DABBAWALAS

CASE ANALYSIS Abha Bhakoo 11PGDM062

Dabbawalas: A dabbawala (one who carries the box), is a person who carries and delivers freshly made food from home in lunch boxes to office workers. Dabbawalas are sometimes called tiffinwallas. Though the work sounds simple, it is actually a highly dedicated trade that is over a century old. There mission is to serve customers on time. How the Dabbawalas works ? 1. Collecting food dabbas 2. Sorting + Grouping 3. Transporting 4. Receiving 5. Delivering 6. Collecting empty dabbass

1. Collecting: A collecting dabbawala, usually on bicycle, collects dabbas either from a

worker's home or from the dabba makers. The dabbas have some sort of distinguishing mark on them, such as a color or symbol.

2. Sorting + Grouping: The dabbawala then takes them to a designated sorting place,

where he and other collecting dabbawalas sort (and sometimes bundle) the lunch boxes into groups.

3. Transporting: The grouped boxes are put in the coaches of trains, with markings to

identify the destination of the box (usually there is a designated car for the boxes). 4. Receiving: The markings include the rail station to unload the boxes and the building address where the box has to be delivered. At each station, boxes are handed over to a local dabbawala, 5. Delivering: The local dabba wala delivers the dabbas to the respective places. 6. Collecting empty dabbass: The empty boxes, after lunch, are again collected and sent back to the respective houses or dabba makers

Factors contributing to their success 1. Cost efficient and faster delivery : The dabbawalas charge a nominal monthly fee which is affordable and they have an efficient delivery network which makes them deliver on time. 2. Highly reliable : On time delivery for all the dabbas and hardly any errors. All deliveries have ensured 100% customer satisfaction. There are cost best in time management and have been awarded six sigma rating. 3. Using Mumbais railway network: using the Mumbai sub urban railways for their daily transportation from homes to the offices. Thus making it a cheaper and more efficient system. 4. Structure: they have a flat hierarchical in the organisation. Just 3 levels of organisation : carriers, supervisors and committee members. This flat structure implies a wide span of control. Every supervisor has about 4-5 carriers under him.

5. Good co-ordination and team work: the dabbawallas have a high specialized mechanism for standardization and co-ordination between all the other various carriers. All employees work for the same goal to provide service in the best possible manner and work towards it. 6. Importance to Customer Satisfaction: they pay a lot of attention to customers and value their customers.

SWOT ANALYSIS for DABBAWALAS:

Strengths :

On time delivery and efficient time management. Simplicity in organisation and flat structure of the organisation with innovative service Low cost benefits. People get food delivered to their offices at a nominal monthly fees. Wider coverage area and deliver almost 2,00,000 tiffin boxes in a day. Highly co-ordinated network: The groups, although independent work very smoothly and effectively with each other. They can practically wok with the same efficiency in any group. Good customer base and happy employees within their association. Low attrition rate: every dabbawala is very satisfied with the job and somewhere they feel they are serving the society. higher level of satisfaction with the jobs.

Weakness: Less Funds within the association is a drawback for the organisation as they are unable to increase welfare.

Highly dependent on the local trains for transporting and delivering there services. Illiteracy is another drawback. Mostly all the carriers are only 8th class pass and thus having limited access to education and technology/

Opportunities: They can be used for advertising purposes and have been approached my many companies to carry out their advertisements on there dabbas as they have a wide range of publicity. Also since they have an efficient network they can be used to deliver parcels and take away for other restaurants.

Tiffin service could be started for call center employees also. Could use technology and further enhance their delivery network. Could also use to spread their network in other cities

Threats: From cafeterias in offices and fast food joints which are faster. Employees working in different shits in offices and the BPO culture where a lot of middle class people working at nights. Food at subsidised rates in the office canteens.

Factors contributing to the team work and motivation : Their work ethics and dedication keeps them motivated. Even when Prince Charles wanted to visit them, he had to notify them prior to his visit and the dabba walas gave him only 20 mins saying that they dont have time beyond that because they had to get back to their daily work. Such is their dedication. They enjoy their work. They have well defined roles and zero percent slippage. They do their work with 100% dedication. Efficient training is an important factor for their success rates. They are able to carry their work even under severe conditions. Honesty and integrity is what holds the dabbawalas together.

The flat organisational structure makes it easier to work for the carriers. They also belong to the same communities and the same societies thus having similar groups makes it easier to work for them. All the carriers and supervisors have the same target of delivering their services in the best possible manner and working together as a team in order to do so.

Outcome of teamwork: Due to their efficient services they have managed to create high customer satisfaction and a large customer base. All work in a team and there are conflicts within different carriers and they are motivated to carry out their work under severe conditions also. Lower error rates due to excellent cor-ordination between teams and dabbawalas have a rating of 99.99999 by six sigma. All work as a family and a sense of belonging is added to them. High level of satisfaction and commitment within the members. Its a well known fact that there has been no strikes in their organisation.

Advice to Dabbawalas : They should not compromise on their existing commendable ethics and commitment and efficiency in job. To continue motivation of its members to have efficiency in the network. More bonuses could be given to members for higher satisfaction.

 Spread this efficient network to other cities also.