Steely nerves: what it takes to run a Tata firm

Now that the Tata Group is on a high-profile song, Russi Mody pops out of the woodwork to remind society of his significant contribution to the Tata success story as the Chairman and Managing Director of TISCO (now Tata Steel). His is the tale of one who gave his all to the Tata mission for 53 years, only to be unceremoniously elbowed out of the boardroom, in a power struggle with Ratan Tata for the ultimate prize, the chairmanship of Tata Sons. To his credit, Mody does not dwell too much on these bitter events, instead devoting more of his print to his long and enriching career at TISCO.

Despite his background of well-connected privilege (his father was a director on the board of Tata Sons), Mody decided to begin his career at the very bottom "" a khalasi or manual steel worker. It was not at all a difficult transition to the grime and heat of the steel plant in small-town Jamshedpur for this Harrow-and-Oxford-educated self-confessed party animal. While Mody was not qualified enough to stay long as a khalasi, his experience would render him with a deep sense of empathy and appreciation for the welfare of the manual workers who kept TISCO running for meagre wages. As a labour officer and then director of personnel, Mody knew how to handle the seething masses of discontented workers by granting their demands within reasonable limits, thus gaining their trust and cooperation to keep things running smoothly. Throughout the years, he kept his door open to anyone who wished to have his ear, and this sincere connection with the steel and coal workers would be behind TISCO never being affected by a strike or labour disruption while Russi Mody was controlling things at the Jamshedpur office. As Mody puts it, "What is man-management? That one must behave naturally with any human being."

Mody's forte lay in human resources and labour management. Sadly and ironically, he found himself unable to manage the wave of dissent and resentment at the very top: the vested interests of those in the boardroom when he was TISCO chairman, led by his second-in-command, Dr Jamshed Irani, and the prospective scion at Bombay House, Ratan Tata. Mody was not manipulative enough and couldn't change his tune to suit corporate wheelings and dealings. He could defuse mobs in Jamshedpur and win peace and their loyalty, but he couldn't do the same to his more suave detractors.

In 1988, Mody was flying high at TISCO and in the running to succeed Sumant Moolgaokar as chairman of Telco (now Tata Motors). However, a fallacious preemptive article in The Statesman quoted Russi Mody as ready to take over as Telco chairman to fix the extant management mess. This soured relations between Mody and Moolgaokar, who instead handed the reins over to Ratan Tata. This not only irreparably dented Mody's standing at Bombay House, but would mark the start of a chapter of the growing rift between Mody and the Tatas. In 1991, Mody decided to start planning for the future of TISCO, by promoting his young proteges Aditya Kashyap and Ishat Hussein, to joint managing director and deputy managing director, while redesignating Dr Irani as additional managing director. Meanwhile, the other, much older, directors would retain their titles, but they felt they were being superseded in disregard of their seniority and experience. Further accusations of nepotism (Kashyap was Mody's adopted son) and favouritism were added to the mix. With no support forthcoming from JRD Tata, Mody buckled under pressure from the board and retracted his decision. From this point on, Mody's chances for group chairmanship were near derailment. Just before his 75th birthday, the Tatas put forth a policy to limit the retirement age of the chairman to seventy-five years of age. This nakedly passive-aggressive swipe at Mody would remove any obstacle to Ratan Tata's path to accession. The detailed account of his ouster from TISCO in 1993 is devoid of sensationalism, and is a sad reminder of the plague of ungentlemanly politics in the private sector.

An interesting account of a genial and misunderstood man succeeding in the Tata patriarchy before falling deserves better packaging. The stylistic writing and printing standards are not up to notch, and may turn away readers on that basis alone.

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RUSSI MODY
THE MAN WHO ALSO MADE STEEL
A BIOGRAPHY

Partha Mukherjee and Jyoti Sabharwal
Stellar Publishers
244 pages, Rs 495