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).
|
3 May 1980
Dept. Heads (PGM-Group)
SUB :
NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS
And it is
serious business deciding
- Where we are (data-base)
- Where we wish to go (direction/objective)
- Which path do we take (strategy)
- How do we go (Tactics/Action plan)
- When do we reach (Time/Target)
- What shall be the guide posts (Monitoring Progess)
But decide
we must.
So how do we
go about it?
STEP - I
Decide what
is "our job" The job of the department (function - description) The
job of an individual (job description)
Before the
departments can write their own
"function
-description", we must know the
"group functions" - the group under GM(P).
What is the "raison d'etre"
(reason for existence) of this
group?
You will
find this in Annexure A.
This should
enable the department
heads to write
the departmental "function - description".
Dept. Heads
will meet me on 27.05.80 morning at 10.00 a.m. (C-4
Conference room) to discuss these.
Each
dept. head shall present to the group,
the "function-description"
of his own
department (use O/H Slide Projector). After
all the
presentations have taken place,
we will discuss and decide if these descriptions are:
-
Synergic
-
congruent
- complimentary
or
- opposing
- neutralizing
- negating
STEP - 2
Department
Heads circulate their function-description among the Supervisory
Staff of the department, asking them
to write down their own
individual job-descriptions.
By 10/6 each Supervisory Staff to
present his own job-description in
a departmental meeting. Once
again decide if we are
all pulling in the same
direction. (If invited, I will try to make myself available as an
"observer").
Also use the
departmental meeting to determine (write down)
CRITERIA - what
criteria (measurable) would
you like others
(mainly
our customers) to use
for evaluating departmental
Performances.
-
DATA-BASE -
what data-base exists
(or needs to be
created) for
Performance
measurement.
objectives - in
light of the foregoing what should
be the
At this
stage, you may wish to debate
whether the prevalent atmosphere
in the dept. is
"open" enough for the
staff members to settle their individual
"objectives" right there in the meeting. If not, in
the departmental meeting itself, draw-up a
time-schedule for individual staff
members to meet you separately for settling his own
objectives.
STEP – 3
Meet
the staff member to settle his objectives. To ensure that the
objectives are less
"subjective"
& more "objective", send out
the work-sheet (enclosed) in
advance. This is the ACID-TEST. For
practice, ask your man to rewrite last year's
(79-80) objectives on the
sheet and see for himself how many
of these withstand this
test. Only thereafter, let
him write proposed
80-81 objectives on another work-sheet and bring both sheets
to the meeting.
STEP-4
Having settled the objectives, let your man
meet you
once again within a week. This
time ask him to bring with him:
A. DATA-BASE
The onus of proving ACTUAL vs.
target performance is his. Right at
the beginning of the
year, he
must convince you, regarding
the
existence of the INFORMATION SYSTEM
and the starting DATA-BASE
(over which improvements are planned).
There is no way we can measure progress without
co-ordinates!
And you must carry your
own navigation-instruments. Sure,
a Satellite can track you in
the middle of Sahara desert -while you are going in
Circles all the time! This
is what generally happens when
you depend upon
the Computer department or the
Accounts department or the Costing
Section or some such external agency to tell you that
your assistant is "off" his
target. Remember that keeping
you well informed every
morning about the performance
of your subordinates, may not be
one of their objectives!!
B. ACTION-PLAN
Many
Soul-satisfying Objectives have
turned into
pious platitudes for want
of an action-plan'. Planning Commission will tell you NOW, where we ought to reach by 2000 A.D. - without
having the faintest clue of where we will be at the end of 1980! But then
Policy-makers cannot be bothered
with trivial details
- like the Harvard Professor who
advised the cat-scared
rat to become a dog
and got angry
when the rat
asked, "but-how"?
C. THE GUIDE-POSTS
These
are all-familiar mile-stones - not only you know that
you are on the predetermined track but
you also know how well (or well not) you
are doing. Those of you who are familiar
with PERT network, know them as
"events" (as distinct
from activities). These
are so to
say,
"mini-destinations".
Along your "activity-track", have at least 2/3 of these and keep looking for them -
and looking at the calendar. You
will know who needs more steam and when!
STEP - 5
Let your
man loose. From this point onwards, he is on his own -
to be judged solely by the "results" and not by the "noise". Let him
know you are available for
"guidance" -but only if
he asks for it. Your only
concern should be with regard to
use of unethical means to achieve noble
ends, - or sacrifice of departmental/Group
objective so that an individual may achieve his own. This is strictly forbidden.
Annexure - A
FUNCTION - DESCRIPTION
ADMINISTRATION GROUP
(G.M. POWAI)
PREAMBLE
Let us
not look upon L&T, as a
mere manufacturer of machinery and equipment.
Let us say,
India is waging a war -
war for removal of "wants" - a
war for a
better tomorrow for its
teeming millions. And
better tomorrow means
different things to different people. For a
man who sleeps on the footpath, it means
being able to sleep inside the 96" diameter
pipe!
Let us say,
L&T is
on the forefront of this war -
right out at the frontiers of
"Technology". 7000 people of
Powai, constantly learn new
technologies, and where to apply
it with ever-increasing efficiency to their
own daily tasks.
These are
· Designing new war-machines (the Equipments)
· Preparing Production plans
· Acquiring resources of Man/Material/Machine Buildings/Facilities
· Utilizing these resources optimally
(to)
@ Manufacture the equipments
@ Despatch/installing/commissioning the
equipments
@ Servicing the equipment to keep them going
o And such a war cannot be
fought
o with borrowed
ammunition
o The machines we make are
o The muscles that matter
THE
ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP
To the
people of Powai we cater. We are the
"logistics" people (The unsung heroes - if you like) we are
"prominent" when absent and self-effacing if present
Our Job
Our job is to
ensure that our investment
at Powai remains fully productive at all
times, around the clock, all
the days of the year.
And when I
say "investment" I mean all
types of investment -including "people-investment" - the most
important of all.
At Powai,
the company has invested in
Facilities
(The land -
buildings - equipments - utilities)
Materials
Mfg. materials/W.I.P./Finished
Goods/ Maintenance Materials
Information
Organizatonal Manuals
Computer-based Data Management
Communication (Telephone/Telex/Mail/Printing )
People
How can we
ensure that these RESOURCES are kept
"productive" at ail times?
Right from
the starting point where you "Envisage" the need for a resource,
all the way
to the final stage of "Auditing" whether a given resource is being efficiently 'utilized,
you have to subject the resource to
various kinds of treatment. This will
become clear from the following matrix.
Type of
Treatment
|
Type of
Resource
|
Facilities
|
Materials
|
Information
|
People
|
1
|
Envisage
|
||||
2
|
Plan
|
||||
3
|
Acquire
|
||||
4
|
Maintain
- Feed
- Transport
|
||||
5
|
Utilize
(optimum)
|
||||
B
|
Organize
|
||||
7
|
Develop
(Train)
|
||||
8
|
Nurture
- Physical
- Mental
|
||||
9
|
Motivate
|
||||
10
|
Audit
|
Clearly the
"ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP" is
Ocassionally/Permanently
For a
few/all of the "treatments"
For one/more
than one resource
Individually/jointly with unit managers
And THAT is
our job !
I have purposely left the
matrix blank so that, you
may attempt to fill it in:
1. From the view-point
of your particular section/department
2. Using your own "self-perception"
of your role
3. Using
the
"perception" of
the others in Powai
(and elsewhere) as to your
role.
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