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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23 Dec 1979
To;
Deputy General Managers (DGMs)
"COMMU-TIES"
- Yes
"COMMITTEES"
- No
We already
have many Committees.
Perhaps too
many.
So I would
be the last person to suggest one more.
An anthropologist discovered
existence of 'Committees'
during the Indus Valley civilization.
While
digging at "mohenjo-daro", he unearthed a room-full of chairs and
cups of tea - "Come-meet-tea"! (Since then civilization has
made great strides in this
art of doing nothing, by
introducing coffee.' - it
keeps you awake !)
But
then "Mohenjo-Daro'
in B.C. 3,000 had fewer walls than Powai has in 1979 A.D. -
except that these are 'invisible' I (to frustrate the anthropologist of 4,000 AD'.?)
These, I call,
'holes-in-the-walls. ' Our windows
to the 'worlds'.
The 'worlds' of
-
Managers
-
Officers and
Supervisors
-
Technical
and Clerical staff
-
Workmen and
Union
Under
Phase I (OPERATION commu-ties?) we have already made a 'beginning with the
"PRODUCTIVITY COMMU-TIE"
at 4 levels
Under Phase
II, I believe we should
establish a regular channel
of communication with the Supervisors and Officers. They are there to implement
Company Policy - even help frame it
(Supervisory participation in
Management?). We,
the managers, should understand
them better - as a
group, -their feelings/difficulties/suggestions.
They must understand better,
the managerial directives
and the inconsistencies of managerial
action - whether
real or apparent.
With the
foregoing objective in mind, I met 17 of
them on 21st inst.
The response was
very encouraging and constructive. I
felt that a major source
of energy has remained untapped
in this age of energy-crisis 11
They would
like to meet
us once a
fortnight (at least initially).
Say at 4.30 p.m. (G-4 Conference Room) on
- 4th January
'80
- 17th January '80
- 31st January
'80
We may call
this "INNOVATION COMMU-TIE'.
Whether innovative communication will take place or
not will depend
upon whether you are present or not.
Therefore, I urge you to remain present and help bring down the
walls!
Then someday we will sit down and think about Phase III.
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