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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24 Nov 1986
To:
Dear Friends
" I DO "
On the 8th of this month, the Bombay Chamber of commerce & Industry had
organised a Workshop. As
Chairman of the Industrial Relations Sub-Committee of
the Chamber, I was responsible for giving
the Workshop, a very
intimidating title
"Industrial Relations - The Brighter Side"
- Success stories in Productivity
thru' employee
participation.
Three
companies presented their "stories".
1. L&T - presented by Mr. Nakhate
and myself
2. B.A.S.F. presented
by Mr.D'Cunha (Gen.Secy.of their Union) & Mr. Shirali (Manager).
3. Philips
presented by Mr. Guha - Manager
- Corp. Industrial Relations
L&T
story (almost entirely Powai Story) was
presented with the help of about
50 slides. In case you wish to hear this story from me(since it is unlikely that you will read it in a newspaper!), do let me know.
If I receive 15/20 requests, I would be
happy to organise a presentation.
But what I
want to
tell you is about the question-answer
session. There were many questions regarding "productivity
clauses" and "productivity-linked"agreements. Almost everyone present seemed to
believe that incorporating such
"clauses" and
"formula" in the agreements
(with the Unions) was a must. There was no
other way of getting improvement
in productivity. For each worker
(or a class of workers) the
agreement must stipulate
- What he will do
- When he will do
- How he will
do
Apparently the participants felt that the
worker behaviour must be defined
as accurately as possible, In
return for wages, the agreement
should provide what the workers shall do. The
contract should enable the supervisors to remind the worker what precisely is
expected of him.
I could not
disagree more, so I said,
At a Christian marriage, the
girl is asked, "Do you
take this man as your
husband?" and the girl says 'I do'. Then the man is asked "Do you take this woman as your wife?" and the man says 'I do'. At that the
priest says "I pronounce you Man
and Wife".
That is all !
No need
to affix your
signatures (in the
presence of witnesses) to
long, legally worded
statement on a stamp-paper which reads -
WHEREBY
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WHEREBY
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the party
of the first part (that is the wife) shall
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the party
of the second part (that is the husband) shall
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- maintain the house in good condition by
undertaking operations such as cleaning arranging things, etc. if required by
doing such lower category jobs (in the absence of the maid-servant) as
dusting, mopping, washing (with or without soap)etc.
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- arrange for such income (earned or
unearned) as deemed necessary and sufficient by the members of the family
from time to time.
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- in the temporary absence of the husband
act (without demanding an acting allowance) in
such higher category jobs as may be deemed necessary by the children, such as
- handling cash
- doing children's homework
- paying electricity bills -
- filling-in "share application
forms", etc. etc.
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- act as one-man grievance-commision and
give a patient hearing (with or without listening) to the grievances (real or
imaginary) of the members of the family (not excluding the part-time
maid-servant) and appear to be sympathising with the complainant
not-withstanding the logic of the issue involved.
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- entertain guests(with or without a smiling
face)
- nurse husband's
aged parents (with or without words of appreciation).
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- represent the family at all the social get-togethers which no other member of the family is
willing to attend.
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- Do any of the considered
part Job responsibility by any other
member of the family whether explicitly expressed or otherwise.
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- to signify concurrence with the white-lies
being dished-out by the wife to all and sundry regarding the alleged artistic accomplishment of child-prodigy daughter, not-with-stand-ing
the fact that her only accomplishment is to sign the canvas painted by her
art-teacher for a measly Rs.500/- p.m.
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None of
these:
All that the
priest says,
"I pronounce you Man and Wife".
All that is needed
to make the relationship work, - 24
hours a day, 365 days of the year, for
may be 30, 40 or 50 years! No
Contract, nothing in
writing in an everchanging relationship. Only one simple implied understanding.
"Together
we shall grow and be
happy - and for that, the
individual members 'will make all the sacrifices
necessary to keep the family together.
But then I
read an article by Mr. Ramaswamy
"What
Managements Bargain for?" (Business India - November 3 - 16, 1986).
Ramaswamy
writes,
"Aggressive
bargaining - particulary by the multinationals -has helped many
managements to push back labour's demands and extract impressive gains
from their Unions".
I am not so
sure!
May be we
are not yet ready to abolish job-classificat- ions (our own 1984 agreement has 82 pages of it
!) but it is time NOW for the employees
of Powai (
and their leaders) to do some serious soul-searching
and ask of themselves,
- Of all the
things, do I need a "book"
to tell me what is my job?
- No matter
how honest and dignified, shall I
refuse a task simply because
it is not described against my "trade" in the yellow-book?
- Through such
refusals shall I force the Management to write-dwon
500 pages of Job-classification?
Through such
refusals shall I make the
company "sick" and still myself
remain healthy?
- Today, have
I earned every minute of my salary/wages? or that
I have been a
thief,
stealing time which belongs to the Company for doing any
productive work?
And it is time NOW for the supervisors of the employees to ask of themselves,
- Where
have I failed
in my leadership qualities
to motivate my sub-ordinates to do any work given to them without bothering to look at the
yellow-book?
- How come I
don't need a yellow-book at home to get my wife and children to
do things- which they are doing naturally?
- Do I presonally go
out and help when my subordinates need it? - even if it means
dirtying my hands and clothes?
- Do I genuinely believe in "Dignity-of-Labour"
or is it meant only for my subordinates?
I am told we have, in our country, nearly 50 labour-laws -perhaps highest anywhere in the world.
But when it comes to the Industrial
Relation health of our country, it seems the "Law of inverse Proportions",
operates!
No wonder we
have turned our country into a paradise
for the vested interests of
- Labour Legislators
- Labour Lawyers
- Labour Leaders
- Labour Managers
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