REMAIN ANONYMOUS

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).

10 Nov 1986

To:

Dear Friends

Why  do  alcoholics  wish  to  remain  anonymous  (unknown  to others) ?

I suppose this is because

-      they know they have got a bad habit

-      they feel guilty about it

-      they wish to hide this fact from others

but perhaps the most important reason could be

-  they do not wish to be  influenced by others  (in getting    rid of the habit ?)     

From  time-to-time, I  keep getting anonymous  letters.  Some are   not  worth   printing  but   some  do   contain  useful suggestions - and that is when I wonder,

Those employees - who have  such useful suggestions to make  -why don't they  mention their names ?  Why  do they choose to remain anonymous ?

In fact some of these letters end as follows, "I am choosing to remain anonymous for obvious reasons".

Dear Friends : If you  are making a good suggestion, I do not understand your "obvious" reason  :

Unless  the  reason is  that  you,  yourself know  that  your complaint  is really  not  true or  that  your suggestion  is really not practical,

and therefore  you do  not wish to  be influenced  (?) by the reality/the  truth I  (which you achieve  by not  giving your name )

Let  us  look  at the  following  anonymous  letter  which  I received a few weeks ago.

"HCP

This is  to bring to your  notice that whenever  we go to  the PAC  Dept. for  any  clearance i.e.  Travel,  Telephone Bill, Motor Car  Mileage Claim  etc., we  do not  get the  clearance immediately or  even on the  same day.  We  are asked to  come the  next day  or after  two  days.   This is  may be  due  to clearance clerk being heavily loaded.

But because of this we are losing lot of man-hours.

We hereby  request you  to please  look into this  matter and save  valuable   man-hours.   This  may   contribute  to  the Economic Drive.

Thanks                                                                        

Yours sincerely,                                              

An employee   "

I sent it to Mr. Deosthalee whose reply I reproduce below :                           

"We  normally  clear  the papers  on  the  same  or  next day depending on the  volume.  Staff members need not come to PAC for collecting  the papers.   Papers can  be sent  to them  in mail and they  can get payment from  the nearest cashier,   if there  are specific  cases  of delays  we  can sort  them out personally. "

But if the sender  reads this reply and is not satisfied with it, what will he do ?  Send another anonymous letter ?

And then what do I do?   Send out another circular ?

How long can we keep playing  this game ?  In fact, we should not  be  playing  this  game  at  all.   Those  who  wish  to influence  others must  give their  names and  be  willing to enter into a face-to-face dialogue.   Others too, must get an opportunity  to  influence  them  I   Otherwise the  game  is unfair - and  that is why  I normally do not  reply anonymous letters.

If we are honest in our intentions, we need not fear.

If our  "beliefs" are  based on concrete  facts, we  need not fear.  If we are  willing to trust our  co-employees, we need not fear.

H.C. PAREKH