Professional Documents
Culture Documents
INTRODUCTION
Though the work sounds simple, it is actually a highly specialized trade that
is over a century old and which has become integral to Mumbai's culture.
The secret of the system is in the colored codes painted on the side of the
boxes, which tell the dabbawalas where the food comes from and which railway
stations it must pass through on its way to a specific office in a specific building in
downtown Mumbai.
The dabbawalas know their customers. If they rotated the people around, it
would never work. There’s trust, and along with the trust is responsibility. By
creating a flat organization and building relationships, the system even survives
monsoon season.
ACHIVEMENTS
4 April, 2005: So far, only two people in Mumbai, India's financial capital
have been invited for the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.
And they are not Mumbai's gliteratti - they are the dabbawallas - tiffin carriers -
who are in the business of reaching home-cooked lunches to Mumbai's working
millions.
When the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles was
announced, the dabbawallas went looking for traditional gifts to send to them.
They chose a traditional headdress and a sari The two proud dabbawallas will go
to London, but will not stay at the Hilton hotel due to language problems, and
instead will stay at the Sanyas Aashram Trust centre in London.
The dabbawalla representatives do not speak English, and are worried about
it. Their other problem would also be the food, as British cuisine could be
impossible for them to eat. Still, the dabbawallas are looking forward to the
wedding, they say, and will go wearing
Mumbai's Dabbawallas a complete management Concept
2. Current competition:
Dabbawallas face competition from fast food joints and office canteens.
Since, neither of them serves home food, the dabbawallas core offering remains
unchallenged.
• The first dabbawalla picks up the tiffin from home and takes it to the
nearest railway station.
• The second dabbawalla sorts out the dabbas at the railway station according
to destination and puts them in the luggage carriage.
• The third one travels with the dabbas to the railway stations nearest to the
destinations.
• The fourth one picks up dabbas from the railway station and drops them of
at the offices. The process is reversed in the evenings.
A Clutch of statistics that reveals the task that the dabbawallas are up to: -
In their white Pajamas and Gandhi Topis, they may not sport the
conventional corporate look. But Mumbai’s dabbawalas explained some basic principles
of management with future managers. Crowned with the six-sigma quality standard, the
dabbawalas shared their success mantras with students of Vivekanand Education.
Managing time effectively is not a rocket science that it requires lot of careful
study and dedication but it requires only a little change of attitude. One can organize him-
self, if he tries to analyze his own daily activities and he can easily find where he is
spending his time. He has to ask himself whether the time he is spending is really
productive. He has to prioritize his timing.
Raghunath Dhondiba, President, Dabbawala Association and Gangaram
Laxman Talekar (Secretary) addressed a large gathering, including students and
professors of different management colleges. The crux of the lecture was that ‘customer
satisfaction’ should be the most important goal of any company.
Time is virtue
Punctuality and time management are on top of the agenda for dabbawallas.
Whatever be the circumstances, employees never getdelayed even by a few minutes. For
years, they have been taking the same trains and buses. “We have to cover a distance of
65 to 75 kilometres a day in three hours; we can’t afford any delay”, says Gangaram
Laxman.
No discipline, no growth.
The dabbawallas have to follow three rules at any cost.
(a) They have to wear white caps during working hours.
(b) They are not allowed to drink alcohol during working hours.
(c) They have to carry their identity cards
If found flouting these norms, any employee can be punished and fined from Rs 500 to
Rs 1,500. In extreme cases, the person might also be fired from the organization. “A good
leader could never make things run properly if there are flaws in the system”, said
Raghunath. “One should never compromise with the discipline in the organisation, as it
hits the integrity of that association”, he added.
Marketing fundas
Due to their high reach to the commonest people, Dabbawallas’ often carry the
pamphlets, stickers and other marketing material of different companies for a fee.
Success stays forever only when shared equally between all the people who
worked for it. “Howsoever big the organization is, its success depends on the efficiency
of all the employees working for it; so they all need equal respect and gratitude as given
to the senior members”, said the Dabbawalas’ president.
Another lesson that Dabbawallas gave was that real lessons of life are never taught in the
classroom. It is the commitment and determination of a person, which creates wonders.