Case Study

(Chapter 9)

The Employee’s Pregnancy

Cristina Andres is the supervisor of a department in a small manufacturing

company of precision tools. Four operators who are mostly men, except Ching who is
five months pregnant, competently operate the machinery at the production department.
She had been there when Cristina was hired and has maintained an excellent work
record.
The job requires very little physical exertion and most of the time, employees
simply have to push buttons. Occasionally, however, it is necessary to lift boxes
associated with work. Ching’s fellow workers had been doing this for her during most of
her pregnancy but one day, all were extremely busy and no one had time to help her.
Thus, a bottleneck was created. Cristina Andres reprimanded Ching for not keeping the
work flowing steadily.
On the next day, Ching walked into the office of the supervisor and told her that
she had read that lifting heavy objects might cause miscarriage. She requested that the
supervisor assign another worker to do all of the lifting of her. She also wanted other
workers to refrain from smoking for fear it might harm her baby. The supervisor was
caught off-guard by her request and did not know who to follow. Perhaps she should be
sent home on an unpaid leave of absence, or maybe, she could transfer her to another
job where lifting was not required, but this would mean a reduction in Ching’s pay by
P35.00 per hour. All of these thoughts raced through her head as stared up the ceiling
in her office hoping a solution would magically appear. After a few more moments of
silence, Cristina Andres looked at Ching’s and said “I better check with my boss on this
one.”

Help Cristina Andres and Ching solve this problem the steps below:
1. State the main problem of Dr. Pancho.
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2. State the difference areas of consideration following the guide
below. Strengths of the company
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Weaknesses of the company
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 Opportunities
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Threats
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3. Give your proposed solutions/alternative courses of action or ACA
(minimum of three) to help Cristina Andres overcome this
problem. State also the advantages and disadvantages of each.
a.

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b.

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c.

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4. State your recommendation based on your ACA.
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5. Provide a conclusion or detailed action plan to
implement your recommendation using the guide
below:
Specific Activity Person Time Frame Budgetary
Responsible Requirements