TIME TO CHANGE MANAGEMENT ATTITUDE

How  To  Improve  Work-Life  Balance  ?

Last week , TOYOTA company announced that it is planning to introduce a " tele commute " system , which will allow some 25,000 employees ( more than one - third of its work force ) , to do most of their work from home

This plan will cover employees working in following functional areas :

*     Human Resource  /  Accounts  /  Sales  /  Research & Development  /  Engineering

And will embrace :

*     Those who have been working for TOYOTA for over 5 years

*     Those working in Company's headquarters

Methodology being adopted :

*     TOYOTA is negotiating the plan with Trade Unions ( - negotiate  to make employees happy  ?  )

REASON  ?

*     TOYOTA management believes that tele-commuting will improve work-life balance of concerned employees

Coming from TOYOTA , this ( reasoning ) is  NOT  a surprise  !  It is totally believable  !

In support of my belief , I reproduce below , a part of a letter that I sent to 7500 employees of  L&T ( individual copies in English and in Marathi ) , on 21  Feb  1985  ( titled , " Instant Industrial Relations ? " ) :

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"........what a sharp contrast to  know that two personnel managers of Toyota company

began a pilgrimage in 1952, to  talk with employees in small discussion-groups, at  their homes,  after work-hours,  in an attempt to re-establish mutual dialogue.

On an average,  they made three  visits a night,  coming home after nine o'clock,  six days a week  ...... The two managers had to  continue their itenerary  for ten years,  before they were convinced that their mission was finally completed

Ten years / 9000 families / one  hour with each family - all to re-establish mutual dialogue

 !

Is it any wonder that the country with the  least labour-laws has the most harmonious IR climate ?

In the enclosed article on              

"Industrial Relations in Japan" ,

you will come across  many examples of  the Japanese tenacity when it comes to  building trust between  groups of employees - by whatever name called.

A few  months back,  MR. MISU, one-time  director of  HITACHI, said,

"As individuals, Japanese people  are not very brilliant.  We have won only  4 Nobel-prizes in all  these years against 109 won  by  the   Americans. 

But   when  it  comes  to  working collectively as a team, we are almost unbeatable ! "

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At a point in time when Governments ( Central + States ) are crying hoarse about urgent need for " Labour Reforms " , it is time to sit back and ask :

"  How urgently do we need some MANAGEMENT ATTITUDE REFORMS ?

Or , has WORKER  PARTICIPATION  IN  MANAGEMENT , become an obsolete concept  ?

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14  June  2016

www.hemenparekh.in > Letters to L&T Employees

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Warm Regards,

Hemen Parekh

(M)=91 – 98,67,55,08,08