Merger will create unrest among Human Resource across all railway services

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Merger will bring about more problems than solutions

Some suggestions on merger of technical and non-technical services of Railways into IRMS

The proposed merger of services of Indian Railways into one service of IRMS, the following points are submitted the Minister and Railway Administration for consideration.

  1. The justification for the proposed merger has been cited as ‘departmentalism’ in the organization that has supposedly affected growth of Railways in recent past. However, this line of thought is trying to treat the symptom rather than the cause. Departmentalism is the effect of non-aligned organizational and individual goals. It’s treatment lies in converging the objectives of various stakeholders towards a common super-ordinate goal. One way of achieving this is through common KPIs.

  2. The strength of this great organization is the diverse talent pool available at its disposal, that has been brought about by the different services that constitute the Indian Railways. The coordinated efforts between these different services has ensured effective decision making through a system of checks and balances built into it.

  3. No other Ministry has such a rich and strong Human Resource, and this is the reason why this organization is able to perform when called upon. The recent safety record is a case in point wherein the existing organizational structure, formed along departmental lines has delivered.

  4. Although there have been instances where some departments have worked in cross-purpose, furthering their individual agenda over organizational goals, however, generalising it to the whole organization is not a correct position to take. The case of train-18 is reflective of this one-off aberration where the coordination effort at the Railway Board level left a vast scope for improvement.

  5. Today the strength of the organization is being projected as its weakness by terming these different departments as ‘silos’. Individual experience of Railway working at all three levels of division, zone, and Railway Board, inter- departmental coordination at the divisional and zonal level is conducted smoothly. For this reason, the core operation of Indian Railway, i.e. train running is possible in safe and smooth manner.

  6. On occasions, certain conflicts do get escalated, however, this is true for any organization. Here, the role that a DRM or GM plays in conflict resolution is important.

  7. It is also pertinent to note that only critical issues get escalated and most of the decisions are taken consensually by the different branch officers in Divisions and Zones. Had it not been the case, then train operations would have certainly got affected which is not the case.

  8. Merging of all services into one will not eliminate conflict, nor will it lead to improvement in Railway performance unless core issues, in terms of capacity building of people, innovation in processes, and leveraging of technology to bring in efficiency and effectiveness are addressed.

  9. Merger will create unrest among Human Resource across all services- technical or non-technical. There will to be litigations that may throw the entire process of transformation in a quagmire. For e.g. those officers, who were not allowed to re-appear for exams till 1996, will have a reason to object this change in service conditions. There are several officers who quit the Railway Engineering service to join non-technical Railway service and have lost seniority. Addressing their concerns will also be a challenge.

  10. Merger will bring about more problems than solutions. In case we are unable to amicably resolve all the issues that come up with it in a timely manner, it will create an environment of uncertainty for a long time, maybe decades, that will affect decision making and organizational performance.

  11. Every department has its core competence. A complex and massive system like Railways has been able to achieve success by team work of its various technical and non-technical cadres. Such a complex system cannot work in a completely generalised system where there is no checks and balances.

  12. By taking away this core competence, we will open a Pandora’s box. It will lead to dilution of ownership & responsibility and will be counter-productive for the organisation.

  13. We must appreciate the fact that there have been only two instances since independence when the Railway operating ratio has been in negative, the last one being in 1979. At that time, the entire Railway Board was replaced and thereafter there was a stellar turn-around of the organization by the Railway cadres.

  14. To conclude, the existing organizational structure is capable of delivering, as it has done on several occasions in the past, provided we are willing to address the core fundamental issues of people and processes.

https://twitter.com/irts_krishna/status/1213009171169366016?s=09

How did FROA accept the single service merger scheme in 2015?

If it was just signed by the then FROA president who later resigned, then why present FROA president who believe is an IRTS officer can also do the same.

Further, if FROA is divided and the CRB is using 2015 signature by all as the proof of acceptability of merger, why does not IRTS, IRAS and IRPS Associations dissociate themselves from FROA so that Officers can claim that we are opposed to single service merger.

If all services have equal value, why somany officers resign from other services to join IRTS/IRAS/IRPS? Why not a single IRTS joined IRES so far??

In 1990 batch DOPT did not allow UC Joshi to join IAS and Amit Vardan IPS as they had joined IRTS in 1988 batch. Out of 19 in IRTS ’88 almost all had left IRS and Audit Accounts, atleast 7 customs, and couple of IPS.

Hundreds of officers have joined Railway civil services after leaving Engineering Services (including railway engineering services) after losing several years.

There are several hundred officers who left other important civil services viz IPS, IRS (customs ), IRS (income tax) and more than thousand officers left Indian Audit & Account services and opted for Railway civil services.

Railway is essentially a safety based transportation organization. Any neglect or superfluous approach to it will lead to disaster on safety front. A logic against merger of services.