magic of communication
TRANSCRIPT
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COVER STORY
A
u t o m o t i v e c o m p a n i e s
have always created n ews
especially when conflicts
have r i sen be tweenman agement and workers.
For example , the news of non
produc t ion a t Hyunda i Motors '
S r ipe rumbudur fac to ry due to a
recurring labour unrest in 2009, a
conf l ic t be tween workers and
management o f Pr ico l , an au to
components m anufacturing compan y
at its Periyanaickenpalayam unit in
2009, and some m onths b ack General
Motors India faced a labour unrest
at i ts mother plant in Halol. The
striking workers had formed a new
BY ARVA SHIKARI
the magic of
communicationCommunication is the foundation of any organization...
more so at worker level, since they are the ones who transform
the vision of comfortable and luxurious gadgets into reality.
un ion un der INTUC and alleged th at
they were sub jec ted to su rp lus
workload, faced health hazards and
the organization dishon oured th e PFAct, gratuity norms and rules of
Industrial Safety and Health Act.
General Motors, although, had kept
i t s s tand o f no t v io la t ing any
employment con t rac t o r sa fe ty
aspects. Wheth er it is abou t worker's
compliance, safety, quality, benefits
or cost control, achieving customer
targets, working on new products,
e tc i t a l l pe rco la ted down to
inefficient communication between
senior managemen t an d workers. For
instance, in a medium sized auto
company the managing d i rec to r
instea d of releasing staffs/ workers
salaries he went ahead and put the
fun ds in a new project which nobod yknew about, and he didn't bother
communicating this to the staff and
workers . When this information
somehow leaked workers were
furious first ab out that their salaries
would b e delayed, and second that
they didn't know what they were
supposed to work on next as no
details of the project were con veyed
t o t h e m u n t i l o n e d a y p r i o r t o
commencing work , which made
work very difficult to accomplish.
Also, the timelines were too short
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COVER STORY
for a big project to take off, safety
and quality standards were not met,
and there was a shortage of spare
parts. The workshop manager was
unab le to communica te workers
v o i c e t o t h e m a n a g e m e n t a n d
workers were too scared to speakup as the m ana ging director was too
egois t i c and temperamenta l in
nature . However , there was
retaliation from workers. Due to
salary delays the workers would
abuse and threaten the accounts
department and would report late
to work or some remained absent.
At times, som e workers with the h elp
of security would keep a proxy for
their incom ing time s. All th is affected
the new project and overall work
which ultimately lead managementto fire-fighting, workers resigning,
loss of project, and last m inute cost
controls in terms of reducing work
space - all at the sam e time. And this
was happ ening in just the last decade.
Previously, com mun ication with shop
floor level workers was com pletely a
t o p d o w n o n e ( m a n a g e m e n t t o
workers) i .e . one way
comm un ication. If any worker dared
to speak was shut up in some way or
the o ther or even could lose his job
for speaking up . Taking advan tage ofsuch s i tua t ions somet imes were
union leaders with vested interests
that worsened the communication
between the two most crucial parts
of auto companies. Also, workers
were less aware of the going-ons a nd
most were uned ucated. Thus,
there was "A reluctance to
b u i l d a n a t m o s p h e r e o f
transparency and openness
which resu l ted in
comm un ication gap between
t h e m a n a g e m e n t a n d t h eworkmen . Due to th is conflict
s i tua t ions were very
common, which fue l led
industrial unrest from time
to tim e," adds G.S. Uppal, the
head-IR, CS & admin of Tata
Motors Ltd.
Never the less , the rap id
progress of the sh op floor ha s
p a s s e d t h r o u g h a n
evolution ary p rocess. Today's
workers are more educated
and aware as compared tosome years back. It is much
easier to communicate with
mod ern day workers and has
become a two way process.
"Also, the employees 'need
to know' is met equa lly with
t h e m a n a g e m e n t ' s
'willingn ess to share' . This
h a s b r o u g h t a b o u t a k e y
change in communicat ion
with workmen and a creation
of a transp aren t work culture.
The management not only
wants to ta lk to them for
the i r invo lvement in
initiatives, but, also wants to
know their views on
improvement in qua l i ty ,
product ivi ty , and cost
reduction. The participative
management , t ra ining and
open communications with
shop floor em ployees plays a
vi ta l role in creat ing and
maintaining a t ransparent
work cu l tu re . Even the
Boneham speaks at a rewards and recognition programme atBlanking and Stamping
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invo lvement o f shop- f loor
employees in routine activities has
increased the belongingness amon gst
them ," says Uppal.
Therefore, today com mu nication
has become a base fo r worker
engagement practices - the basicp i l l a r s be ing openness , t rus t ,
transparency and teamwork.
Communication bottlenecksThe changes in ways o f
communica t ion have inc reased
worker engagement, but, with more
outpu t volum es to the desired extent,
the compan y needed to augmen t its
efficiency an d for that it required to
coordinate act ivi t ies much more
effectively across levels esp ecially on
the shop f loor . The sen ior
m a n a g e m e n t i m p l e m e n t e d a neffective comm un ication system th at
enhanced da i ly l eve l
comm un ications between shop floor
w o r k e r s a n d m a n a g e m e n t a n d
helped in erad icating fire fighting an d
es tab l i shed an t ic ipa t ion as the
operational rule.
To have an open culture on the
sho p floor espe cially in tim es of crisis
(like large volume of work) asking
workers their views, discussing the
techn icalities, and involving th em in
negot ia t ions secures them a n a g e m e n t i n m a k i n g r u s h e d
decisions and aids in getting work
done faster. For example, Maruti
Suzuki sometime back faced an
exceptional demand of its cars and
a limited capacity to produce them
at its plants discovered a unique
prob lem solver - its 7,500 emp loyees.
In today's customer focused arena,
"Tata Motors has taken extra efforts
to make i t s shop f loor l eve l
management/workers aware of the
c u s t o m e r e x p e c t a t i o n s a n drequ i rements . Cus tomer cen t r ic
factors like JD power ratings are a
key component of even workmen
i n c e n t i v e s c h e m e s a n d t h e y
understand that customer is their
final pay master. Hence we do not
face communication bottlenecks in
this regard," affirms Uppal.
O t h e r c o m m u n i c a t i o n
bottlenecks occur when workers lack
computer access or are not savvy
with it or may not know how to use
internet as most perform physicaljo b s a n d d o n ' t h a ve d esks o r
computers. Thus, questions about
ben efits or h ow to fill form s and the
likes come up quite often or while
communica t ing a new po l icy to
workers across geographies do pose
problems.
Furthermore, a plant might have
two or three shifts, thus, workers
work at different times of a day. An
auto manufacturing company ran
three shifts, and com mu nicating with
all three was a h uge issue. The t hird
COVER STORY
Automation of
shop floor communicationRolls-Royce Motor Cars set up a DECT IP communication
system as a part of its wider communications systems at the
company's Goodwood plant in Sussex. Rolls Royce got more
than 400 handsets including IP54 and ATEX/IS rated units for
utilization on the production line and in harmful parts like the
paint shop where flammable fumes are regularly present. The
handsets allow workers to make or receive internal and external
calls and offer all standard telephony functionality comprising
of internal call identification, automatic call answering, vibrateand tone alert, telephone book, auto login and redial. This
system enhanced communications and facilitated managers to
be efficient by being with their teams rather than operate from
their offices. They get contacted fast to resolve any issues in
the quickest feasible time despite the
area. Over 40 base stations are fixed
forming a DECT mesh network
across the Goodwood site.
Positioned on walls and ceilingsin the offices, around the
production line and in main
sections outside, the mesh
network ensures efficient handover
of calls as users move around the
plant. The system gelled well with the existing building
management system to distribute immediate alerts of production
line problems and other events needing urgent attention of
managers and maintenance teams on the shop floor.
globalization senior man agemen t has
b e c o m e b u s y a n d f o c u s e d o n
cus tomers s ide l in ing regu la r
communica t ion wi th shop f loor
levels . For example, a leading
autom otive parts man ufacturer had
an enormous increase in demandf rom i t s b igges t cus tomer who
accounted for about a quarter of
the manufacturer 's volumes on a
specialist cylinder part - but, faced
inefficiencies due to com m un ication
bottlenecks. The sen ior man agement
recognized that in order to bo ost its
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COVER STORY
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shift usually felt like the forgotten
child. And most of the times they
relied on supervisors to get across
messages to and from man agement
to workers an d vice versa. Of cou rse,
this took up a lot of focus and h ours
to communicate effectively. Somecompanies post notices on bulletin
boards or keep notices in with pay
checks o r send mass SMSes
depen ding upon th e type of message
that n eeds to be conveyed.
C o m m u n i c a t i n g i n a
m a n u f a c t u r i n g e n v i r o n m e n t i s
sometimes complicated as language
also puts barriers. For example, in
India there are m any languages. If a
North Indian sup ervisor or m ana ger
join s an au to m an ufact urin g pla n t in
Mah arash tra, it would be d ifficult forh i m t o c o m m u n i c a t e a s m o s t
workers may be attun ed to Marathi
language. In fact , verbal
communication in any language is
difficult on shop floor as there are
loud n oises on the floor which could
be a barrier to communication like
s o m e e q u i p m e n t o p e r a t e a t 9 5
decibels, and people are wearing
hearing protections. In that case,
machines have to be stopped to get
the message across effect ively.
Toyota has s imple in te rna l
communications. It's an unwrittenrule at Toyota that employees keep
language s imple when
communicat ing with each other .
While making presentations, they
sum up b ackgroun d data , objectives,
ana lysis, action plans, an d expected
results on a single sheet of paper.
No doub t today mo st workers are
educated, but, less educated than
their off ice counterparts , l ike a
manager will hold an MBA degree,
but, a worker may have a simple
diploma in mech anical or autom otiveen gineerin g, so HR/ IR pro fession als
have to t a i lo r the i r messages
accord ingly. For exam ple, an H R/IR
manager whi le speak ing to l ine
workers about family and medical
plans eligibility may have to utilize
less legal terms than while talking
COVER STORY
with executives.
Communication strategies toeliminate barriersCoaching at every level, from senior
man agement to the shop floor is one
way of eliminating communication
bott lenecks. To opt imize
comm unication supporting ideas and
interests from shop floor workers
gets the commitment of everyone
invo lved even f rom def ian t
operators . One auto company to
encou rage effective com mu nication
in t roduced an in i t i a t ive where
workers were encouraged to come
up with their ideas and suggestions
on how to control costs and this
could be done anonymously. This
approach was welcomed by the
workers. Even Maruti Suzuki has
recently started to get suggestions
f rom employees on improv ing
qu ality, reducing co sts, ways to speed
up operations, improve efficiencies
of robots and streamline supplies,
Ford unveiling of new car with employees
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e t c . a s a c o m p a n y ' s a n n u a l
exercise . There were 60,000
suggestions logged recen tly and
mos t were f rom shop f loor
workers. In fact, the suggestion s
were on how Maruti can make
m ore cars without expan ding itscapacity (in relation t o the above
mentioned problem of Maruti).
This sent a message across to
workers that their voice is
equa l ly impor tan t fo r the
company ' s p rogress . On the
o ther hand , Toyota Motors
emphasizes on teamwork as a
gu id ing p r inc ip le s ince i t s
incep t ion . When a p rob lem
occurs, every member of the
team is accountable and has the
authority and responsibility tofind a solution. The practice
began on the factory floor and
h a s s p r e a d t h r o u g h o u t t h e
company.
An effective communication
program p lays an important role
in changing behav iours and
monitoring progress in increasing
work capacity, enhancing line yields
across the ent i re shop f loor and
revitalizing working culture. Tata
Motors has a s t ruc tu red
c o m m u n i c a t i o n s y s t e m a n d t h eroutin e shop floor issues are resolved
t h r o u g h t h e j o i n t f o r u m s o f
e m p l o y e e s a n d m a n a g e m e n t .
Describing further, Uppal says, "At
the shop floor level we have self
directed teams (SDT) of workmen
who work on safety, qu ality, delivery,
c o s t , m o r a l a n d e n v i r o n m e n t
(SQDCME) parameters and are fully
empowered to take decis ions on
routine issues of their respective
areas. In many areas these teams
are working very effectively andthere is no need for supervision.
However, to resolve issues in shops
we have joint shop cou ncil (JSC) and
at divis ion levels we have joint
division councils (JDC). If issues
raised in JSC are n ot reso lved it goes
to JDC for resolution. At the highest
level i.e. plant level we have joint
m anagem ent coun cil (JMC), in which
senior management team including
plant head and union office bearers
are members. The issues remaining
un resolved in JDC are finally resolved
COVER STORY
Boneham shares a light moment with shop employees
in th e JMC. The trend of issues raised
and resolved through these joint
forums are 98% successful, which
shows the effective working of the
join t forum s."
Further , says Uppal , "These
forums also act as an effect ivecommunicat ion channel with the
shop floor em ployees. The decisions
taken by management team in its
apex business counsel (ABC) are
communicated through JMC and
goes down to SDT level. Similarly,
issues at SDT level go to the ABC
through JMC. The targets taken up
in balance score card (BSC) at
business unit, plant, factory, centre
of excel lence level are
communicated to the SDT levels
throu gh these forum s. These forum sare an effective way of two way
c o m m u n i c a t i o n a n d a l i g n m e n t
between shop floor employees and
management."
Additionally, shop floor
c o m m u n i c a t i o n w i t h s e n i o r
leadership at Tata Motors happens
in two forms. One is the town hall
m eeting with the m ana ging director
and CEO conducted once a year for
120 minutes where review of last
year's performance, future targets,
ma rket scenario, and new cha llenges
are discussed. Secondly, meetings
with plant head and factory process
owners are done quarterly for 90
m i n u t e s e a c h t i m e w h e r e
pe rform an ce o f PIs & VPLP, m arke t
scenario, employee involvement,
productivity, and safety are talkedabout. Besides all these chan ne ls, "We
have several in-house journals that
are circulated to all employees,"
informs Uppal.
I n a n o t h e r a u t o c o m p a n y ,
m anagem ent leaders started holding
shop floor m eetings to increase face-
to - face communica t ion wi th
workers. With the custom er con tract
less than a year away, shop floor
mee t ings were one o f the bes t
methods to distribute information,
and receive feedback and input, aswell. Also, two-way communication
is the mos t impor tan t fac to r to
successful negot ia t ions where i t
m akes certain that workers can voice
their concerns and p roblems can b e
identified. Shop floor meetings aid
in increasing ma na gemen t's visibility
and give workers an opportunity to
speak to management and work
becomes more participative.
At Ford Motors shop floor level
associates still look forward to n otice
boards for dai ly communicat ion.
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However, today they have better
access to web-based
c o m m u n i c a t i o n s a n d t h a n k s t o
te lecom growth they a re we l l
conn ected to their colleagues within
a n d o t h e r c o m p a n i e s , m a i l i n g
groups and bulk SMS options arewidely used. At Ford India, "We
extensively use web based
communica t ion by way of Ford
Communica t ion Network (FCN)
News , bu i ld exc i tement about
p r o d u c t p r o m o t i o n s a m o n g s t
employees through 'driving ford',
and c i rcu la te pe r iod ic in -house
m agazine '@ Ford' to keep everyone
abreast of the happenings in the
country, Asia Pacific and Africa
region and FMC global ly ," says
Pand iyan Vairam an i , the vicepres iden t , HR of Ford Ind ia .
F u r t h e r m o r e , t h e c o m p a n y h a s
never lost s ight of the basics of
communica t ion . "Dai ly
communication at the start of the
shift for employees in their team
meet ing a t the shop f loor i s an
effective way of upd ating em ployees
on safety information, production
plan, and other related information.
Departmental m eetings are planned
for important cascades and roll out
of new ini t ia t ives . A town-hal lm eeting a.k.a. all em ployees mee ting
is a regular feature every quarter
cover ing shop f loor employees
across shifts in th ree to four ba tches.
This meeting covers a wide variety
of topics right from b usiness upd ates
from m an aging director, followed by
m a r k e t i n g a n d m a n u f a c t u r i n g
upda tes f rom the respec t ive
fun ctional head s. It also serves as an
effective platform for rewards and
recognition of deserving em ployees
and teams with thu ndering applausefrom their col leagues," explains
Vairam an i.
In addition, its celebration time
for Ford plant employees when it
comes to unveiling of a new car,
various competitions and fun-filled
even ts bu i ld exc i tement fo r
employees like the theme 'Tell Figo
Sell Figo - Sky is th e Lim it'. "The n ew
car's launch in India recently had
t h o u s a n d s o f p l a n t e m p l o y e e s
witnessing the reveal during an
exciting event held on MaraimalaiNagar plant lawn and our em ployees
got an exclusive preview of the sleek
four-door m odel," avers Vairaman i.
Only a two-way communication
would m ean th at there is a seamless
comm unication between shop floor
associates and their sup ervision. Ford
practices an open door policy and
employees freely express their
opinions to their supervisors. The
process is ma de m ore robust by way
of organizing skip level meetings th at
help the leadership team to closelyinteract with shop floor associates.
By skipping levels and taking direct
feedback f rom them enab les
management in understanding the
pulse on the floor. For example, at
times the president and managing
di rec to r Michae l
B o n e h a m s p e a k s a n d
interacts with workers on
the shop floor like with
the b lank ing and
s tamping l ine . Th is i s
"President on The ShopFloor" p rogram which
Boneham fee l s i s a
fantastic opportunity to
get a close look at daily
operations and learn m ore
about quality and safety
processes and to get to
k n o w t h e p e o p l e w h o
carry these out every day.
Vairam an i says ,
"Management safety walk
re in forces our
comm itmen t to safety andhelps the leadership team
to review safety practices
on the shop f loor and
improve the work
environme nt." Ford Ind ia
also has a vibran t Natural
Work Groups (NWG)
com prising of emp loyees
m e e t f o r o n e h o u r
periodically where issues
a re d i scussed in the
p r o d u c t i o n l i n e a n d
process improvements ,
COVER STORY
Boneham polishes a body panel with a buffing machine
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cost saving measures etc.
Even in Toyota plants,
executives convey and get
information by being on the
shop floor in person. For
example, the head of the
Takaoka an d Tsutsu mi p lantsis on the factory floor daily
and joins workers for drinks
in the evening som etimes as
frequently as four times a
week. In fact , the
character is t ics of Toyota
execu t ives compr i se o f
readiness to listen an d learn
from others , fervour for
con t inuous ly making
enhancements , ease wi th
working in teams, knack of
taking action promptly toresolve a matter, interest in
coaching employees, and
modesty which all help in
bu i ld ing a s tu rdy
communication system in
the organization.
Effective communication
enhances quality of work lifeTata Motors has s t ruc tu red
communication strategies like SDT
an d joints forum s which are effectivetools to comm unicate and align th e
shop floor em ployees with corporate
vision, mission and strategy where
man agement targets are shared with
SDT's and the agend a of the m eeting
is structu red toward s achieving tho se
ta rge t s . S ince the company has
always bel ieved in proact ive
industrial relations, it uses human
touch base comm unication chan nels,
too, to further enhance the quality
of work life for workers by going to
the workers and try and u nderstandtheir problems an d grievances at the
inception stage itself. "This helps in
address ing i s sues before they
blossom and create a relationship
based on mutual trust and respect.
An example of this would be one-
to-one coun selling which we do with
workmen who either have chronic
absenteeism or performance related
issues. Here we try to understand
the reasons fo r the i r low
performance or absenteeism and
p r o v i d e t h e m t h e n e c e s s a r y
COVER STORY
assistance to help get their careers
back on track," pledges Uppal.
`In addition, Tata motors also
conduc ts t ra in ing p rograms oninterperson al skills, world wonder of
com m un ication, listening skills, and
presentation skills for shop floor
workers/line managers to enhance
their com m un ication skills.
To make shop f loor
communication more effective and
improve the quality of work life
Vairam an i says, "Group s participa te
i n d e p a r t m e n t , p l a n t w i d e
competitions on Kaizens and the
winners get to participate in state
level , nat ional and internat ionalcompet i t ions . The winners look
forward to participate with their
family mem bers in an ann ual dinner
even t wi th sen ior management .
There is opportunity for others as
well to take pride and showcase to
their families the wonderful work
environment they enjoy at Ford by
way of family visits organized at
periodic intervals."
In fact, a Lean Behaviour Survey
to assess the employee feedback on
overa l l peop le and process
ma nagemen t at Ford's shop floor has
shown a positive increasing trend
over the past years. This shows its
continuous efforts in fostering aculture of openness, development
orientation and people focus amon g
its workforce.
To avoid the winds of change
from blowing down th e organization,
Toyota Motors t ies together i ts
foun ders' values - 'up -and-in' p eople
m a n a g e m e n t , a n d o p e n
communication. Toyota promotes a
m ultifaceted web of social networks
as i t wants everyone to know
everything. The corporation creates
horizontal links among employeesacross functional and geographic
b o u n d a r i e s , g r o u p i n g t h e m b y
specializations and year of entry;
develops vertical relationsh ips across
h ie ra rch ies th rough teach ing
relationships and mentoring; and
cultivates informal ties by inviting
employees to join clubs based on
birthp laces, sports interests, hobb ies,
etc. Also, the company hardly ever
removes underperformers, instead
focuses on advancing th eir skills an d
capabilities.
Workers at Tata Motors put forth a question
to the senior leadership during a town hall meeting
HC