Dear Apurva,
I am an ex-L&Tite [ 1959 – 1990 ]
I thought , my following blogs re the CULTURE and VALUES of L&T might interest you
With regards,
Hemen Parekh
Mumbai
Monday, 25 March 2019
Contours
of the Independence
Today’s newspapers carry
following reports regarding the L&T / Mindtree situation :
Extract :
“ I don’t know what the
contours of the INDEPENDENCE are. It is difficult to make a ( judgement ) based on a
press statement “, Natarajan told ET …”
Extract :
“ We have proven that
companies can built on the platform of HIGH INTEGRITY and
high level of CORPORATE GOVERNANCE and still deliver HIGH
PERFORMANCE “ ( Shri Krisnakumar Natarajan , Chairman, Mindtree )
===================================================
I cannot agree more with Shri
Natarajan
Independence / High Integrity
/ Corporate Governance , are the very foundation of a company’s CULTURE
As far as the foundation of
Mindtree is concerned, no one knows it better than an insider like Shri
Natarajan
It would be very difficult
for me – being an outsider
But, when it comes to the
Value Foundation of L&T is concerned, I was an insider for over 30 years,
rising from a position of a Supervisor to the position of General Manager (
Powai ) > General Manager ( Strategic Planning )
Allow me to narrate a few “
personal examples “ :
=======================================================================
INDEPENDENCE
[ A ]
Around 1977, L&T decided
to get out of its manufacture of drilling equipment business, which employed
some 300 + employees at its factory at Madh Island
At that time, as GM ( Powai )
, I was responsible for Industrial Relations and sole negotiator with Shiv Sena
labour union ( Bharatiya Kamgar Sena – BKS )
Union leaders Naik and
Nakhate came and argued that , it is L&T’s moral responsibility to absorb
these surplus employees into other units of L&T . “ How can a company
employing 7,000 people not be able to absorb 300 persons ? “
I said :
“ I
will ensure that no one is retrenched if you undertake that these employees
will accept whatever other jobs are offered to them , in whichever unit “
Union agreed
When I conveyed my
understanding with the Union to my boss, Mr S R Subramaniam (SRS ) , he was
furious
He said :
“ Parekh, I just asked our
lawyers ( Gagrat ) to apply to Govt for factory closure and retrenchment. What
now ?”
In the end , - and much
against his own decision- SRS backed up my decision !
[ B ]
During long-term “ Wages
Agreement “ negotiations with the labour union, I reached a stalemate and the
union representatives walked out of the meeting , declaring they will not
negotiate with me anymore and will only negotiate with my boss SRS
When they approached SRS
directly , he said :
“ Parekh represents the
L&T Management and is empowered to commit on its behalf . He is the final
authority in this matter . Go back , request him for a meeting . He is a
reasonable guy “
Union leaders returned to the
negotiating table after 3 weeks of boycott
[ C ]
When Union demanded that
L&T head office in Ballard Estate should work for 5 days-a-week , in place
of five and half days, Chairman Shri N M Desai ( NMD ) , asked me to present
union justification and my response, to a group of L&T directors
During the meeting, NMD had
to leave the meeting for a few minutes – at which time , all other directors
present told me that they are in favor of a 5 day week
When NMD returned , he said :
“ So , Parekh , what do you
recommend ? “
I said : We must
reject Union demand and continue to work as now
NMD :
“ If that is what Parekh
thinks is best for the
Company, that is what he will
tell the Union “
=======================================================================
INTEGRITY
[ A ]
During 1980, we were going
through a very bad patch as far as labour agitation / militancy / go-slow /
strikes etc was concerned
On the subject of “
Industrial Relations Climate at Powai “ , I was making a slide-show
presentation to the Directors and other General Managers of L&T
When I reached the last
slide, before showing it, I looked up to Chairman Shri Desai and said :
“ Sir , after I show you this
last slide, I am not sure whether I would be able to keep my job “
NMD just smiled at me and said
:
“ Parekh, go ahead and show
the slide and we will soon find out “
That last slide read :
“ A MANAGEMENT GETS THE UNION
IT DESERVES “
I managed to keep my job !
[ B ]
I had hoped to conclude “
Bonus Negotiations “ with Union in 1984, by end April , but it went on for
weeks, without reaching any agreement
I called Union leaders ( Naik
and Nakhate ) in my cabin and said :
“ From 10th to
20th May , I am supposed to take my family for holidays and all train and hotel
bookings have been done many weeks in advance. If I don’t go , I have to cancel
all reservations and lose money .
But it would be misunderstood
by you and the 7000 workers, if I leave the bonus negotiations half way at this
stage “
N&N said :
“ Sir, upon return from
holiday, do you promise to settle and disburse bonus by end May ? If yes, then
go ahead “
I said :
I promise . But you too must
promise that there will be no go-slow / agitation during my absence from Powai
Union leaders kept their
promise and I kept my promise
Reason ?
I had the habit of not
releasing a circular unless I got the assurance of the Union leaders in advance
that its requirements will be implemented by the workers
[ C ]
Mr Holck Larsen ( HHL ) once
recommended appointment of a young girl as an unskilled worker in Madh Bit
Plant
She came from a very poor
family and her father was jobless
She was interviewed and
appointed , on condition that she submit her SSC pass certificate in 1 week
When, despite several
reminders, she would not , an inquiry with her school revealed that she had not
even appeared for her SSC exam
I asked the Personnel Manager
to terminate her services and phoned HHL to convey my decision
His response ?
“ Let her go . We cannot
change our norms “
And , on one Sunday , HHL (
as was his habit ) , turned up at the gate of Madh factory and was stopped at
the gate by a security guard ( of a contract agency ), who did not recognize
him.
Guard said :
“ Andar jaana
manna hai “
HHL tried to convince him
that he belongs to L&T , but the guard would not listen !
HHL did not bother to call
for the Shop Supervsor on duty – and turned back !
Next day HHL phone me to
compliment me for hiring a proficient security agency
[ D ]
Vallabhan ( a shop foreman in
Madh ) came to me and requested for a loan of Rs 2,000 from his Provident Fund
His father wanted to buy a
plot of land in his native village
I explained to him that our
PF Trust rules did not allow loans for purchase of land . He was in tears and
asked me to speak with Shri Desai ( Chairman ), to intervene
When I explained the situation
to Shri Desai, he said:
“ Parekh, we as trustees of
PF , cannot break the rules and create a bad precedent .
But if you think we need to
help this man , I can loan him from my personal bank account “
=======================================================================
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
[ A ]
Around 1959, S K Toubro’s
engineer son wanted to join L&T as a junior engineer
HHL and SKT discussed among
themselves and decided :
To avoid nepotism in the
company, no children of managers ( above designation of Dy General Managers and
above ) can be appointed in the company
I believe, this rule still
holds
Once when I was heading
Central Personnel Department , one fresh engineer got interviewed and was sent
an Appointment letter – everything strictly on merits of the boy
In his standard / printed
green Application Form, he had clearly stated that his father was a Director of
L&T ( appointed by LIC ). No one reads that last para declaration in fine
prints !
This would have required
passing a Special Resolution in AGM, which was no problem at all
But LIC nominated director
did not want such a resolution in the AGM agenda . So , he resigned !
[ B ]
In early 60s , there were 2 /
3 years when L&T was going through very bad times , business wise
And there was also a talk
that L&T managers were influencing colleagues to recruit/appoint , known
persons, overlooking the merit criteria
It was then that HHL called a
meeting of the senior officers and handed a circular which explained the bad
situation we were going through
The last line of that
circular read :
“ Blood may be
thicker than water but remember, Red Ink is even thicker than blood “
The message was loud and
clear !
[ C ]
After very successful
turn-around on the productivity front, NMD asked me to conduct seminars at many
factories / offices of L&T all over India , to share the experience /
methodology that I used at Powai to obtain a whole-hearted “ worker
participation in management “
In these seminars, I used to
stress that :
# L&T
belongs to the Nation
# We , the
employees, are just one of the Stake-holders
# Even
shareholders do not OWN the company
# L&T
Directors, certainly do not OWN the company
I used to show this slide to
L&T employees participating at each location
In Bangalore meeting , Shri
Desai ( Chairman ) dropped in , since he happened to be in Bangalore office on
that day
When I showed that slide , he
concurred with my views through some comments of his own !
[ D ]
Even after HHL became Non
Executive Chairman , as per earlier practice , his car was getting “ maintained
“ at the Powai Service Station department of L&T
I was GM ( Powai ) at that
time and the Transport Department reported to me
After one year, SRS ( my boss
) told me that , as per rules , Company cannot maintain the car of a
non-executive director , ( something which I was not aware and certainly not
HHL ) , and asked me :
“ How much money have you
spent in past one year on maintenance of HHL’s car ? “
After inquiry , I said :
About Rs 70,000 / -
I offered to destroy old
records and create new internal records ( job tickets / purchase vouchers etc )
– in the name of any current Executive Director . A simple matter of few hours
When someone informed HHL
about this lapse , next day he sent a cheque for Rs 70,000 / -from his personal
bank account, drawn in favour of “ Larsen & Toubro Limited “
When he received famous
Magsaysay Award , he attributed that to the achievements of L&T , not
himself !
=====================================================================
I can keep writing for hours
!
=================================================================
25 March 2019
Minding the Tree ?
For past 3 days, newspapers
are full of reports / articles / debates and interviews re the planned takeover
of Mindtree by L&T
In one report, founders /
promoters have expressed fears about the possible mismatch between the cultures
of Mindtree and L&T
I have no clue about the
culture of Mindtree, but having worked in L&T for over 30 years (
1959-1990 ), I have a fair idea of L&T
culture
Question :
How can one delve deep into
the “ Minds “ of the employees ( Trees ? ) of L&T, in order to
unravel the nature of that culture ?
Answer :
Search for hidden clues in
what they might have written about L&T .
One such source ( although
somewhat superficial ) could be :
But those keen for a deeper
understanding would want to go through :
These are 51 essays ( ?
) written by ex-L&T employees , -
each narrating an “ incidence “ that happened around them , while working for
L&T
Through use of certain words
/ phrases , each of these “ real life incidence “ tells a story about L&T Culture
In the following tabulation,
I have summarized a few of those narratives , listing the words used by those
ex-employee writers and the corresponding “ L&T
Culture “
I urge Mindtree founders
/ promoters and employees , to take out a few minutes to read all the 51
articles , to allay their fears of any perceived “ mismatch “ of the two
cultures
================================================================================
|
Narrative
Title
|
Contributing
Employee
|
Words
found
|
L&T
Culture described
|
Ramesh D Grover
|
H R Shenoy
|
please ,
giving birth to an organization and nourishing
it ,
smile, freshness,
gem of human beings,
solving problems, helping,
|
Helping colleagues,
Collaboration ,
Friendliness
|
Office Stationary & Reimbursement
|
KN
|
controls and restrictions,
art of bypassing control
|
Love for details,
Cost Consciousness,
Tendency to control small
expenses
|
Meeting Larsen and Toubro, in person
|
M Subramanian
|
he fired me for washing my hands well before the
shift time,
“You also look out for this person before leaving
the bus.”
a car was arranged to drop me at Kurla Station,
all the machines in working condition,
if I am somebody it is due my employment with
L&T / proud
of
|
Easy accessibility to Top Management ,
Loyalty,
Pride of Association,
Concern for personal problems of Employees
Recognition of an employee's contribution to
Company's growth
Shop-floor Discipline
|
Forward
|
A Y Divekar
|
suggesting corrections,
not wanting to apply a brake his career
development,
That earned him deserved respect,
|
Suggest - express freely to bosses
Concern for development of
subordinates
Acknowledging contribution of a colleague or
a subordinate
|
Then & Now
|
Arvind Rao
|
uniform clad ,
following road rules,
write all important communications using
duplicate or triplicate books and carbon paper,
no job was ever complete till the paperwork was
done
own up to mistakes,
burning midnight oil,
always answered on first ring,
time for others,
knew our colleagues littlest pains,
shared the jubilations of everyone’s
achievements,
met socially and formally and generally got a lot
more done in less time,
one big happy family with healthy rivalry,
ethics and values dearly upheld,
people who could do the work of four –
|
Hard working
High ethics and values
Family feeling
Performance pressure
Sharing triumphs and tribulations
High level of Efficiency
Prompt response
Long working hours
Admission of mistakes
Emphasis on last mile - no loose ends
Respect for rules
|
A Soft Landing in L&T
|
K Narsaiah
|
We were offered lunch in
the canteen,
He told me to hop in,
That happened to be my best innings
|
Concern for candidates
|
The English Teacher
|
Nattu
Aravindakshan
Jairam
|
he never liked big gathering and wasting time.
but there was one spelling mitake,
perfection,
purity and rigour,
gracious,
complimented me and
acknowledged my evolving skills.
|
Perfection
Love for details
Grace
Acknowledging Merits in others
Complimenting on achievements
|
Never Ending Learning
|
A M Rao
|
not a dot out off place would be tolerated,
crisply worded,
grammatically correct English,
tucking away every paper subject-wise, date-wise,
we used to practice cataloguing
and filing in neat chronological, alphabetical and physical order !
remembering spelling, grammar and basic
courtesies,
|
Courteous Communication
Love for details
Systematic
System Orientation
Methodical
Emphasis on correctness
Intolerance for sloppyness
|
Collect, Store and Recall
|
Kodam Narsaiah
|
efficient and successful ,
neatly dressed
|
To be always presentable and smart-looking
Premium on Efficiency
Penchant to succeed
|
L&T Works , OK
|
R K Seth
|
visionary leadership,
where only L&T-ites' children were allowed to
get admission.
company-wide launch TQM,
giving me opportunity,
TQM initiatives
|
Vision for future
" Forever learning "
attitude
Willingness to experiment
Emphasis on continuous training
Providing opportunities to Employees
Concern for children of Employees |
Leadership Qualities
|
Rishikesh Joshi
|
HHL set it as tradition,
going through shop floors,
The tradition still continues,
Great leaders set great traditions which become
part of culture...
|
Leadership qualities
Setting traditions
Mixing with employees
|
For an “ In Depth “
understanding of L&T Culture, readers may want to look up :
[ A ] L&T Culture
[ B ] Nostalgic Chairman
[ C ] THE NIGHTMARE YEAR
[ D ] L&T Switchgear & Other Stories
=======================================================================
20 March 2019
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