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 Jan 1987
To,
Way
back in March 1980, , I sent to you, your own copy of
"How To Get along Better With People"
Then in June
1982, I was happy to send you a copy
of
"The Incredible Japanese".
And now I
present to you
"Working Smarter"
Somewhere in
this book, Eastman
Kodak Chairman Walter Fallen says, "Working
Smarter means imparting a
strong sense of teamwork
and giving employees more say
about how they do
their jobs. You
can't drive a
good work-force thirty percent harder, but we have found that we could often work thirty or fifty or even a hundred-and-fifty
percent Smarter".
After you
have read this book and experimented a little, if you come-up with your own definition of Working-Smarter, do write
to me. I would like
to share it with hundreds
of other supervisors all over Powai.
But one
thing is certain.
Productivity
at Powai must go up - not by
mere 3 -
5% each year but by atleast 15% each
year - assuming salary/wages are going up by
10% each year. At all times it
must keep rising 5% point faster than
the manpower-costs.
But how ?
To find an
answer, some 60 of
us spent a whole
day at Lonavla yesterday.
We asked ourselves, How Much
Is Left To Any Level of Management to
Motivate
Employees Through Attitude-Change & Reward/ Punishment System.
We came to
the conclusion that
- barely 1% can be
motivated through the
negative incentive of "punishment' (thanks to our Labour-laws)
Bap ! )
To begin
with our own !
And the very
first of. our attitude that needs changing is,
"We, the
Supervisors & the
Managers know what is best
for the organisation. Me,
and we alone,
have the sacred prerogative of guarding
the interest of the organisation.
So all decision-making must be left to
us. And when we have taken
a decision, we
must not be bothered to give an explanation to
anybody - at least
to anybody whom
we supervise. "
If we want
to change others by influencing
them with our thoughts, we must
be prepared to be
influenced by their thinking - be prepared to change
ourselves.
In the
following pages, you will learn how the
Workers - and the Managers - are
allowing themselves to be influenced by each other.
They have found a new
relationship which is rewarding not
only to their organisation (in terms of
higher productivity) but also to
themselves emotionally. These are
not theories -
but real-life experiences
and therefore capable of being
duplicated - even improved upon.
In the
weeks arid months to come,
do send me
your own experience of
Working-Smarter so that I may put
together our own version of
WORKING
- TOGETHER -
BETTER
for the benefit
of all interested in
surviving the 20th Century.
H. C. PAREKH
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