For dabbawalas, it's ethos, not incentives

The fail-proof supply chain management of the Mumbai dabbawalas, who collect tiffin boxes from their clients' homes and deliver them at their respective workplaces at lunch time, has attracted the attention of management professionals and researchers.

It is their ethos and belief system that underpin the whole operation, an audience of MBA students, faculty and school children heard on Friday at an interactive session jointly organised by the University of Hyderabad and the youth wing of CII.

According to Pawan Agrawal, CEO of Mumbai Dabbawala Education Centre who spoke at the event, the dabbawalas follow a range of 'best practices' without having a written policy or an 'incentive structure.'

They are totally dedicated to their work in sticking to timelines, adjusting their processes to meet customer needs, and each member going out of his way to keep the system functioning, he says.

"As Varkaris (believers in lord Vitthala), the dabbawalas actually see their work as worship. Even when Prince Charles wanted to meet them, he was asked to come between 11.20 and 11.40 in the morning when they would be free," Agrawal said to a rapturous reception from the audience.

Having himself earned a doctorate for his research on the dabbawalas' supply chain management system, Agra-wal presented a series of anecdotes illustrating how various management princi-ples are practised by the dabbawalas without being conscious of them as such.

Drawing from their principles, he advised the MBAs present not to wait for a Rs 12 lakh package even after getting a Rs 11 lakh package in their placements. "You should show with your work that you deserve a better package, but don't demand more before even beginning your work," he said.

The 5,000 semi-literate dabbawalas in Mumbai currently distribute 200,000 lunch boxes a day on 25 days of the month, depending mainly on the local trains. Their organisation, a charitable trust, has received six sigma rating, indicating one error in 16 million transactions.

Agrawal says the dabbawalas are planning to get the luggage compar-tments in local trains reserved for themselves, while he plans to move on to researching the operations of paperwalas and dudhwalas.