Dear Mr. Arun:
I read your piece "Bring on the unions" in today's edition of The Economic Times with great interest and my compliments on your articulate thoughts.
Having promoted the Indian auto component industry for over 15 years and understanding the industry, its management and its nuances, I was not surprised at the agitation of the workers in the automotive belt of Gurgaon in which a number of companies are Japanese-owned or partnered.
A large part of the problem is economic and also a "passing-the-buck" management style of the top management, including the Japanese.
Gurgaon is becoming exceptionally expensive. Among others, I see two reasons. There has been a great influx of moneyed/affluent people from Delhi into Gurgaon coupled with the huge earnings gained by some members of the agricultural community after they have sold big tracts of their land for commercial use. Their purchasing power and willingness to pay any amount for whatever has contributed to the rising prices of goods and services in Gurgaon. Here the common man suffers as he cannot afford to to do the same.
This apart, other macro-economic and weather-related factors such as poor monsoon, have even led to a huge rise in the price of vegetables, for instance, which were abundantly and cheaply available in the weekly vegetable mandis (markets) that come up in certain residential areas of Gurgaon.
Management, which includes the HR departments of companies, need to function in a more transparent and less feudalistic manner with co-workers, especially the contract workers. To possess jobs and money have become a matter of life-and-death, due to intense economic pressures, and have led workers to resort to a more militant-like behaviour in addressing their grievances.
Owners/top management are continuing to follow a layered mechanism between themselves and till the level of someone who guards the gate. They need to be in direct touch with their fellow workers rather than totally leave that to the layers of managers between them and the workers.
The Japanese managers also need to realise that they cannot pass-the-buck of dealing with Indian workers to their Indian managers. They will have to transplant greater "agency" like they do in Japan, and to borrow the word from your article, upon themselves in their work place in India along with best practices like TQM and TPM which have been transplanted. One of the simple and most effective ways in which a Frenchman and CEO of Renault, Carlos Ghosn, won the hearts of his highly nationalistic co-workers at Nissan Japan, was by going to the shopfloor and shaking hands with people there.
The sooner people realise that management is all about humanity, compassion, respect and fair dealing, no matter what the status of the person, the sooner will we see violent worker agitation disappear from our enterprises and, more importantly, a rise in levels of quality and productivity to take our nation forward.
Regards
Taarun Dalaya
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
The question of Partition
What historian Ramachandra Guha’s book India after Gandhi quotes as the “greatest mass migration” in history and perhaps the bloodiest - the Partition of India - continues to divide, even after 62 years since it took place.
And it has divided politicians, intellectuals, media persons and people in general into “for” and “against” camps on the unceremonious expulsion of senior Bharatiya Janata Party politician Jaswant Singh from his party for allegedly praising one of history’s most controversial figures, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, and criticising the “Iron man of India” Sardar Vallabhai Patel, in his recently-released book Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence.
Among all the things that Singh said in his defence, the one that impacted me most was his reason for undertaking the task of writing such a book: to find answers to his questions about why Partition ever took place and who and what was responsible for it.
The writer must be applauded for the courage and pain that he took to find answers for himself and which he put across in the form of a book. Singh, whether we agree with his conclusions or not, must also be admired for taking the scholastic challenge of writing on not just a very difficult topic but for expressing radical thoughts which, I am certain he knew, would rankle many in and outside his party.
The pain and suffering of Partition is best understood by those who suffered it. My grandfather and his family were among those millions and were displaced from a place called Peshawar which is now part of Pakistan. He was the principal of the elite Edward’s College which hosted both Mahatma Gandhi and Jinnah during his tenure. My grandfather enjoyed status, prestige and a high quality of life. He never regained that after he dislocated himself and his family to cross the border.
Copyright © Tarun Dalaya
While I learnt of the hardships they faced, from my father, the thought that his family would have perhaps fared better in their lives had Partition never taken place is what has troubled me the most. I want to understand and know more about Partition not just because my family was a victim but because I realise how powerfully divisive that incident was when it took place 62 years ago and how it continues to influence the lives of the people of two nations that were once one.
Jaswant Singh’s effort and its consequences have encouraged me to now quicken the pace of answering my own questions. However, though I know there will never be unanimity of opinion on the issue of Partition, I believe that the sooner every educated citizen of each country begins to individually search for answers to the question of Partition, the faster will its continuing divisive powers, over each one of us and on coming generations, diminish.
And it has divided politicians, intellectuals, media persons and people in general into “for” and “against” camps on the unceremonious expulsion of senior Bharatiya Janata Party politician Jaswant Singh from his party for allegedly praising one of history’s most controversial figures, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, and criticising the “Iron man of India” Sardar Vallabhai Patel, in his recently-released book Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence.
Among all the things that Singh said in his defence, the one that impacted me most was his reason for undertaking the task of writing such a book: to find answers to his questions about why Partition ever took place and who and what was responsible for it.
The writer must be applauded for the courage and pain that he took to find answers for himself and which he put across in the form of a book. Singh, whether we agree with his conclusions or not, must also be admired for taking the scholastic challenge of writing on not just a very difficult topic but for expressing radical thoughts which, I am certain he knew, would rankle many in and outside his party.
The pain and suffering of Partition is best understood by those who suffered it. My grandfather and his family were among those millions and were displaced from a place called Peshawar which is now part of Pakistan. He was the principal of the elite Edward’s College which hosted both Mahatma Gandhi and Jinnah during his tenure. My grandfather enjoyed status, prestige and a high quality of life. He never regained that after he dislocated himself and his family to cross the border.
 |
Copyright © Tarun Dalaya
Copyright © Tarun Dalaya
While I learnt of the hardships they faced, from my father, the thought that his family would have perhaps fared better in their lives had Partition never taken place is what has troubled me the most. I want to understand and know more about Partition not just because my family was a victim but because I realise how powerfully divisive that incident was when it took place 62 years ago and how it continues to influence the lives of the people of two nations that were once one.
Jaswant Singh’s effort and its consequences have encouraged me to now quicken the pace of answering my own questions. However, though I know there will never be unanimity of opinion on the issue of Partition, I believe that the sooner every educated citizen of each country begins to individually search for answers to the question of Partition, the faster will its continuing divisive powers, over each one of us and on coming generations, diminish.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
America enters the age of the philosopher king
The United States of America enters the age of the philosopher king on the back of a man whose colour of skin, till not too long ago, brought one word to mind – slave - and perhaps, for some, still does.
The man, Mr. Barack Obama, ushers in an age which escapes the need of what every nation on this planet requires. A man who affirms that where he stands today is a culmination of many things that moulded him and more especially the power of the books that he read and the power of the word that he has used.
The power of books that helped him understand what it means to be the harbinger of the age of the philosopher king to a nation that is fast eroding in its importance in the world and the power of the word which has enabled him to communicate what that age aims to do to renew that nation’s glory.
America has entered the age of the philosopher king and let it be an inspiration to all those nations in our world who pine for such an age to dawn into their lives that it can be done through the ballot.
The man, Mr. Barack Obama, ushers in an age which escapes the need of what every nation on this planet requires. A man who affirms that where he stands today is a culmination of many things that moulded him and more especially the power of the books that he read and the power of the word that he has used.
The power of books that helped him understand what it means to be the harbinger of the age of the philosopher king to a nation that is fast eroding in its importance in the world and the power of the word which has enabled him to communicate what that age aims to do to renew that nation’s glory.
America has entered the age of the philosopher king and let it be an inspiration to all those nations in our world who pine for such an age to dawn into their lives that it can be done through the ballot.
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