Impact of organisational learning disabilities on Indian railways

Abstract

Indian Railways with 16 lakhs strong work force is the largest employer in India and probably one of the largest in the world. Though in absolute terms the total freight carried by the Indian Railways has significantly improved from 73.2 million tonnes in1950-51 to 635 million tonnes in 2005-06, it has been steadily losing its market share both in passenger traffic and freight traffic to its competitors. In fact passenger traffic has come down from 80% before independence to 20% now. Freight loading has on the other hand reduced to 40% from over 95% market share during independence This is a study of Market Orientation of Indian Railways. An attempt has been made to understand Organisational and Behavior factors which will help Indian Railways become Market Oriented. The effect of Organisational Learning Disabilities on Market Orientation and the effect of Market Orientation on Organisational Identification have been studied. The hypotheses developed have been tested with the help of correlation and regression analysis. The study has used readily available scales for identifying Organisational Learning Disabilities and for measuring Market Orientation and Organisational Identification. The correlation shows that there is a strong negative correlation between all the variables which constitute Market Orientation and Learning Disabilities. The correlations are also very strongly significant. Blindness and Simple Mindedness effect the Market Orientation of Indian Railways the most. The correlation between Market Orientation and Organisational Identification is also strong and is as predicted. The study however shows that the relation between Market Orientation and Organisational Identification is very weak and is not as Hypothesised. In case of Indian Railways Organisational Identification is influenced not only by Market Orientation but also other factors such as working conditions, job security etc. Secondly the fact that Indian Railways has been doing exceptionally well in terms of revenues and originating traffic of late must have positively effected the Organisational Identification among the Officers. In order to become Market Oriented Railways needs to break down barriers between departments, enhance active participation of employees and customers in decision making and change the way rules are implemented. Transferring Officer across departments will improve Intelligence Dissemination and reduce Diffusion Deficiency.