THE PAPER TIGER

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).

7 Apr 1986

To:

Dear Office-Colleague

THE PAPER TIGER

Many years ago,   China's Chairman   Mao-tze-Dong called America, a "Paper Tiger".  By that  he meant  to  tell the Chinese  people  that  there was   nothing  to be  afraid  of America -  and that the  Chinese were strong  enough to  "take care" of the imperialists.

If only Chairman  Mao had got  a chance to read  the enclosed article which  appeared  in  "THE  DAILY" newspaper  sometime back,  he might  have changed  his  mind and  called  India a "paper Tiger"  ! And being a shrewd strategist  that he was, instead of  invading us across  the Himalayas,  he would have simply gifted  1000 plain-paper copiers to the  Government of India and let  the bureaucrats of New Delhi defeat the Indian Nation ! (Apparently they  seem to be succeeding without any help from Mao  ! )

What is happening nearer home - at Powai ?

A few months  back, I was  travelling with Mr. K.R.  Sanghavi who told me the following facts :

When  KRS joined  the company  in  1970, there used to be  4 copies of SCN (Stores Credit Note) - now there are 7 copies !

At  that  time   Design  Dept.  used  to  issue   5  sets  of manufacturing drawings to various departments  - now they are issuing 22 sets !

More  statistically-oriented persons amongst  you may  derive satisfaction (1) from the  following data submitted to  me by Mr. P.R. Kothari, on  the subject of "Paper-explosion"  and I know that  PRK is not alone  in thinking that I  am, perhaps, the worst culprit!

Paper consumption for the last 3 years

DESCRIPTION	UNIT	1982-83 QTY	1983-84 QTY	1984-85 QTY
1. SUNLIT BOND PAPER - A4	Pkt of 100 sheets	9997	11517	15125
2. MAPLITHO-A3 (cut sheets)	"	760	2592	3080
3. MAPLITHO-A4 (cut sheets)	"	8200	13190	23775
VALUE (RS.)		1,51,218	2,20,408	3,65,734

But I make amends by adding, at the bottom of my circulars.

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                 "READ & THINK      

DO NOT FILE

      (FOR PRODUCTIVITY'S SAKE  !)"

But those amongst you who are engineers will  understand when I say,                

"Information is like entropy"

Whenever there  is a process  in which energy gets  converted from one form to another, entropy increases.

This  is  even more  true  of  "Information" !  Information simply   cannot  change   hands   (or  departments)   without increasing '. - most of the time many-fold !!.

I  found this out  in my  own, various  departments, when  we conducted a "Paper-Destruction Drive" in September 1984.

We  coughed-up (and  destroyed) 50  Tons of  obsolete/useless information!

And  my  group  does  not  even  have any manufacturing  or marketing activity !

This  reminds me  of the  Hindu trio  of "Brahma,  Vishnu and Mahesh"  -  the .-Creator, the Preserver and  the  Destroyer. Most companies have an over-abundance  of Brahmas and Vishnus but very few Mahesh -  when it comes  to paper - work.  If we can find  only one Mahesh  in each  of our departments,  I am sure we  may be  able to  shred 200  Tons of  unwanted papers (makes  excellent  packing  material  ! ) within the next  3 months !

And I don't think we should worry  if the Chairman of Siemens was to call us a "paper-cat" !

H.C. PAREKH