Best practices and management styles start with the character of an employee and what they strive to be. Over the years, we have learnt that facilities which involve the voice of the employee are more productive.

Over the last 20 years we have worked with the teams conceptand one of the key lessons learnt is that customer satisfaction begins with employee satisfaction. The employee has to be challenged and satisfied in his job. This is definitely not an altruistic behaviour but a strategy and a smart business practice.

How do you ensure that empowered teams work effectively?

If you have a self-managed workforce, it does not mean that they would do their own thing. You have to provide management practices and structures within which they can operate and ensure productivity, reliability, etc.Tata-Cummins' vision statement says: Quality, Innovation, Integrity. Is this an echo of Cummins' vision statement?

The current version of the vision statement was adopted in 1995 but it was derived by the senior management at Cummins in Indiana, which went back and traced the company's heritage. I have been part of the team which evolved this statement and so I would like to take you through each of the words.Quality relates not just to the products of the company but in all things anddoing them right the first time. This could then relate to management decisions, evaluating ourselves or employee empowerment.

Innovation again is not restricted to producing a technologically better product but relates to innovative thinking across the teams and encouraging new ideas of management and productivity.

Integrity is the backbone of the company. This is to state that what we have to first look for while employing someone starts with the character of the person.

What are the guiding parameters for Cummins while selecting a joint-venture partner?

Each joint venture has different needs and each partner has a different culture. So, no doubt there has to be a sound economic reason for establishing a joint venture. But then it has to go beyond that. We believe that you are only as healthy as the society you practice in. So, a partner like Telco who has a lot of good social programmes, fits the bill very well. We also believe that having a substantial involvement in social programmes is a goodbusiness practice. So, that is the first point to watch out for while scouting for a partner.

Secondly, when we go into countries, we not only take our technologies but also our management techniques. The workforce gets very excited as they are not limited. It is such a turn-on to see the workforce happy and excited and that they want to be the best in the world.