Dear
Shri Jaitley ,
Exactly
28 years ago on this day ( 19 Nov 1986 )
, I had sent out following printed letter ( there were no emails then ! ) to
some 7,500 employees of L&T
At
that time , I was General Manager at L&T's Powai Works ( Mumbai )
There
were many such letters that I wrote to employees . You will find them
at........www.hemenparekh.in
> letters to L&T Employees
I
thought of forwarding this to you , in light of your recent comments re closing
down of a few bleeding PSUs
with
regards,
(
click
to view my profile
)
Mumbai
0-
98,67,55,08,08
PS
:
Last
week , I have couriered my Suggestion Folder , titled , " TRANSFORMING INDIA " , to our
Hon Prime Minister , Shri Narendrabhai Modi
Some
of these pertain to my suggestions on re-imagining , our PERSONAL INCOME TAX policy , as a
INVERSE TAXATION REGIME
If
desired , I could email this to you
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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)
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|
19 Nov 1986
To:
RESURRECTION AT
GENERAL MOTORS
The Holy Bible tells us
that Christ returned from the Dead. No eye-witnesses are left but to
millions of faithful around the world, the legend is true. They believe it to be true.
Resurrection is return of the
Life.
More than six years ago (
Mar.1980 ), I had an opportunity to present to a meeting of
Policy Review Committee (PRC), our own
" Project Resurrection ".
Briefly, it comprised :
- A lean, trim fighting force ( Recruitment
Freeze )
- Getting rid of the Dead-wood
- Inculcating a high-degree
of discipline at all levels of organization
- Bringing back the
dynamism and the entrepreneurial spirit.
We did introduce a recruitment freeze in 1981 for a period of 18 months and
once again we have imposed a freeze from July this
year. But in the intervening period, manpower at Powai did
go up substantially - mostly in the Supervisory-cadre!
As far as
- Deadwood
- Discipline and
- Dynamism
is concerned, there may
be a lot to learn from the enclosed article regarding General Motors
(FORTUNE - 10.11.86)
If there are similarities
in the situations facing our own L&T
and G.M. - then these are not mere coincidences,
In their own countries, all relatively large companies face
the same malaise of
- paper-pushing bureaucrats
- customer-hating technocrats
- "Master" - minded autocrats.
So I am not surprised
that last year G.M. announced
a plan to trim the managerial work-force by
one-fourth
before 1990 !
Next in line are 1,30,000
white-collar workers.
And when it comes
to shedding excess fat,
G.M. is in good company - with the United Nations (U.N.) - which is planning to make a
15% reduction in its staff of 11,423 and reduce the number of
assistant and under-secretary generals from 80 to 60!
Nearer home, Gujarat Govt. nationalized 12
"sick" textile mills
- and promptly decided to let 6 of these die a natural
death !
Of the 21,000 workers
rendered surplus, 11,000 got jobs in the
"surviving" 6 mills and 10,000 opted
for "Voluntary Retirement".
Not to be left out. Central Govt. has dispensed with
36,521 workers ( till Sept. 1986 ) of the N.T.C. ( out of 2,30,000 )
under the "labour rationalization scheme" in 120-odd
textile mills.
But the lesson that G.M.
is learning - the hard way, perhaps - is that
"surviving" is not enough ! A company has got to revive - get resurrected.
In the 20th century
however, 'must a
company wait till its competitors
hang it from the cross before it thinks of
"resurrecting" itself ?
And if there are any
happy-go-lucky complacent amongst us,
I request
them to study the following picture
of our slackening productivity-drive :
Hemen
Parekh
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