MANAGERS ON THE RUN!

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).

9 Dec 1986

To:

Group General Managers

General Manager (Finance)

MANAGERS ON THE RUN!

Twelve  months from  today,  we  may have  received  the  next Charter of Demands (COD) from the Union.

From then on, we  are on the defensive! Onus  of proving, why the company cannot  afford another steep  wage-hike will fall on the management,   prove, prove, prove   -  as  if to prove our innocence!

This is  a bad position  to be in!   Especially when  we know that we have a point which, to us,  seems  "crystal-clear" and still we must struggle to make the other party "see" it.

I have gone  through this - twice at Madh  and twice at Powai -for an agonizing number of months.  It is very frustrating.

It  is  for this  reason  that  we  must  mount an  offensive already NOW -  so that the  Union is on  the defensive by  the time they are ready with the Charter.

It  may  be  so  much   wishful  thinking  that  through  our initiative,  we  could  place  the  Union on  the  defensive. But,in  any  case,  that (taking   initiative) is  our  only option!  We  can either wait for the COD -  and then  "react" or become "pro-active" right now.

And  being  pro-active   in  our  case  is   to  educate  the rank-and-file worker.   It is sharing with  him, every single aspect of company-life whether it is

-    Production (outputs & lnputs)

-    Sales/Orders/Competiton

-    Mfg. and other costs Financial data (including profits)

-    Personnel Policies & Wages

-    Automation & Redundancy

-    New Business Plans

-    etc., etc.

In  a   nutshell,  vigourously   implementing  our   "Project Information Share".

Do you  remember  my note  "A TALE  OF TWO  MANAGERS"  (AUG. 6, 1986) ?   In this note  I had talked  about Rene  Mcpherson -Chairman  of  DANA  CORPORATION  -  who, at  times  got  into trouble with his  bosses for sharing plant-profit information with the workers  !

But during his 12 years as Chairman of DANA,

-    Sales went up by 500%

-    Earning/share went up by 15% every year

-    Productivity doubled (adjusted for inflation)

And after  Robert  Townsend turned  "AVIS-RENT-A-CAR"  from a Company about-to-be-closed  to  a highly  profitable company, Hal Geneen of ITT (who took over AVIS) said

" I have never come across a company in which so many   employees have such deep knowledge of management".

Following your  suggestion at our first  meeting on COD-1988, I have already done the following:

1.   About  2  months   back,  convened  a  meeting of  the Personnel

Managers/General  Managers  of  10/12  leading engineering 

companies   of  Bombay.   We   showed  them colour-slides of

-declining profitability

-rising wages

of all  these companies  and  asked them  to share  some  more   productivity   related   information   of   their  companies ( we  showed our  willingness to  share ours).  They ail  agreed but  subsequent response  is poor.   We  are  pursuing.   When  all  data  is  analysed,  it  was  proposed to make a one-hour presentation,  followed by a -one-hour discussion amongst the

-    Chairman

-    VP(Personnel)

-    VP( Finance)

of all of these companies.

2.        On  18th October  and again  on  6th December,  convened meetings  of

leading  Trade-Union  leaders  with  the IR Committee of BCCI.  For the 

last meeting,  we had about 15  TU  leaders  and  60   senior  managers  of 

various companies.   It  was  decided  to set-up  four, bipartite committees

as follows :-

-    Labour Laws

-    Amendments & Introduction

-    Wage Policy

-    Modernisation & Employment

-    Industrial Relations Harmony & Work Ethics

Within the next  6 months, these committees are expected to produce  joint "Draft  Policy Statements"  which will be discussed  in  a  General Body  meeting  and possibly

"Adopted".                   

3.        PJP and  myself are working  on a proposal  for "L.K.Jha Commission on 

Productivity &  Efficiency".  It 'will be for  a  sponsored-research project 

on  "Wage-Policy  in Engineering industry in Bombay City".

4.        I have  stepped-up  issue of  circulars to  educate our employees on    

wages/costs/profitability/viability/automation/surplus labour/        voluntary retirement/ retraining, etc. etc.

5.        About  3/4 months  ago,  nearly 200  Foremen/Supervisors were  shown

the  film  "People & Productivity: We  learn from the Japanese".  After

seeing the  film, each person set for himself  a target, however  small, for

improving operations/work-ethics/attitudes, etc.

After  a lapse  of  3/4 months,  I am  meeting  the same groups once  again

where each  person shares with others his/her success/failure.   I already

.see a good deal of change in  the attitudes of  our supervisors.  There are

many  "mini-success"  stories  I  We  will  keep meeting every 4 months.

6.   I have planned to go to  Lonavala

- on 20/12/86 with 120 Shop Representatives and some   senior managers

(DGM-JGM)

- on 3rd/4th April 1987 with 120 Shop-Foremen and some   PMs/APMs

We will leave Friday evening  by 2/3 buses and spend the whole of 

Saturday talking about  our operations/issues/ attitudes, etc.

Shri  Dattaji Salvi  and a  couple of  outside resource-persons will join the

first group as "observers".

We  will be  making use  of the  BKS Training  Centre  at Lonavala.

But, at  best,  all these  activities  can be  termed as "peripheral".   At   the 

core,  the   centre  of  these activities must be  the "Project Information

Share".  We do not  'owe' it  to the employees  - for the  growth of the

company, we  'owe' it to ourselves  - when the times are bad and when 

the times are good.

Can we meet soon, to discuss the modalities ?

H.C. PAREKH