Tata Steel Tu Case PDF

Modernization of Mind at Tata Steel
Author(s): Mirza S. Saiyadain

Source: Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 36, No. 3 (Jan., 2001), pp. 363-375
Published by: Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources
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CASE STUDY
IJIR, Vol. 36,No. 3, January 2001
MODERNIZATION
Mirza
OF MIND AT TATA STEEL
S. Saiyadain
INTRODUCTION
TATA STEEL entersthenewmillenniumwith theconfidenceofa
learning,knowledgebased and a happy organisation. We will
establishourselvesas thesupplierofchoicebydelightingour cus
tomers with our services and our products. In the coming decade,
we will become themost cost
steel plant and so serve
competitive
"
the community and the nation.
"Where Tata Steel ventures.others
will follow.
So goes thevision statementof Tata Steel; a vision that took its

roots in the year 1839when a boy was bom in thepriestly Parsee
family
at Navsari,
a small
town
in Gujarat.
On
his birth the sooth
sayerpredicted thatsome day he would be well known and famous.

And so itcame topass. Thiswas the time in thehistorywhen British
a climate
had initiated a number of reforms to provide
government
were
in India. Those days themining rules
of industrialisation
"sim
a fair illustration of the normal demeanour
of
the
ply
government
towards businessmen in India" (Harris 1958). In 1899 Lord Curzon,
the Viceroy,
liberalized
the mineral
concession
policy and opened
doors for Indians to venture into the industrialisation
of India (Lala,
1981). However, much before this in 1882 theboy,born 43 years ago,
Dr. Mirza S. Saiyadain is FORE Chair Professor, FORE School ofManagement.

Case material of FORE School ofManagement, New Delhi is prepared as a basis
for class
or
discussion.
incorrect
handling
are not
to present
designed
of administrative
problems.
Cases
illustrations
of either
correct
Copy right? 2001, FORE School ofManagement, New Delhi.

The author is grateful to FORE School ofManagement for providing financial
support
in the
preparation
of this case.
364
Indian Journalof IndustrialRelations
read a report by German
geologist,
Ritter Von Setriwartz
on the avail
ability of iron ore inChanda district in theCentral Province (now

Madhya Pradesh) which gave him the idea of giving India a Steel
plant. The boywas Jamsetji
Nusserwanji Tata and theplant Tata Steel.
a
J.N. Tata's incessant efforts got Charles
Page Perin,
consulting
a survey of the
to
New
from
conduct
of
York,
engineer
availability
raw material and JulianKennedy of Pittsburg to build the plant.

The site chosen was thevillage of Sakchi, themeeting point of two
riversKhorkai and Subernareka which provided themuch needed
came from 8,000 investors who
sub
required
capital
to the shares floated in Indian market.
The actual construc
water.
The
scribed
tionof plant began in autumn of 1908 and itpoured its firststeel on

February 16,1912. The steel plant did not develop around a town
but brought along a town in itswake. On January 2, 1919 Lord
Chelmsford visited iron and steelworks. He renamed the town of
Sakchi as Jamshedpur inhonour of theman who gave India its first
integrated ironmill (Pandey, 1989).
Tata Steel, India's largest fully integrated private steel plant is
comparable with any integrated steel plants in theworld. Today
theHouse of Tatas owns close to 25 per cent of its equity and the
company
has
an asset base
of over
9000
crores.
Export
volume
is
about 0.426 million tonnes equivalent toUS$ 170million. It grew

from initial capacity of 0.1million tons in 1912 to 3.89million tons
by year 1990-2000. Besides going through theusual teethingprob
a number ofmore serious

It
lems, Tata Steel experienced
problems.
a 13 month
went
cost
strike:
became
steel
less
ef
through
making
be
fective, competition with foreign and local steel manufacturers
came severe and consumers
started shifting their loyalty to local
manufacturers
TECHNICAL
of recycled
MODERNIZATION
For Tata Steel

ing and
products.
approach.
to reorient itself to new think

necessary
Modernization
became
the guiding principle.
itbecame
Tata Steel started theprocess of closing down old units and setting
up new ones
modernization
varied
in 4
The process of
phases of technical modernization.
started in 1980 and went on till 1997. The four phases
in terms of time
period
as seen below:
365
Case Study
Phase
Phase
Phase
Phase
one
two
three
four
1980
1984
1990
1995
- 1983
-1989
- 1995
- 1998
During themodernization period stretchingover 18 years the

following units were closed and new facilitieswere added at the
7 thousand
cost of about
UNITS
crores of rupees.
FACILITIES
CLOSED
SMS # II
ADDED
L.D. SHOP # 1
MERCHANTMILL# I
OXYGEN PLANT
PLATE MILL
TAR DOLO
SMS#I
BBSP#II
BAR FORGESHOP
PLANT
WIRE ROD MILL # I
SHEET MILLS
POWER HOUSE
SMS # III
HOT STRIPMILL
ROLLINGMILL #I
L.D SHOP #11
ROLLING MILL
COKE OVENS BATTERY #V, VII & VIII
# II
STRIP MILL
G-BLAST
# IV
FURNANCE
3 RD CONVERTER
3 RD SLAB CASTER
MODERNIZATION
(L.D. # II)
(L.D # II)
OF MIND
the enormous
investment in technological modernization,

to
the new chal
reorient
theworkforce meeting
necessary
were
initiated in hu
and opportunities.
changes
Systematic
Given
in became
lenges
man resource
to create new perform

strategy through programmes
ance ethics at Tata Steel.
senior
when
interviewed
managers
Many
pointed out to these strategic shifts in theminds of employees to
on these initia
as a fact of
reality. While
reflecting
accept change
in
tives one senior HR manager
said, "we have always been good
a direction."
were
we needed
directions
These
crystallized
running,
a cli
a
to generate responsiveness,
variety of schemes
by initiating
uti
mate of creative thinking, a feeling of involvement,
to
courage
a
lize resources, accept challenge,
positive attitude, and change the
366
Indian JournalofIndustrialRelations
way employees think. All thiswas done to bring about customer

cost
sensitivity,
consciousness,
improve
create
and
productivity
betterworking and living conditions. The new HR policy aims at
fairness, and equity in all its dealings with

transparency,
"ensuring
to foster a cli
its employees. ?Tata
Steel will strive continuously
?Tata Steel recog
mate of openness, mutual
trust and team work.
are the
source of its
nizes that its people
primary
competitiveness."
was
Steel is an extremely protected,
industry. It
capital-intensive
a sunset
was made
and
investment
hence
industry
capital
becoming
inmodernizing
the plant.
While
Tata
Steel,
as a company,
is very
old itsplants have become verymodern. To be able towork on the
modern
itwas
plants
necessary
to create a knowledge
learn
based
ing organisation,which ispossible iftheminds are open. Therewas

a need to create a will towork and will towin. While the formal
Phase V, 'Modernization ofMind' startedon April 1,1999work had
already been underway. Long before Tata Steel had recognized the
need tomake change in theirway of thinking,investment in chang
was
"We have been
ing their attitude and culture
already initiated.
success
is the greatest enemy
However
continued
very successful.
of change. Change had been accepted but thepace of change had to
be
improved.
Hence
an
on-going
non-time
bound
change
process
must go on all the time.Wedded to Steel industrywe did notwant

todie with itso change became a part of our thinkingparticularly in
the lightof changes takingplace in theenvironment because of glo
The proc
and opening of Indian economy."
liberalization
balization,
a
ess of
was
of
initiated
variety of pro
acceptance
through
change
grammes, significantamong them are brieflydescribed below.
CUSTOMER
"If we
ORIENTATION
do not take care of our customers?some
one else will".
must take
This declaration aptly summarises the feeling thata shift
place inmaking customer delight as themajor focus of all its en
deavours.
The
was
(pre-1992)
was
available
shift became
imperative
concessional
predictable,
and the focus was
on
because
finance
promoter's
to uncertain
the environment
in close markets
wealth
and
social
mar
Post 1992, this changed

environment,
objectives.
and focus on share
ket based finances in globally
markets
integrated
holders value.
there was a virtual SAIL, TISCO
Similarly, pre-1992
367
Case Study
duopoly in a sellersmarket with no emphasis on quality, customer

service
and
cost reduction.
over
Post-1992
capacity
was
generated
because of theentryofnew players (Essar, Jindal,Ispat,Lloyds) cre

a
on
buyers market, players competing
price and hence
to cost reduction and
shifting
quality improvement.
ating
Tata
Steel
a customer
has
base
of over
customers
5000
focus
out of
which 158 have been identifiedas key customers accounting for51

One per cent increase in sale to key
per cent of the total business.
crores.
customers
Rs.
contributes
1.8
Tata Steel ensures preferential
in the area of redressai of com
treatment to these key customers
plaints and quick handling of accounts. An Enterprise Resource

Planning System has been implemented to improve availability and
of customer
analysis
agement,
quality
needs
assurance
and other market

and accounts
demands,
stock man
management.
Tata Steel has wholeheartedly accepted Mahatma Gandhi's ob
servations
on customers.
"A customer
on our
is themost
on us. We
He
is not dependent
premises.
him. He is not an interrupter on our work.
We are not doing a favour by serving-him.
He
He
important visitor
are
on
depended
is the purpose
of it.
is doing
us a favour
by giving us an opportunity todo so." Tata Steel has issued several
as ameans
of change.
posters to bring about customers consciousness
a
so
international
market
still
awaits
and
does
However,
large
tough
competition.
PERFORMANCE
ETHICS PROGRAMME
Performance
Ethics Programme
for executive category came into
as a follow up on
exer
report on transformational
being
Mckinsey
cise and restructuring of the organisation
to convert Tata Steel into a
high performingorganisation. The process requires identifyinghigh

impact positions and staffthepositions with best suited persons.
All
these positions
would
have
greater accountability,
autonomy
and
higher profit and loss responsibility. The move is to break away

from functionally organised systemwith individuals reporting to
to
structure based on business
superiors
designing
units as profit centres. Each business
unit has its own autonomous
set up and greater freedom to
its own agenda
and targets
develop
inmind
the
customers
and
business
orientation.
The choice
keeping
their functional
368
IndianJournalof IndustrialRelations
of staff is based
on
objective
assessment
and merit-based
process
with the support froma qualified external agency. While thenew

structurewould come into effectfromApril 1, 2001 staffingwould
be done in threecycles. Cycle 1 forthe first100 positions has been
completed by November 2000. Cycle 2 fornext 250-300 positions
will take place during November-January 2001 and cycle 3 in the
second half of 2001.
In terms of the actual mechanics,
each
head
department
signs
an internalMoU with theCEO as a promise todeliver. In addition,

internal MoUs
within
the department,
across
departments
and with
customers forcompliance on efficiencyand quality and with provi

sion of constant
The
review
focus is to give what
are to be
monitoring
signed.
are
not given last year. All executives
and continuous
was
given KRAs and balance code cards forpeople upto divisional head
quarters
are to be maintained.1
No
value
or low value
items would
be reduced in future and eventually eliminated. Since all this is

done tohelp employees tomake best use of operating units,which
are young both in terms of age and
given on the basis of performance.
facilities,
incentives
are to be
and cost conscious

the focus on demand,
Keeping
competition
ness at the level of workers
is introduced.
This is to
cluster manning
overtime
to
correct
control
and
and
"soul
allowance
help
acting
These
destroying
job without much
challenge".
teams
loaded
with
discretion,
empowerment,
In all cases Tata Steel standards
innovativeness.
are
self-managed
room for
and
(JRQM),
same
as
ISO, are to be applied. A fall-outeffectof the restructuringhas led

to debureaucratization
is reduced,
of positions
Number
process.
is pushed
to lowest level and paper move
decision making
down
ment has been minimized.
RIGHTSIZING
As on January1,1994 Tata Steel had 78,276 employees on itspay
roll. In order to best fitthenumber of employees with the require
ments of jobs,Tata Steel started theprocess of rightsizing eventually
bringing down theworkforce to 50,910 as on October 1, 2000. The
near
attempt is to further reduce it to 48,000 level in
were
a
to
able
downsize
very strong workers
given
they
future. How
union
on the
Case Study
369
one hand, and a traditionof guaranteed employment to thewards of

the employees on theother?2According to theGeneral Secretaryof
Tata Workers'
negotiations
Union, the dissociation was not painful because

the union got a good deal for itsmembers.
through
The good deal basically refersto "Early Separation Scheme" pro

posed by Tata Management. According to this scheme employees
became
who
surplus
as a result of
restructuring
exercise were
given
the option toperform any duty not necessarily that forwhich they
hired or take a pension.
were
amount
The pension
varied with
the
age of the employee and theyears of service. But all of themwere

assured thepension upto the age of sixty.Thus thosewith less than
40 years of age and less than 10 years of service were offered a
monthly pension equivalent to thebasic and DA of lastdrawn sal
ary, those upto theage of 45 years got 1.25 times and those crossing
the age of 45 years received 1.50 times the lastdrawn basic and DA.
In addition, theywere provided medical facilitiesat company's hos
loan of Rs. 2 lakhs
pital/dispensary,
ence in
assigning
a kiosk
ROAD THROUGH
to start a business,
area.
and
in Jamshedpur
prefer
EDUCATION/TRAINING
The road to change and tomake Tata Steel a knowledge based

learning
themore
organisation
took many
significant
endeavours
of themost
influential
one of
shapes and terms. Perhaps
and
to change came from education
trainingperpetuated by threeagencies.
One
through
an exposure
was
fostered
attempts tomodernize
to Tata Heritage,
and
Community
Technology
Centre housed in Russi Mody Centre forExcellence.

information
consolidated
housed
on the House
of Tata.
In addition
it has
16 professional
associations
an ambience
a
in
ancient
of
civilizations
roof
of
single
the first business

under
archive
in India
It provides
and
Egypt,Greece and Babylon. The Centre is journey throughhistory

of the achievement
how
dreams
tional
value
The
of House
of Tatas
and
to realities.
got converted
for all interested in change.
second
agency
is the Information
of
learning experience
It has tremendous
educa
Department.
Itwas
set
up in 1955with theprinciple objective of keeping the technical, re
370
search andmanagerial personnel abreast in theirfieldof knowledge

its libraries and
publications.
through
runs
Information Department
96 libraries in Jamshedpur and 51 libraries outside Jamshedpur. It

and disseminates
collects, processes
It has
and steel and allied subjects.
to large number of technical

on-line catalogue
for books,
CDs.
information
in the field of iron
over 2.5 lakh books, subscribes

journals, has inter and intranet facility,
videos
CD
cassettes,
and music
Roms
It also has a book bank scheme foremployees' children of 2nd

and
standard
a kid's
and
above,
corner
for showing
them educa
tional films. Since knowledge is thegreatest driver forchange ithas
of Rs.
budget
1.6 crores.
The thirdagency of knowledge dissemination is TISCO Man

agement
Centre, which
Development
arranges
training programmes
forTata Steel employees. In a given year itorganises more than 70
programmes
on different
aspects
and each of these
ofmanagement
programmes is offered several times in theyear. Since the focus of
has
management
on 'Modernization
shifted
ofMind:
to change,
special
Thinking
Away
one-day programmes
are or
from Mindset'
ganised. Many of the trainingprogrammes listed in theirdirectory

which have
have been conceived to respond tonew ways of thinking
as a result of
dialogue
in various
fonims
employees
emerged
among the Tata Steel

to in the section on reaching
and discussions
referred
out.
CO-DETERMINATION
Tata Workers'
union
is one of the earliest
in India.
trade unions
It's history dates back to 1920. Over the years ithas seen the in
volvement
of political
stalwarts
(e.g. C. F. Andrews,
CR.
Das
and
Motilal Nehru) and officebearers of such calibre as Subhash Chandra

Bose, Prof. Abdul Bari andMr. Michael John.Except fora 13month
long strikeduring 1928 therehas been no major industrial strifeat
Tata Steel during the last 70 years. While therearemany registered
unions
in Tata Steel, Tata Workers'
Union
is the sole bargaining
agent.
The Union has been able toget some visible benefits fortheworkers
(e.g. Joint Councils,
grievance
recognised
and better community
and social
life).
higher wages
procedure,
The management
has al
ways been enlightened and has been able toprovide many labour
welfare
measure
much
before "they were
enforced
by law
(See Ex
Case Study
371
hibit 1). Community and health facilities areway above those of

fered by any comparable
Yet
organisation.
about the quality and cost of these services.
there is some
concern
The proactive attitude ofmanagement isvisible inopen sharing

of informationwith the elected members of theUnion, 6 times a
year followed by lunch. Union leadership is so impressed byman
agement
that its secretary, while
transparency
talking about Dr.
Irani,
said Yeh Shaks ImandariSe Sach BoltaHai (Thisman honestly talks

the truth).
themodernization plan started in 1980 both union and
When
management
agreed
on no
redundant
retrenchment,
labour
to be
retrained and redeployed in suitable jobs. Talking aboutmoderni
to
zation, Mr. D.K. Singh, General
Secretary said that Union
agreed
new
was
it
consulted.
"We co-operated
bring
technology because
to serve the company
because we wanted
and we got a good deal.
There was
continuous
dialogue,
and
openness
transparency
and
schemes suggested bymanagement were not very painful towork

ers.We found a common path by joint consultationwhich has been
a culture
in Tata Steel."
The
relationship
between
union
and man
agement is best vocalized byMr. Singh when he said "we have dif
ferent paths
REACHING
but our destiny
is same."
OUT
Consistent with the policy of openness,

as a vehicle of
change, Tata Steel introduced
trust and transparency

of
several programmes
sharing informationwith the employees and the communitywith

?
the intentionof sharing truth
nothing but the truth.Somewhere
around themiddle of 1994 the idea of organising Employee Aware
ness Programme (EAP) was initiated. InMay 1995 the firstformal
EAP was launched inMedium and Light StructureMill. The topics
covered dealt with such themes as personnel policies, safe habits,
career
health and healthy
life, occupa
training and
development,
tional health, welfare amenities, work discipline,
system
suggestion
and working towards higher productivity.
Wife ?fMD initiatedDomestic Management Programmewhere

wives of theemployees go througha threeand half-daysprogramme
372
with inputsprovided on such themes as budget, safety,hygiene and

child welfare. In addition, wives of the employees are invited to
visit husbands' work place and have lunchwith them in company
cafeteria. They are informed abut safety and productivity by ex
perts. The aim is to involve families of the employees in affecting
change. This programme goes on every day and the attempt is to
cover all 50,000
in the next 2-3 years.
employees'
wives
endeavour
is to create
The
specific
purpose is to inspire theirrole and integrate them into the change

takingplace in company and society.
Tata Steel's
awareness
at the lowest
level
at large because
in the company
of
and community
'Modernization
a substantial
as a
commu
Mind'
segment of
concept must reach to
MD
In
the
has
to
addition
the
above-mentioned
programmes,
nity.
regularmeetings with the female employees, dialogue with senior

citizens in the cityof Jamshedpur. Ithas also started thepractice of
naming 'Person of theMonth'. Respect is given to the union and
regular meetings
with
the elected members
of the union
are organ
ised. Mr. Ratan Tata goes to theunion instead of calling them tohis
officeduring his visits to Jamshedpur.
SUCCESS
INDICATORS
Phase 5,Modernization ofMind, formallybegan onApril 1,1999.

During theyear and a half thepicture has drastically changed. Cus
tomer awareness
lowest
to the
is great, decision making
has been pushed
levels are reduced
has been demolished,
level, bureaucracy
from 13 to 4 among officers,O level reports to E level despite the

fact that thereare 5 levelswithin O Category. Employment of chil
dren has been stopped and thanks to ESS work force is reduced to
50,910without any ripple. Seven to tenpercent of theprofitgoes to
township and community development; 38 per cent of all employ
ees
are covered
in improvement
projects
and
all departments
are
getting ISO ratings. There has been no major disruption byway of

strikeor gherao during the last 70 years. There is a general accept
ance of change among the employees and theydemand and desire
to learn
beyond
their regular
jobs. There
is greater
transparency
in
the system. Emphasis has shifted to productivity, profit and cus

tomer instead of products
and opportunity
for experimentation
openness to accept ideas (learning humility).
and
Case Study
373
concrete
The
indicators
and
their growth
over
the
4 years pe
riod as reported inAnnual Report 1999-2000 are presented below:

Indicators qfGrowth
1998-99
_1997-98
1999-2000
Overall output
(million tonnes)
1.Hot
metal_351_^63_3.89
2. Crude
Steel_^_323_3?6_3.43
3. Works Saleable Steel
3.01
Works Saleable Steel
_311_3.29
(million tonnes)
1. Production
2.
3.01
3.29
_3.11
Despatch_^_3?l_^09_3.30
Sinter Production
3.373.45
3.69
1.831.96
2.12
Specific Lubrication
Consumption (Kg/tss)
1.080.88
0.70
Water Pollution
0.27 0.30
(million tonnes)
Coke Production
(million tonnes)
0.21
(Kg/tss) _._
Turnover
Inventory
Ratio
Solid Waste Utilization
(%)_16.45_16.55_14.70
66.08
(%)
68.24
67.00
In addition, savings through suggestions improved from523

lakh in 1997 to Rs. 720 lakh in 1998 and Rs. 865 lakh in 1999.
During 1999-2000 rollingmill No.2 was phased out and Tata Steel
achieved full capacity utilisation in all new production units such
as coke
plant No.2, hot strip mill, L.D. shop No. 2 and Slab Caster
in the very first year after modernization.
has
Cluster manning
been
introduced
in 13 departments
To
covering 5147 employees.
all major produc
covered
programme
tal operation
performance
tion and services
department
in the norms
during
1999-2000.
Coke quality in terms of strength is best in theworld,

achieved
lowest
cost
in steel production
in the world,
and
it has
it pro
374
tonnes of iron in the new plant in the
duces the fastestmillion

world.
The largestprivate steelproducer in the country,Tata Steel is the
lowest
cost
producer
or Steel.
The
company
may
not be making
as
much profit today as ithoped tobut the real testwould come later
itwould
when
have
international
competition.
There
is also a lurk
ing doubt in theminds of some executives whether the attempts to

modernize mind would sustain over a long period of time.
The spirit and direction ofModernization ofMind is best sum
marized in theTata Steel InformationBulletin, January-March2000
which claims that "Perfection in any endeavour is an aiming point,
not a startingpoint. Let thedesire foritpush you but don't let the
absence of it stop you. Ifyou are going to get any thingdone you
start some where.
must
More
specifically,
you must
start where
you are." For Tata Steel the journeyhas begun but the road is long
and winding and thedestination is faraway.
NOTES
All executives at Tata Steel have been recommended to read a book "Who
Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson. The book deals in a parable fashion on
how to anticipate change, adapt to change quickly, enjoy change and be ready to
1.
change quickly again and again.

2.
are
There
instances
in Tata
Steel
of having
employed. However, this is changing now. Merit

weightage in employment.
fourth
generation
workers
instead of kinship is given
REFERENCES
Harris, Frank, (1958), JamsetjiNusserwanji Tata:A Chronicle ofHis Life,Blackie and
Sons Limited, Bombay.
Lala, R. M.
(1981), The Creation ofWealth, IBH Publishers Pvt. Ltd., Bombay.
Pandey, S. N.
(1989), Human Side ofTata Steel, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi.
375
Case Study
1 : Labour Welfare Measures
EXHIBIT
measures-
Welfare
Tisco
in Tata Steel
Intro.
Enforced
by Law
Legal
Measures
Factories Act
Eight hour Working Day_1912_1948

19151948
Free M?dical Aid
Employees State
Insurance
Establishment ofWelfare
19171948
Act
Factories Act
Department
Schooling facilities for

Children
1917
Formation ofWorks
Committee forhandling
1919
complaints,
conditions
1947
IndustrialDisputes
Act
service
and
grievances
19201948
Leave with pay
Factories Act
Workers Provident Fund
1920
Workmen's Accident
Compensation Scheme
1920
Technical Institute for

Training of Apprentices,
Craftsmen & Engineering
1921 1961
Apprentices Act
Maternity Benefit
1928
1946
Bihar Maternity
BenefitAct
1952
Scheme
1924
Employees'
Provident Fund
Workmen's
Act
Compensation
Graduates
Profit Sharing
Bonus_1934_1965
Bonus
Retiring Gratuity
1937
Ex-gratia Payment forRoad

accident while coming to or
returning fromduty
1979
1972
Act_.
Payment of Gratuity
_Act_
Audit
Social
_1980_-_First
in India
Pension Scheme 1989

Social Responsibility as a
Key
Business
1988
Process

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Modernization of Mind at Tata Steel

Author(s): Mirza S. Saiyadain

IJIR, Vol. 36,No. 3, January 2001

OF MIND AT TATA STEEL

So goes thevision statementof Tata Steel; a vision that took its

his birth the sooth

sayerpredicted thatsome day he would be well known and famous.

towards businessmen in India" (Harris 1958). In 1899 Lord Curzon,

1981). However, much before this in 1882 theboy,born 43 years ago,

Dr. Mirza S. Saiyadain is FORE Chair Professor, FORE School ofManagement.

Copy right? 2001, FORE School ofManagement, New Delhi.

Indian Journalof IndustrialRelations

read a report by German

Ritter Von Setriwartz

ability of iron ore inChanda district in theCentral Province (now

raw material and JulianKennedy of Pittsburg to build the plant.

tionof plant began in autumn of 1908 and itpoured its firststeel on

about 0.426 million tonnes equivalent toUS$ 170million. It grew

a number ofmore serious

For Tata Steel

to reorient itself to new think

During themodernization period stretchingover 18 years the

WIRE ROD MILL # I

L.D SHOP #11

COKE OVENS BATTERY #V, VII & VIII

investment in technological modernization,

to create new perform

pointed out to these strategic shifts in theminds of employees to

way employees think. All thiswas done to bring about customer

betterworking and living conditions. The new HR policy aims at

fairness, and equity in all its dealings with

old itsplants have become verymodern. To be able towork on the

ing organisation,which ispossible iftheminds are open. Therewas

of change. Change had been accepted but thepace of change had to

must go on all the time.Wedded to Steel industrywe did notwant

grammes, significantamong them are brieflydescribed below.

do not take care of our customers?some

one else will".

Post 1992, this changed

duopoly in a sellersmarket with no emphasis on quality, customer

because of theentryofnew players (Essar, Jindal,Ispat,Lloyds) cre

which 158 have been identifiedas key customers accounting for51

plaints and quick handling of accounts. An Enterprise Resource

and other market

Tata Steel has wholeheartedly accepted Mahatma Gandhi's ob

by giving us an opportunity todo so." Tata Steel has issued several

high performingorganisation. The process requires identifyinghigh

higher profit and loss responsibility. The move is to break away

with the support froma qualified external agency. While thenew

an internalMoU with theCEO as a promise todeliver. In addition,

customers forcompliance on efficiencyand quality and with provi

focus is to give what

be reduced in future and eventually eliminated. Since all this is

and cost conscious

ISO, are to be applied. A fall-outeffectof the restructuringhas led

one hand, and a traditionof guaranteed employment to thewards of

Union, the dissociation was not painful because

The good deal basically refersto "Early Separation Scheme" pro

age of the employee and theyears of service. But all of themwere

The road to change and tomake Tata Steel a knowledge based

Centre housed in Russi Mody Centre forExcellence.

the first business