![]() ![]() ![]() While most, if not all, pay attention to some of the pillars, only a minority address all four. In the corporate world, it’s uncommon for managers to strive for that kind of synergy. The dabbawalas have an overall system whose basic pillars-organization, management, process, and culture-are perfectly aligned and mutually reinforcing. I analyzed their operation and its inner workings. With the support of Harvard Business School’s India Research Center (IRC), I reviewed the literature on the dabbawalas, interviewed workers and supervisors in their organization, and accompanied them during a typical delivery day. The dabbawalas’ success is proof that with the right system in place, ordinary workers can achieve extraordinary results.Īfter hearing about the dabbawalas, I traveled to Mumbai to uncover what they might teach us about managing a superior service organization. Even firms that can afford to hire stars typically depend on a cast of average people to support them. How can a poorly educated, decentralized workforce perform so beautifully in an environment that can charitably be described as unpredictable and challenging? The answers hold lessons not only for companies seeking to expand in emerging markets but also for all developed-economy enterprises whose ranks are dominated by unexceptional talent. It has attracted worldwide attention and visits by Prince Charles, Richard Branson, and employees of Federal Express, a company renowned for its own mastery of logistics. Since it was founded, in 1890, it has endured famines, wars, monsoons, Hindu-Muslim riots, and a series of terrorist attacks. The dabbawala service is legendary for its reliability. Amazingly, the dabbawalas-semiliterate workers who largely manage themselves-have achieved that level of performance at very low cost, in an ecofriendly way, without the use of any IT system or even cell phones. That entails conducting upwards of 260,000 transactions in six hours each day, six days a week, 52 weeks a year (minus holidays), but mistakes are extremely rare. Every working day they transport more than 130,000 lunchboxes throughout Mumbai, the world’s fourth-most-populous city. The 5,000 or so dabbawalas in the city have an astounding service record. They quickly became a symbol of gritty resilience. Nevertheless, on the second day of the flooding, even before the city had limped back to life, the dabbawalas were back on the job, wading through the water. As the water rose waist-high in many areas, people found themselves stranded at railway stations, in trains, and on roads and sidewalks.Īmong them were many of Mumbai’s dabbawalas, who deliver meals prepared in customers’ homes to their offices and then return the empty dabbas (metal lunchboxes) the same day. That, combined with record high tides, wreaked widespread havoc, bringing the city to a virtual standstill. In just 12 hours, more than 25 inches deluged India’s business capital. In July 2005, Mumbai was battered by unusually heavy monsoon rains. The dabbawalas show that with the right system, even ordinary workers can achieve the extraordinary. And democratic decision making and deep emotional bonds among workers promote a high degree of cooperation. A simple coding system helps workers quickly sort lunches and get them where they need to go. Variations that might derail the works are discouraged the lunchboxes used, for instance, are all a standard size. Buffer capacity is built in to address extremely thin margins of error each unit has extra workers who fill in wherever they are needed, and members are cross-trained in all activities. The tight schedule of the train lines over which meals are ferried regulates everyone’s work. A flat structure, consisting of autonomous units of 25 people each, is well suited to providing low-cost service. He uncovered a unique system with four pillars: organization, management, process, and culture. Thomke, an HBS professor, studied the dabbawalas to find the keys to their success. The 100-year-old service is legendary for its reliability: Despite monsoons, floods, riots, and terrorist attacks, mistakes by the dabbawalas are extremely rare. Six days a week, these 5,000 self-managed, semi-literate workers deliver upwards of 130,000 lunches from customers’ homes to their offices with astonishing precision-negotiating the crowded city by train, bicycle, and handcart, without the aid of any technology or even cell phones. Think you need exceptional employees, advanced IT, or rigid controls to build a high-performance organization? The dabbawalas of Mumbai prove otherwise. ![]()
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