Data collection and data analysis for survey A

Survey A was concerned with assessing the organisational practices and policies of Indian Railways. A copy of the survey instrument is shown at Appendix 2. Through the open-ended question I, this survey attempted to understand what new policies/practices the organization should adopt in the new scenario of liberalisation and globalisation. Question II to question VI of the survey seeked respondent’s opinion on ‘what is’ and ‘what should be’

the Indian Railways’ core values, style of management, growth strategies, competitive strategies and changes in organisational structure / management system. Part ‘a’ of these questions sought the ‘what is’ status and part ‘b’ of these questions sought the ‘should be’

status.

The questionnaire was sent by post. Before sending the questionnaire, the respondents were spoken to in person or telephonically and the purpose of the survey was explained to them. After sending the questionnaire, all the possible respondents were also reminded telephonically. Out of 25 questionnaires sent, 20 responses were received which made the response rate very high. The high response rate was possibly because the researcher and the respondents were both railwaymen. Thus the respondents were able to relate to the research work done. However not all the respondents answered all the questions. Therefore, in Appendix 2A, against each question, the number of respondents is indicated. The profile of the respondents is shown in Table 4.1.

Table 4. 1Respondent profile for survey A Source: developed from survey data.

Organisational rank Number of respondents

Years of service in Indian Railways

Ex- chairmen and ex-board members of Indian Railways

13 More than 35 years

Senior administrative grade and up to General Manager

7 From 27 years to 35 years

The questions and their responses are now analysed:

Question I- What new policies /practices you want the organization to adopt in the new scenario of liberalisation and increased competition?

17 respondents had answered this question. A total of 89 different types of policies /practices were identified by them. They have been termed ‘responses’ in this data analysis.

These responses were coded using Miles and Huberman (1994) concept of data coding.

Depending on their conceptual similarity, these 89 responses were first reduced to 28 level -1 codes. At a second level, using networks of codes, they were further reduced to 13 level-2 codes. It was recalled that these responses were respondent’s opinion about the policies and practices which they felt Indian Railways should adopt in the liberalised scenario. It was then compared with the factors of TQM which were summarised in Table 3.7. It was found that 10 of the codes matched with TQM factors either partly or fully. These are shown in Table 4.2.

Level 1 coding No. of

Multi modal transport 3 (17.6%) Customer orientation 4 (23.5%)

Customer

More flexible rules 5 (29.4%) Freedom to engage

Profit orientation 6 (35.3%) Cost cutting 1 (5.9%) Better accounting

system

3 (17.6%)

Rational pricing 4 (23.5%)

Commercial orientation

14 (82.35%) none

Table 4.2 (cont’d…)

Table 4.2 (cont’d…)

Work culture 6 (35.3%0 Work culture

Less role of finance

Competitive advantage 2 (11.7%) Outsource, get out of

Transparency 3 (17.6%) Ethical

working

3 (17.6%) Values and ethics

Executive development 3 (17.6%) Staff training 4 (23.5%)

Table 4.2 (cont’d…)

Better discipline 2 (11.7%) People management

Table 4. 2Comparison of codes developed in survey A with the CSFs of TQM Source: developed from survey data.

The three level–2 codes which did not match with TQM factors are commercial orientation, focussed working and strategic government support. Together, these three codes accounted for 25 responses out of 89 responses received. The balance 64 responses (72%) were such that they were related to TQM based practices.

In terms of frequency, 82% of the respondents felt that ‘developing an commercial orientation’ should be a desirable policy to be adopted by Indian Railways. The preponderance of ‘developing a commercial orientation’ as the desirable change in the policy

of Indian Railways indicates that the importance of what TQM award models call ‘business result’ was also realised by the senior railway managers in India. 58.8% of the respondents felt that team working should be a desirable policy to be adopted by Indian Railways. 52.9%

of the respondents felt that ‘empowerment’ should be a desirable policy to be adopted by Indian Railways. 41.1% of respondents felt that ‘customer focus, training, process improvement and strategy’ should be among the desirable policies to be adopted by Indian Railways

Thus, it can be said that the model which senior railway managers have in their mind about way things should change in Indian Railways is conceptually similar to the TQM model.

The analyses of the responses to other questions of this survey (survey A) were then used to support or disapprove this emerging understanding. Question II to question VI attempted to understand what are and what should be the organisational values, management style, growth strategy, competitive strategy and organization structure for the Indian Railways. These questions contained pre-coded options while question I contained an open ended question. This was done so that comparison made across these different question types could make the conclusions more rigorous.

The details of the responses received to these questions are shown in Appendix 2A.

From these responses, for the five dimensions of organisational values, management style, growth strategy, competitive strategy and organization structure, two most often quoted responses have been shown in the Table 4.3. These responses have again been compared with the TQM factors shown in Table 3.7.

The table shows that the existing core values of Indian Railways are to be a ‘fair and just employer’ and ‘making a useful contribution to society’. As against this, ‘total quality in every operation’ and ‘customer focus’ are the two values which Indian Railways should have.

These two values are the very core of TQM.

The management style of Indian Railways is ‘cautious, with clear formal reporting relationship and a clear distinction between those who give orders and those who implement them’. In the opinion of the researcher, these indicate a bureaucratic and hierarchical style which, given the bureaucratic and cultural background of Indian Railways employees, are not surprising. However, the senior managers of Indian Railways strongly want a ‘bold but calculating risk taking’ management style characterised with ‘flexibility, informality and resourcefulness’, a management style which is ‘professional and system oriented’. This is the

same as an innovative organisational culture discussed in section 2.2.1.2 of literature review which finally leads to continuous improvement which is again a TQM based concept.

The existing growth strategies of Indian Railways are ‘related and unrelated capacity building and geographical expansion of railway network’. As against this, the desirable growth strategies are ‘empowerment and rapid expansion of customer base by weaning customer back’. Empowerment has already been identified as one of the critical success factors for TQM.

Indian Railways’ existing competitive strategies have been to compete on the basis of price and by offering service to specific market segments. There is almost total unanimity that the desirable competitive strategies should be to compete on the basis of quality and by offering novel or unique services. Once again quality strategy and innovative culture are the desirable directions of change.

With respect to organisational structure and management system, Indian Railways is trying for ‘greater delegation of authority’ and ‘a sophisticated management and control system’. The senior managers felt that ‘greater delegation of authority’ and ‘a leaner organization’ should be the desirable changes. ‘Greater delegation of authority’ is same as empowerment- a TQM enabler.

This analysis showed that TQM itself and many core concepts of TQM like continuous improvement, empowerment, customer focus, quality based organisational strategy, systems approach have been identified by the respondents as the desirable changes which Indian Railways should initiate.

Table 4. 3 Existing and proposed organisational dimensions for Indian Railways by senior railway managers

Source: developed from survey data.

Dimensions Existing Proposed Corresponding TQM

factor Being a fair and just employer (70%) –

welfare state (researcher’s interpretation)

Total quality in every operation (80%)

TQM itself ii. Core values

Making a useful contribution to society (41%) – welfare state (researcher’s interpretation)

Customer orientation (45%) Customer focus

Cautious, stick to knitting management that greatly values stability, good profit and steady growth (77%) - bureaucratic style (researcher’s interpretation) procedures and accountability (77%) - bureaucratic style (researcher’s clearly separates those who give orders from those who must obey them (72%) –

Geographical or locational expansion of railway network (31%)

Empowerment (empowering front line managers to tap and capture new markets by

Rapid expansion of present customer base by weaning customers back to railways (31%)

Compete on the basis of high quality of service (100%)

Quality strategy v. Organization’s

competitive strategy

Compete on the basis of price (81%)

Compete by developing and offering services to cater to the needs of specific

market segments (62%) Compete on the basis of

innovative and offering novel or unique new services (95%)

Innovative

organisational culture (akin to continuous improvement)

Contract out various functions and activities to make the organization much leaner

Greater delegation of authority at operating levels (70%)

More sophisticated information and control system (63%)

Greater delegation of authority at operating levels (70%)

Empowerment

It was thus noted that the open ended question I and the pre-coded question II to question VI threw up similar approaches of change for Indian Railways. Further, these approaches were conceptually similar to different factors of TQM which the literature review had identified. Literature review had shown that TQM could be used as a model for organisational transformation. This survey showed that the managers of Indian Railways also suggested a model of change which was conceptually similar to TQM.

It is to be noted that the open-ended question was the first to be answered by the respondents and then they answered the pre-coded questions. This eliminated the possibility that the options in the pre-coded questions might have biased the respondents towards giving TQM oriented responses.