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).
|
5 Dec 1984
To:
Dear Shop
Supervisor
AN EXPERIMENT IN
TRUSTEESHIP
About 2
years ago, I had sent to many of you,
a book titled "THE INCREDIBLE
JAPANESE". In my covering
note, I had drawn a diagram
which I had
called the 'Pyramid of
Worker-Participation' .
The apex
of the pyramid was
titled 'Trusteeship' - the normal concept being that the means of production ultimately belong to the
society and that we are merely 'trustees'.
This was Gandhiji's
approach to bring about a change
in the attitude towards work and in
the relationship between the
workers and the management. Under this concept the interest of the
society came first.
I do not think
the Japanese read Gandhiji's
views before they started their
experiments in
worker-participation. On the other
hand, in a
recent seminar on
"Japanese Management",
I heard 3 Hitachi
executives narrate their management - approach to
improvement of industrial relations
and I found that there was a striking
resemblance in the
approaches of Hitachi
(pages 78-112 of
"incredible Japanese". In case
you have not received a copy
of this book earlier, please
collect it from me personally)
and the approach at "Khira".
Now I understand better what Mr. V. Krishnamurthy
(Managing Director
- Maruti
Udyog Ltd.)
meant when he said in
the seminar,
We selected Suzuki
as our collaborator, not because of
technological or financial
considerations, but because we strongly
felt that, at Maruti, what we needed most was not the technological know-how but the attitudinal know-how
- the Suzuki work-ethics".
And although
Mr. Krishnamurthy realizes that cultures cannot be
transplanted across thousands of kilometers
from an alien society, he has
made some small
(but bold) symbolic departures at Maruti - e.g.
- From General Manager down, everybody wears identical uniform
- There is only one Canteen for everybody
- There are no cabins for anyone at the factory.
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