Submitted to :Prof.

Manoranjan
Submitted by :Aditi Jain
Roll no :EPGCHRM-06-002
• SCCL was originated in 1870 when a group of pilgrims camping near Singareni
accidently set fire to the “stones” on which cooking pot was placed. Then an eminent
geologist Dr.William King discovered coal deposits in the Godavari valley of Andhra
Pradesh(AP).
• SCCL was owned by the government of Andhra Pradesh and th government of India with
shares in the ratio of 51:49.With 10,435 million tonnes of coal reserves including 12 open
cast and 55 underground mines in 1997,it had workforce of 114,486 employees
characterized by low productivity.
• Post liberalization, coal prices became unprofitable for SCCL with increased competition
and escalating costs in the face of administered pricing.
• It was referred to BIFR as a sick (bankrupt) company in 1992.
• To salvage the collieries that provided direct and indirect employment to people residing
in and around SCCL facilities, the state and union government were compelled to work
out a bailout package. With bailout package ,SCCL paid off its debts and came out of
BIFR purview by March 1994.
• SCCL was again declared Sick by BIFR in 1996.By the 1996-97 the accumulated loses
risen to INR 12.19 Billion.
• Performance hit rock-bottom the worst ever in SCCL’s history of more than 100 years.
• SCCL’S name was synonymous with Strikes.
• On an average there were 2 strikes on every working day. Due to the
onslaught of strikes for frivolous reasons ,the no of working days declined
drastically with enormous production losses,the labour intensive underground
mining was rendered unproductive by high absenteeism.
• Trade unions operating in SCCL rose to 103 by 1998.
• Unions with inter-union rivalry for supremacy,raised false aspirations among
workmen on strike,it enviably led to industrial unrest.
• This forced management to tackle strikes at the expense of Production
planning.
• Poor industrial relations, numerous wildcat strikes, militant trade unions,
rampant lawlessness,absentism,low productivity, administered coal pricing
and other adverse factors like skewed debt-equity ratio, huge inventory and
high interest burden had already set a downward slide in motion.
• Communication is essence
When Mr.APVN joined SCCL ,he founded that there was a huge disconnect between
the management and employees. He decided to establish immediate communication
with the workers to make them aware of the company’s bleak future. He made no
attempts to disguise the company’s poor performance. He started to building the
direct lines of communication by mailing letters to apprise worker’s families about
the situation.

• Strengthening the Top Management Team

Mr.Sarma realized that SCCL lacked Personnel Head.Sarma mobilized support by
involving the top management in a systematic manner. The CMD met with the
operating directors every fortnight to discuss strategies for Organizational
Development. The decision making was collaborative. To developed the SCCL
,Sarma inducted Technical Directors and chief industrial engineers into the change
management team to gain technical perspective, For holistic perspective many
eminent people were involved as change agents.
• Formation of Multi-Departmental Teams
The objective of the MDT’s was to bring different functions,encorage lateral communication and
develop organizational perspective. The performance of the company in terms of
production,productivityand profitability was shared with MDT’s.These teams prepared presentations
depicting performance of mines in each area. They then gave presentation depicting the
performance of mines in every area.
They were assigned to threefold mission:
1. Convey the top management's messages down the line .
2. Inform employees about the Organization’s health
3. Carry suggestions from workers to the top management.

• Demonstrating Care and Concern

The management decided to improve the personal and professional lives of workers, who generally
have low literacy and income levels and were prone to social evils such as Alcoholism and
gambling.SCCL started a literacy drive,focussed on sports and recreation, while establishing better
housing and medical facilities. It launched a scholarship program for worker’s children. It
campaigned for issues like importance of nutrition and sanitation, diabetes control, prevention of
malaria, heart disease,HIV/AIDS and other health problems. Sarma followed Open door policy
patiently listening to any workers or union’s problems. It was a custom to offer tea to anyone who
dropped in at his office. They treated everyone equally.
• Enhancing Employee Motivation
SCCL’s introduced an incentive scheme to measure and reward individual performance. For
every year ,in addition to the annual bonus depending on achievement of production targets
by the department, employees received an incentive based on individual performance.
Sarma focused on learning and development activities of employees. He sent middle level
executives for advanced management programs (AMP) which included training in foreign
countries and industrial visits. To build in-house L&D guidelines,SCCL established Nargundkar
Institute of Management in November,2000 for Management development programs.

• Promoting Industrial Peace

Poor industrial relations and law and order problems had plagued SCCL for a long
time.SCCL decided to regulate unions by holding Trade union elections.With the help of
CM,the trade unions elections were held through a secret ballot at SCCL in
September,1998.Post elections,5 out of 77 unions were recognised and discussions were held
only with the elected unions.Post elections,explicit disciplinary policies were laid down to
monitor employee's performance and attendence.Since policies were shared with everyone
,there was transparency.
• Manpower Rationalization
SCCL was characterized by Huge manpower and low productivity. At SCCL an employee was
entitled for job (even without a vacancy) if the employee died in service or became
medically unfit or retired voluntarily. After establishing rapport with workers, the policy was
altered to give employment to dependents strictly against a vacancy.SCCL introduced the
voluntary retirement scheme(VRS).It decided to centralize recruitment and transfers to ensure
transparency in deploymet of resources.The ratinalization from 114,486 in 1996-97 to
1,05,627 by 2000-01 lad to increase in productivity.
• Communication was the major hurdle in SCCL.Because of the misleading trade unions and lack of
coordination of management with the workers ,it was a troublesome to manage the organization.

• With Mr.APVN Sarma’s deputation in SCCL ,the company saw the new found glory with active direct
communication channel been emphasized by the management.

• Sarma started communicating with workers and their families about the persisting ill situation of the
organization. He asked his management team to mail the letters to apprise the families on the
company’s bleak future.

• The management teams were skeptical about the impact but Sarma was confident that letter in the
hands of families would yield results. Despite protests, Sarma strove to promote direct lines of
communication.

• SCCL’s foremost strategy was “Communicate, Communicate and Communicate". The company
announced the communication policy with a vision to “promote the spirit of Singarenism among
Singarenism ”it was a unique experiment in the public sector –aimed at reaching about 1,00,000
workforce members spread across 67 mines to develop a bond amongst workmen and executives.
• Apart from letters other innovative means of communication was also used. The GM for every area
visited the worker’s colonies to understand the problems faced in the colonies. After 15 days ,another
officer would go to check if the problems had been resolved. This spoke volumes about the
management’s concern for workers..

• These measures showed a direct communication channel of Management and the workers which
demonstrated care and concern for the workers .It lead to motivating the workers to work for SCCL
with more dedication and sincerity. Promoting Industrial peace by building trust .

• Once SCCL received complaints about iron fillings in Coal .Sarma felt “Seeing is akin to believing", He
sent two workmen to visit the client site in Raichur and they came back with the message, "if we don’t
remove iron fillings from coal, it will cut the conveyor belt". The message was delivered to the workers
without management speaking a word.

• The management organized several open house meetings with middle level managers to discuss
issues without inhibitions. Based on the ideas of employees ,the management brought a lot of
improvements.
• The GM’s were instructed by CMD to issue press releases periodically regarding progress
in SCCL,such as employee acheivements.SCCL also broadcasted talk shows and news
features on company and its township activities on local television channels. These shows
were instant hit with the worker and their families as they personally knew the people on
screen. Also Sarma shared “If SCCL shuts down ,you will be on streets. If you work hard,
the company will do well. You will earn money and your children will have better
education”.

• Posters at mines to educate the workers about the health,safety,education etc.

• By bridging the communication gap ,the productivity increased and protests got reduced.

• By effectively updating the workers about the financial status of the organization, the so
called sick unit of BIFR rose to newfound glory by being profitable and reducing the
accumulated losses to 5.65 billion.

• This was only and only clear transparent communication being the mantra of Mr.Sarma to
make SCCL grow in a healthier way.