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by a Special Correspondent

It is raining hard in Dambulu Oya. But the rain-clouds, rather than plunging the skies in forbidding darkness, allow a serene light to play on the landscape. The dripping trees give way to a grassy bank that slopes gently down to the river, which dances under the raindrops. The opposite shore rises to hills of thick jungles, whose crests disappear behind swirls of smoky cloud.

The birdcalls that would have made this Dambulu Oya an idyll, are drowned by shouting men. You see them bunched together, their rain-bathed bodies glistening as they strain and puff. They are building a raft with empty plastic casks for buoyancy, and poles and rope to lash the contraption together.

"That is not the way sir, you don't know how to do it. The raft will sink, I tell you! Come, I will show you how to do it," bellows a voice.

At the Outward-Bound Trust (OBT) camp at Dambulu Oya, roles have changed. It is the worker who teaches the boss how to do things.

"Our idea was to mix them up to build team spirit so that it will eventually help organisational performance," said K. Vijayakumar, Human Resources Manager, Namunukula Plantations Ltd.

Namunukula Plantations, managed by Keells Plantation Management Services (Pvt) Ltd. have embarked on a scheme that is revolutionary. They have brought together superintendents, the middle management and the workers from different estates in the Namunukula Regional Plantation Company on the same programme.

This is the first time in the history, that the plantation workers and the superintendents participated together in a residential training programme, sharing accommodation, meals and all other facilities.

The OBT is basically a 'training of trainers' programme. Since the estate workforce is massive and neither time nor finances permit the Company to subject the entire staff to such training programmes, those who have benefited teach the others in their respective Estates. Already four batches from Namunukula, consisting of 129 people of whom 75 are workers, have benefited from the training.

"The plantations are used to hierarchical structures from colonial times. The Periya Dorai orders, and the workers comply. But in today's work culture these attitudes have to change. We need to have a participatory style of management. We need to build trust between all sections of employees and management", said Anthony Perera, General Manager of the company.

The idea is to emphasise participation at all levels in the achievement of objectives rather than carry on the old hierarchical structures of command and control, which go contrary to modern management wisdom.

The problem in the plantation sector however is not only a clear demarcation between boss and worker, but also its consequences, exploitative organizations that thrive in settings where relations between management and workers are adversarial.

"Outward Bound Training is a different approach to the problems on the estate, which has not been tried out as yet," said Chitral de Mel, Deputy General Manager, Namunukula Plantations Ltd.

At the back of all this problems, unless modern participatory management techniques are introduced, Sri Lanka's tea sector might lose out to more efficiently managed plantations in other parts of the world.

Faced with this problem, Namunukula Plantations had to think of an innovative way of human resource intervention where creative thinking and enterprise among the workers could be encouraged and harnessed, while enhancing humility and a willingness to learn in the managers, they hit upon OBT as the best choice.

Meanwhile, each of the two teams into which the Namunukula's employees have been divided has built a raft. It has a sharp prow which means it cuts the water better than its competitor.

At the debriefing, staff of OBT explains the significance of building a raft that cuts through the water efficiently. They use it as a symbol of harnessing talent and intelligence in an organisation so that it cuts through obstacles and gets ahead of the competitor who flounders through inept technology or unintelligent assessment of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

All through the training the underlying theme - improving competitiveness and working hard for success - is kept alive by encouraging team spirit, but at the same time discouraging compromise and weakness that will force one side to come out only second best.

The rafts have been long dismantled and the Namunukula Plantations' staff are back in the centre for what will be the last session. Outside, there is the hiss of persistent rain and the thick foliage drips. But in the open dining room there is camaraderie.

There is freedom, but a sense of discipline as well as everyone eats a substantial lunch. Though under normal circumstances, there is a tendency for the managerial staff, the middle management and the workers to stick to their own kind, it is not so here - there is lively intermingling.

The staff at OBT, most of them well trained and experienced. There is no doubt they have been specially selected, if not, the exposure they have been given must be very good. They exude friendliness and an out-going quality that is tailor-made for their job.

They confide in Mr. Vijayakumar, Mr. Perera and Mr. de Mel their observations on some members of the staff on whom they have been asked to work hard. The three-day programme has developed a sense of fraternity they say, and changes in attitudes can be detected already.

The Namunukula Plantation staff have been in a three-day OBT programme, there are five-day and even seven-day programmes as well. "The programme tries to bring out through games and activities traits such as teamwork, cooperative decision-making and working towards an objective. The senior staff learn as much as their subordinates," said Sajith de Silva, a participant.

"I have to admit, we were worried when they were going to group the workers and the managers together. But the experience has been great - it has improved our self confidence as individuals and to work as a team," said Jayantha Karunaratne, Superintendent, Cannavarella Estate.

"While breaking barriers, it does not challenge the hierarchy as discipline can be maintained," he continued. The same sense of belonging and that neither workers nor managers could be excluded from the strategic objective of making the organisation achieve targets seems to have percolated down to the workers.

"The programme was 100 per cent beneficial. It showed that cooperation between the three sectors - management, middle level and workers - could achieve the objective of the company," said Ramaiah Dayabaran, a worker from Gonakelle Estate.

He felt that the programme was not to exclude the trade unions, but to educate the workers and persuade them to cooperate with the management in areas, where there was mutual benefit.

"The training gave us the knowledge on management principles and how to work as a team to achieve the objectives of the estate" said M. Annamalai - worker from Cannavarella Estate.

"Training others was an important part of our strategy in selecting persons for the programme. We got people who would make an impact on the estate," said Mr. Vijayakumar. "I can teach the workers in my estate and with the assistance they give we can teach the others," said Mr. Dayabaran.

The idea seems to be catching on already. "We were surprised one day when some of the workers called us for a meeting. When it started they told us to do the exercises that we later did at OBT. The session had been organised by workers at Cannavarella Estate, who had gone in an earlier batch for OBT to train others on the estate.

The decision was entirely theirs," said Mr. Karunaratne. The training has cost Rs. 1.5 million, which has been partly funded by the ADB. The company hopes to expose more groups next year.

"Ideally the programme should reverse roles and allow the workers to experience the problems of the managers, at the same time teaches the management to empathise with the hardships of the workforce," said Mr. Vijayakumar.

Mr. Karunaratne at the farewell ceremony said, this programme has helped to diffuse the dividing line between management and the worker."

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