FLAT OWNERS WELFARE

FLAT OWNER’S WELFARE ASSOCIATION – MEMORANDUM-
A MODEL AGREEMENT

Prepared by Dr. Sreekumar Menon


LIVING IN FLATS -Foreword


Living in Flats has certain advantages compared to living in Independent villas in cities like Bangalore. Life and property are safer in Flats, as 24 hours security staffs are on duty. Residents in Flats can enjoy more facilities and amenities, because of common sharing of costs such as Lifts, backup Generator, cheap water supply etc. at much lesser costs than is possible, if they were to meet expenses individually. So they enjoy more comfort spending less. Another great advantage is scope for social life. As people are living under the common roof, they are able to lead a better social life and that mutual help is made available. In cities, where the next door neighbors are often strangers, Flat life is a boon in this respect. What is said is one part of the story or one side of the coin. There is another part or another side to it.

Along with the above advantages, people have to adjust to each other; for enjoying the kind of freedom, they can enjoy in an independent house. They should refrain from acting in such a way that it is disturbing to others who live in the same flat. Again, Flat Administration should be proper and effective, if the Residents were to derive the benefits of Apartment life or if the Residents were to enjoy the amenities provided and to be really happy with their life in the Apartments.

Framing of proper rules, regulations and guidelines in the Administration of Flats and their implementation in its proper spirit are essential if Residents want to reap the benefits of living in Flats.

With this end in view a highly democratic and development type of committee structure and function called as Flat Owners Welfare Association – Memorandum has been worked out carefully. Apartment Residents should be able to enjoy the full benefits which Apartment living can offer to them, if they adopt this scheme.

FLAT OWNER’S WELFARE ASSOCIATION – MEMORANDUM OF ASSOCIATION

1. Name of the Association.

1. Registered Office.

1. Aims and Objectives


2. To ensure marketable titles of the Building complex by procuring the necessary documents such as the Building Plan approved by BMP, Sanction letter and other legal clearance such as certificates for lift, certification for the Generator from Pollution Control Board etc. That is meeting legal requirements pertaining to Building complex and other facilities.


3. To manage, maintain and regulate the proper use of common shared areas and the facilities / amenities provided such as Housing keeping, that is keeping the common areas neat and tidy, Elevator facilities, Electricity system including lighting in the common areas and the car park and maintenance of water supply and Tube well, Motor and Pumping Mechanism, Generator running and maintenance, Collection of Garbage from individual Apartments and safe disposal.


4. To pay taxes / levies to the Government applicable to whole Building and common areas except individual Apartments and those applicable to other Services like Electricity charges f0r operating lift, Generator, common lightning etc.


5. To provide round the clock security to the Residents and their property by posting security staff.


6. To ensure safety of the Building Complex by insuring the Building Complex against natural and man made hazards such as Insuring the Apartment Complex, installing Fire Extinguishers and by enforcing safety regulations in matters of handling hazardous materials such as L.P.G. Gas, Prohibiting storage of inflammable materials in individual Apartments, checking electrical wiring to prevent short circuiting and consequent fire hazard, training security staff in the use of Fire Extinguishers etc.


7. To provide for regular up keep, maintenance, repair, replacement of parts of equipments, periodical white washing and painting interiors of common areas and exteriors, to maintain the look of the Building; to maintain Garden availing the Services of the Gardener, if budget permits.


8. To plan and implement developmental activities which are in the nature of adding to existing facilities, improving upon the existing facilities, as found appropriate from time to time.


9. To generally look after and be responsible by consulting Residents on matters of interest to them, to protect their rights and ensure their welbeing and enforcing their respective obligations/duties as responsible Residents and towards the welfare committee and towards each other.


10. To liaise with outside Agencies such as BMP, BSSW, BESCOM, Telephone Companies Cable T.V operators and so on matters having bearing on the administrations of the Apartment Complex and individual Apartments.


11. To Frame rules, regulations and bylaws, found necessary for orderly and efficient functioning of the Flat administration.


12. To coordinate with other Apartment complexes and other external Agencies when it is required for the creation of certain facilities.


13. To decide the rate of monthly maintenance charges and for levying for other sources of funds such as Reserve Funds, in consultation with Apartment Owners.


14. To provide and maintain common facilities in most economic way and build up Reserves for Capital Expenditure through extra-collection from members and investing the amount in low risk high growth instruments.


15. To promote facilities for Health, Recreation, social life, literary and cultural pursuits with in the Building Complex and to celebrate social festivals and National Days like  Independence Day and Republic Day and thus giving chance for the Residents to meet each other and develop fellow feelings .

To realize the above objective, a Managing Committee having two tiers have been settled and the activities which it would undertake have also been spelt out.

Two tiers or Types of Committees :

1. Policy Making Committee and implementation Committee.

This Committee is empowered to take all the major decisions concerning Flat Administration such as fixing monthly Maintenance, levying money for annual Repair and Maintenance of the Building, Capital expenditure, Creation of new facilities etc. Here, Managing Committee referred to above is the Policy making Committee and implements those decisions which have long term implications. . Only owner members are eligible to serve in this committee. This Committee will consist of three Owner Members. Serving in this committee is mandatory for all the Owner Members. They serve in turn .The names of persons to serve in this Committee are chosen by lot, if the Members do not volunteer to serve in the committee. Those members will elect among themselves President, Secretary and Treasurer.

1. House Keeping Committee

This Committee discharges the function of Day to Day house keeping functions. This committee consist of President, Secretary and Treasurer and another two members are elected/selected by Residents among themselves. This Committee allows participation of Tenants in the day to day management of House Keeping functions. Tenants get chance to give their views and opinions regarding how satisfactory are maintenance functions and what can be done to make it better from the point of view of satisfaction of Flat users.

Though Tenants can choose their representatives to this Committee they do not have voting rights in selecting Members of the Managing Committee. Both Managing Committee and House Keeping Committee should meet atleast once in a month. General Secretary should prepare Agenda for the meeting, in consultation with the president and circulate it in a notice including the minutes of the previous meeting atleast 4 days prior to holding meeting. All the office bearers are expected to read the Agenda and prepare themselves for meaningful participation in the meeting. The quorum for Managing Committee meeting could be 3 and that for House Keeping Committee, 4.

As far as possible, decisions should be agreed by all. In cases it is not possible, the issue is to decided by simple majority vote.

Powers of Office Bearers

1. President

President will have overall control of Maintenance Administration of the Association. Generally, he should be a person with good knowledge in technical matters related to Building construction, utility services, legal and administrative matters pertaining to ownership of Flats ,  having ability to liaison with Government and other Agencies ,  having Planning and Administrative Skills and should be sociable with people. He should be able to speak fluently in a language such as English, a language which is understood by all the Residents. He should also have interest in social service and should be friendly with people. He should be able to take quick decisions and implement them speedily.

He will have to represent the Association for all legal actions to enter into contracts or pursue legal action to safeguard the interest of the Association. He is authorized to sign all necessary papers and documents. He is indemnified against risks or lose to the Association that might happen, in spite of his best efforts and actions in good faith.

In his absence, President can authorize any other members of the Executive Committee to officiate, in consultation with the members of the Executive Committee.

2. Secretary
He will implement the decisions of the Executive Committee and discharge day to day administrative Activities of the Association, under the guidance and general supervision of President. He appoints Employees such as Security Staff, Housing Keeping Staff, as approved by the Managing Committee and supervise their work to meet the expected standards. He is authorized to incur expenses not exceeding Rs.________ towards house keeping expanses, without prior approval of the Managing Committee. He ensures regular collection of Maintenance and other levies and can impose penalty for delayed payment or non-payment.

Person to be elected to the post of General Secretary should be friendly with people, should have interest in rendering Social Service and should carry out tasks by considering the views and opinions of the Members, who are affected by his actions.

He should not act what he personally thinks right, without consulting people and in such a way that the Members feel that he is not acting in the common interests. He should be soft spoken and approachable. He should be able to speak fluently and clearly. He should possess administrative skill. He should be objective in what ever he is doing.

He can hold a petty cash account not exceeding Rs._________ with him for incidental expanses. However, this cash balance is to be incorporated in the Treasures Account.

1. Treasurer

He is in the custody of all properties of the Association including Funds. He should maintain a Asset Register and enter all the properties of the Association in detail in it. He should keep it up to date. He should keep the Accounts as per the standard Accounting procedure adopted and such that it meets annual auditing requirement. The person who holds Treasurer’s position should have interest in maintaining accounts or should like to work with numbers and should be prompt and systematic in preparing accounts.

He is empowered to operate Bank Accounts of the Association jointly either with President or Secretary, Preparation of statements of Accounts including Annual statement is his responsibility. He may have to present financial picture to Managing committee as and when it is required.

The Representatives of the Tenant Members are also expected to look after some specific Functions such as overseeing functioning of lift and Generator, lighting arrangements and House keeping.

The term ‘Owner’ stand for the person in whose name Sale Deed is registered, and also includes their relatives like spouse, children, parents, in-laws and so on, whom the Owners authorize to represent them.

Any Member of Managing Committee absents himself / herself without the approval of the Committee / sufficient reasons, for more than three meetings automatically ceases to be the officer bearer. Any Member can Vacate his Membership position, when his resignation letter is addressed to President is accepted by the Committee.

Owner Membership
All the Owners of the apartments are to become Members compulsorily. In the case of joint ownership only one person, either the first or second person will be member of the Association. In the absence of the person who owes the Flat, he can nominate one of his close relatives fro Owner Membership.

Tenant Members
In the Flats which have been rented out, the Tenants become Tenant Members, automatically.

General Body
Authority of General Body
The ultimate authority on all matters of Flat Administration rests with General Body.

More specifically,

1. The General body frames subsidiary rules which are called Bylaws and amends existing ones, consistent with the Rules and Regulations of the Association, found necessary from time to time for effective administration of Association Mattes.


2. Examines reviews and passes Annual Accounts.


3. Examines and passes Annual Budget.


4. Conducts elections of Members of the Managing Committee and House Keeping Committee.


5. Rectifies Disciplinary Actions taken against Owner Members, Tenant Members and Office Bearers for violation Bylaws.


6. General Body has power to remove any office bearer from his position if he is found working against the interest and welfare of the Members and Flat Ownership.


7. Approves raising of and expenditure from Reserve Fund.


8. Approves expenditure over Rs.20,000/- under any head in Annual Account.


9. Fixes monthly maintenance charges, Revisions and creation of Reserve fund.

Notice
Notice for General Body / Extra-ordinary General Body Meetings to be served to the member’s minimum of 21 days in advance. For Annual General Body Meeting, audited statement of Accounts should also be made available. Along with the Agenda for the meeting. Notice to the members to be sent in writing in Delivery Book and receipts to be acknowledged. Notice to the Members staying outside and out of Bangalore, is to be mailed by post or the massager to be transmitted via E-mail. Members are to be informed for acknowledging the receipt of notice for General Body Meeting.

All the Members are expected to attend the Meeting and take part in the deliberations and help to conduct the proceedings in an orderly manner. The Members who are unable to attend the meetings are expected to keep the Managing Committee informed.

At least 25 percent of total members should be present to meet the requirement of quorum. If the Members present fall short of that number, the meting is to be adjourned to a later date. If in the second meeting also, if the quorum is not met, the Managing Committee can conduct the meeting and take decisions. The decisions taken will be considered as reflecting the consent of all the members. If the meetings consistently fall short of required number of people, the members are to be reminded of  their responsibility to attend the meetings. If the orderly, peaceful and productive ways of conducting meetings are disturbed by members, they are to be reminded of the need to conduct themselves as responsible members. If they don’t heed, the other members of the General Body is expected to invoke what ever sanctions they think fit, against those erring members.

The President of the Managing committee who presides over the meeting and other members of the Managing Committee who share in organizing General Body Meeting are excepted to give enough opportunity to the Members to express their views, without cutting them short or imposing their views using power of their positions. Similarly, the members should say whatever they want to say without offending others. Enough opportunity should be given by all for the emergence of common views and agreements in the discussions. Members should accept the views and opinions commonly expressed and not try to be argumentative. In other words, the so called “Problem Solving Approach” should be adopted in all meetings.

The following are the sources of Funds for Association Expenses

1. Admission Fee paid by every Member.


2. Monthly Maintenance Fees, as fixed.


3. Interest from Bank Deposits


4. Any additional collection for Developmental Work and Revenue as approved by General Body.

An Admission fee of Rs.500/- Payable by every Owner member at the time of enrolling as the Owner Member. A monthly maintenance charge as determined by General Body from time to time should be paid by Owner Member / Tenant Member regularly every month in advance with in 10th of that running month. It is the final responsibility of the Flat Owner to pay the monthly maintenance charges. However they can arrange with his tenants to pay. If the Tenants default payment, the Owner of those Flats, rented out are to be held responsible. For delayed payment, some interest on the amount as decided by General Body may be charged for various periods. If payment is pending for a long time, General Body can impose other sanctions like cutting water supply. The power to impose such sanctions will vest with the Managing Committee. The Owner Members agree for such actions, as such it will be considered legal and no dispute arising out of that can be brought to court of Law. Out of the funds collected, a part should be kept as a Fixed sum, as decided by General Body as Reserve Fund for meeting Capital Expenses for creating new facilities , long term recurring expenses like Maintenance of the common Areas and Exteriors of the Building Preventive Maintenance of Elevators, Generators etc., payment of annual Taxes to the Government Bodies etc. Rest of the money is to be kept in the General Fund for meeting day to day and monthly recurring expenses such as staff salary, purchase of materials for House Keeping etc.

President will preside at the Managing Committee Meetings, General Body / Extra-ordinary General Body Meeting. In his absence any other Member will be asked by the President in Consultation with Managing Committee Members to preside over and conduct meetings.

The Duties and Responsibilities of Owner / Tenant Members
These have been laid down as By-laws; duly approved by General Body.

1. All members are to pay regularly and promptly the monthly maintenance charges fixed by General Body before 10th of every month. For any payment after that period, an interests of 30% per annum to be charged from the due date till the date of payment.

The fee is fixed currently as 60 paise per Sq.ft of the super built area of the Flat. Subjectto increase or decrease as decided by the General Body.

1. All apartments should be used for Residential purpose only. Car parks should be used only for parking the vehicles. Neither the Flats nor the Car parks should be used or rented out for any commercial purpose.

1. No hazardous and or inflammable materials should be stored in the Flats or in the car parking area.

1. No Flat Owner should alter the basic structure of their Flats, such as changing the positions of entrance door, windows etc which mars the original architecture of the Apartment Building.

1. All the fittings and fixtures that are there in the common areas like Name Boards, Letter Boxes, Grills, Gates etc., and the space in the common area should not be altered in any manner either by the Owners or Tenants.

1. The Managing committee at its discretion can allow to put the Names of Tenants, along with Name of Owners with their respective Flat No. on the Name Board, on the request of Owners/ Tenants.

1. No member should stick bills / notice, display advertisements on the outer walls or any other common areas nor should soil the wall. All should co-operate to keep the place neat and tidy.

1. Furniture, Empty cartons, shoes Racks, Dustbins , Flower Pots or any other objects should not be kept in the common Verandahs, staircase etc., which affect cleanliness and appearance.

1. Common areas should not be used to host private parties, congregations etc without permission from Managing committee and without seeking the consent of the neighboring flats and without undertaking responsibility for not causing disturbance to others and for keeping the place clean, after the get together.

1. Structure alteration with in one’s Apartment that affects the strength and architectural appearance of the whole Building should not be made.

1. The Flat Owners should carry out the internal maintenance work. They will be accountable for damage caused to other Flats / other parts of the building for want of timely maintenance work carried out in their Flats.

1. Owners should meet the costs of major repairs relating to lighting, water supply and sanitation by themselves including costs of materials and labour. However for minor repairs, services of the Technicians are made available free of cost by the Association.

Association will maintain in their pay roll a part time Electrician and Plumber (Sanitary Worker)

1. The car parking area should be used for parking cars or two wheelers only. The vehicles should be parked with in the parking area. The vehicles should not obstruct the free movements in the Run way and or common areas. While starting the vehicles, the engine should not be raised high causing loud sound. If the sound of high intensity is due to defective silencer which needs correction, it should be attended to. Similarly, they should also ensure that too much exhaust smoke due to poor turning of Engine is not released, in the Car Park area. Sound of high intensity is disturbing to those who stay in the Flat. Similarly Exhaust smoke pollutes the environment in the Flat and causes health hazard to the Flat Dwellers. Flat occupants while reversing their vehicles should switch off the Reverse Horn, which causes disturbance and also refrain from honking, to call security staff to open the gates, especially during night.

1. Common areas and facilities should be put to proper use. Common areas include space left on all sides of the Building, common run ways in the car parking areas, Verandahs, Staircase, Lift room etc. These areas should be available for all and no one should do anything that affects the common use. Verandahs serving on passage should be used only for normal transit through them. They should not let their children play or do cycling etc in those areas.

1. Right of Entry

• In the face of the emergency such as short circuiting, breakage of main water-pipes etc originated in an Apartment, which might affect safety of other Apartments or the whole building, if the Owners / Occupants are not available, any member of the Managing Committee can break open the lock and enter the Apartment without prior permission, in order to avert the danger. However, in  such cases, the person who breaks the lock / door open will do it in such a way that only minimum damage is caused to the door and fixtures and that the Managing Committee will get the damaged part repaired / replaced as decided by the committee or will reimburse reasonable charges for repair etc. as decided by it.

• All people other than those who stay in the Flats should enter their Names and Address, in the Visitor’s Book kept at the Security Desk; before entering the Apartment. Security Personnel can also enquire about their where about and satisfy themselves that they are bonafide visitors. If security staff has any doubt, he may allow their entry only after checking with the person/s in the Flat whom they want to meet.

Managing committee can also issue entry pass to the relatives of the families in the Flats, as requested by representative Flat Owners; in such case the responsibility is their s for any undesirable happening on account of admission for their entry in the Building.

• Security Staff should keep a Register recording all the personal details of the people including photographs like Ayahs, who come to the Building daily and passes should be issued to them. Such details should be made available to the nearest police station which comes handy when thefts etc. are to be investigated.

• No outsiders / Strangers such as Sales people, people visiting houses for collecting money for charitable purpose should be given entry into the Apartments.

Technicians who come to attend the repairs in Flats and people like L.P.G Gas delivery boys, or boys delivering provisions etc on order should be permitted entry into Apartments only after checking with the occupants of the concerned Apartment, whom they say they want to meet.

These steps are taken for ensuring safety of life and property of the flat occupants and such restrictions should not be seen as acts of curtailing freedom of the Residents. However the Security Staff is expected to be polite and decent in their dealing with these people. Any complaints regarding the behaviour of the security staff can be brought to the attention of General Secretary.

• Residents are expected to follow safety regulations in handing and use of such equipments like L.P.G Cylinder, in maintaining proper electrical circuits etc. such that no accidents which originate from above causes happen and the safety of the individual Flats and the Building as a whole are ensured.

If any such accidents occur due to negligence of safety practices by the Residents, they have to compensate monetarily for the lose due to accidents.

• During normal times also Members of the Managing Committee, whom they authorize may have to enter flats to attend to repairs of electrical, sanitary and other systems, as a part of their maintenance work pertaining to the whole building. At that time they should be permitted to enter the Flats. At the same time Managing committee should see that the Residents are not unduly disturbed. The Managing Committee Member or any authorized person should oversee the work of the person inside of an Apartment to see that the Residents are not put to unnecessary inconvenience

1. Residents should not throw Garbage through their windows towards outside. Garbage should be collected and kept in a Dustbins and should be given to Ayahs for safe disposal. It is the duty of the Managing Committee for the regular removal of the garbage from the Garbage Bin and keep the place neat and clean. Residents should not wash their sit out with water which splashes out and falls on those down below.

1. Residents should not play Radio / T.V / Audio / Video equipments in such high volume that it disturbs the neighboring Flats. Similarly, while cooking they should ensure that no strong smell of Masalas, non-veg. items etc. emanates, which neighboring  Flat people feel obnoxious or repulsive. In cases of such deep frying, use of kitchen chimneys is recommended.

1. Residents should use all the facilities and resources provided such as Lifts, Water etc. properly. Water for instance is a precious resource. It is not ever lasting. To bring water to house taps also costs. So it should never be wasted. Managing Committee should oversee the use of water. Water should not be used disproportionately.

The fixtures in the common areas such as lifts should be used with care, so that it does not go out of order frequently and these are kept in good shape. If any one uses these roughly and spoils he is to get it repaired or replaced as the Managing Committee decides fit. It is the responsibility of all the Residents to keep everything in the common area in presentable and good condition.

Disciplinary Appeal Committee
The Managing Committee is authorized to enforce discipline in the use of common areas, resources and facility by all Residents and they can impose sanctions. If the persons against whom the actions have taken are aggrieved, they can appeal to Policy making committee for redressal.

The Members can give suggestions for improvement and creation of new facilities to
Managing Committees. Owner members can give suggestion for actions having long term implication  which call for high expenditure to Policy making committee Both Owner members and Tenant Members can offer their suggestions for action for improvement of facilities regarding day to day matters to Maintenance Committee.  The Committee Members are expected to consider their suggestions objectively and seriously and try to implement those which are worthy of implementation. They are also expected to inform to the persons who made suggestions whether those suggestions have been considered favorably and if those are not considered favorably ,the reasons thereof.
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MANAGEMENT BY COMMITTEES-Dr.A.Sreekumar Menon

MANAGEMENT BY COMMITTEES-Dr.A.Sreekumar Menon
Psychologist, Specialist in Management Science and Author of Award Winning Management Books

In all most all the organisations, especially in larger ones, one finds the institutionalization various committees.

Some examples of committees are Shop floor Productivity Councils, Departmental Committees, Foremens’ Committees, Institutional Coordination Committees, Special Project Teams, Research Administration Committees and so on .Memberships in those committees cut across the formal hierarchical levels in the organisations .

Committee functioning offsets some of the ill-effects of centralized or pyramidal organisational structure.

The Committees are broadly of two types:- Viz.

1. Committees superimposed on the formal structure
and
2. Those functioning independent of formal organisational structure.

When the hierarchical control of functions is superimposed on the committee functioning, it is called a Matrix Structure. In Research and Development Organisations, one finds this type of structure. There are very few l hierarchical levels In this the operating personnel form project teams. The Discipline Head controls the work of project teams rather than the work of individual workers as in the type of Hierarchical type of organisational design. Committee setup offsets the negative effects of tall organisational structure such as delay in organisational communication, lack of individual freedom, standardization of operations, which give no scope for individual initiative and creativity and innovativeness and problem solving skills etc, which are the backbones of organisational dynamism, growth and development. In addition to the functioning of these committees, several meetings are also arranged with during working hours as necessary means for effective administration and management. Some companies take pride that they are managing by Committees. There are Organisations, where just the opposite trend can be observed. They might be of the view that setting up of Committees and conducting meetings for organisational decision making is share waste of valuable time, which could be better utilized properly by formal assignments and direct communication of what is to be done. What could be reasons for holding such opposite views? The underlying reasons could be several. There may not be common sharing of understanding regarding the purpose or goals which are to be achieved. Even those who have set up such committees may not be clear as to why such Committees were set up in the first instance or they might have thought of achieving certain objectives, for which Committee mode is not the right kind of action. Committees are mechanisms for democratic functioning of the organisation or running of the organisation in which employees participate. Democratic values being most cherished values of our century. Business and Industrial Organisation receive public acclaim and look prestigious, when they run their organisations democratically rather than in centralized way. In other words, it has sales appeal and boosts the social image of the company, how ever short run, it may be. Another reason is that the Centralized or Top heavy or pyramidal type of organisation might assume that it is easy to talk to a group of people rather than to people individually.

The right motives in setting up committees and conduction staff/employee meetings should be abiding faith on the part of top management in democratically running the enterprise, thereby upholding the general democratic principles cherished in our constitution and belief in the capabilities of employees at the levels and appreciation of the principles of Group Dynamic and their usefulness in achieving optimum employee productivity vis-à-vis employee satisfaction through participation in groups.

The management which is guided by these motives has real faith in the participation of employees. The committees could be setup to serve one or more of the functions such as problem solving, goal diagnosis and consultation, planning, goal setting, review, decision making and so on. Top management should be clear regarding the purposes when committees are set up that is whether the objective of the committee is to solicit problem solving by employees for seeking geed back and consultation with employees for joint decision making. Many times, the top managements are not clear about the goals of the committees, they set up.

At other times though managements know why a committee has been set up, they do not communicate the purpose to the employees. This results in conflicting expectations on the part of the management and the employees. For instance, the top managements may set up say a Foremen’s’ committee or shop superintendents committee as a channel of communication to get to know about their opinions about the effects of the policies and actions at the shop floor level and to advice them on matters that affect them and their departments. The top managements might reserve to themselves the authority to make decisions. The members of the committees not being aware of the top management’s thinking might expect the top management to make decisions jointly on certain matters. When they find this not happening, they may feel disheartened regarding the whole committee affairs. The membership and chairmanship of the committees are wrongly considered as elitist positions, positions enjoying status. Getting nominated to these committees by the Top management is considered as the privilege both by the managers and employees, and as adding feather to the cap. Executives may gauge their status by the number of committees, they serve. Top management also may times nominate to these committees employees who are loyal to them and who enjoy their confidence rather than based on their interest and capabilities. These images should go, if committees were to serve the real purpose. Only those employees who are active able and possess leadership qualities and conference skills (skills in conducting and attending meetings) should be nominated.

The membership and chairman ship of these committees should be as widely distributed in the organisation as possible, and almost all executives should be allowed to serve in some committees or other.

Inter-Departmental Committees

Inter-Departmental Committees are set up for communication, coordination, joint consultation and joint decision making. The scope those Committees provide for employee participation should be made clear. Employee might like to know on which matters they will be consulted, and which matters will be decided jointly. Consultation means seeking views and opinions with out necessarily accepting them. In joint decision making, employees influence decisions. In communication, the information which in the judgement of Top Management is passed onto the employees, at best with opportunities for seeking clarification.

The Inter-Departmental Committees are known by various names such as Institution Coordination Committee. Committee of Heads of Departments, Superintendents’ Committees and so on . The chiefs of different departments of functional areas of Disciplines are members of the Committee with Chief Executive or some senior executive at the corporate level as the chair person.


In large organisations having over 500 executives, and having many departments, communication and co-ordination and centralized control for achieving the overall organisational goals are difficult. Sprawling corporations having plants several miles away from each other pose such problems of communication and co-ordination. Committees functioning in such cases, helps to achieve the desired results.


Joint committees help communication and co-ordination, as, it provide scope for joint discussion with employees at lower level with less formal (with less hierarchical orientation or more equalitarian) setting. With in the committee set up, the employees from different departments and different levels are able to meet, interact and exchange their views and ideas. Members are able to discover what is going on in other areas/departments which is of interest to them in discharging their duties effectively, in eschewing their commitment to the goals of the tam rather than as Heads of different functional groups vying with each other for power or indulging in factionalism and power play and to work the areas of planning, technology, investments, markets, human resources, public relations and legal matters and entrepreneurial orientation, which are necessary for occupying top management positions at the corporate level. Infact, these inter-departmental meetings should also be used to pick up potential candidates for directorial staff or for planning management succession at the corporate levels.

The communication that takes place in committees is much more than what takes place though lines of command provided the committee chairman who happens for one way (downward) communications. These committees are meant for two way communication. If the chairman uses these committees for one way communication, they become defunct. Hence, the chairman should know how to play his role as chairman to conduct deliberations in such committees.

Project Teams:

Project teams (also called Task force) are committees consisting of employees which cut across the organisational hierarchy and which are set up for a particular purpose. The life period of these committees may be shorter or longer depending upon their mission. But, these are not like other permanent organisational structures like departments, job position, joint consultative committees etc. They are dissolved once the missions for which they are set up are achieved.

These committees help pool together the expert knowledge and creative abilities widely distributed throughout the organisation and bring to bear upon thrust areas. Some of the examples of expert committees are business planning committees, cost control committees Research Advisory Councils, production improvements committees, etc. The committees on postal excellence set up by government of India recently to revamp postal systems and operations is an example of this type of committees. These committees may have knowledgeable people both from inside and outside the organisations as members of the committee. These committees are advisory in nature, in the sense they submit their recommendations to the top management for appropriate action. The working of the expert committees compensate some of the deficiencies associated with functions and formal authority structure. People with in the formal structure and busy in carrying our routine and programmed functions and they do not get chance to use their original ideas, and to be creative and innovative. The organisational control over them is also rigid and the employees particularly those who have capabilities remain frustrated for want of opportunities for self expression in their jobs. Expert committees help individual employees for their self-expression and for undertaking tasks which are challenging or those which call for the special knowledge and skills they possess. The organisation is also able to mobilize the creative energizes of people, individual goals with organisational goals, provided these committees are made to function properly.


These committees should be provided with a clear character of goals and adequate time frame for achieving their mission, while giving them the necessary operational freedom for the members and also top management support. Without a definite mission and time target, these committees move like a ship without radar, reaching nowhere.

The members of the management who are to execute the committee’s recommendations are not included in the committee, as they cannot see the different possibilities objectively before selecting the one best and feasible, which is in the very nature problem solving.

Joint Consultative, Participative and Action Committees

These committees consist of representatives of management and employees cutting across all the levels. They are the forums for employees participation set up for bringing about improvements in different areas like improvements in worker productivity, machinery and processes, plant layout and safety etc., The examples of such committees are productivity committees, work committees, canteen committees. For examples, some managements set up shop floor production committees only as an advisory or consultative committees, while others give authority to these committees not only to make suggestions but also implement jointly the suggestions and production programmes. The rationale behind setting up such committees is the firm belief on the part of Top management that the employee involvement is the best way to get best out of them for the company and it is the best which an employee can get from the organisation.

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Work Design as a source of Motivation – The Indian Context

The general lot of the working class in India has improved substantially, since independence. The Top Managements and the Government have been paying increasing attention to workers and their needs. Working class has been securing steady increase in wages and welfare and non -wage benefits as a result of their bargaining strength, labour-oriented policies of the Government and progressive policies of the employers. However, these increases in wages and other benefits have not resulted in any tangible returns from the workers in the form of increased productivity, better employee discipline and so on.

A new problem
Parallel to the above development, the top managements in India have not been paying proper attention to the problems of vital sizable section of people consisting of Junior and Middle level managers. They are the middlemen between the top management and the front line work force. They are responsible for converting the top management policies and decisions into organisational results. Their co-operation is essential for the top management to run the business effectively. Most of the people who now occupy junior and middle level positions do not belong to the generation of people who occupied these positions before independence. These new generation managers who are often much better qualified technically and in the area of general management, compared to their counterparts. Due to their better educational background and increased stress on democracy and socialism around, these people are also more achievement-oriented and equalitarian in terms of their value -orientations. They expect relatively more freedom at work and opportunity for participation in decision making and worth while contributions to the organization.

Both practitioners and management academics have started realizing the need to understand the problems of these people with a view to (a)avoid mounting frustration and discontent among them and its consequences and (b) to motivate them so that they realize their full potential on the job and contribution to productivity. Some of the top executives as well as scholars have shown concerns about this group. For instance, Ranganekar1 comments that “in many cases, the top management continues to put pressure on the middle management level to get results. However, the middle management is often unable to pass it as it is confronted with organized employees at the lowest level. In case of a serious conflict between the management and the workers, the middle management group finds squeezed between the two sides. The new manager at the junior and middle management level has often received some degree of management education. This has led him to expect participation in management decision making process. However, in actual life he finds himself as mere implementer of decisions arrived at without the benefit of his thinking- ‘a mere messenger of the real decision makers’ in the words of a middle manager.

Consequences of Discontent among Middle Managers
The discontent among junior and middle managers may lead to several dysfunctional kinds of behaviour on their part. They may express work behaviour characterized by apathy, lack of result-orientation, lack of responsibility, sense of alienation, rigidity, extreme rule-orientation, resistance to change and unreasonable demands for economic and other pecuniary incentives.

Many a times they organize themselves along the trade union lines for collective action. They bargain with the top management on conditions of employment and even resort to violence and other pressure tactics to get their demands considered2. In U.S.A the scholars have noted that the managerial frustration and discontent with corporate life are increasing and that the middle managers are tending towards formal and informal organisations which can collectively put pressure for job security, emoluments and more effective participation in management. In India, the top managements in many of the Indian organizations such as public sector and business enterprises are already facing threats on account of the formation of Supervisory and Officer’s Associations. Some top executives and scholars3 feel that the unionization among junior and middle managers will have far greater disastrous consequences to the organisation and this phenomenon cannot be viewed in the perspective in which it is viewed in the case of workers.

Motivation and Incentives
The organisations do not seem to be providing adequate number of both financial and non-financial incentives to the junior and middle managers. Indian studies on the motivation of managers and supervisors4 have revealed the absence of a number of incentives in their job5. The managers feel that their jobs are monotonous and that they are unable to test their skills and make use of their experience. They perceive that their jobs do not allow them sufficient freedom to take decisions. Nor do they provide them with opportunity for sharing adequate responsibility, learning and developing new skills. They also experience a sense of being left out of the main stream of organisational events due to inadequate communication and supportive feed -back of the information regarding their performance and that of others. These imply that the ways in which jobs and organisational practices are designed hardly provide the above kinds of satisfaction which are the real sources of motivation.

The jobs are normally designed according to the principles of task specialization and division of labour characterized as principles of Taylorism. The jobs that are at the bottom of the hierarchy are organized strictly along the above rational lines. The principles of Taylorism assumes the form of bureaucracy in the case of higher positions such as those of supervisors and managers. Job designs and associated practices along bureaucratic lines do not provide for socio-emotional and motivational pre-dispositions of the employees. They are unable to provide well-being of the employees. These designs are particularly inadequate in motivating junior and middle managers who seek freedom, responsibility, learning experience, challenge, opportunity for self expression and innovativeness on the job.

Emerging Need
Top management’s efforts to motivate people through wage and salary increases and welfare and fringe benefits are not as much rewarding in present times as it was before. There are several reasons for this. Some of these are; the incidence of direct taxation is so heavy that an increase in executives’ salaries beyond a level show diminishing returns in terms of take home pay. Again, the current rate of inflation is so high that any increase in monetary compensation hardly neutralizes the effects of inflation. This is applicable both to the executives and workers.

Even in the case on non-financial incentives to executives, top managements have been paying much attention to such as aspects as providing comfortable and attractive executive suits, standardizing personnel policies and practices, thereby reducing scope for adhocism, offering attractive designations (Director, vice-president etc) and other status symbols to the comparative neglect of providing conditions on the job for self -expression, i.e., by improving the intrinsic worth of the job5. At the worker level, the common practices are introduction of human relations in supervision, quick redressal of employee grievance, and employee conseling at the expense of making the jobs meaningful and challenging and promoting team spirit. A comprehensive motivational strategy which focuses on the content factors of jobs and which can be attempted both at the levels of managers and workers are ‘Job Design or Job Redesign’.

Essentially, there are two approaches adopted in designing jobs viz., (1) job enrichment approach suggested by Herzberg6 and his colleagues and (2) Socio-technical system approach developed by researchers from Tavistock School of Human Relations, London.

The underlying principle of socio-technical approach is to achieve congruence between work organisation and social organisation. According to this approach, it is necessary to organize the work in such way that the system permits full play of individual skills and nurtures their social needs.

Some scholars such as Herzberg,7 Taylor8 and so on have found out certain ways of making the immediate job environment conductive for this kind of intrinsic motivation. For instance, Herzberg9 suggests the following principles of job design and their motivational pay offs.

Taylor10 suggests the following ways to create motivating conditions on the job.

1. Providing Opportunity For Achievement.

a. Introduce new and difficult tasks not previously handled.
b. Allow employees to have a say in setting their objectives and targets for future action.
c. Provide positive standards against which results can be measured.
d. Give a complete unit of work which is meaningful and not too short in duration.
e. Allow as much autonomy as possible.
f. Opportunity to learn and increase knowledge and skills.

2. Recognition For Achievement
a. Assign individuals specific or specialized tasks enabling them to become expert;
b. Let individuals know how they are doing, praise for good work and guidance when work is not upto the standard.
c. Reward provided by the organization should depend on personal effort e.g. promotion and salary increase depending on personal effort e.g. promotional salary increase dependent (at least in part) on past successful performance.

3. Increased Responsibility
a. Show trust in employee by removing certain controls e.g. clocking in, continuous checking on their work.
b. Delegate to subordinates as much work and decision making authority as possible.
c. Increase the responsibility of the individuals for their own work responsibility for quality as well as quantity.
d. Provide additional authority to an employee in his activities.
e. Give an individual the chance to look after and develop others.
f. Encourage group inter-dependence and mutual help rather than reliance on outside supervision and technical assistance.

4. More Interesting Work
a. Provide variety of tasks;
b. Give individuals jobs which require thought and decisions;
c. Give employees an understanding of their contributions to the whole
d. Give individuals jobs they can improve.



Sl. No. Principle Motivators Involved
A. Removing some controls while retaining account ability. Responsibility and personal achievement.
B. Increasing the accountability of the individual for his own work. Responsibility and recognition.
C. Giving a person a complete natural unit of work (Module 8, division area and son on). Responsibility, achievement and recognition.
D. Granting additional authority to an employee in his activity (Job Freedom). Responsibility, achievement and recognition.
E. Making periodic reports directly available to the employee himself rather than to his supervisor. Internal recognition.
F. Introducing new and more difficult tasks not previously handled. Growth and learning.
G. Assigning individuals specific or specialized tasks, enabling them to become experts. Responsibility, growth and advancement.

Emerging Awareness
An awareness of the need on the part of the top managements to make the middle managerial jobs motivationally effective has developed in India recently. Four sources of evidence to this fact are forthcoming. First, some of the public sector companies have tried to institute certain motivationally effective organisational patterns. For instance, Engineering Projects India Limited11, engineering public sector concern known for its so called progressive management has adopted some of the following principles in the formulation of the functional organisational pattern.

- More clearly defined and undiluted responsibility
- Development of action without any constraints, to facilitate initiative and discretion at all levels of management.
- Faster decisions – decision points being closest to the work level and the problems.
- Concern for Motivation, better morale and greater involvement ant enthusiasm;

Therefore not tight controls are envisaged in the management philosophy of EPI. Controls are limited to the extent of getting feed-back results only.

Working in water-tight compartments which may inhibit the appreciation of working of other disciplines is considered against the management philosophy of EPI. Therefore, job rotation and inter-disciplinary transfers have been accepted in principle to be implemented based on individuals’ aptitudes and abilities.

Limited centralization by grouping the related functions has been considered due to ever increasing complexities in the technological fields and also to maintain good quality technical decisions and actions in specified areas. Limited centralization has also been considered desirable for overall co-operation through Management Information System by inter-meshing the multifarious activities of the company to attain the corporate objectives. Under Corporate Policy, it is also stated that the policy of EPI shall be to reward employees only on the basis of performance and not by seniority.

Second, a few years back six of the public sector undertaking12 initiated some internal work under ‘Action learning programme’ in the field of managerial motivation and related areas. This programme co-ordinated by Bureau of Public enterprises was stated in October 1975, lasted for 8 months or so. According to this programme, the managers of these enterprises set up study teams. They studied the motivational problems with the help of some resource persons from outside. This programme is initiated on the basis of the felt needs on the part of several top level public sector managers to understand and solve some of the motivational problems which stand in the way of utilizing highly skilled human resources.

Enriching Supervisory and Managerial Jobs.

Managerial and supervisory jobs can be made more motivating or challenging and meaningful by using the principles of job enrichment. For this the following methods can be used.

1. Role Analysis and Role Development: This helps development of clear cut understanding of duties, responsibilities, accountability and interface with other roles. It helps to link the individuals with the work groups and work groups with the organization.

2. Management by Objectives (or M.B.O): This involves identification of objectives, key result areas, target setting and formulating action strategies.

3. Management by Participation: Executives at all levels are involved in corporate, department and divisional level planning, target setting, monitoring and review.

4. Team Development and setting up Committees and Project Teams.

5. Instituting performance appraisal: Linked to employee training and career progression.
6. Continuous Training and Development: Training should be based on proper identification of the needs of the executives. Evaluation of the training outcomes on the job against objective criteria should also be done.

7. Providing employees fee back: Giving them data and information about their performance on a continuing basis reviewing subordinates’ performance in a supportive way and encouraging self-initiated review and giving them direct access to control data information are to be carried out. Generally control data and information are made available through quality control department or Accounts department or through the superiors (Departmental heads). Direct access to control data promotes internal control.

Review of performance should be targeted towards small groups or project teams rather than individual, where the task is projected as a common task and the attention of the members are called upon to how to improve the task as a whole, rather than grilling the individuals for their deficiencies. In the process, the members should be encouraged to identify the areas in which they think they need training and development and also to seek training opportunities largely by themselves, instead of the conventional method of identification of training needs of the subordinates by their boss. The boss plays only a supportive role in this. He through his discussions and involvements of his subordinates in the work makes them realize the need for further development to exploit opportunities lying ahead. Thus seeking training is voluntary and attractive and no stigma of personal weakness is attached to training as is done normally. Training and development is positive and people should look for it as a part of their career aspirations and to fulfill their desires for challenging and fuller work life.

Such open culture of learning and development is required to meet the challenges of modernization. This can be developed by including this as one of the criteria for appraising their performance effectiveness. The superiors can ask the question whether their subordinates realize and articulate their needs for training and development while assessing their effectiveness.

The other side of the coin is that the superiors should take responsibility for the career progression of their subordinates and should prepare them. Generally, management succession especially at higher levels such as the Heads of the Departments is not planned properly with the result a ‘sort of vacuum’ is created; when too many people retire at the same time.
8. All the persons at the managerial and supervisory level should be informed about the organisational stream of activities including corporate plans, industrial relations matters, information related to business environment etc.,

9. Instituting ‘Flash light’ awards, apart from linking the traditional rewards such as salary increases, promotions etc to performance results. Some of the ‘flash light awards are:-

- Commendation letters from the Chief Executives,
- Honours (like the best team of the year),
- Honouring people in specially arranged functions, presentation of selected books in the area of their specialization, interest and performance and result areas,
- Nomination them as delegates to attend conferences,
- Nomination them as Experts in Committees set up both inside the company and outside, and
- Nominating them to visit outside educational institutions as Faculty Members with due support from the company side. For this, the company should develop liaison with educational and other institutions to which the company can contribute with its practical knowledge and expertise. By this arrangement, the company while motivating its executives would also be discharging a part of their social responsibility. Industrial association with educational institutions make the latter better and socially useful.

The distinctive feature of these category of rewards is that they do not invoke the kind of rivalry feelings which the traditional rewards invoke, as these are not ‘status symbols’ but ‘symbols of achievements’. These rewards have tremendous motivation potential, provided the management can explore the possibilities and implement them imaginatively.

Currently, even those executives who draw fabulous salaries and perks still look for more with no sign of reaching saturation of their desires. The administration of ‘flash light’ rewards should reverse this trend and should wean the executives from the so called ‘money culture’.

Survey of practices in Indian companies shows that some of the methods the companies are using in the area of enriching managerial and supervisory jobs are Role Analysis, M.B.O, Team Development, Performance Appraisal and career development, setting up of committees, Training and Development and so on.

Job design at the Shop Floor Level
Some attempts in designing jobs at the workers’ level using socio-technical approaches, have been made in Indian work organisations.

For example, Late. Prof. Nitish De13 and Prof. Einor Thorsrud helped Bharat Heavy Electricals, one of the largest Indian Public Enterprises to undertake job re-design work in one of their units. They selected a group of workers from the plant side and divided them into two groups, each group was responsible for a whole task. Before, they were working in an assembly like set up, each producing a part of the equipment. From the members of both groups, a task force was formed consisting of permanent members and temporary members every month to give chance to every one. There is considerable freedom and participation in production process both for task group also for the members of the work group.

The task group received overall targets from the management. It broke it into sub-targets, planned the requirements of materials, tools and equipment. The persons in the work group rotated their jobs to develop multi-skills. The first stage inspection for quality was done by the group and only final inspection was done by quality control department. The task force members, identified the training needs of the members and necessary training was imparted by the training department. Task force met to settle issues and reviewed progress in production. Many desirable effects followed from this work arrangement. Some of these were: supervisors role underwent change from chasing ‘workers’ to chasing work factors, as the workers were more responsible for their work. The boredom from the job was removed. Employees had an improved feeling of ownership of work, enjoyed quality of work life and were committed to their work and productivity.

References
1. Sharu S. Rangnekar: Middle Management in Search of Identity, Paper Published in the Proceedings of the Conference-cum-Seminar of Officers’ Associations, Bombay, June 3, 1973, 10-15

2. Also See: Dayal, Ishwar and Sharma, Baldev, R.Strike of Supervisory Staff in State Bank of India, Bombay, Progressive Corporation 1971.; A.Sreekumar Menon. Management Unionism in Indian Business and industry in Case Problems of Industrial Relations Edited by Suri, G.K Bhargav, K.New Delhi, Shir Ram Centre for Industrial Relations; A Sreekumar Menon, Management, Managerial Unionism in Indian Business and Industry and its Management. Lok Udyog, April 1975; Sharu S.Rangekar,op.cit.; Sreevastava, B.K.Management of Organisational Conflict, Decision, April 1974,

3. See Sharu S.Rangnekar.op.cit.

4. Laxmi Narain. Managerial Compensation and Motivation in Public Enterprises, New Delhi, Oxford & IBH, 1973.; Sinha J.B.P. “Some problems of Public Sector Organisations, Delhi, National 1973; Maule H and Ganguli, T.A. Study of Management Morale in a Private Sector Undertaking , Bombay, Central Labour Institute, Industrial Psychology Division, Report No.3, 1965; Ganguly, D.N. Impact of Management Systems on Morale, Productivity and Industrial Relations. Bombay, central Labour Insitute, 1974.

5. See Harzberg F., Mausner B., and SyndermanB., The Motivation to work Second Edition, New York, Wiley, 1959.

6. Herzberg.F One more time: How do you motivate employees Harward Business Review, Jan-Feb. 1968.

7. op.cit.

8. TaylorL.K. Not forbread alone, in Human and Industrial Relations. Working Hand Book, London, Kluwar-Harrap Handbooks.

9. Herzberg.F. op.cit.

10. Taylor, L.K. op.cit.

11. Corporate policy and Organisational pattern Engineering Project India.

12. A Circular from Chairman’s Office, Indian Oil Corporation Limited on Action Learning Programme. The author associated with this Programme as a resource person in the field of Organisational Behaviour.

13. As reported by Prathasarathi and S.S.Rao in their paper entitled Human Resource Development in Bhel in T.V.Rao, K.K.Verma, Anil.K.Khandewal and E.Abraham S.J. (eds) Alternative Approaches and Strategies of Human Resources Development, Jaipur, Rawat Publication, 1988.