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).
|
1 Jan 1987
To:
FREEDOM AT MIDNIGHT
It
tells the history of our country's
freedom-struggle and the role played by
such eminent persons like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, etc. etc.
It tells how
the sacrifices (of even life) made
by thousands of Indian Patriots finally led to our country
becoming an independent nation on
the midnight of August 14, 1947.
This
was nearly 40 years ago
- and a large number of our Powai-employees
were not even born by that time.
So I can understand that they
neither know nor appreciate why
thousands sacrificed their lives for this freedom.!
A few days
back, a couple of foremen made a "surprise-visit" of a department at night.
And what did
they find ?
7 workmen' were playing cards.
2 workmen
were sitting in the cloak -room
1 worker was
sleeping in the cloak-room.
All during
working-hours !
But there were
also 10 other
self-disciplined workmen who were
continuing to work at their work-place !
- In the same department .!
And then there were 500
other workmen all over Powai in that
second-shift who were also
working - and trying
to earn their bread honestly.'
Apparently the
7+2+1 workmen had found
a new, young-generation meaning
of
I am not
going to reveal the names of these workmen or the name of their
department, but your friends will
tell you when you are eating in the canteen or travelling in the bus.
By now, some
of you must be itching to ask me,
"What
was the department-supervisor doing all
this time ?"
But some or
you will never ask me this question !
Because
you were asking me a different question when I
met you at the last Worker Education
Class, or at the Lonavala Shibir
on Dec. 20, 1986. You were asking me,
"Sir, why do we need
so many shop-supervisors ? Our worker-strength is
coming down but shop-supervisor strength
is going up. Are they making any
contribution to production?"
Although I
knew the answer,
I told you
to raise this question with your Managers.
But now you
know the answer !
- We don't
need them .full-time for production.
- But we do need them for policing !
That
night, the shop-supervisor had left the
shop on some urgent work
- so in fact, there was no
one to
do the policing.
So what
happens ?
Promptly, 10
out of 20 workmen stop working !
No wonder,
during the 3 year period (April 81 -
April 84),
- whereas worker-strength went up by only 23
persons (3676 ——> 3699)
which means,
- In 1981, we needed one supervisor to
supervise 12.60 workers
- In 1984, we needed one supervisor to
supervise 11.07 workers.
If only employees would
keep working for the
eight-hours whether anybody is watching
or not,
we could
manage with half the number of
Shop-Supervisor—!!
And if
160 supervisors could be spared from the shops, they could do much more productive work like,
- Planning production.
- Getting materials/components.
- Designing tools.
- Making process-sheets.
- Conducting method-studies.
- Selecting
machineries.
- Laying-down
assembly-lines, etc.
Let me tell
you one thing in case you don't know.
No
shop-supervisor likes (let alone enjoy !) to
waste his time looking for missing-from-the-workplace
workmen in the toilets and cloak-rooms !
If anything, they hate
such work ! It is
an unpleasant work. But if it is
forced onto them, the will do it.
The purpose
of this letter is not to find fault with
certain individuals. For that,
management has the normal methods of show-cause, charge-sheet,
domestic-inquiry, punishment, etc.
The purpose is
to find fault with our
behaviour and our attitudes. Will we
behave properly only when
someone is watching us from
behind or, from above ?
If that helps, I would like to
remind all my colleagues -whether working in shops or offices, whether in first shift, second shift
or third shift,
that if they
are to look-around,
they will find nearby somewhere, a
picture of the God, watching them
from above !
"Work
is Worship and I am Watching YOU all the time
!"
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