How does the CEO of a company take 2 months leave without feeling the need to communicate with his team even once....? This is the power of Empowerment and here is the interesting story of Mr. Uttam Ganguly, 53, Managing Director of Bend Joints Private Limited.

Mr. Uttam is more than satisfied. His Company has grown not only in terms of sales and profitability but also has many innovations to its credit. He believes that culture brings people together and also binds them with the organisation. He trusts his team members and the team members also own the responsibility to manage the organisation as if they are managing their own family affairs. 

People & values: The Company follows a flexible organisation structure. The employees enjoy total freedom; they play computer games and have internet access without any restrictions. They work on their own till late night, if and when necessary. They have complete freedom to travel for marketing or other business purposes and they are empowered to spend during travelling.

"Trust is the fundamental to us" We do not police our people. In spite of that every one comes at 8 AM. One who comes late marks himself a red dot but there is no abuse or punishment on account of discipline. Individuals themselves take the responsibility.

Culture is probably something which binds them and they find it good. Many employees who have left for various reasons rejoin after a while and others keep coming back just to keep in touch.  Many employees had been working in this Company for more than 25 years.

The Core: Work Philosophy and Values

Self-discipline is very important in Bend Joints.

"Our work philosophy is simple. We do not keep any thing in excess; every thing is related to the need. For example I do not waste money by keeping two pens. I keep one pen with me and maintain it well. If someone gifts me another pen, I give it to someone else who needs it. We follow the same philosophy at our work place. We do not keep excess inventory, we keep only the desired inventory with a lot of focus on maintaining good housekeeping standards," explains Uttam.

They follow every thing prescribed in the Factory Act as they believe that this Act is not a law but for their own safety. "We give a lot of importance to safety and cleaning at the work place." Uttam adds, "If we follow the laws we need not be afraid of the government inspectors and need not pay bribe." We focus on cost cutting and process improvement, profit automatically comes.

Respect to individuals is extremely important. There could be difference of opinions but "collisions" are not encouraged. There is no politics among the people; they sort out any matter through discussions. 

"Mistakes are forgiven but you will lose your job if you are not Honest." Uttam adds, "We are also truthful to our customers and suppliers. Once we were executing an order for L&T, our people estimated the cost of pipes as Rupees 110,000 and quoted accordingly. We do not manufacture pipes. After procurement we noticed that the actual price paid was 93,000. Some one said an organisation like L&T would never know about it. But we took a stand that we should revise the offer and asked the customer to pay the actual amount. Honesty and integrity are important for us." 

Leadership and vision: "Customers trust us. Our bills are never verified by our (large) customers. They are also ready to invest in our company to enhance our capacity. You do not face problem if you do a good work." says Uttam.  

Extracted by Arathi P. Balaji from the Case Study by  Prof. Satyajit Majumdar, T. A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal.

Issue BG89 Aug 08

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