance by the Union of the principle of
"POST PERFORMANCE REWARD".
This is one
thing we could not get through 10 The reward
has been 'given'
but the performance has yet to be
"taken" ', And that is precisely
what is expected of us now - "Take" the performance!
But the employee must know what (precisely) he is expected to "give"! I can almost
hear some of you thinking.
"Oh, come now!
Don't be so naive! You
mean to say the employees don't know
what is expected of
them? Everyone knows what he (or she) is supposed to produce at the end of the shift'."
I thought so
too - until I looked up table No. 20 of
the MBA report, reproduced here.
TABLE 20
PRODUCTION TARGET (FOR DAILY RATED EMPLOYEES ONLY)
BY GROUPS
SER
|
Total
|
||||
552
|
937
|
202
|
147
|
1838
|
|
Opinion
about
Production
Target
|
|||||
1.
Satisfied (%)
|
05
|
12
|
04
|
-
|
08
|
2. O.K. (%)
|
02
|
02
|
01
|
-
|
02
|
3. Not
Satisfied (%)
|
05
|
10
|
03
|
01
|
07
|
4. Do not
have production target(%)
|
88
|
76
|
92
|
99
|
83
|
Did you say,
you don't believe it or you
do not want to believe it?
I am not surprised because all of us see and hear things we like to see and hear. Human beings
have an in-built defence mechanism
that pushes out
perception of all
unpleasant experiences.
But that does
not change things. If anything
it creates misunderstandings. .
So it
is far better to face the
"experience" (no matter how
unpleasant) squarely, and do something about it.
In the
current instance, tell your men (and women) squarely what is the production expected at the end
of the hour or the shift or the
week or what-have-you!
And if an
employee continues to be a "poor" performer, call him up and
tell him where he stands - without
mincing words (nicely but firmly).
Three times confront
him in the presence of the shop-rep and fourth time in the presence of
the concerned Joint-Secretary. They
have agreed to be
present - as
witness - so
that, should an
unpleasant situation develop at a
later date, the employee cannot say "I was not told".
Some supervisors have tried this
out and they say it works.
Having
found out what the employee think about, "production -
targets", if you are curious to
know what our employees think
about.
- Their ambitions
- Their retirement plans
- Present working
conditions
- Level of satisfaction Fear of stagnation
- Job content etc.
Please do let
me know, and I will
circulate to you the findings of MBA,
through a series of such letters.
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