Magic of Communication

8/2/2019 Magic of Communication

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16 September 2011 www.humancapitalonline.com

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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September 2011 17www.humancapitalonline.com

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

Magic of Communication

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