Women Empowerment at Ajanta Manufacturing Limited

Abstract

The past three decades have witnessed a steadily increasing
awareness of the need to empower women through measures
to increase social, economic and political equity for sustainable economic and social development in any country. The case study highlights AML‟s (Ajanta Manufacturing Limited) women empowerment process. This case is about AML, a company forming a part of Ajanta Group of Companies based at Morbi India. Shri O. R. Patel, after whom the ORPAT brand is named, decided to employ women workforce in 1985 with the belief that „women are more efficient and productive as they are disciplined, dedicated, and focused.‟ Out of nearby 4000 employees working in the organization 90% are female employees belonging to small villages. Group chairman gives credit to the thousands of women that contributed to the growth of company for being the biggest manufacturer of wall clocks in the world. The case discusses problems and challenges faced by organisation while recruitment, retaining the employees and the safety and security of women workforce. The case also highlights the issues related to motivation, training and development, compensation, reward-recognition and working culture in the company. The case also briefly discusses the innovative strategies to building confidence in women workforce.