R. M.
Lala’s writings on JRD Tata’s Business ethics must have stirred up nostalgic
memories among those, who had the privilege and good fortune to have known him personally.
Innumerable are the incidents illustrating his high standards of fairplay, integrity,
justice, humane qualities, consideration for fellow beings, particularly his employees and
above all, his penchant for doing “what is right” NOT “what is legal”,
among other things.
JRD’s one major regret all his life (which he never tired of repeating) was “my
lack of formal education”. Slated to go to Cambridge in his early 20s for engineering
studies at his father’s (the late R. D. Tata) insistence, and enthusiastically
looking forward to it, he was sadly disappointed, as the World War broke out and he had to
abandon this idea.
Despite his pretensions at not being a “technical man”, he excelled at not only
aeronautical engineering, of which he had an intimate knowledge, but also the highly
techno-intensive steel industry, in which the questions he raised in his Jamshedpur
meetings were really searching. Many were the executives, who were occasionally stumped
for a satisfactory answer. Long before the computer age, he was never found without the
inimitable six-inch slide-rule (the forerunner of the pocket calculator) in his pocket for
calculations. So much for JRD not being a “technical man!”
He was a stickler for adherence to mandatory rules and regulations, despite his
disagreement with most of them. In the 70s, he used to convene annual or semiannual
meetings in Mumbai of executive directors on the boards of the 60 or 70 Tata companies,
comprising the group then, where they could freely express their views on any subject of
common interest. Those were the ‘Janata RAJ’ days with Morarji Desai as the PM.
Company directors accordingly had their basic salaries pegged at Rs. 5,000 per month
maximum (Rs. 7,500 for MDs), with minimum taxable perks. It was difficult for them to make
both ends meet. Accordingly, at one of those meetings while I was privileged to attend, a
senior Tata director appealed to JRD to do something to alleviate their |
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plight. Pat
came JRD’s reply “Mr..., if you can give me a proposal within the Company Law
Administration Framework, I’ll approve of it right now on the spot, but nothing
beyond. Although I sympathise with you, and I know what other groups are doing to
circumvent these vexatious rules, you know that Tatas don’t do such things.” So
strict was he when it came to abiding by the law!
Not everyone knows that JRD insisted on reading every letter addressed to him by name, and
on signing every reply himself. How he did it with the inexorable demands on his time,
remained a mystery.
Every officer in Tata Steel (and perhaps, in all other Tata firms) received a personal
letter signed by JRD on completion of 25 years and 40 years service respectively, suitably
worded by JRD himself with a personal touch.
There can be no greater tribute to JRD in particular and to the House of Tatas in general
than the words of a retired MD of Tata Steel (the late S K Nanavati), viz., “We all
must bow down to the Almighty on bended knees for the opportunity given to us to serve the
House of Tatas, for it comes but once in a lifetime to all of us.”
Within the Steel Works his popularity was
legendary |
