DABBAWALAS CASE STUDY

What are the main learnings of the case?

The dabbawalas carry tiffin for the employeesehich contains two main committees of
the contractors who run the business.from the case we can learn why the tiffin
carrying service has been successful in Mumbai
Following are learnings of case
Understanding the logistical system that can survive due to the culture in
various places
How can human resource management used in this field
Flat hierarchy of the dabbawalas and how well they deliver the services
How the food is delievered and what are the other things involved in tis
service
What team and inter-team processes are reflected in the operation of the dabbawala
system?
The essence of this whole system is the trust that is there between the employees and the
contractors
There are two commitees:

The Mandal committee

The Trust committee

It is mostly flat hierarchy

5000 workers called carriers

800 supervisers
11 members in the mandal committee
In total there are 5800 members in this system

The inter team process is between the carriers and the delivery address:

Carrier will pick up tiffin at 10 am labels the essentials about where it is to be

reaches
Special carriers are those who take up area wise service
All the tiffins are taken to the railway station where another carrier arranges them
and puts them on a 2.5 m long wooden cart carrying upto 40 tiffins at a time
After that he ascends the train and reaches specific destinations where another
carrier collects them at different places
This carrier who picks up the tiffin will deliver it to the office of the customer
The tiffinns are collected later and the same chain is repeated backwards

How has dabbawala system responded to the changing context of the life of office- goers in
Mumbai?
The dabbawalas main feature is the trust that runs along in their system.employees who go
for work cant of return back for having lunch .and hence they miss their home food and had
to spend unnecessary money eating outside food.Dabbawlas are giving the employees what
they want at the right time HOME MADE FOOD.it helps them in saving lot of money and
also save wastage of time.
Which behaviourial sciences are relevant for understanding the dynamics of the
dabbawala system?

PSYCHOLOGY: Although all the workers are not educated, their main motto is
same i.e. customer satisfaction the trust and the behavioural science is the reason why
the dabbawalas are successful in their work
SOCIOLOGY:This behavioural science is depicted in the management and time
management and the punctuality that dabbawalas have. The way they carry out all
the work given is all through simple communication and labels that are stick to the
tiffins .the trust and the punctuality are the reasons for the success of dabbawalas