ABSTRACT
We had started our examination of the organization of Sarabhai Chemicals and its associated companies by talking to Dr Vikram Sarabhai. All managers in the companies knew what we were doing, and why. After a day of discussions with Dr Sarabhai, Dr Chowdhry and I had visited Baroda, where most of the companies’ works and offices were situated. We had met and talked with the managers there, clearing with each as we went along how far we could use the information we were being given in subsequent discussions. At the same time, the climate of these meetings was such that we were able to feel quite free to communicate our own thinking about possible organizational models. Indeed, we built them up in the discussions, arguing their merits and disadvantages as we went along. When Dr Sarabhai joined us at the end of our second day in Baroda we went over the ground with him again. Some discussions with the managers were repeated, this time with Dr Sarabhai present, and he, in his turn, disclosed some of the tentative conclusions he had reached himself. In all these meetings there was, to me, a remarkable readiness to express opinions, which were often different from those of Dr Sarabhai; and, though those present would almost certainly be affected by any outcome, little sign of serious worry was shown about implications for themselves or their careers.
