Management Style in Textile Industry - M. Ayub Khan

The need for writing this article arose after observing the prevailing situation of uncertainty between the Managers and Mill Owners. Despite their conflicts and disagreements, these two characters co-exist regardless of the negative impact on the manager's professional career & on the reputation and the loss of mills growth & profitability.
As a result, the managerial turn over is very high which can be seen in most of our Textile mills, and it is never an encouraging situation. Based on the above analysis, I would like to focus on the root cause of the cold war like situation between the Owner and the Technical Director/General Manager. Basically, it all depends on the style of management adopted in the mill/organization. i.e.

1)Paternalistic style of management (Fatherly)
2) Autocratic style of management (Dictating)
3) Democratic style of management (Team work)

At the textile mills in Pakistan, the most common practice is the paternal style of management. In this setup the higher management tends to follow the old pattern of the forefathers/founders of the mill irrespective of its impact on the mills efficiency.

The second practice of the owners with regard to the 'top man' is the blend of paternal and autocratic style of management, where the fatherly pattern is implemented forcefully. Dictations coming from the top boss/bosses have to be followed irrespective of its ultimate impact on the organization. These patterns are not proven academically or scientifically at any level.

Here, it is notable that the new generation of owners is bound to follow the old established style even though they are mostly foreign educated and are interested to bring about changes in the system. But they are scarcely allowed to implement their new concepts and ideas. The prevailing system becomes hurdle in their way. Breaking the taboos of paternal and autocratic style adapted by the owners takes decades of struggle.

Both the above style of management ends up in blames and claims, ultimately resulting in the deterioration of the organizations culture and decline in profitability because under such a style every one is working for selfsurvival only.

In the light of my experience and after having the opportunity of meeting with such owners and managers, who are unsatisfied with each other and are demoralized by the organization's culture. Both of them seek advice for remedy.

The solution lies in the democratic system of management, where the suggestions of the managers, the technical and process related staff (at all levels) is given priority and the best of the options are applied no matter who proposes it. In such system, the order of the day is Teamwork. Owners are using various styles of management but it is the duty of the
professionals to win the trust of the owners, and this trust can only be won if the manager gives results and makes the owner realize that the Democratic Style of Management is more suitable to get maximum out put. The most important factor necessary for implementing the democratic system is transparency of data and information between the owners as well as the mangers. In this case managers play the major role for they are hired by the owner because of their professional capabilities and is entrusted to achieve the organizational goals. The manager should develop an honest and quick responding system to provide whatever information or knowledge the owner may ask for. There should be no un-shareable secret in the formulation and computation of data.

For getting the optimum result the manager must very wisely and precisely use the following 4M tools. I would not go into details at the moment because every devoted manager knows the basics of these 4Ms.
1 ) Man Power
2) Machinery
3 ) Material
4) Method

In the conclusion I would like to highlight the advantages of establishing the democratic management system.
1) It motivates the manager and he feels he is more important to the business.
2) Encourages the acceptance of responsibility.
3) Involves employees in the continual improvement process at all levels(on a wider scale).
4) Creates a free and fair working environment.