METRO MAN SREEDHARAN’S VIEWS ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT

CASE STUDY – POM – SECTIONS B & C/ PROF VENKATESH G : 24 TH SEPTEMBER

2019

Dr. Elattuvalapil Sreedharan fondly called the ‘Metro Man’ was born on 12 th June 1932 at
Karukaputhur, near Kootanad town, Kerala, India. Right from his childhood he was fascinated
with trains and cherished his first train journey as a six-year-old boy from Pattambi to Payyanur
in Kerala with his father Keezhuveettil Neelakantan Moosad. His stint with Indian Railways
began after he cleared the IRSE (Indian Railway Service of Engineers) exams and joined as a
probationer in the Southern Railway in 1954. His first notable achievement was the
reconstruction of the Pamban Railway bridge which was devastated due to a cyclone resulting in
rail link cut off between Dhanushkodi and Rameswaram in South India in 1964. Sreedharan was
given three months to complete the project but he got it done within 46 days for which he
received the Ministry of Railways award. During his tenure as the Chairman and Managing
director of Cochin Shipyard in 1979 he took the charge on building the yard’s biggest ship- Rani
Padmini.

A week before his retirement from Indian Railways, E. Sreedharan was made the Chairman and
Managing director of Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) for spearheading the
construction of railway line connecting Mumbai to Mangalore which was for long left isolated
due to the tough terrain. The project was completed in 7 year’s time with the construction of
8000 bridges across the 760 Km stretch of the Konkan railway. With Konkan railway almost
nearing completion he was onboard as the Managing director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation
Ltd. (DMRCL) which was set up to curb the crisis of non-existence of a mass transport system in
Delhi with the people relying on buses as the sole mode of mass transport. Despite the pressures,
Phase 1 of the project was completed in seven year’s time in 2005, on budget and well ahead of
time.

Sreedharan attributes his success to only one word: Integrity. He believes that any battle can be
won if one does his work with sincerity and integrity without any attachment to the results.
According to him the four pillars of work culture are punctuality, integrity, professional
competence and a sense of social responsibility. Now settled in Ponnani, Kerala, he serves as the
Principal Advisor DMRC on the many metro projects (Kochi Metro, Lucknow Metro, Jaipur
Metro) happening in India. He is the founder of Foundation of Restoration of National values a
Not for profit organization with the vision to raise the consciousness of all citizens so they
possess an abiding compulsion to be truthful and ethical in their goals and aspirations.

Several books have been published on him. The notable ones in Malayalam include ‘Karmayogi:
E. Sreedharante Jeevitha Katha (Translated: The story of E. Sreedharan’s life) ‘ by M. S Asokan,
Jeevithavijayathinte Paadapusthakam (translated: A Textbook on success in life) is a short
biography on E. Sreedharan by P.V Alby. He has also personally endorsed the book by Railway
Journalist, Rajendra Aklekar, India’s railway man- A biography of Dr. E Sreedharan.

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Pamban bridge reconstruction was done within 46 days from the original planned schedule
of 3 months. You also got the Mappila Khalasis involved. Was innovation the success of the
project?

Certainly. Innovation will help in a big way. There is no doubt about it. In some of my previous
projects, I had worked with the Mappila Khalasis and their leaders. They basically do muscle
work. And how to do muscle work they definitely know. The techniques that we bought in
Pamban Bridge were purely innovative. The bridge was supposed to be rebuilt in a certain
method which was to take 6 months. But with innovation, we were able to change the entire
technology and approach and got it done in 46 days. I knew that if we take the normal route, we
cannot meet the three months deadline given to us. We were forced to innovate, to think of a
different method to do it and that method is intuition. I had worked in Bombay Port trust earlier
so familiarity in working with sea surroundings helped me. Also, a divine blessing is required.
That everybody should understand. Whatever you do, entirely is not your merit. There is a divine
hand guiding you. You must enlist the divine dispensation.

You have built bridges, Railways, metros, and ships. How important is domain knowledge
when you keep shifting across the domain? Do you think to have good domain knowledge
or to spend the time to gain that knowledge is critical for working on a project?

Absolutely. Domain knowledge is very essential. Only then you can do things perfectly and
sincerely. If you do not have the knowledge learn it fast. You can visit areas where such works
are going on. Engage with people who can guide you. This is what I did for Delhi Metro as we
have not done a world-class Metro in our country. We engaged International Consultants to start
with but learned from them quickly. So, after Phase 1 of Delhi Metro we did not depend upon
them but handled everything ourselves. All the 15 Metros going on were all handled by the Delhi
Metro, DMRC. I call it professional competency. You must have the professional knowledge or
the competency for any work.

One word which defines your success is integrity. When you talk about integrity in project
management is it a skill to be learnt and practiced?

It is a philosophy one should cultivate from their young days i.e. I will be honest, I will not do
something which is not correct and likewise. It is mostly ingrained in you. And you partly collect
from your experience. Ingrained means you beget it from your parents or teachers. And the other
is, you build up from your experience.

In projects, we see highly competent people but are not good team players. How did you
handle such people in Konkan and Delhi Metro Projects?

In Konkan Railway and Delhi Metro, I had a good advantage. I selected the team. The
organization was not handed over to me. We started from scratch. Only people whom I knew
earlier or with whom I had some contact were onboard. So, I didn’t have this problem to face at
all. And if I found somebody was not cooperating but was arrogant and was using his position
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then there is no place for him in the organization. Straight away I used to send such people.
Either he is back to the railways or I told him that his contract is over and he can go home. The
team was a very homogeneous team. “Rules and procedures should be most appropriate for the
project.”

When you hand-picked the team what were the specific skills you looked for?

While handpicking the team, I only looked at two things, one is integrity and the second is
commitment. I never bothered about the knowledge of the person because I always believed if
the person doesn’t know anything, I can teach him or get somebody else to teach him, Or I can
send him to a place where he can learn and come. I did not bother very much about the
professional competency but I was only bothered about integrity and his reputation for
commitment to work sincerely. Most of the people I picked up I knew them. I was at the railways
for 36 years. I used to find out the reputation of the person and pick them up.

How important are tools, techniques, process, and procedures in projects? Have you
deviated from them in the projects you handled?

Yes, certainly they are important. And you should deviate if it suits. Tools and techniques have to
be flexible. Tools, techniques, process, and procedures are all man-made. Depending upon the
situation you should change it which only the top man can take the decision.

For example, during the Pamban reconstruction project, the railway board laid down the policies
and procedures to do it but I entirely deviated from that. The credit I take is I never consulted
with the seniors. I never told them I am deviating. They never even knew about it. If you go
behind approvals you may not get it. They might not understand your point of view. I made all
the changes locally(smiles) and fortunately the results proved that I was absolutely right.

Do you follow an assertive or an aggressive style of Management?

I would say neither. It has to be correct leadership to motivate the team, so, you get the best out
of them. This cannot be achieved by assertion or aggression. But only by taking the team into
confidence – this is what we have to achieve, this is the path we have to follow. Get them
committed to the plan of action, and give them all support or wherewithal necessary and then
carry them with you. Taking them into confidence is very important. The leader sets the tone for
the organization. If the leader is an integral man then everybody will follow. The leader of the
team is very important for the success of the team.

My style of management was -Every Monday at 9 O’clock I met all the heads of the department.
There was no agenda for the meeting and there were no minutes of the meeting. We have a free
frank discussion i.e. what has happened the last week, what are the problems now facing us?
what should we do this week? and likewise. During that time, we not only talk about the plan of
action but I also try to inculcate the values that we have to practice-How to deal with a
contractor, how to deal with the public, the government etc.
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The first Monday of the month I also get the junior and middle level about 200 of them, and they
can raise any questions. If they have a doubt they can stand up and say we do not agree with this.
That is taking them into confidence. Let them know what are your goals and how you are going
to achieve it. The management intentions should be shared with them. “You must have the
professional knowledge or the competency for any work.”

Did you have vision statement for each project?

Yes. For each project we had two things, one is vision statement and the other is the ethics and
values to be followed. It is all listed out and given to everyone.

You made use of the reverse clock in Konkan railway and DMRC. How did that help?

That was to mark the timelines. How many days we require to complete each segment of the
project and as a whole. There was a clock in every room and every work site. After each day the
clock will automatically reduce one day. That served as a constant reminder to everyone, that
only so many days are left. It served as a reminder to the engineer, contractor, supplier, and
everybody. The reverse clocks are followed even now. If you come to Cochin office you can see
the reverse clock.

How was it for you to manage so many stakeholders in the Konkan Railway and Delhi
Metro project?

Frankly speaking, within the organization I had no problem. Everybody knew what the project
requires, and I had constant interaction with everyone. We had a five-day week. During the week
I don’t disturb anyone. Saturdays I went for an inspection. The inspection is not for finding fault
with people. The inspections are a sort of very intimate discussion with everyone involved:
What is your problem? how do you face it? if this is to be done by this date- what you think is
necessary to get this done? do you need any for the help? Do you need any more resources?

We discuss such things so everybody feels a part of the team. The projects I handled had a lot of
external stakeholders. People had to give their land, we dealt with so many government
organizations, regulatory organizations, politicians. Such interactions I handled myself. The
Organization was completely immune to external factors. It is very necessary. Dealing with
political factors was very difficult but you can win the battle by your sincerity.

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