Ms. SAMAN SHAIKH-Management Learning’s From Dabbawala
304-Saman Shaikh-DABBAWALA CASE 2
NAME : SAMAN SHAIKH
GRADUATION : BA with economics and commerce.
FIRST YEAR PGDM IN MARKETING FROM NLDIMSR.
UNDERTAKING:
I declare that this essay is the work of my own creation as part of essays competition organized by Dabbawala Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. I transfer the ownership, title and rights of this essay to Dabbawala Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. Dabbawala Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. May use this essay content content in any way it deems suitable.
NAME: Saman Shaikh
DATE: 11/08/2024
Management Learning’s from Dabbawala
1. In brief about Dabbawala’s:
Dabbawala means a tiffin carrier. This service started way back by a Parsi banker employed a person to bring homemade food to the site of work, this idea was liked by many and it started the Dabbawal system with 35 Dabbawala’s in 1890 and the credit goes to hon. Mahadu Havaji Bache.
The workforce of Dabbawala’s comes from remote villages around Mumbai mostly illiterate and are the decedents of the warriors in the army of Shivaji Maharaj. They carry the dabbas of homemade food from various places between Virar – Churchgate , Kalyan/Panvel – CST. Roughly 5000 Dabbawala’s collect about 2 lakh lunch boxes from the houses which are prepared by the stay at home women, daily they have 4 lakh transactions and the time taken is 3 hours.
The error rate is 1 in 16 million transactions and the six sigma performance is 99.999999 , the cost of service ranges from Rs. 500-700/month. The annual turnover is 90,00,00,000 and the earnings of Dabbawala per moth is Rs. 15,000 (avg. earnings). The Dabbawala’s are also given one month’s salary as bonus on Diwali.
The working of Dabbawalas and Management Practices
The Dabbawala system started with a Group of 35 people, illiterate villagers in 1890, these migrated farmers, settled in Mumbai had a vision, Mission and goals i.e. supply of homemade food to the office goers. Hon. Mahadu Havaji Bache a man of dedication, values, commitment and business ethics was leading the terms and started working on simple business strategy of expansion of activities keeping in mind the customer requirements and satisfaction, those days there were no business schools to formulate business strategies therefore the activities were based on common sense and hard work. Dabbawals’s survived for nearly 134 years successfully the principles which they practiced were the
- principle of efficiency
- principle of time management
- principle of co-ordinations
- principle of culture
All these they have learnt themselves without a teacher, daily activities and have taught them these principles.
Dabbawala developed commendable network through effective communication, they speak the local language understood by majority of employees to make their task easy they identified and developed code by using Alphabets, Numbers, Colours they develop a unique system for coding the tiffin’s segregating them, disturbing them so that they reach their destination.
Dabbawala’s Association has very little supervision, individual members know their responsibility and work as a team, to ensure that there is no mistake committed, the principle for collecting the tiffin’s, coding them, segregating them and distribution were well practiced and established.
The organization – Dabbawala’s were not having any hierarchy or structure, but the reporting patterns, communication channels were well established more emphasis were on oral/verbal communication, the upward and downwards, horizontal communication channels were properly laid down not on paper but in practice.
During modern times i.e. in 20th century to start a business, plant, machinery and finance were needed, but in case of Dabbawalas all these three important business requirement was not needed, the Association or organization was not registered, no legal formalities, it just started with serving the people by providing home made food, a social commitment.
The Association / Organization of Dabbawala faced many challenges, their supply chain or activities were totally dependent on the transport system; Mumbai a unique harbor Metropolitan city’s main public transport was local trains, buses, private vehicles, the areas or the packets of work places / hubs were South Mumbai, mainly fort area and Nariman Point, followed by Dadar, Sion, Worli, Andheri, these places were well connected by locals trains, with maximum accuracy. Dabbawala’s used local trains, cycles and carts for distribution of tiffin’s, here the principle of time management, accuracy, discipline and punctuality has to be learnt. Dabbawala’s believed in zero defect and practiced continuous improvement in their work i.e. kaizen; though Japanese quality control system came much latter but this was practiced by the organization way before which led them to earn 6 sigma titled
Another important Area is Marketing. i.e. how the business or activities have expanded during olden drugs, it was through word of Mouth, no advertisement, no hoardings, no radio and TV adds. They have passed through many challenging times but they survived due to their diligent work, honesty and ethics. In the mid of the 20th century, growth in population, increase in service sector made them more popular, as the service hubs were having few restaurants and food stalls, people preferred home food, afterwards at the end of 20th century and beginning of 21st century the popularity of Dabbawala riched their Zeenat, documentaries made by BBC, Zee TV, Star TV, CNN, case studies were done by ICFAI Press Hyderabad,
Harvard Business School. Prince Charles honored them by his visit on 4th November 2003, they were also invited for the 2nd marriage of Prince Charles in 2005, Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Airways got inspired. All these accolades made them popular throughout the world, one can learn from this is “Work is Workship”, you can become popular for your dedicated work there is no need for any advertisement.
If we go through the history of Management studies and books. The Management principles were developed in 20th century by Henry Fayol & Fedrick Taylor develop many principles of Management e.g. Division of Labour, Discipline, Unity of direction, Equity, Harmony, not individualism, scientific management, the results of Hawthrone studies by Elton Mayo in 1920’s and the observation made by various behavioural and social scientist after world war-II came out with various management principles. It can be noted that all these principles were practiced by Dabbawal’s in their routine work, without attending to any business school or reading books, In fact, the Management students and business should analyzed the case of Dabbawala and develop new management thinking. For example: to start a business or to become entrepreneur, we think of innovative idea, finance etc. but in case of Dabbawala there was only a new idea conceived by one/group of people without finance or office. The Business Schools in India should consolidate all the principles evolved in case of Dabbawala and start a new subject “Management and Principles of Dabbawala”.
We have commented on many functions and areas in this case, like Business Strategy, Operations, Marketing but one important area in this case is Human Resources (HR). The first step towards development of organization and business is acquisition or sourcing of Manpower physical fit to do the job of carrying tiffin’s to various places, most of the recruitment in this case was through references and from the nearby places, villages close to Mumbai, secondly training, explaining the job and convincing the work force on job guaranty and compensation, as no labour laws were applicable, facilities like insurance, leave, working hours and other terms and conditions of employment were not defined except the name and identity of employs and their uniform, nothing was available but despite of insecurity the Dabbawala’s survived because of their zeal and hard work.
Quoting Edwin Flippo’s definition of HRM – “HRM as planning, organizing, directing, controlling of procurement, development, compensation, integration, maintenance and separation of human resources to the end that individual, organizational and social objectives are achieved”. Dabbawala completely satisfy the above definition in face they were doing all that as an organization carrying tiffin’s for their customers. This organization was free from labour problems, industrial relations, labour disputes except during the pandemic i.e Covis-19 which had an impact on them. The services of Dabbawala are affordable, the customer has to pay Rs. 500-800/month. The wages given to them were in the range of Rs. 8000-12000/month.
The model adopted by the Dabbawala’s had no scope for financial loses, model was entirely self sustaining and intrinsically profitable. Where as Zomato’s loses were to the tune of 2451 crores in 2020. Dabbawala’s are regarded as the best lunch distribution system of Mumbai. One important learning from them was the operational cost to minimum which made them successful. They used cycles, handcarts, local trains which are all low cost, no big offices, no high permanent over heads.
2. SWOT ANALYSIS:
The SWOT analysis of the Dabbawala’s case will help to understand the management learning’s. By doing so we’ll be focusing on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
The Dabbawala’s of Mumbai has the following strengths;
- Workforce
- Teamwork
- Supply Chain
d. CSR
- WORK FORCE :
The workforce is nearly 100% illiterate. They are simple, humble and cheerful, they are like military people obedient in carrying out their duties with immense hard work and agility. They have one mission to achieve victory by racing against time. They believe that they are Anna Daatas (providers of food).
Each Dabbawala has to make small financial investment of Rs. 15/month in the enterprise from his salary which gives him a steak and sense of ownership. The minimum investment is one cotton kurta pyjama, a Gandhi cap, a wodden crate and two bicycles.
b. TEAM WORK ;
The success of Dabbawala’s is teamwork. Tiffin’s are collected from homes between 7am and 9am and taken to the nearest railway stations. At various intermediary stations they’re hauled into platforms and sorted out for area vise
distribution. A single tiffin could change 3-4 times in a day. After lunch hours the process moves into reverse and the tiffin returns home by 6pm.
c. SUPPLY CHAIN ;
Each Dabbawala travels about 35kms/day using local trains, bicycles and push carts. The system follows a simple colour code system painted on dabbas.
Certain alphabets and numbers are used in the supply chain for example; VLP – original railway station, VILE PARLE
H – area collected from VILE PARLE i.e HANUMAN ROAD 3 – destination railway station i.e CHURCHGATE
9 – area to be deliverd in CHURCHGATE i.e NARIMAN PONIT
AI – building where delivery is happening i.e AIR INDIA BUILDING 10 – floor to be delivered in AIR INDIA BUILDING
d. CSR ;
In December 2015, around 400 Dabbawala’s started a initiative called Roti Bank. Dabbawala’s have tied up with 30 major wedding planners and caterers who will call up on the helplines for a pickup. Under this the Dabbawala’s will pick excess food from house of parties, weddings and caterers and distribute it to poor people. It is a no profit no loss model.
The other CSR activity of Mumbai Dabbawala’s will be to expand their services beyond the mega city. The tiffin’s will be prepared at Muk’ti kitchens an initiative by PSR Sustainability Foundation supported as a part of CSR activity of KSB group.
WEAKNESSES ;
- Limited funds for the association
- High dependability on local trains Limited Funds For The Association;
Every Dabbawla gives Rs. 15/month and assuming that there are 5000 employees the total money for association would be 90,00,00,000/annum. This money is used for the benefit of Dabbawala’s like medical facility, and other things. This association also ahs to maintain Dharmashalas at pilgrimage places.
High Dependability On Local Trains ;
The crux of success of Dabbawala’s is Mumbai local trains. During the band of railway strikes or natural calamities ( heavy rainfalls ) the Dabbawala’s call off their duties.
OPPORTUNITIES ;
- Advertisement ;
Dabbawala’s have been approached by various companies for advertisement on tiffin boxes. The most successful campaign has been { 9 BAJ GAYE KYA? } of Kaun Banega Crorepati. It reminded people to watch the program at 9pm every night.
Dabbawala’s and Vi collaborated to enhance the networks quality. The reason behind Vi’s campaign was that Dabbawala’s due to their expertise are able to reach the nook and corner of the cities and hense they would be perfect partners.
It is to be noted that Mumbai’s Dabbawala’s have been used in several advertisement campaigns for example to announce the launch of KFC’s 5-1 meal box. The brand partnered with Dabbawala’s. Similarly in the run up upto 2016 ICC World Cup, Nissan embarked on Dabbawala’s challenge that involved Zahir Khan, 5th gear TV star Jonny Smith and Dabbawala Khan and Smith navigate the streets in a Nissan Sunny to try and deliver the ICC World 20th trophy to a local school.
- Catering ;
Dabbawala’s can have a catering at central stations on western, central and harbour lines to deliver the tiffin’s to the various offices. They can deliver the variety of menu as per the customer’s choice or requirements.
THREATS ;
- Ticket restaurants vouchers ;
Many companies have started offering coupons to their employees which are called ticket restaurant vouchers. Employees can enjoy food at companies expense in restaurants like Shiv Sagar, Copper Chimney, Smokin Joe’s, etc.
- Swiggy And Zomato ;
The food habits of people are changing. They’re now dependent on Swiggy and Zomato food supply chains for their luch.
- Street Stalls ;
The availability of street foods near the working hubs/offices at a cheaper rate is also a threat to the homemade food supply.
Learning’s For Management ;
After the SWOT analysis of the case study following learning’s are for the management students or institutes.
- Work is
- Employees are the living assets of the organization capable of generating
- Grooming and molding employees to achieve targets and
- Keeping the employees motivated for goal
- Educational qualifications are not necessary to start any
- Flat organization structure for better decision
- Good culture to maintain discipline and reduce
- Coordination, team work and proper leadership keeps the organization going for generations.
- The motto of Dabbawala’s “no excuses, they are willing to do any work assigned to them, carry weight up to 130-150 pounds and they have people as old as 75 years and age is not the limit for work”
- This organization was having less paper work though in the later years became a private company required to maintain files, books of accounts,
- Zero contribution to pollution and environmental friendly
- The SWOT analysis of Dabbawala’s case have indicated their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The study of this keeps the Dabbawal’s going and can improve the functioning of their
