Dabbawala case study - Its great PDF

Preview

Summary

Its great...

Description

Amrita

THE DABBAWALA SYSTEM

INTRODUCTION The dabbawallas (also spelled dabbawallas or dabbawallas, called tiffin wallahs in older sources) constitute a lunchbox delivery and return system that delivers hot lunches from homes and restaurants to people at work in India, especially in Mumbai. The lunchboxes are picked up in the late morning, delivered predominantly using bicycles and railway trains, and returned empty in the afternoon. It is safe to say that Dabbawallas are the lifeline of Mumbai. Everyday many people living in Mumbai get ready for their office and leave their house to reach their workplace from one part of the city to another whilst braving the traffic jams, crowded trains, and buses etc. Meanwhile, the housewives get busy putting together a delicious handmade healthy meal that will be served at the lunch hour to their better halves. Enter the Dabbawallas, who promise to deliver the tiffin box at a fixed hour, EVERYDAY! In Mumbai, a ‘dabba’ is actually the stainless-steel tiffin boxes, about 15 cm in diameter and 30 cm high that people carry from their home to office. The men who are engaged in the job of collecting, organising, and transporting these dabbas between homes and offices, are known as the Dabbawallas.

AMRITA

1

Amrita

THE DABBAWALA SYSTEM

1. Explain in detail, TEN Management Practices which are the strengths of dabbawalla and which are increasing the market share and trust of their customers and employees.  Word of mouth Publicity The dabbawallas relied on word-of-mouth for acquiring new customers. Their white Mahatma Gandhi caps, distinctive bicycles, and handcarts all served to advertise their service. Their century-plus-old delivery system continued to bring in new customers in a rapidly changing city  Owner partner system They have a profit-sharing model. Loosely coupled groups of about 25 members each, including 2 to 3 people who worked as backups, managed their own finances, customers, and operational activities.  Decentralisation of P&L Senior members with about 10 to 15 years of experience were regarded as supervisors (called muqaddams). Each group could have one or more supervisors depending on the age composition of the members of that group; by 2009, there were about 635 muqaddams, who carried dabbas as well as helped troubleshoot, resolve disputes, and oversee coding, sorting, loading/unloading, collections, and payments. In addition, these supervisors would stand for elections to become part of one of the two committees that oversaw the functioning of the dabbawalla system. Each committee took decisions pertaining to its respective areas of interest, AMRITA

2

Amrita

THE DABBAWALA SYSTEM consulting with each other and other senior members either at their monthly meetings or informally. Individual dabbawallas were responsible for negotiating prices with their customers, doing so within the pricing guidelines set by management,  Underqualified hiring: Only those who have no education or job come here to become a dabbawalla and do manual labor . Our people are suitably educated for our job. In fact, it is better not to have educated people who would ask too many questions. By the time their questions are answered our uneducated dabbawalla will finish the task. If people are slightly underqualified for a job, they will be eager to learn because they would not have many other job options. Overqualified employees will not be motivated, will not work late, and will want a higher salary. Commitment matters; qualification doesn’t.  Emotional unity A retention tool is the emotional unity which results in excellent teamwork. Because of high job satisfaction almost all dabbawallas remain in their own groups for their entire working life, and are able to build long-term relationships with customers. This helps them identify problems in the system and find solutions more easily.  Centipede like delivery system The dabbawallas continued to be successful in Mumbai because the city’s extensive railway network enabled a centipede-like delivery system. Mumbai comprised seven linked islands, covering about 438 square kilometers, that since 1853 had been connected by a railway system considered one of the most complex, densely loaded, and intensively utilized in the world

 Flat org structure Flat organizational structure the dabbawallas had evolved into enabled quick decision making should variances—like the monsoon extremes of AMRITA

3

Amrita

THE DABBAWALA SYSTEM 2005—occur; but he acknowledged the role of commitment in actually minimizing variability:  Sticking to core business They only deliver dabbas to customers. They don’t approach customers with unsolicited offers like buy one dabba, get one free. Customers will discontinue our service if they bother them. Some people tell them to cook food, or have their own transport system. But they never deviate from our core mission.  Code of ethics Nonperformers were warned and given one or two chances after which Theythrow them out of the team, or Theyask him to give his business to some other member of his family. He described their method of enforcing discipline: “Theyhave our own mini-government for meting out punishment or resolving disputes. Justice is swift, fines are imposed, and the involved members resume work within a day. Not wearing the white Gandhi cap or drinking alcohol during work hours invites a fine

AMRITA

4

Amrita

THE DABBAWALA SYSTEM

2. If you were the manager, which feasible new Management practices and policies you would have initiated to make the company grow during this pandemic situation. Explain FIVE practices other than the existing ones and how they are facing this situation. 

Collaborating with NGOs/Businesses: They can work with NGOs and restaurants to deliver food / clothes to the needy people. They can help NGOs in collating all the essentials at one place. Then they can also distribute the same to poor and needy people



Starting essential supplies: They can start transporting essential supplies like grocery, medicine etc. Customers can request this through an app and dabbawala can deliver it in their cycle.



Start commercial kitchen: They can to set up a commercial kitchen of their own, delivering inexpensive meals across Mumbai. This can again be done through an app.



Deliver office items: They can deliver advertising brochures to offices, something that would add the equivalent of a couple of cents of revenue per lunch box. They can experiment with distributing product samples along with the dabbas.



Use of Technology: They an become deliver boys for Zomato / Swiggy or start their own app...