The Spirit of J R D Tata :Never start with diffidence, Always start with confidence. .

Quotes :

Never start with diffidence, 

Always start with confidence. .


The Life and Times of  J  R  D  Tata  :

A benign boss

According to Tata, the crux of any successful labour policy lay in making workers feel wanted. One of the inherent drawbacks of modern industry with its large and concentrated labour forces was that each man felt 'that instead of being a valued member of a friendly and human organisation, he was a mere cog in a soulless machine.'

'Because of this, a worker's attitude towards management becomes one of indifference, mistrust and coldness often tinged with hostility. He is easily led to feeling himself the victim of callous and unfair treatment and little is needed to make him look upon his employers as his enemies and break out into open conflict.'

Tata Steel became one of the earliest companies in India to have a dedicated human resources department. Expressing surprise that the company had functioned for so long without one, Tata commented: 'If our operations required the employment of, say, 30,000 machine tools, we would undoubtedly have a special staff or department to look after them, to keep them in repair, replace them when necessary, maintain their efficiency, protect them from damage, etc.'

'But when employing 30,000 human beings each with a mind and soul of his own, we seem to have assumed that they would look after themselves and that there was no need for a separate organisation to deal with the human problems involved.'

Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata died in Geneva on November 29, 1993, and made his money in India. Few addressed him with the full pomposity of the name with which he was born; he was simply 'JRD' to the world, and Jeh to his friends.

JRD was India's most well known industrialist, widely respected for his enormous contribution to the development of Indian industry and aviation in particular.

Tata headed India's largest industrial conglomerate with uncommon success. But this was only one aspect of his life. He was also a man of great sensitivity and was pained by the poverty he saw around him and sought vigorously to alleviate it.

He also was a philanthropist who wanted India to be a happy country and did all he could to make it so; a patron of the sciences and the arts; and a man with a passion for literature, fast cars, skiing, and flying..

J R D Tata in his own words :

• I don't want India to be an economic superpower. I want India to be a happy country.
  • In the article “The business ethics of J.R.D. Tata” in The Hindu dated 29 July 2005

The Spirit of J R D Tata : Nothing worthwhile is ever achieved with out deep thought and hard work .

Quotes :

Nothing worthwhile is ever achieved 

with out deep thought and hard work .


The Life and Times of  J  R  D  Tata  :

Professionalism

Tata's personal interest in technology, combined with India's isolation in the 1950s and 1960s, spurred several group companies, particularly Tata Steel and Tata Chemicals, to innovate in their fields. At Tata Steel, a Research and Control Laboratory had been opened in 1937, and its researchers developed an extensive variety of special steels for applications as varied as parachute harnesses and razor blades.

The lab also developed a high-tensile alloy steel -- Tiscrom -- which made it possible for the Howrah Bridge in Calcutta to be built entirely from Indian materials. Another corrosion resistant, low-alloy high-yield strength steel -- Tiscor -- was used for the manufacture of all-metal steel coaches on the Indian railways.

J R D Tata in his own words :

• 

The Spirit of J R D Tata : 'Not excellence. Perfection. You aim for perfection, you will attain excellence. If you aim for excellence, you will go lower.

Quotes :

 'Not excellence. Perfection.

 You aim for perfection, you will attain excellence. 

  If you aim for excellence, you will go lower.


The Life and Times of  J  R  D  Tata  :

Professionalism

JRD's respect for his managers bound the group. 'I am a firm believer that the disintegration of the Tata Group is impossible,' he once declared.

Most business groups have disintegrated or drifted apart because of family ownership and management, with rival family members wanting to go their own way. In contrast, the Tata Group companies are run by professionals who firmly believe in the trusteeship concept laid down by J N Tata as also by Mahatma Gandhi.

A university dropout, JRD was something of a self-taught technocrat, and died long before the phrase 'war for talent' was coined. Yet, almost every senior Tata director from the 1930s onwards held a degree from a foreign university. Tata willingly financed bright young boys who wanted to go abroad for further education.

He was also a vital bridge between the scientific establishment and the government through his founding of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and as the longest serving member of the Atomic Energy Commission.

J R D Tata in his own words :

• I wish, I were big enough, like Einstein, to do what he did on one occasion. A hundred-dollar-a-plate dinner was organised for him to speak, and leaders of America in all fields, particularly in the field of science, were invited to hear the great man. When his turn came, he rose and said:'I've nothing to say,' and sat down. You can imagine the consternation, quite apart from the wasted cost of the dinner! Realising the frightful effect his remarks had on the audience, Einstein got up again and said: 'When I've something to say, I'll let you know.' 
• Address to the Lions Club of Jamshedpur, August 22, 1963.

The Spirit of J R D Tata : If I were to attribute any single reason to such success as I have achieved, I would say that success would not have been possible without a sustained belief that what I did or attempted to do would serve the needs and interests of our country and our people and that I was a trustee of such interests.

Quotes :

If I were to attribute any single reason to such success as I have achieved, I would say that success would not have been possible without a sustained belief that what I did or attempted to do would serve the needs and interests of our country and our people and that I was a trustee of such interests. 

The Life and Times of  J  R  D  Tata  :

The leader and the motivator

The Tata Group faced a constant shortage of managers, and JRD carried out many experiments to expand and improve the pool of talent. His first attempt -- the formation of the Superior Staff Recruiting Committee -- failed when none of the recruits stayed with the corporation.

Eventually he formed the Tata Administrative Service and the Tata Management Training Centre at Pune. This commitment to professionalism served the group well. In 1971, for example, when the coal industry was nationalised, Mohan Kumaramangalam, the then industry minister, left Tata Steel's coal mines untouched on the ground that these efficiently run mines would provide a model for the nationalised mines.

 J R D Tata in his own words :

• We have to find the intermediate ways and means of restoring a degree of stability to our politics and more than a degree of safety to our citizens.
  — JRD Tata at the 60th annual general Meeting of The Indian Merchant’s Chamber, Bombay

The Spirit of J R D Tata : “To lead men, you have to lead them with affection.”

Quotes :

“To lead men, you have to lead them with 

affection.” 


The Life and Times of  J  R  D  Tata  :

The leader and the motivator

The supportive climate he built developed entrepreneurs such as Sir Homi Mody, Sir Ardeshir Dalal, Sir Jehangir Ghandy, Russi Mody, Sumant Moolgaokar and Darbari Seth, and others who created billions in wealth for the group and the country.

It was an environment where scientists of international repute such as Homi Bhabha, leading lawyers such as J D Choksi and Nani Palkhivala, and economists such as John Matthai, A D Shroff, D R Pendse and Freddie Mehta could flourish.

This attitude contrasted sharply with the prevailing management styles of other Indian business leaders. Large Indian companies tend to fall into three categories: public sector ones run by the government, multinational affiliates, and those promoted by family dynasties. While the Tata Group firmly remained a family concern -- to date, four out of its five chairman have been Tatas -- JRD's professionalism stood out from the crowd.

Moreover, in most of the family firms, the top management tended to belong to the same community as the promoter family. With the Tatas, it was different: only merit counted.

Tata's role model in management was the British civil service. How was it, he wondered 'that a young Briton straight from college, could come to a foreign country and administer various departments with such distinction?'

 J R D Tata in his own words :

• At the Crossroads.The effective execution of a Plan is what counts and not mere planning on paper; it is not what we put on our plate or even what we eat that provides nourishment and growth, but what we digest. 
• (The Central Advisory Council of Industries, New Delhi, August 13, 1965)

The Spirit of J R D Tata :However heart-breaking it may be to ourselves, we must make way for the new generations even when we feel we are still in our prime.”

Quotes :

“The Future belongs to the young. We must not only trust them with responsibility but must thrust it upon them whilst they are still young and full of energy, zest, hope and even illusions. However heart-breaking it may be to ourselves, we must make way for the new generations even when we feel we are still in our prime.” 


The Life and Times of  J  R  D  Tata  :

The leader and the motivator

Leadership, according to JRD meant motivating others. 'As chairman, my main responsibility is to inspire respect.'

Sometimes referred to as the 'chairmen's chairman,' JRD adopted a management by consensus style: 'When a number of persons are involved I am definitely a consensus man,' he once said, adding: 'but that does not mean that I do not disagree or that I do not express my views. Basically it is a question of having to deal with individual men heading different enterprises. You have to adapt yourself to their ways and deal accordingly and draw out the best in each man. If I have any merit it is getting on with individuals according to their ways and characteristics. In fifty years I have dealt with a hundred top directors and I have got on with all of them. At times it involves suppressing yourself. It is painful but necessary. To be a leader you have got to lead human beings with affection.'

Be that as it may, Tata spotted talent easily. And once he was confident that a manager would perform, he gave him (alas, no women) a long rope. If they wanted to be on their own, like Sumant Moolgaokar, he left them to it. If they occasionally wanted a shoulder to cry on, like Darbari Seth, JRD was there.

 J R D Tata in his own words :

• Growing organisations in any field must constantly evolve, accept or even seek new ideas, new visions, and new enthusiasms. 
   — JRD Tata, Speech on ‘Completion of 25 years as chairman’

The Spirit of J R D Tata : “Most of our troubles are due to poor implementation…. wrong priorities and unattainable targets”

Quotes :

“Most of our troubles are due to poor implementation….

wrong priorities and unattainable targets”


The Life and Times of  J  R  D  Tata  :

Against all odds

His achievements have to be seen through the lens of India's economic and political history. Under British colonial rule until 1947, India was strait-jacketed by a foreign exchange crunch for almost forty years after independence, which gravely limited industrial entrepreneurship.

From 1964 to 1991 severe government controls on big business further curbed the growth of the Tata Group.

Analysing his own performance, JRD Tata insisted that his only real contribution to the group's smorgasbord of companies was Air-India. For the rest, he generously gave credit to his executives.

Any chronicle of the Tata Group's growth therefore has to take the contribution of these larger than life men into account. JRD's story is, in many ways, as much theirs as his own. Yet, it would be a mistake to under-assess JRD's role. As one of the senior Tata executives, Darbari Seth, once said, 'Mr Tata was able to harness a team of individualistic executives, capitalizing upon their strengths, downplaying their differences and deficiencies; all by the sheer weight of his leadership.'

 J R D Tata in his own words :

• "I do not want India to be an economic superpower. I want India to be a happy country." 
• — JRD Tata, after receiving the Bharat Ratna, 1992

The Spirit of J R D Tata “Common people have an appetite for food; uncommon people have an appetite for service”

Quotes :

“Common people have an appetite for 

food; uncommon people have an appetite 

for service”


The Life and Times of  J  R  D  Tata  :

As an industrialist, JRD Tata is credited with placing the Tata Group on the international map. As an aviator and pioneer flier, he brought commercial aviation to India.

As a patron of the arts, he was revered by India's artists, sculptors and performing artists; under JRD's tutelage, the Tatas became the biggest buyers, promoters and supporters of the art world in India.

And as a philanthropist, he was respected for keeping alive and building up the tremendously active Tata charitable trusts.

 J R D Tata in his own words :

• The essence of air transport is speed, and speed is unfortunately one of the most expensive commodities in the world, principally because of the disproportionate amount of the power required to achieve high speed and to lift loads thousands of feet into the air. This is strikingly illustrated by the fact that while an average cargo ship, freight train and transport aeroplane are each equipped with engines totalling about 2,500 H.P., the ship can carry a load of about 7,000 tons, the train 800 tons and the plane only two and a half tons.
•  -  On November 2, 1943, J.R.D. Tata spoke to the Bombay Rotary Club.

The Spirit of J R D Tata :"If you want excellence, you must aim at perfection. It has its drawbacks but being finicky is essential."

Quotes :

"If you want excellence, you must aim at perfection.

 It has its drawbacks but being finicky is essential."



The Life and Times of  J  R  D  Tata  :

During the last half of the twentieth century Tata entered several new businesses, many of them unconventional, and produced a vast range of products -- from airlines to hotels, trucks to locomotives, soda ash and other heavy chemicals to pharmaceuticals and financial services, tea and air conditioning to lipsticks and cologne.

The group seemed to make everything and do everything. One of Tata's earliest achievements was to cajole ten rival cement companies to merge and form the Associated Cement Companies, run by the Tatas.


JRD strengthened existing businesses such as steel, power and hotels. At the same time, the group lost interest in some of its older core businesses.



 J R D Tata in his own words :

• I wish, I were big enough, like Einstein, to do what he did on one occasion. A hundred-dollar-a-plate dinner was organised for him to speak, and leaders of America in all fields, particularly in the field of science, were invited to hear the great man. When his turn came, he rose and said:'I've nothing to say,' and sat down. You can imagine the consternation, quite apart from the wasted cost of the dinner! Realising the frightful effect his remarks had on the audience, Einstein got up again and said: 'When I've something to say, I'll let you know.' 
•  -  Address to the Lions Club of Jamshedpur, August 22, 1963.

The Spirit of J R D Tata : “Making steel may be compared to making a chappati. To make a good chappati, even a golden pin will not work unless the dough is good”

Quotes :

“Making steel may be compared to 

making a chappati. To make a good 

chappati, even a golden pin will not work 

unless the dough is good”

The Life and Times of  J  R  D  Tata  :

The year 2004 is significant for the Tata Group, as it marks the 100th birth anniversary of JRDTata and Naval Tata and the death centenary of Jamsetji Tata.

For two generations and more JRD epitomised a way of life and a culture of business that cared for the country and its people.

"The wealth gathered by Jamsetji Tata and his sons in half a century of industrial pioneering formed but a minute fraction of the amount by which they enriched the nation. The whole of that wealth is held in trust for the people and used exclusively for their benefit. The cycle is thus complete; what came from the people has gone back to the people many times over." --J R D Tata

Established in 1859, the Tata Group was already India's biggest business conglomerate when Tata became its fourth chairman in 1938. He was then just 34 years old.

Under his leadership, the Tata assets climbed from Rs 62 crore (Rs 620 million) in 1939 to over Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) in 1990.

In 1939 the group included fourteen companies with sales of Rs 280 crore (Rs 2.80 billion); in 1993, the year of his death, sales were Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion) contributed by over fifty large manufacturing companies, besides innumerable holding, investment, subsidiaries and associate concerns, making it India's biggest business group.

 J R D Tata in his own words :

• While I usually came back from meeting Gandhiji elated and inspired but always a bit sceptical, and from talks with Jawaharlal, fired with emotional zeal but often confused and unconvinced, meetings with Vallabhbhai were a joy from which I returned with renewed confidence in the future of our country. I have often thought that if fate had decreed that he, instead of Jawaharlal, would be the younger of the two, India would have followed a very different path and would be in better economic shape that it is today.

The Spirit of J R D Tata : "Growing organisations in any field must constantly evolve, accept or even seek new ideas, new visions, and new enthusiasms. "

Quotes :


 "Growing organisations in any field must constantly 

evolve, accept or even seek new ideas, new visions, and 

new enthusiasms. "
 
— JRD Tata, Speech on ‘Completion of 25 years as chairman’
The Life and Times of  J  R  D  Tata  :

JRD Tata cared greatly for his workers. 

In 1956, he initiated a program of closer 'employee association with management' to give workers a stronger voice in the affairs of the company.

 He firmly believed in employee welfare and espoused the principles of an eight-hour working day, free medical aid, workers' provident scheme, and workmen's accident compensation schemes,which were later, adopted as statutory requirements in India. 

He was also a founding member of the first Governing Body of NCAER, the National Council of Applied Economic Research in New Delhi,India’s first independent economic policy institute established in 1956.

 In 1968, he founded Tata Consultancy Services. In 1979, Tata Steel instituted a new practice: a worker being deemed to be "at work" from the moment he leaves home for work till he returns home from work. 

This made the company financially liable to the worker for any mishap on the way to and from work.

 In 1987, he founded Titan Industries. Jamshedpur was also selected as a UN Global Compact City because of the quality of life, conditions of sanitation, roads and welfare that were offered by Tata Steel.

Books on J R D Tata :




Author         : R Gopalakrishnan
Publishers   : Penguin (2011)  

The Spirit of J R D Tata : “Cleanliness is the Hallmark of perfect standards and the best quality inspector is the conscience”

Quotes :


“Cleanliness is the Hallmark of perfect standards and the best quality inspector is the conscience”

The Life and Times of  J  R  D  Tata  :

Under his chairmanship, the assets of the Tata Group grew from US$100 million to over US$5 billion. 

He started with 14 enterprises under his leadership and half a century later on July 26, 1988, when he left, Tata & Sons was a conglomerate of 95 enterprises which they either started or in which they had controlling interest.

He was the trustee of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust from its inception in 1932 for over half a century. Under his guidance, this Trust established Asia's first cancer hospital, the Tata Memorial Center for Cancer, Research and Treatment, in Bombay in 1941. 

It also founded the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS, 1936), the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR, 1945), and the National Center for Performing Arts.


In 1945, he founded Tata Motors. In 1948, JRD Tata launched Air India International as India's first international airline. In 1953, the Indian Government appointed JRD Tata as Chairman of Air India and a director on the Board of Indian Airlines - a position he retained for 25 years.

 For his crowning achievements in aviation, he was bestowed with the title of Honorary Air Commodore of India.

Books n J R D Tata :




Author         : R M Lala
Publishers : IBH Publishers Bombay 1981

The Spirit of J R D Tata : “When you work, work as if everything depends on you. When you pray, pray as if everything depends on God”

Quotes  :

“When you work, work as if everything depends on you.
When you pray, pray as if everything depends on God”


The Life and Times of  J  R  D  Tata  :

J. R. D. Tata was inspired early by aviation pioneer Louis Blériot, and took to flying. On February 10, 1929, Tata obtained the first pilot licence issued in India. 

He later came to be known as the father of Indian civil aviation. 

He founded India's first commercial airline, Tata Airlines in 1932, which became Air India in 1946, now India's national airline.

He and Nevill Vintcent worked together in building Tata Airlines. They were also friends.

He joined Tata & Sons as an unpaid apprentice in 1925. 

In 1938, at the age of 34, JRD was elected Chairman of Tata & Sons making him the head of the largest industrial group in India. 

He took over as Chairman of Tata Sons from his uncle Nowroji Saklatwala. 

For decades, he directed the huge Tata Group of companies, with major interests in Steel, Engineering, Power, Chemicals and Hospitality.

He was famous for succeeding in business while maintaining high ethical standards - refusing to bribe politicians or use the black market.

Books on  J R D Tata : 

Authored By: Gita Piramal

Publisher: Penguin (2000)