Coordination
CIA II ASSIGNMENT
A.COM.4.01
Ashlyn Jane Lobo
SYBA Div.: A
UID: 171049
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Contents
Description Page No.
I. Definition and Features - 3
II. Need and Importance - 6
III. Essentials of Effective Coordination - 9
- Example: The Toyota Way
IV. Case Study: NMTBSA – ‘Mumbai Dabbawallas’ - 12
V. Bibliography - 20
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I. Definition and Features:
Coordination has been defined as below:
1. Coordination is the unification, integration, synchronisation of the efforts of group
members so as to provide unity of action in the pursuit of common goals.
2. Coordination refers to integration of activities of individuals in a group, between multiple
groups and/ or departments within an organisation aimed at achieving the objectives of
the organisation formed by these units. Coordination is often confused with cooperation.
Coordination is an orderly arrangement of efforts to provide unity of action in fulfilment
of common objective whereas co-operation denotes collective efforts of persons working
in an organisation voluntarily for the achievement of a particular purpose. It is the
willingness of individuals to help each other. Coordination can be enforced while
cooperation comes from within.
3. Coordination is a continuous and dynamic process. It is a continuous process because
it is achieved through the performance of functions which is a continuous phenomenon.
It is a dynamic process because the functions, in which context coordination is applied
are dynamic and may change over a period of time.
From the aforesaid definitions it is clear coordination applies to group activities and not to
individual activities. Coordination does not come automatically and needs to be enforced to
bring about unity of action.
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Coordination – The essence of Management
Coordi-
-nation
Management experts have emphasized about the primacy of coordination in
organisational theory:
1. “Coordination is the Essence of Management.” i.e. Coordination affects all the functions
of management, viz., Planning, Organizing, Staffing, etc.
Management seeks to achieve coordination through its basic functions of planning,
organising, staffing, directing and controlling. Thus, coordination is not a separate function
of management since achieving harmony between individuals’ efforts towards achievement
of the group goals is a key to success of management. Coordination is the essence of
management and is implicit and inherent in all functions of management.
While performing the function of planning, coordination forms the centre or focus of the
thinking of a manager. Planning is undertaken keeping in mind the various activities being
performed by the different departments in an organisation.
For example, when a sales manager is making a plan to increase his sales target, he also
consults the production manager, the purchase manager, the finance manager, etc. in order
to avoid any problem that may arise in future. This clearly shows that coordination is very
essential while performing the function of planning.
2. Coordination is a function of management.
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3. Coordination is a principle of management; more specifically coordination is the ‘Mother
Principle,” in as much as all other principles are included in this one principle.
4. Coordination is the “Plus-value of the group,” says Mary Parker Follett, an American
social worker and a pioneer on organisational behaviour. It means in a group sporting good
coordination between its constituent individuals, the combined group achievement can be
greater than the added value of the individual achievements. It substantively means 2+2
may add up to 5 in terms of activities of a well-coordinated human group though physically
it is impossible.
Unity of management and action
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II. Need and Importance for Coordination:
The need for coordination may be listed under three fundamental categories:
1. Division of labour
2. Interdependence of individuals and functions.
3. Integration of individual with organization
On the basis of above broad categories the need for coordination within an organisation may
be further expanded under the following heads:
Size of the organisation: These days, the scale of doing business is increasing day by day.
Any increase in the scale of the business also results in an increase in the number of people
employed in the organisation, with each person having different interests, way of working,
mutual understanding, objective of working, tolerance, etc. However, all these people have to
work together as a group despite these differences, which is not a very easy task. Therefore,
it is very necessary that through coordination a proper environment is created so that
everybody gives his full contribution towards the attainment of organisational goals.
Specialisation: The principal benefit of the principle of division of labour is specialisation and
there is a high degree of specialisation in modern organisations based modern technology
and diversity of tasks. The first step towards ensuring specialisation is segregation of the
organisation into different parts. Now, to gear all these parts into achieving a common
organisational goal the segregated parts require coordination. Thus, coordination is important
for achieving job specialization.
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Unity of Action: An organisation performs with diverse resources, both material and human.
Coordination becomes important to fulfil intended organisational goals by reducing the diversity
and restoring unity of action of these diverse resources, human skills, tasks and perceptions.
Synchronisation of
efforts
Optimum utilisation of resources: Coordination is important to consolidate the human and
material resources of the organization. By minimising wastage and by streamlining usages of
resources their optimum utilisation is ensured.
Quick achievement of objectives: Coordination is important to minimise conflicts, rivalries,
wastages, delays and other organizational problems. The collective organisational goal is
quickly achieved by removing the said hindrances.
Encouragement of team spirit: Coordination reduces conflicts between individuals and
departments, between line and staff and between individual objectives and organisational
objectives. This encourages working in a team and boosts team spirit.
Coordination
Higher Efficiency
+
Team Work
Improved Intra organisational relationship: Coordination has an important role in promoting
relationships between various levels of management and operatives, right from the Top Level
to the Middle Level, to the Lower Level and finally to the workers and operatives, since each
level coordinates the functions of level coming under it.
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Facilitation of motivation: Coordination encourages individual initiative and freedom within
an individual’s domain by removing friction and overlapping of responsibilities. It becomes
easier to extend financial and non-financial incentives. This ensures job satisfaction and
motivation to perform better.
Higher efficiency: Coordination ensures optimum utilisation of material and human resources;
it automatically results in savings on costs. Since efficiency is a measure of higher returns
relative to costs incurred, it can logically be concluded that coordination leads to higher
efficiency. Moreover coordination enhances collective competence, pooling together each
individual employee’s knowledge in creating a knowledge pool. This is critical for survival of an
organization in a competitive environment.
Interdependence: Although with division of labour an organisation operates by segregating its
activities into different functional areas, the interdependence of every function finally helps in
realising the organisational objectives. This interdependence and synchronisation is secured
through coordination.
Balancing inequalities and restoring teamwork: Individual inequalities and differences
cause imbalances in an organisation. Coordination irons out these imbalances and facilitates
teamwork to achieve organisational goals.
Synergising differentiated work: Success of an organisation is dependent on a scenario
where combined effect of efforts becomes greater than the sum of their separate effects.
Coordination helps in synergising differentiated work units to achieve the integrated effects. It
is possible to achieve synergy through effective coordination as it helps in integration even in
differentiation. For e.g. the marketing department may try to sell more than the production dept.
can produce. Coordination is required to overcome this problem.
Integration of Individual and Organisational Goals: Individual needs decide individual
goals. It may not be coterminous with group or organisational goals. The need is to harmonise
these goals to attain desired results. Coordination is the tool to accomplish this
harmonisation.
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Modern day growing organisations feature an effective network of huge number of people
working in unison. Coordination is the instrument that makes this possible. The points
explained above amply illustrate the extent of importance and need that the principle of
coordination has in the success of a robust organisation. Without coordination, it is difficult to
achieve the desired goals. This is why Chester Barnard the noted American business executive
and author opined “…the quality of coordination is the crucial factor in the survival of
organization.”
III. Essentials of Effective Coordination:
An effective coordination ensures synchronised operations by different units and individuals
in an organisation. An effort based on the following features would ensure its effectiveness:
1. Effective Organisation Structure – Organisation structures that are not designed well
or are faulty, is one of the crucial factors which affect coordination adversely. A tall
structure with many levels of organisation, presents problems of communication and
coordination, as against a flat structure with limited levels facilitates communication and
coordination. That is why progressive organisations always prefer a flat structure.
2. Well-defined Authority and Responsibility – In a situation where people are not clear
about what is expected of them, they experience role-ambiguity, and it leads to conflicts
between individual and organisational goals and sub-optimal performance. To
overcome this problem, coordination can be achieved only when the authority and
responsibility of each and every person is clearly defined. In this connection, it was
quoted by J.O. Shaughnessy as follows “You cannot always bring together the results
of department activities and expect to co-ordinate them. You must have an organization
which will permit inter-weaving all along the line “. Therefore, authority and responsibility
of various teams must be prescribed clearly from time to time.
3. Well-defined Work Procedures – Well-defined work procedures facilitate procedural
coordination. Well-defined work procedures are more important in those activities that
have an impact on other activities in the organisation. When 2 units are highly
interdependent, performance on activities in one unit affects the performance in the
other unit.
4. Effective Communication System – People in an organisation interact with one
another through communication of various means. Communication performs different
functions: sharing of ideas, information, giving orders and instructions, influencing and
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persuading others and integrating people. All these functions not only help work
performance but also help coordination. In achieving coordination, effective
communication therefore, plays a vital role. Effective communication facilitates
information and exchange of ideas which helps to achieve the common purpose. A good
communication system is one that ensures adequate, timely and clear information at
various points in the organisation.
5. Provisions of Check and Inspection – There should be adequate provisions for
checks and inspection to know what is happening in the organisation. Provisions of
these checks may not automatically ensure effective coordination, but help to remove
the factors that create problems in coordination.
6. Proper Organisational Climate – Organisational climate affects organisational
processes and coordination. If the work environment is developed properly with a good
work culture, coordination problems will not emerge. A proper climate can be created
through effective leadership, emphasis on excellence in every area of operation and
evaluation, encouragement of participation in decision making and its implementation,
and high value assigned to interpersonal trust, amity, and tolerance of individual
differences.
Example of efficient coordination in an MNC – The Toyota Way:
An excellent example of coordination especially in an MNC involved with global operations is
Toyota. If we look at Toyota –
• It has incorporated an organisational structure, which empowers the regional
companies / subsidiaries to function independently and work efficiently,
• implemented decentralisation of authority and decision-making,
• formalisation of work procedures and ethics through written policies and
documents (e.g Toyota Way, Toyota Code of Conduct, Guiding Principal at Toyota),
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so that every employee performs to achieving the same goal and facilitate smooth
coordination between headquarter and subsidiaries.
• In addition to the written policies, they have also implemented lean production as the
standard manufacturing procedure, which incorporates the practice and concept of
‘just in time’ to minimise the level of inventory costs and ‘Jidoka’ that focuses on
instantaneously halting production when a malfunction is found. This ensures that every
employee is aware of the standards and procedure and works towards the common
goal.
• In spite of this formalisation and standardisation, Toyota has not curbed the informal
communication channel in the organisation through the exchange of ideas between
the regional companies and the global headquarters. It also balances the formalisation
and localisation strategy as it understands that it is also important to understand the
local culture and how things work and therefore considers localisation an essential
criteria for growth of global operations.
• Toyota has implemented a system by which the global goals or targets set, are
aligned with the targets for the employees and their performance is accordingly
evaluated. This ensures coordination & alignment of the individual goals to the
organisational goals.
• In Toyota, the authority is delegated to the employees in certain level that is
necessary for them to perform their work, but they are left free to carry out their
responsibility within the framework of the guidelines laid down in the organisation. Thus
they have a more decentralised control at an employee level and a more direct or
personal control at a higher level of hierarchy.
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• Socialisation and training – In Toyota, training programmes are extensively provided
for its employees depending on their department. Every employee is trained when he
first joins the organisation. Rotation amongst departments is also encouraged to share
knowledge and work experience, This helps to build the organisation culture and
increase the personal enhancement of the employee, by providing new environments,
helping to generate new ideas and improving the employee satisfaction.
Thus, since there is no single coordination mechanism that bests fits a MNC, a number of
coordination mechanisms, both formal and informal, are used to achieve efficient localisation
while remaining competitive in the global markets.
IV. Case Study for Coordination: Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers
Association (NMTBSA) – ‘Mumbai Dabbawallas’.
Introduction and Background:
For the case study for Coordination, I have selected to elaborate on a local organisation – the
practices and management of the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association (NMTBSA),
also commonly referred to as the ‘Mumbai Dabbawallas’, as I feel they are a perfect home
example of how coordination works and can be achieved through a very simplistic and clear
model. This association was started in 1890, and registered as a Charitable Trust in 1956. It is
a home grown model, conceived, developed and perfected by a group of individuals who have
very little or no formal education (avg. literacy of 8th grade schooling) in the area of Logistics.
Their motto or belief is “Work is Worship”. It is operated by a group of 5000 individuals
organised like a co-operative, delivering everyday approx. 2,00,000 tiffin boxes, i.e. 4000
transactions each day, covering a distance of about 60-70 kms, from home to customer
locations with a negligible or nil error rate. Their turnover is approx. 36 crore p.a. They are an
outstanding example of coordination and excellence in service delivery.
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Several reputed academic institutions, both in India and abroad routinely invite the Association
to make formal presentations, to complement and enhance the academic content of their
respective programmes. Often Senior Management meetings of various well-known
companies, find it useful to have a presentation on NMTBSA, to illustrate the applicability of
six-sigma in Indian context and inspire managers to adopt and practice world class systems.
This Association besides getting awards, being invited to various functions both in India and
abroad, and being recognised by various media and academic Institutions (e.g. Graduate
School of Journalism, Univ. of California, Berkeley, Richard Ivey School of Business, Ontario,
Stanford University), has also set a World record in ‘Best Time Management’, have their name
in the Guinness Book of World Records’ and is registered with Ripley’s ‘Believe it or not’!
NMTBSA – 6 sigma certified!
Lecturing at various institutes and companies
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Recognition and accolades
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Evaluation of the case:
When evaluating the methodology adopted by the NMTBSA, one can see that they have
understood the importance of coordination and adopted the requisite essentials required for
effective coordination which is a key factor in their logistical operation.
1. Firstly, a simple and well defined organisation structure. The organisation of NMTBSA
is made of an executive committee of 13 permanent members, who sit at the highest level
and is responsible for defining and fine-tuning the overall dabba transport system in
Mumbai. The second tier consists of about 800 mukkadams, who are the group leaders in
charge of 5 to 10 dabbawallas. The rest of the organisation is made up of the dabbawallas
themselves, who are members of the organisation. Thus, the 5000 members, are not
employees but partner members. The groups compete amongst themselves to find new
customers in their areas.
Up to 8/10 dabbawallas are organised in a team. Up to 8 teams form a group. There are
120 groups in the Mumbai territory. Each group functions like a ‘Strategic Business Unit’
responsible for the entire operations i.e. customer care, quality, complaint management,
manpower recruitment, compensation, discipline, scheduling of work, collection, accounts
receivables and revenue management. Thus each group or business unit has to increase
its customer base to generate the dabbawallas’ wages. Thus the revenue opportunity is
well-integrated with the organisation structure. The structure is thus an optimal way of
delivering, centralised planning and decentralised execution of the business
services.
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2. The organisation is based on a proper standard operating procedure (route procedure
and codification system), where each ones’ role, authority and responsibility is
clearly defined. Each dabbawalla is assigned 30/35 customers in a specified geographical
area. He visits a pre-assigned or a fixed route and carries the lunch boxes and brings it on
his head to the nearest railway station. Their primary job is to collect the lunch boxes from
the households between 8.30 & 9 am in the morning. They either walk or travel on bicycle
to collect the lunch boxes. The lunch boxes are then brought to the sub-urban railway
station for sorting and onward transportation. At the originating railway station, a team of
designated dabbawallas will sort out the lunch boxes according to their destination.
The sorting of the dabbas is based on an detailed and elaborate codification system.
The essence of the codification system is that it clearly defines the origin of the lunch box,
the associated collection team member, the destination, the corresponding delivery team
member, the delivery location, building identification and floor number. (explained
graphically in adjoining pictures). Based on the codes assigned to the individual boxes,
they are sorted on a origin to hub transfer by using the Mumbai railway network.
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This pragmatic codification system ensures complete traceability and enables material
flow of the boxes and is one of the key success factors contributing to the excellent
accuracy & coordination of the Association. It is inexpensive, less elegant but detailed
enough to support operations. It integrates knowledge and information of individual
members on route, origin, handling agent, destination address etc. It is like a variation of
an online transaction processing system to identify and track material on a large scale.
At the destination, a group of members will receive the lunch box, sort the lunch boxes
based on destination (building, floor and location). Subsequently, the assigned members
will take the lunch boxes physically and leave them at the appropriate consumer location
or floor. The boxes are accompanied by team members from the collection location to the
final destination. This is how the team members collect at the central station.
The origin-hub transfer is facilitated by the great frequency and network of the Mumbai
suburban train system. The lunch boxes arrive at the destination railway station by
11.30am. The subsequent delivery is completed before 1pm. After the delivery, the
members gel with one another, eat their lunch near the destination areas. By 3.30pm, they
return to the offices to collect the empty boxes for their return journey. All the empty lunch
boxes are assembled & re-sorted at the destination station, to the respective origin location,
placed on carts and transferred to the respective hub by the designated members. The
carts are then unloaded at the suburban station and taken to the individual households by
the same member who collected them in the morning. The member’s responsibility is then
over and he retires for the day.
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3. The NMTBSA also embodies effective communication within the organisation which is
very important essential for effective coordination. The mukkadam keeps the group
together, he knows how to do everything, and holds the group cohesively. He is the captain
of the team and has to ensure that there is effective communication between the group
and the customers and also within the group. Since he has to manage a lot of people, it is
very essential that he is able to coordinate the group and ensure that the team is a success.
Any issues whether on the customer front or within his team, are addressed immediately
and effectively. This open culture has helped the association achieve Zero % Disputes,
100% customer satisfaction and 99.9999 % in performance (less than one mistake in
every six million deliveries).
4. The NMTBSA has an excellent work culture and climate. It is built on members’ pride in
their work. The members’ do not consider themselves as logistics service providers. They
consider their job as providing food to their customers, which is a source of pride to them
and a great motivator to improve and sustain their performance. The compensation is also
the same at the group level. Equal work equal pay. The team members have slack
capacity. Substitutability among members in a team is easy. Flexible manpower
deployment ensures operational accuracy. The members also enjoy leisure time after the
delivery of the lunch boxes. Mutual respect for individuals and empowerment are the
reinforcing features. Members are expected to conduct themselves to earn respect from
the public.
Conclusion: From the above, we can see that Logistics, traditionally regarded as a function
that allowed the enterprise to optimise materials, goods and intangible flows like information,
has been totally redefined by the dabbawallas, to optimise links, using the essentials of
coordination required, between suppliers, customers and distribution. In this, the
inventory levels and flow of goods in the supply chain have been optimised, with an increase
in the productive efficiency of the enterprise, fulfilment of incoming orders and an improvement
of customer satisfaction by keeping the prices down.
The association thus comes across as an excellent example of coordination and an
organisation that is capable of planning, implementing and monitoring delivery
operations. It also is an expert in the ‘art’ of moving material, people and information from one
place to another in order to satisfy customers!. It is an organisation that is founded on a perfect
functioning process based on workers management and empowerment. They have perfected
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their systems and procedures by adopting the right practices of coordination, to handle large
volume of operations with negligible errors. (6 sigma). Their operations are flexible, scalable,
modular, customer-centric, employee driven and value based. Thus they come across as an
excellent business model for coordination, based on an innovative approach to satisfy a real &
unique customer need.
Suggestions:
1. Given that the association has achieved near perfection in their coordination & logistics
operations, the NMBTSA could easily start a low-cost meal service of their own by
having a hygienic kitchen run by the women folk in a central area like Dadar, which has
access to the western & central lines. This would entail no extra cost for the logistic
operations since they can use their existing codification system modified slightly, the
existing infrastructure of the railways and manpower. This additional service would
ensure expansion of their business line with the added advantage / service for people
who do not have the facility of home cooked food but are in need of the same at a
reasonable price. This service, would have a large customer base in young working
people living alone or who have migrated from a different state / country wanting home
cooked healthy food at a reasonable price! This would also help to provide employment
for the women folk of the group as well.
2. The dabbawallas can also be a great distribution channel that can be used for marketing
products or services. Along with their coordination in the delivery of the dabbas,
marketing fliers can also be handed over. This channel ensures that the customers will
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be reached and will also read the fliers when he/she collects his dabba. This will
enhance revenue for the organisation.
3. Using their existing logistics operations & coordination techniques, the NMBTSA should
look at expansion & diversification of their services into areas of courier service or parcel
deliveries due to their extensive reach and the use of technology to enhance their
operations and delivery. In fact with the recent app for Papers n Parcels developed for
them, they have an excellent opportunity to expand their business and revenue using
the existing framework of coordination which is in place.
V. Bibliography:
1. Management Study – Definition of Coordination. https://www.managementstudyguide.com/coordination.htm
2. University of Michigan – The Coordinating roles of Management by George D. Greenberg.
https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/67823/10.1177_027507407601000202.pdf?sequence=2
3. Concept Research Foundation - Importance of Coordination by Prapanna Lahiri.
https://conceptresearchfoundation.com/2015/08/04/importance-of-coordination/
4. Business Management ideas – Importance of Proper Coordination to Achieve Organisational
Objectives – by R. Kalpana. http://www.businessmanagementideas.com/organisation/importance-of-proper-
coordination-to-achieve-organizational-objectives/1785
5. Money Matters – Management Articles – Need for coordination in management.
https://accountlearning.com/need-for-coordination-in-management/
6. Tyrocity.com – Business Studies – Importance of Coordination. https://notes.tyrocity.com/chapter-11-
importance-of-coordination-business-studies-xii/
7. Principles of Practice and Management – L. M. Prasad
8. Mälardalen University – Business Coordination across Borders within Toyota – A case study focusing
on coordination in Toyota. http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:224180/fulltext01
9. IIM Ahmedabad.- World Class Logistics operations - The case of the Bombay Dabbawallas.
https://web.iima.ac.in/assets/snippets/workingpaperpdf/2005-09-01ravichandran.pdf
10. Agrawal Institute of Management – Study of Logistic and Supply Chain of Mumbai Dabbawalla.
http://gdeepak.com/presentations/TheDabbawallas.pdf
11.India Today - Mumbai Dabbawallas: Case study for management students.
https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/featurephilia/story/mumbai-dabbawalas-318051-2016-04-14
12.Moneycontrol.com - How Mumbai's dabbawallas deliver with 99.99% accuracy, became subject of
Harvard case study. https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/webcomic-how-mumbais-dabbawalas-deliveries-hit-
99-99-accuracy-becomes-harvard-case-study-2636801-10.html
13.Open Book Publishers – Nutan Mumbai Tiffin box suppliers charity trust. The Shaping of
dabbawalla relations. https://books.openedition.org/obp/1332
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