Shared values have inculcated a sense of belonging among the employees of the Rs 1,750-crore Godrej Soaps. The company says it has always believed in a holistic approach to people management. Its total quality management (TQM) programme, launched in 1995, has evolved into a `positive work culture' within the company.

All the 5,000 employees of the company were recently put through a three-day workshop. The aim of the workshop was to make the employees identify what they wanted from their jobs and to develop the values required to realise their goals.

The `shared value' workshops were conducted by vice-president (personnel) CK Vaidya. The dilemma of dealing with comprises and the extent to which an employee was expected to bend to were discussed.

The workshops were held in three different stages. The first recalled experiences, while the second involved that of projecting into the future. In this, the employees were expected to think about the a dream organisation they would like to work for. The third stage involved ways to make Godrej a model organisation and the values which were needed to be imbibed to evolve into that kind of a work culture.

In a way, cloning the ideas and values of Ardeshir Godrej, the founder of the Godrej empire, a set of ten core shared values were decided upon, which today have evolved into a constitution of sorts for Godrej Soaps. The common shared values of the company comprise commitment to quality, customer orientation, dedication and commitment, discipline, honesty and integrity, learning organisation, openness and transparency, respect, care and concern for people, teamwork and trust.

The values have to be imbibed by each and every employee as a result of which there will not be any conflict between organisational and individual values.

The company has also evolved a performance review system where the subordinate and the boss sit together focusing on the development of the individual and end up signing a performance review form. Besides there is individual Kaizen, training programmes and job rotation to boost employee productivity.

The company also believes in saving on operational costs. For instance, segregation for different sets of employees was done away with. Instead, even the lowest worker could end up eating with Adi Godrej, a rare happening in the corporate world. Another system is that of the smart card, through which employees make themselves accountable to come and go at a particular time. The card records their timings within the company, making them more committed.

Though there has been some debate on quantifying the success rate of TQM, Vaidya claims that Godrej Soaps is saving up to Rs 1 crore every year as a result of this. Besides, individual Kaizens have also raised the level of productivity. Vaidya feels that whatever gets measured also gets improved over a period of time.

There has also been an attempt tp downsize the number of people within the company. Between 1995 and 1996, almost 700 employees from the Vikroli plant were offered VRS. This cost Rs 28 crore. The company claims that it wanted to offer its employees a better way to utilise their money and skills and make it a win-win situation.

Vaidya, however, feels that the main challenges of globalisation was to improve and develop the quality of all our actions, the idea being that of sharing the benefits derived out of waste elimination.

Total quality management was a bid to progress from paternalism to the partnership form of organisation with shared values. Today, the key ingredients to create a positive corporate culture has to be imbibed in all the areas starting with recruitment, orientation, training, communication to recognition and reward.

Among the principles of effective change, involvement of people, emphasis on results, total systems approach, continuing commitment and not merely lip service. People, after all, need to help plan, develop and experience what is happening within an organisation. To be effective, they need to be pat of any movement and not merely about it and be expected to adhere to.

Feedback from one's peers and subordinates is essential in determining results. Changing human culture requires a systematic effort over time. Moving too fast or too slow may interfere with daily operations thus becoming taxing and ultimately wearying. The focus should thus be positive whether you are dealing with productivity, quality control or morale. Focusing on scapegoating or recriminating individuals or groups for past mistakes only impeded cultural change. The focus on TQM should pave the right course for the company.

The Godrej Soaps story in fact started with an innovation way back in during the early days of the Godrej enterprise when Ardeshir Godrej decided to make soaps out of vegetable oil instead of the usual animal tallow.

Today the company has several subsidiaries into areas such as diversified foods, agroproducts, real estate, insecticides, biotechnology, distribution of medical diagnostics, photo services, oil palm, estate, hicare, agrovet, foods, properties and investments.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.