Title

Analysis of the case Rajan The Driver

Authors:
Sr No.

Name

Roll No

1.

Anil Kumar

P37100

2.

Devanshu Dixit

P37124

3.

Keyur Gokhale

P37139

4.

Khilesh Chauhan

P37140

5.

Kishor Neduri

P37141

6.

Krishanu Das

P37142

7.

Rishikesh Anand

P37158

a. Case summary
Cattle feed plant, a unit of Sagarmatha Dairy union is located around 20kms north of Nathadwara. It
consists of 200 employees, working in 3 shifts; some of these employees reside in staff quarters near the
plant, and the rest at Nathadwara. The cattle feed plant runs its own transport system, which provides pick up
and drop facilities for employees residing in nathadwara, the company owns 2 mini buses and has employed
4 drivers for the same.
Characters involved in the case are Mr. Suresh Mohan, personnel manager at the plant, Mr. Rajan,
one of the drivers, Mr. Somaraju, Security officer and the General Manager.

b. Current Situation Analysis On 23rd January 1993, Rajan dropped the employees of first shift to their residences at Nathadwara,
and returned back to the plant at 4 p.m. As per the complaint filed with the General Manager by the security
guard Mr. Somaraju, Mr Rajan did not stop the mini bus at around 4 p.m near the sabji mandi, even after
Mr.Somaraju signalled Mr. Rajan to do the same. Also, Mr. Somaraju spotted some unauthorized passengers
in the bus. Further, as soon as the bus arrived at the plant gate, Mr. Somaraju was abused badly by the driver.
Mr. Rajan was given a show cause notice to explain this incidence. According to Mr Rajan, he was
carrying some school kids of the nearby residences of the plant, on humanitarian grounds and he did not stop
the bus, because according to him Mr. Somaraju was drunk. Carrying ordinary passengers on their way back
on humanitarian groups was never objected by the plant management.
Mr. Somaraju was known for his drinking habit after office hours; also, there were few instances of
theft In the plant premises, since past 3 years. During these incidences, Mr. Somaraju had lost his cool, and
beaten up one or two labourers mercilessly.

After detailed analysis of this conflict situation, Mr. Rajan was transferred to prodution section as his
punishment for the incidence. This resulted into a conflict between two employee unions. The employees
union, which stood by Mr. Rajan, demanded to reinstate him as the bus driver. Whereas, Mr. Somaraju
demanded a strict action against Mr. Rajans behaviour and thought, that his transfer to another section was
not a strict measure. Mr. Suresh Mohan, has to take a final decision about this issue.

c. Key Issues/Goals
1. To take fair decision regarding the conflict, that will be acceptable to the employees as well as the
unions concerns.
2. Set specific rules and guidelines for the drivers regarding pick and drop transportation facilities of
the employees and ordinary passengers.

d. Problem statement
1. Understand which part of the narration is valid (Mr. Rajan or Mr. Somaraju), and taking a decision
accordingly.

e. Decision Criteria
1. To be impartial and just during the decision making process.

f. Clearly state whether you are making any assumptions

1. Absence of any bus helper, who assists the driver in daily commute.

g. Generate alternative solutions

1. Talk to the union and convince them about the prevailing decision.
2. Bring both the parties at a common forum, and give them a chance to address their own cases.

h. Evaluate each alternative in the light of the criteria and your knowledge about concepts and
theories
1. Convince the union and the security officer about the prevailing decision
Convince the union that Mr. Rajan has not been removed from the organization, however just been
shifted to another department, this has not affected his financial remuneration nor his position in the
organization.
Convince the security officer that, Mr. Rajan has been shifted to another department as a penalty and
guidelines for bus transport system will be framed at the early possible.

2. Bring both the parties at a common forum, and give them a chance to address their own cases.
Give a fair chance to both of them to prove their account in a common forum, consisting of the
higher management.Ask Rajan, to bring those employees children, whom he claimed to pick up on his way
back to the plant on 23rd Jan 1993 at around 4 p.m.

Ask Mr. Somaraju, to give a detailed reason for his presence at the Sabjimandi during plant working
hours.

i. Preferred Alternative with rationale

2. Bring both the parties at a common forum, and give them a chance to address their own cases.
In this alternative, both the parties are getting a fair chance to prove that they are not guilty. Based on this
meeting, we can convince the employee union, to take back their ultimatum. By following this alternative we
will not take a decision based on first impression error.

j. Justification/Predicted Outcome
Mr. Rajan could prove that the passengers in his bus were school kids, however it could not be
proved that Mr. Somaraju was drunk at the Sabjimandi. Mr. Rajan helped the school kids on humanitarian
grounds, however did not stop the bus when Mr. Somaraju asked him to, so Mr. Rajan was given one final
warning, and specific transportation guidelines for the organization were set. Since, Mr. Somaraju was
wrong at judging Mr. Rajan about carrying unauthorized passengers; Mr. Somaraju was instructed to follow
the transportation guidelines.

k. Plan for implementation

1. Convince the union to take back the ultimatum.
2. Give one weeks time to both the parties, to bring their respective witnesses.
3. Have an open forum, consisting of general manager, personnel manager, Mr. Rajan, and Mr. Somaraju
and the witnesses.
4. Set transportation guidelines as
a. No unauthorized passengers should be allowed to travel by the transport system
b. No one from the organization will be allowed to board the bus, except the office hours.

l. Contingency plan
a. Suspend both the employees for a period of one month, for not abiding to the organization ethos
and instruct them to maintain decorum henceforth.