HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT OF

THE NUTAN MUMBAI TIFFIN BOX SUPPLIERS

ASSOCIATION

CONTENTS HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OF THE NUTAN MUMBAI TIFFIN BOX SUPPLIERS ASSOCIATION

SR. NO.

TOPIC

PAGE NO.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

FOUNDER OF HUMAN RESOURCE POLICIES FOR ASSOCIATION THE ORGANISATION STRUCTURE DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES HUMAN RESOURCE POLICIES OF THE ASSOCIATION HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES OF THE ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES OF THE NMTBSA THE SYSTEM OF SERVICE NETWORK HOW THEY OPERATE MANPOWER PLANING THE GROWTH CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES SWOT ANALYSIS OF HUMAN RESOURCE SYSTEM CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION

Mumbai Dabbawalas or tiffinwalas are used as the best practice case study for this deliverable. The Mumbai dabbawallas operations are widely recognised as an outstanding example of excellence in urban logistics. Reportedly their mistake rate is just 1 in 16 million deliveries (i.e. 99.999999% accuracy) which caused the Forbes Global magazine to award this service the six sigma performance rating in 2001. Besides the accuracy rating, the Dabbawala supply chain system has also attracted interests from global educational institutions and think tanks for its complexity. A dabbawala (meaning one who carries the box), is a person in Mumbai whose job is to carry and deliver freshly made food packed in lunch boxes from home to office workers. This case study was selected because the lunch delivery has become famous for their precision and efficiency. The delivery of the lunch boxes is an excellent case study that showcases excellence achieved in the informal sector, whose actors are proud of their rural roots and with the use of low technology and effective organisation. The case study presents a private logistics service organised in the informal sector and does not constitute any policy measure. The dabbawala operations originated way back in 1890 when India was under British rule. At that time, people migrated for work to Mumbai from different states and belonging to different communities. At working places there were no canteens and many did not bring their lunches from home. Besides, different communities had different food habits, tastes and preferences which could only be satisfied by a homemade meal. Identifying this need, a gentleman named Mr. MahadeoMedge started this lunch delivery service. The Mumbai Dabbawala system is organized as a co-operative movement, where the basic entity is the dabbawala. Upto 8 dabbawalas makes up a team. Upto 8 of such teams would form a group. There are 120 groups that together constitute the entire organization. The basic model of the selected good practice heavily depends on teamwork and meticulous timing. There are around 5,000 dabbawalas in the system at any moment of time. Each dabbawala is assigned upto 30 customers in a specific geographical area. Each dabbawala visits his customers for tiffin box collection using a fixed route by bicycle or walking. The household is expected to keep the lunchbox ready when the dabbawala reports for collection, which is usually between 7.00 am and 9.00 am. If the lunch is not ready the dabbawala will leave for the next destination. After collecting approximately 30 of such lunch boxes they are brought to the nearest suburban railway station for sorting and onward transportation. Usually more than one team of dabbawalas operate out of a collection point in a railway station.

At the originating railway station a team of designated dabbawalas sorts the lunch boxes according to their destinations. The dabbas have a detailed and elaborate codification system that facilitates the sorting process. The codification system clearly identifies the origin of the lunch box, associated collection team member, destination, corresponding team leader, destination, location, building identification and floor number.

THE ORGANISATION STRUCTURE FOUNDER OF HUMAN RESOURCE POLICIES FOR ASSOCIATION: Mr. Dhondiba Medge (1923-1980) - the father of Mr. Raghunath Medge (president of NMTBSA), framed Human Resource Policy of Nutan Mumbai Tillin Box Suppliers' association. Mr.Dhondiba Medge was educated only up to 4th standard. He framed rules & regulations of the Dabbawalas. He was very strict & disciplined kind of person. Who was believes on "Time Is Money"

The Dabbawala have two different aspects as considered with the mode actual operations & mode of organizations formed by the Dabbwallas. In a group of 20-25 Dabbwallas, there are four elder members called as "Mukadams" their job includes: To guide & manage the entire operation procedure. Acquisition of any new customers& training a new person assigned to the particular customer. MTBSA is a remarkably flat organisation with just three tiers: the governing council (president, vice president, general secretary, treasurer and nine directors), the mukadams and the dabbawalas. Its first office was at Grant Road. Today it has offices near most railway stations. Here nobody is an employer and none are employees. Each dabbawala considers himself a shareholder and entrepreneur. Surprisingly MTBSA is a fairly recent entity: the service is believed to have started in the 1880s but officially registered itself only in 1968. Growth in membership is organic and dependent on market conditions. This decentralized organisation assumed its current form in 1970, the most recent date of restructuring. Dabbawalas are divided into sub-groups of fifteen to 25, each supervised by four mukadams. Experienced old-timers, the mukadams are familiar with the colors and codings used in the complex logistics process. Their key responsibility is sorting tiffins but they play a critical role in resolving disputes; maintaining records of receipts and payments; acquiring new customers; and training junior dabbawalas on handling new customers on their first day. Each group is financially independent but coordinates with others for deliveries: the service could not exist otherwise. The process is competitive at the customers' end and united at the delivery end.

Each group is also responsible for day-to-day functioning. And, more important, there is strict managerial layers or explicit control mechanisms. The rationale behind the business model is to push internal competitiveness, which means that the four Vile Parle groups vie with each other to acquire new customers.

THE ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE OF THE OFFICIAL ASSOCIATION FORMED AS FOLLOWS:

PRESIDENT Mr. P RaghunathMedge

Vice president Mr. SambhajiMedge

General Secretary Mr. GangaramTalekar

Treasurer Mr. DamodarPingle

Directors 9

Group 120

Mukadam

Mukadam

Dabbawala

Dabbawala

Dabbawala

Dabbawala

The Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association (NMTBSA) is a three-tiered organization: the governing council (president, vice president, general secretary, treasure and nine directors); the mukadams; and, the dabbawala .NMTBSA is also the uncontested institution that regulates activities of all the dabbawalas and solves possible conflicts between them or with customers or authorities. It also has the authority to fire bad dabbawalas or give fines to those who commit errors repeatedly.

The dabbawalas are divided into sub-groups of 20 to 25, each supervised by four mukadams. Each group is financially independent but coordinates with others for deliveries. The service could not exist otherwise. The process is competitive at the customers end and united at the delivery end. Each group is also responsible for dayto-day functioning. And, more importantly, there is no organizational structure, managerial layers or explicit control mechanisms.

On average, one dabbawala can earn around 7000 each month. Out of this, he contributes Rs. 15 per month to the association, which spends the money on community work, loans and providing venues for marriages at a discount.

Meetings are held every month to discuss customer service, investigate complaints from customers and solve other disputes within the organization. If a customer complains of poor service, the association can shift the customers account to another dabbawala and no one is allowed to undercut each other.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

PRESIDENT & VICE PRESIDENT Taking monthly meeting Checking accounts of the association Solving the problems among the members GENERAL SECRETARY drafting the various types of letters collecting the trust fees

MUKADAM supervising the functioning of the members in his group MEMBERS To deliver Tiffin boxes to the customers & carry Tiffin boxes back to their honk. respectively CORE VALUES Work is Worship Serving people is Serving God Annadan is Mahadan Time is Money Unity is Power

Building a clientele The range of customers includes students (both college and school), entrepreneurs of small businesses, managers, especially bank staff, and mill workers. They generally tend to be middle-class citizens who, for reasons of economy, hygiene, caste and dietary restrictions or simply because they prefer whole-some food from their kitchen, rely on the dabbawala to deliver a home cooked mid-day meal. New customers are generally acquired through referrals. Some are solicited by dabbawalas on railway platforms. Addresses are passed on to the dabbawala operating in the specific area, who then visits the customer to finalize arrangements. Today customers can also log onto the website www.webrishi.com to access the service. Service charges vary from Rs 150 to Rs 300 per tiffin per month, depending on location and collection time. Money is collected in the first week of every month and remitted to the mukadam on the first Sunday. He then divides the money equally among members of that group. It is assumed that one dabbawala can handle not more than 30-35 customers given that each tiffin weighs around 2 kg. And this is the benchmark that every group tries to achieve.

STAKEHOLDERS DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN DABBAWALLA

Stakeholders Working people in mumbai Family members of working people Canteen/ Catering service Employees of dabbawala system Railway services

Functions clients of dabbawala service suppliers of filled lunch boxes for delivery to family members suppliers of filled lunch boxes if home food is not available Executing the dabbawalas service To transport tiffin box

Compensation of Dabbawalas

The Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association is registered institution. Though it is so, it does not function as a commercial institution e.g. courier company. The organization is formed by the members. To avoid any disputes & give each member pride, the employee-employer relationship is avoided. Each member is a shareholder in the association. He gets his monthly salary from each of his customers directly. All the members in a group gather on a particular date of each month mostly at a nearest local office of the organization or the trust (NUTAN MUMBAI TIFFIN BOX SUPPLIERS' CHARITABLE TRUST). All the members collect their salary together, cut down for overheads& travel expenses. Also, each member contributes amount of rupees 10/- towards the trust for the charity purposes. E.g. There is the group of 15 Dabbawalas. They carry 30 dabbas each They get Rs. 150 /customer So calculation goes like this: 15x150x30-= 67,500 So, gross earning of this group is Rs. 67500/Now from this amount, a collective amount of Rs.4000 approximately is deducted comprising expenses for railways pass, expenses for parking the carts & cycles & overheads the remaining amount is divided equally into all members of the group.

So, suppose now after deductions, group has left with 63500/-; it will be divided equally among all the members, thus each member getting Rs.4230/- each. This salary may not be sufficient compared to the cost of living in Mumbai also may of have their families back in villages to send money to. To cope up, with this problem, few of the Dabbawala have started doing some side business for extra income. Some of them after returning home in evening drive auto-rickshaws or early in morning before going on work distribute newspaper or milk. New recruits are initially hired on a salary. After evaluating their performance they are offered membership (shareholders) of the trust and assigned to one of the groups by the member who introduced him to the group. Each dabbawala is guaranteed a monthly income and employment for life. As there is no retirement age, he may work as long as he is physically fit. Each team is financially independent and serves its own customers without hampering the interests of the others, but work together in the delivery process. Each member pays Rs. 15 per month as contribution to the welfare fund which acts as an insurance cover. The association provides various services to its members from this welfare fund, including loan facilities for emergencies, education expenses for members children, health care, etc. The balance of the savings goes to a charitable trust.

The association once a month calls a meeting of all the members. In this meeting, it tries to solve the internal problems of the members. Such problem & solutions solved till now have laid a kind of unwritten rules & regulations for the members of the organization to follow in certain cases. 1. In the case of loss of Tiffin box of the Dabbawala, if he is found guilty, then the customer is refunded the appropriate amount for the loss. 2. Each member is supposed to operate in his allocated area only & not interfere with any of his fellow colleagues, work area. In fact normally no Dabbawala does this too! 3. In case if the customer is not pleased with dabbawala provided to him for service, both of them cannot co-ordinate well with each other then the organization can shill that dabbawala to some other area & replace other dabbawala in his area.

DISCIPLINE Wearing White cap during working hours. Reporting to duty on time Behave properly & respect the customers Carry identity cards

HR PRACTICES OF THE ASSOCIATION FLAT ORGANISATION: The president, Vice president, General Secretary, Treasurer & 9 no. of Directors formed 13 members of board under which Mukadam& other Dabbawalas work. So due to such Flat kind of organization structure decisions are taken on the spot. Even the president & other higher categories members also work NO HIRE & FIRE RULE: Everyone is shareholder of the association. Whatever profits they earn equally distributed within itself. It is democratic type of organizational HR Practices. COMMUNITY BASED RECRITMENT: Those who have capacity to do job they can apply for the Dabbawala post. There is no any kind of bias happens related to recruitment process. SHARING COMMON BELIEFS, VALUES & ETHICS: All the Dabbawalas are from poor background, the aim of the organization is mutual benefit to all members so they follow certain values, beliefs & ethics to run business effectively FOLLOWING OF STRICT DRESS CODES: All Dabbawalas must wear white cap which is called as Gandhian cap on duty. Also wear white sadara&pyjama (shirts & pants). All Dabbawalas must carry their Identity card on duty. All these rules are binding on all cadres of the Dabbawala LOYALTY & TRUST IS THEIR MONOPOLY: All Dabbawalas are loyal & hard working in nature. They follow their norms & promise which they made with their customers.

TRAINING PROVIDED TO NEW EMPLOYEES: After recruitment they provide complete process training to new joiners under the observation of Mukadam or any senior member. When they feel that new employees are capable to work, that time training will completed. OWNER + EMPLOYEE IS THE DESIGNATION OF ALL:

Everyone is the shareholder of the Association. All disciplinary rules & other ethics follow by all members. So there is no any employee & employer relationship between each other. All are owners of the business. QUARTERLY MEETING TO DISCUSS ISSUES: Every quarter all Dabbawalas meet & discuss issues related to service, salary & future goal. They discuss balance sheet & distribute profits among them. If any critical issue arises that time they call immediate meeting. Also conduct daily meeting to handle day to day problem. All Dabbwalas can participate in meeting & can contribute his suggestions.

MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES OF THE NMTBSA TEAM WORK: Working with team is the strength of the Dabbawalas. Al learn Work is the key aspect of their inner self satisfaction (proved by research) One Tiffin box goes from many hands of the Dabbawalas& finally reaches at exact destination which shows success of their 'learn work.

 TIME MANAGEMENT: They deliver Tiffin boxes before 12 pm at customer's office. There duty starts from morning 8 am. Same time there is always lots of rush at railway station, & traffic on the road, in such kind of critical situation they able to deliver lunch boxes on time They got Six Sigma because of their Time management & no defects in deliveries. INNOVATION: Dabbawala promote innovation. They started coding system on Min box for easy identification, which are one of the examples of their innovation strategy. They believe on continuous improvement by way of innovation. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: 100% customer satisfaction is the success of their system. They achieved this level because of maintaining good relationship with customers. They believe on "Service To Customer Is Service To God". SIX SIGMA: They have got the prestigious achievement of SIX SIGMA RATING because of their percentage of correctness which is just perfect up to 99.999995 i.e. six decimals or more than that. Not many of the topmost companies are even near to it. This is simply incredible!

They achieved Six Sigma in following aspects: Simplified coding system High conformity to the system Buffer in the lead time Confirmed by the limits of the human capabilities

LOGISTICS & SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT:

By using their own logistic methods they deliver lacks of Tiffin boxes through many Dabbwalas hand; but the final goal is to reach Tiffin box before 12pm. At customer's office, everyday they achieve their goal.

THE SYSTEM OF SERVICE NETWORK & HOW THEY OPERATE The dabbawalasare the whole &sole of the entire system of these operations. For these dabbawalas, to be able to provide prompt & efficient service, it is very much important & necessary to be always on time. So you will not see any Dabbawala moving ahead road taking his own sweet time! They are always in hurry pushing through the crowd carefully to deliver on time for lacks of mumbaikars! The entire system involves carefully planned, organized & implemented activities around the hour timings, but they do it with excellent associated teamwork. We now take look in the routine course of action Dabbawalas i.e. from the time they leave their home in the morning till the time they deliver the Tiffin box back to the customers' home in the evening! "I Iii!; cycle of operations of delivery takes them nearly 8 hrs a day very similar to the office timings, as these takes time normally from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. the day starts around 8.00-8.30 am in the morning. Coding System All thedabbawalas have migrated from villages to Mumbai. Due to economic hardship or lack of interest a majority of them have been educated upto primary school level. Hence the dabbawala delivery system has adapted the coding system accordingly. Instead of technological solutions, the coding system is based on the exchanges of dabbas between dabbawalas. The system uses unique codes for the railway stations, origin/destination points and identity of the dabbawalas handling each dabba. For this, signs, different colours, numbers and a few letters are used and same is clearly marked on each dabba.

The codification system ensures complete traceability of lunch boxes in the system. It enables material flow and tracking of individual boxes by detailed information which integrates the knowledge and information of individual dabbawalas on route, origin, handling agent, destination address, etc. The address of the customer is painted on the top by the dabbawalas. The home address is not marked since the dabbawala knows by heart to which places in his collecting area he has to pick up his dabbas. If a new customer appears in his own collecting area, he will do the complete journey to check the address of delivery in order to fix with the other dabbawalas in which manner it will be then delivered. He will have to find who, on the way, will have a free place in his freight to take one more tiffin box up to which place, and so on up to the very place of delivery. Once the chain has been established, with all the necessary stops for exchange decided, it is possible to mark the address. Error! Reference source not found. depicts a sample set of codes that are marked on a 'dabba' that help to identify the origin and destination points, help different groups of dabbawalas to identify their set of 'dabbas' at each leg of the journey and help sort the 'dabbas' at each juncture before they make the onward journey. Since many 'dabbawallas' are illiterate, the coding system is decided arbitrarily by the dabbawalas and known to all of them.

WAR AGAINST TIME (8:00a.m.-9:30a.m.)

(IMAGE)

(8:00a.m. - 9:30a.m.) Leaving Home For The Work: The Dabbawalas leave there homes in the morning between 7:50 am. To 8:30am. Depending upon from which areas they have to pick up Tiffin boxes. The Dabbawalas reaches the customers homes according to the timing fixed between two of them. The day in home then hands over the prepared & packed Tiffin box to the Dabbawala Collecting 30-35 Tiffin boxes (from area specified to him) is the responsibility of each Dabbawala, but there were we can see that number of Dabbas picked up is also dependent upon the age of the Dabbawalas. Where a young person picks even 40 Tiffin's each, an elder person might pick pick30! Also collecting Tiffin is not an easy task. Because, Dabbawalas have to pick up Tiffin boxes from various distant location in his area. These locations may be far from each other located on higher floors of the building where sometimes elevator may not be available. These Tiffin boxes are then taken to the nearest local station by vehicle. Usually a bicycle or in long wooden creates carried on the head! Eg. If a Dabbawala a collecting Tiffin boxes from area of Ghatkopar then he will carry them to Ghatkopar or Vikhroli railway station whichever is nearer from his area of collecting Tiffins

9.30a.m.-11.30a.m. Sorting & Loading Of The Tiffin Boxes The dabbas are then sorted by the Dabbawalas on the railway stations (the station nearest to the area of pick-up of Tiffin boxes) where a group of 10-15 Dabbawalas from the same station but from the different locations have picked up Tiffin boxes. On the railway station, first sorting of Tiffin boxes takes place i.e. Tiffin to be delivered in one particular area are assembled together & staked wooden crates. These are then carries by Dabbawalas handling those particular areas. After sorting, Tiffin boxes are loaded in wooden crates in railway's luggage compartment or on bicycle depending upon the way in which Dabbawalas who is going to carry them & what is his destination area (the Dabbawalas who is going to carry the Tiffin's destined to be delivered at station where first sorting is done; he only will carry them on bicycle.) The sorting of Tiffin boxes is very much like sorting done by the postman of letter according to intended destination areas. Mumbai railway has provided luggage compartment in railways, but the luggage compartment in the morning time is very crowded. But then too these Dabbawalas make way through it & find a place for themselves & their crates.

So in the morning peak hours, the luggage compartment in the train is crowded with 20-25 Dabbawalas& 700-800 Tiffin's along with them.

According to the destination some of the dabbawalas get down at their respective stations for delivery. Here Tiffins are again resorted according to final destinations.

11:30 A.M. TO 12:30P.M. DISTRIBUTION OF TIFFIN BOXES TO THE FINAL DESTINATION These times slot is very important, as the service delivery has to be started in this time only to compete it in all allocated locations to all given customers! After resorting process the Dabbawalas set off for the delivery of Tiffin boxes to the customer. Each one of them is assigned on a particular location or block of customers' workplaces-say one road etc. that person undertakes the responsibility to deliver the lunch boxes in that particular assigned area irrespective of where the Tiffin box has come from, which person is initially collected it & to which group of Dabbawalas that person belongs to, who is Mukadam of that group etc. in this time slot if we observe, we will see all the Dabbawalas rushing carefully through crowds on the roads to reach to the customers, workplaces. Generally if offices lunchtime is from 1:00 pm. to 2:00 pm. so it is very important that the lunch box has to be delivered to the customer before his lunch time. These Dabawallas have the lunch at the premises of offices nearby where they are delivers Tiffin boxes if their associations' office is not easily reachable.

In particulars areas with a high density of customers arrange a special crate to that area. The crate carries 150 tiffins& is driven by 3-4 dabbawalas.

1:00 p.m. -2: p.m. The Dabbawalls in the same areas of delivery gather at the nearest association office & have their lunch! Otherwise they have their lunch in the vicinity of the offices premises where they have just delivered the lunch boxes! 2:00 p.m. 2:30 p.m. Now the Dabawallas return to their customer's workplaces to collect empty Dabbas. They collect the empty Tiffin's boxes & whole process goes back again but in the reverse order. 2:48 p.m. 3.30 p.m. The return journey by train where the group finally meets after the days routine to dispatching & collecting from various destinations offices. Usually, since it is more of a pleasant journey compared to earlier part of the day, the dabbawalas lighten up the moment with merry making, joking around & singing.

MANPOWER PLANING Day to day their number of customers are increasingsimultaneously they increase their manpower too. They don't have any criteria about recruitment of Dabbawala. They have some poets which new recruit Dabbawala should follow these rules are as follows: First few month he has to work under the supervision of senior person or mukadam He must wear white sadara (shirt), white pant (Gandhi topi )& white cap at the time of working He should be physicaly fit to carry Tiffin boxes He should maintain good relation with customer He should be punctual He should be able to work with team He should has to give prior information to the association before going on leave LEAVES NMTBSA has segregated annual leave on two types 1)Weekly Leave: All Dabbawalla gets weekly leave on every Sunday 2) Festival Leave:

All Dabbwallas are devotees of lord Shiv shankaras&vitthalas so NMTBSA only sanctioned leaves for those festivals which are celebrated for their God. Mahashivratri (Festival of Shiv Shankaras) AashadhiEkadashi (Festival of Lord Vitthalas) KartikiEkadashi (Festival of Lord Vitthalas) ChaitraPournima (New Year of Marathi Peoples) Diwali (2days) (Festival of Lights)

THE GROWTH YEAR NUMBER OF DABBAWALAS NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS 1900 58 1445 1905 75 1965 1910 142 4120 1915 204 6504 1920 321 9675 1925 407 12140 1930 695 22865 1935 1024 43230 1940 1206 4340 1945 1715 64240 1950 2106 82000 1955 2552 105120 1960 3216 140000 1965 4406 198100 1970 4605 176040 1975 4904 215000 1980 5551 275075 1985 5524 190645 1990 5102 130860 1995 5180 142260 2000 5164 165670 2005 5142 175040 1

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES Started Dharmashala in Thimashankar' district in the year 1930 Maharashtra government prorogates HIV awareness through Dabbawalas channel Innovative workplace programs carries HIV prevention messages: Indians & Americans in partnership to fight HIV/AIDS plan consist of reaching Mumbai office workers with HIV /AIDS prevention messages in their lunch boxes through Dabbawala network is the innovative programme supported by the emergency plan. On world AIDS day 2005, the project delivered lunches containing information about HIV/AIDS as approximately 2 lacks office goers, the 5000 Dabbawalas delivered lunch boxes. The emergency plan supported efforts of the Dabbawalaassociation to include in the lunches creatively designed materials & coasters bearing messages reflecting the World AIDS Day theme "Stop AIDS, Keep The Promise" In addition to these world AIDS Day activities the programme works throughout the year to reach out to corporations to address HIV/AIDS in the workplace.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF HUMAN RESOURCE SYSTEM OF NMTBSA STRENGTH: Low operational cost Customer satisfaction Low attrition rate Flat organization Team spirit & team management WEAKNESS: Limited access to education Funds for the association No social security to members OPPORTUNITY: Operational cost is low Wide range publicity THREAT:

 Job satisfaction level of New generations Competition Canteen facility provided by corporate firm

CONCLUSION

Managing more than 5000 Dabbawalas daily is really incredible! So what kind of Human resource policy they have adopted & how do they implemented it, was the objective behind these report. Which are satisfactorily completed, & I got some key formulas, principles of their effective Human resource management system from this project work. The lacks of office goers, 5000 Dabbawalas& risky job schedule, all these kind of problems they are able to handle only due to their efficient Human resource management system. Mr. DhondibaMedge formed Human Resource Policy for Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers' Association. He set core values for the Association, these improved their system. The key feature of their Human Resource Management is Flat organizational structure. These are able to maintain no communication barriers from top level to lower level. All Dabbawalas are employer of the association, there has no any employee employer relation. This thing is the motivational factor behind their job satisfaction. Effective delegation of authority helps them to do work effectively. From top level to lower level Dabbawalas know their work & their target which helps to effective job specification.

They have implemented Human Resource Policy in their organization, these contains strict disciplinary rules of employment, dress code & effective training & development facility to new joiners. They follow management principles in their organization such as Team work, Time management, Innovation, Customer relationship management &six sigma. Because of these they called as "Management Guru" Human resource policy, Manpower planning, Training & Development, Disciplinary Code of conduct & their Corporate Social Responsibility activity are the key result areas of their Human Resource Management system. Their daily earning is not sufficient to fulfill their basic needs but whatever they earn out of from it some amount they spend in CSR activities. 'We are the part of society which provides many resources to us, so it is our prime duty to give back to society'these CSR principle they follow. The organization has gained a lot of appreciation from foreign countries but it still in some ways or other not fully appreciated by its own countrymen. Organization can do a lot to perform better but it needs support & word appreciation from its own countrymen. If so, it will even leave back the top world-running entrepreneurs & give India a place of pride on the world map.