National Pride and Managament

JAYANANDA H HIRANANDANI

Many thanks for publishing the thought-provoking article ‘Indians Are Not Proud of Their Nationality’ by Adam Osborne (India Post, May 23).

On Osborne’s point that national pride in the workers will lead to higher quality in Indian products, I wish to supplement as follows.

From what Osborne says it is apparent that he is very well versed in matters of industry. I am not sure whether he is the one of Osborne Computers or not, but from my experience in engineering in automotive, electronics and education I believe that following are the important points in quality. My experience has been both in the US and India.

Firstly, does the worker know what he/she is expected to do. Secondly, does he/she know whether the process is performing as it should. Thirdly, does he/she have the willingness to set it right. Fourthly, what is the management support and involvement to make the product right and perform well.

I believe that very often the problems of quality, whether in the US or India are due to the fourth factor. The responsibility of the worker ceases if the product he is turning out meets the specifications. But the specifications and the processes are not set by the worker but the management. In the sixties and seventies there was a great deal of discussion about the quality of cars made in Detroit versus those made overseas. Often the workers and the unions were blamed for it. But the overlooked question was that who made the designs, manufacturing process and specifications? Was it management or the workers? Obviously, the workers do not design the cars and set up the plans. Was it not a sustained effort on the part of management in Detroit that has put the automotive industry back on the track?

In India there is an adverse relationship between the workers and the management to a much greater extent than in the US. Take a few examples. How conscientious are management in ensuring that workers wear protective eye glasses and have proper shoes so as not to injure themselves? Again, in matter of labor relations there are no contracts between the management and the union for wages and benefits for the stipulated period of the contract, with the condition that there will be no strike on those issues. About 25 years ago I discussed this with a relative of mine who was the Deputy Registrar of the Labor Appellate Tribunal of India. He said that no such concept existed, and it probably does not even today despite the much touted economic reforms since 1991. What has this to do with the national pride in the worker? This alone will not do unless the management, the unions and the Governments work together.

Even in the Silicon Valley, I believe there have been unsuccessful products launched? Have they not been due to management’s short sightedness in not adequately developing the product but running after the quarterly and annual balance sheets?

In India there is another factor. Look at the amount of foreign collaboration in the private and public sectors. Indians are not encouraged to develop own designs. Research and development are minuscule. Osborne rightly notes the high quality of Indian technical personnel. But is it not for the management to harness it instead of importing technology? Is the management afraid that the product will not work if developed in India? In the short-term there may be failures, but the long-term benefits will be enormous. One learns from failures. James Watt said that what is needed in mechanical engineering is a history of failures. Similarly, on his umpteen failures in arriving at the formulation for a filament of the incandescent lamp, Thomas Edison remarked that they were not failures but knowledge that things will not work in certain ways!

While India has been a great success in the agricultural sector due to proper coordination, the same has been lacking in industry. The Bokaro Steel Project report was prepared by Dastur & Company in the sixties. But instead of having them build it, the same was given to the Soviet Union. The Enron Power Project is very poor in that it depends on imported petroleum products. The recent pressure to increase the prices of petroleum products shows the shortsightedness? Is this due to lack of national pride in the worker, or failure of management right up to the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar, and his engineers? Similarly, look at Bofors gun deal. Is it not logical to infer, and I stand to be corrected, that it went through because of the secondary benefits that flowed to various persons. For indigenously developed products these secondary benefits would be much less. Telecommunications, sugar import are just a few more examples in point.

In short, national pride in the worker is a necessary ingredient, but it can be rendered useless by a host of other factors discussed above.

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