Humanism of Work for Excellence-Quality Circles

HUMANISATON OF WORK FOR EXCELLENCE-
­QUALITY CIRCLES

S.R.UDPA

As we are nearing the end of this cen­tury, we, in India, are taking a fresh look at what we have been able to achieve as a nation and how we are going to cope with the future. There is no gainsaying the fact that since we won our freedom in 1947, considerable progress has been recorded in many fields. From a country prone to frequent famines, India is now not only self­-sufficient in food grains but is in a position to export them too. A sound industrial base has been established. A third of the world’s technical manpower is now in India. Our scientists and doctors have made a mark for themselves in foreign countries even in hi-tech areas.

Looking within:- But at the same time, what is plaguing the mind of an average Indian is why, despite all our re­markable achievements, our country con­tinues to be one of the poorest in the world.

Why is our share of the global trade so low at only about 0.6 per cent? How have smaller countries like Korea, Taiwan, Japan and some oth­ers who, about forty years ago, were on the same low base as India was, taken a march over us and progressed much faster than what we have been able to do? Why do our brilliant professionals migrate to U.S.A., U.K. and elsewhere in search of a better quality of life?

There is no dearth of learned answer to all these questions. They are being de­bated regularly in any number of Seminars and Conferences and also analysed by ex­perts in professional journals and the daily press time and again. It is said that the bur­geoning population outweighing the fruits of growth is one problem. Another is the quality or productivity due to the vast protected seller’s market within the country that we have had in India far too long.

Blind Taylorism:- Yet another inhibiting factor has been the confrontation­ist climate and mistrust between manage­ments and labour, due to blind adoption of Taylorism in our way of working.

Awakening to the need for change:- It is only in the past few years that managements are waking up to realities and starting to realise that their very survival would be at stake if corrective steps are not taken to bring about transformation of cul­ture and generate consciousness among all about the need to enhance standards of their performance to match with international ones, liberalisation as well as exposure to global market have all contributed to the frantic search for excellence and quality by companies in both public and private sec­tors, in the recent past.

Quality and Participation is not new to the Indian ethos:- The con­cept for achieving excellence through par­ticipation is not alien to Indian ethos.

Way in the twenties, our great leader, Mahatma Gandhi propounded the philosophy of “Trusteeship” when he was guiding the activities of thousands of textile workers in Ahmedabad. Gandhiji then said “...there need be no clash between capital and labour ... Mill hands are as much the pro­prietors of their mills as the shareholders. But there is no right in the world that does not presuppose a duty...’ He abhorred confrontation and at the same time emphasised responsibilities of workers. “... the capitalist and labourer are neighbours of each other and one has to seek the will­ing co-operation of the other...”. At the time when Gandhiji preached these thoughts, most people scoffed at them as the quirky and impractical ideas of religious and spiri­tual man. But his teachings of some decades ago have now come to be universally ac­cepted as imperative for achieving excel­lence by way of participative management.

Even our ancient scriptures said “...Vasudheika Kutumbam...” meaning that “the whole universe is one family”. In other words the spirit of brotherhood, harmony, mutual trust and involvement which are the essential ingredients of participative manage­ment as we are now advocating for excel­lence were there in the age-old culture of India, which resulted in the creation of ar­chitectural wonders, magnificent handicrafts and superb silk textiles exported to many other countries of the world, some centu­ries ago.

Even today we have the diluted ver­sion of what was once a powerful system of “Village Panchayat” in which villagers as­semble, elect an elderly person as the leader and find solutions to problems on a ‘con­sensus’ approach, thereby obviating con­flicts and ensuring excellence in rural man­agement. This again is akin to what now goes by the name of ‘Quality Circles’.

As such, the concept of excellence, participation and pride of quality workman­ship has been in Indian culture since very long. But with the passage of time and west­ern influence, we have forgotten our old values.

Now pressure of circumstances such as ever-increasing competition, declining productivity and rising confrontationist environment are making us rediscover ourselves to be able to face the existing and future challenges.

A typical example of this kind is ‘yoga’. It was born in India long before Christ was born but we had forgotten it. But when the westerners started evincing interest in it, we got reawakened to benefits and Yoga centres are mushrooming throughout the country. So is the case of ‘karate’ which is said to have come from Japan. But the origin of such martial arts was in Kerala.

Perhaps, this is comparable with the situation in the United States where many behavioural and management theories origi­nated but were not put to practical use. They found fertile ground in Japan where they were actually practised enabling them to become a great economic power. Japanese success has made Americans take to what they themselves had propounded earlier but had neglected due to a sense of complacency.

Need for introspection:- We, in India, are now paying the price for basking in our past glory for too long without preparing ourselves to face the emerging challenges. It is only in the past decade or so that managements started introspecting and envisioning what needs to be done if the 850 millions of the population are to be assured of a decent quality of life and the country is to be restored to its rightful place in the comity of nations.

It is not that the Government of India was totally blind to the situation warranting measures to improve the standard of performance of our national activities. Some Institutions did come into being soon after we won our independence. But their focus and approach were not in tune with the present-day needs and hence could not make much impact on organisational culture, in general.

Productivity Councils were set upat different locations in the country over thirty years ago. But they propagated more of the physical aspects of productivity in terms of output/input than the human element in it. Similarly, the Statistical Institutions set up by the Government have been in existence for over three decades but they also have not been able to build a quality culture in the country as they over-emphasised the appli­cation of quality control techniques instead of developing total quality awareness among the public.

Likely pitfalls:- It augurs well that Managements in general, albeit belatedly, have started paying serious attention to the need for effecting transformation of organisational culture for achieving and sustaining excellence. But they need to be cautious about the plethora of new buzz-words being thrown up by different sources from time to time. Like a drowning man trying to catch at a straw, many are seen to be blindly trying to adopt any new concept being talked about without understanding whether or not it is appropri­ate to their needs.

Initiation of Quality Circles in India:- It is in this context that Quality Circles came to India, initiated by the author when he was General Manager at the Hyderabad Unit of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., in November 1980. The success stories of B.H.E.L.’s experiment appearing in the press triggered the interest of many other organisations with the result that a national body, ‘Quality Circle Forum of India’, a non-profit body was founded in April 1982 with the Author as its Founder-Executive Director.

Essence of Quality Circles:- ­Quality Circle is a simple philosophy in which employees are empowered to participate voluntarily in improving perfor­mance of their respective work-areas. Self-motivation and sense of belonging are generated among them through opportuni­ties for development, satisfaction of self-esteem, recognition as partners in the progress of the organisation and being given a say in decision-making on matters affecting them. Human dignity is respected, resulting in attitudinal changes, better communication and rapport between different sections of the hierarchy. Decades ­old alienation of employees is overcome and their vast latent potential and creativity, unutilised hitherto, are afforded full play, for the benefit of all. Confrontation gives place to co-operation, with everyone, from top to bottom, developing the feeling of being members of one family. It is the absence of such a congenial environment and de-humanisation of work that has been responsible for most of our industrial relations problems and general apathy towards quality and productivity.

It has come to be realised by all that while technological advances do improve productivity and are, therefore a must, mo­tivation and empowerment of the human el­ement in any organisation is of crucial im­portance in the present context. That is why over sixty countries, both developed and developing, have taken to implementation of the principles of Quality Circles, which is a segment of Total Quality Management and also an important intervention in Human Resource Development.

There are any number of companies in India and elsewhere who attribute their turnaround or continued progress, in the face of heavy odds, to willing involvement of employees in every sphere of activities.

Future Prospects for Excellence:- What augurs well for the future of the country is that a number of professional in­stitutions are now engaged in spreading the message that achieving excellence and qual­ity through Human Resource Development should not be a short-term goal but should be a vision to be pursued with clarity of mind and sincerity of purpose. The participative philosophy of Quality Circles should become a way of life in every organisation irrespec­tive of the sector it belongs to.

Results of such concerted efforts are already in evidence. And if the current trend of managers giving serious attention to total quality and excellence through the partici­pation of one and all continues, India’s vi­sion of becoming a great economic power by the turn of the century will not be be­yond our reach.

            4000 years ago Chandogya Upanishad said ‘YADEVA VIDYA KAROTI SRADDHAYA, UPANISHADAYA TADEVA VEERYA VATTARAM BHAVATE’ --- Whatever is done with Vidya (knowledge including science), Sraddha (Attention combined with faith), and Upanishad (deep thinking or meditation) will alone become supremely efficient.’

            “If you cannot do great things yourself, remember, you can do small things in a great way.”
–NAPOLEON HILL

            When he takes up his paintings, insignificant, worn-out object acquire significant meaning and beauty.

–JOPIE HUSIMAN