Professional Documents
Culture Documents
in
ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
and
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Cases in
ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
and
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Editors
MIRZA S. SAIYADAIN
J. S. SODHI
RAMA J. JOSHI
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not be reproduced for publication.
ISBN-13: 978-0-07-015257-1
ISBN-10: 0-07-015257-8
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F or a long time, a need has been felt to develop cases in the area of Organisational Behaviour
and Human Resource Management. While some attempts have been made in the past.
These cases however, for some reasons, do not lead to decision making situations in specific
areas. They are good for general discussions in the general area of management. A case has
to have a “pain point”, which would require the managers to take decisions to manage the
pain point, which is basically the focus of management education. In this book, cases have
been put together in the areas of organisational behaviour and human resource management.
All these cases require processing of information, analysis of the existing information and
drawing conclusions leading to a decision.
There are 17 cases in Organisational Behaviour dealing with issues such as women
employment, sexual harassment, work culture, organisational behaviour, job satisfaction,
mentoring, communication, employee commitment, interpersonal conflict, team management,
leadership style and employment.
There are 15 cases in Human Resources Management. Their focus varies from discipline
management, promotion, workers participation, union management, recruitment and selection,
training and development, career planning and compensation management.
In addition, there is a detailed note on case method of teaching, training and notes on
the general introduction of Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource Management.
We believe the use of these cases in courses on Organisational Behaviour and Human
Resource Management would improve the quality of learning in the class and provide students
a grip on the real life situations facing the managers. They would help them in thinking about
policy formulation and policy implementation in these areas.
Mirza S. Saiyadain
J. S. Sodhi
Rama J. Joshi
Acknowledgements
This book is the result of the initiative taken by the Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations
and Human Resources. This work would not have been completed without the contribu-
tions made by a number of scholars whose cases have been included in this volume. We
acknowledge their contribution and are thankful to them. The manuscript was typed by
Ms. J. Pawa, Ms. Jaimala and Ms. Reeta Tangri of Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations
and Human Resources. They deserve our special thanks.
Mirza S. Saiyadain
J. S. Sodhi
Rama J. Joshi
Contributors
1. A. C. Nanda, Ex. Faculty, Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations and Human
Resources, New Delhi.
2. Anima Sharma, Assistant Professor, Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations and
Human Resources.
3. Archana Tyagi, Ex. Professor, Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad.
4. B. D. Singh, Professor, Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad.
5. Bijai N. Zaveri, Research Scholar, Gujarat University, Baroda.
6. Daisy Chauhan, Assistant Professor, Management Development Institute, Gurgaon.
7. Govinda Tamang, Senior Faculty, Central University, Nepal.
8. J. S. Sodhi, Professor and Director, Sri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations and
Human Resources, New Delhi.
9. K. B. Akhilesh, Professor, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore.
10. K. D. Kohli, Ex-Deputy Director General, Ordinance Factories.
11. K. K. Verma, Director, Ac ademy of HR Development, Ahmedabad.
12. Kakoli Sen, Assistant Professor, IILM Institute of Higher Education, New Delhi.
13. M. S. Ramanujam, Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources,
New Delhi.
14. Mirza S. Saiyadain, Ex. Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
15. Prashant Amin, Faculty, Gujarat University, Baroda.
16. Poornima Kishinchand, Faculty, Saint Gits Institute of Management, Pathamuttan,
Kerala.
17. Rama J. Joshi, Professor, Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations and Human
Resources, New Delhi.
18. S. K. Roy, Ex. Professor, Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations and Human
Resources, New Delhi.
19. S. P. Chauhan, Professor, Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations and Human
Resources, New Delhi.
20. Sangeetha Rajadurai, Faculty, Tata Dhan Academy.
21. Smitha Pillai, Ex. Student, Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad.
22. Vandana Parashar, Assistant Professor, Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations and
Human Resources, New Delhi.
Contents
Preface v
Acknowledgements vii
Contributors ix
Part 1 BACKGROUND 1
Case Method of Teaching/Training in Management 3
M ore than seven decades ago, Dewing (1931) catalogued three theories of
education—General Education (accumulation of facts by people through
ages), Special Education (more intensive and exhaustive cataloguing of the
results of experience along a certain direction) and Specialised Education
(mastery of the facts in a field of study). Business education is a specialised field
of education consisting of recapitulations of the results of business experiences
“arranged, catalogued, systemised and then presented without the lumber
of discarded precedents.” Perhaps, one of the most appropriate pedagogy to
disseminate specialised education in business is the case method.
What is a Case?
Cases can also vary in terms of whether there is one single way of
handling the situation or whether each situation can generate different
decisions depending upon the assumptions and analysis of available
information. In the first category, one would generally find cases in finance
and accounts, computers, quantitative area and to some extent, production
and production/operation related situations. The cases in the second category
would generally fall in the broad areas of organisational behaviour, marketing
and strategic management.
Whether cases are used to make presentation as an illustration, role play or just
discussion in the class, they help participants to learn and develop certain skills
characteristic of effective managers. These skills develop by taking case studies
seriously, listening and appreciating different point of views and learning
from each other. Case studies require prior preparation, active participation
and quick assimilation of various point of views. Hence, they contribute in
developing diagnostic and conceptual skills. They help in presentation and
communication skills and enhance data processing and conclusion drawing.
They force the participants to learn to identify justifications to back up their
opinions and point of view. These skills cannot be inculcated through lectures
where participants are passive receivers of information.
Learning DeCision-Making
Over the years, a model of decision- making has been developed by the
author, which consists of nine stages of problem solving. The basic assumption
is that each managerial situation presents a problem, which needs to be solved
by taking a decision. These stages are given below.
1. The first task in teaching a case is to place the case in a context or the
framework of a course. Basically, it means asking what the teacher
expects the participants to learn. Whether it is an application of
a concept or a theory or the participants learn concept or theory
through discussion on a case situation.
2. In the context of the above, it becomes necessary to provide reading
material dealing with the context or a framework in the course. This
could be either an existing reading or a text specially prepared for
the session. This is also necessary because the same case can be used
for several courses.
3. Preparation is the foundation of case discussion. Participants should
be asked to read the case (distributed in advance) carefully, process the
information in the case and come up with some tentative points and
conclusions. Understanding of case data is a precursor for meaningful
case discussion. Participants should also be encouraged to have
preliminary discussion with other participants either individually
or in groups. Experience has shown that if a group consists of
participants with different academic backgrounds, understanding of
case data can be facilitated for those not familiar with the concepts of
a different field of study. For example, a case in production/operation
for those with non-engineering background could be made more easy
by those with engineering background in the group.
4. Some cases are followed by discussion questions or questions
provided by the teacher to help the students to prepare the case. A
meaningful discussion often gets restricted because the participants
try to answer the questions and in the process miss out some of the
10 C a s e s in O B a n d H R M a n a g e m e n t
important information that may be extremely useful but does not fall
within the purview of the questions.
5. One of the major roles of the teacher is to seek involvement of all the
participants. Not all participants are vocal or bold enough to present
their points. They may have good ideas but are too shy to present
them. Not only this, but a large number of ideas make the class
discussion vibrant and interesting. A passive listener in the class may
make a short remark, which may change the direction of discussion,
or a reanalysis of the ideas already presented.
6. Teaching cases requires managing process. A teacher needs to
ask questions that help participants in diagnosing the problem
and drawing conclusions. An attempt should be made to question
the participants on the viability of their conclusions or decisions
suggested by them. This is based on the assumption that there is
not a single problem, which is not capable of atleast two intelligent
solutions. Such an attempt helps participants to realise that there
could be another way of examining the same problem. This is often
referred to as consequence management.
7. It is a useful exercise to record comments made by participants on
the chalk board/white board. Such an exercise helps in tracking
the discussion, identifying similarities and differences amongst the
points made by the participants and sharply focus on the major issues
and concerns in the case. It also helps in summarising the discussion
before the session gets over.
8. Teachers may also be tempted to provide their own solutions to a
problem situation. Given the nature of teacher-taught relationship,
teachers solutions might become the gospel truth for the participants.
Cases should be used with a clear understanding that the purpose of
business education is not to teach ones understanding of the truth
but to teach them to think in the presence of new situations in an
ever changing environment. Teaching by case method consists of
Intr oduct io n
Writing Cases
Before writing the case, the case writer must ask the question, What is
this case about or what does the writer or user wants the participants to learn
from this case? Depending on the need, the case can be developed from the
published material and secondary sources of information or by interviewing
company executives. In the later case, Culliton (1954) has suggested a three
stage process consisting of before, during and after the interview. Before
the interview, the case writer should find a “lead”. One can spot a lead from
a variety of sources such as, a casual chat with the company executive, an
article in the journal/magazine, a newspaper advertisement, etc. This should
be followed by getting to know the organisation. It is generally helpful if top
executives are taken in confidence before the appointments are made and
information is sought. During the interview, there is a need to explain the
1 C a s e s in O B a n d H R M a n a g e m e n t
policy of writing a case, ensuring confidentiality and taking notes with the
prior permission. After the interview is over, an attempt should be made to
immediately write the interview data and then develop a full length case.
However, before the case is used for discussion, it is absolutely necessary to
submit a draft to the executive and seek their permission to use the case for
academic purpose. If asked, names and other details must be disguised.
One can also end by saying if you are a manager in this situation
what would you do and why.
8. Some cases present a series of questions at the end of the case. There
is some debate whether this is the most relevant way to learn from
the case. If the larger purpose of the case learning is to process
information, analyse it and draw conclusions, any attempt to provide
questions would narrow the focus of learning. Participants would try
to find answers to the questions given at the end of the case, rather
than learn from the analysis of the situation.
9. A case does not illustrate the right or wrong way of handling the
managerial situation. Hence all cases should have a footnote to say
that, “This case is prepared for class discussion and does not illustrate
effective or ineffective handling of managerial situation.”
teaChing note
Teaching note is a communication between the author of the case and the
instructor using the case. The basic purpose of the teaching note is to help
the instructor to understand the reason the case was written, the questions
that may arise from it and the theoretical points that might be raised during
the discussion. Generally, a teaching note begins with a short description of
the case. This is followed by the learning objectives. Some teaching notes also
provide a description of the discussion outline to help the instructor to teach
the case. The author might also provide some details about the concept or
theories that ought to be understood through the case.
Cooper, J. D. (1961), The Art of Decision Making, New York: Double Day.
signifiCanCe of oB
The significance of OB stems from (i) its contribution to ‘people skills’ and (ii)
‘building organisational performance.’ There are two aspects of people skills:
understanding people and getting them to work effectively.
ABC Undertaking
Prepared by J.S.Sodhi
“This case was prepared by the author for the sole purpose of aiding classroom discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as
endorsements, or sources of data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management.”
C a s e s in O B a n d H R M a n a g e m e n t
Dimensions Mean
Job Satisfaction 1.88
Organisational commitment 1.81
Safety and Security 1.77
Job Content 1.65
Preparedness of Employees to take 1.33
up Future Challenges
Social Integration 1.58
Delegation of Authority 1.56
Mutual Trust 1.55
Approaches to Discipline 1.51
Quality Systems 1.51
Interpersonal Relations 1.48
Likely Future Challenge in View of 1.46
Changing Economic Environment
Performance Appraisal 1.36
Or ganis a t io n al B e ha vi ou r 2
Buchan was a world renowned company. It was known for its quality
products. Their plant in Chennai was of world standards. They had
implemented Total Quality Management (TQM), Kaizen and various other
Quality Circle initiatives. Apart from all this they had a wonderful work
culture popularly known as High Performance Work System (HPWS). It
The takeover by Alpha was neither hostile nor smooth. The employees
at Buchan had lot of apprehensions whether Alpha would be able to carry
forward their culture. Alpha was a traditional Indian manufacturing
firm. It concentrated more on production than employee welfare. It was
facing union problems in almost all its other plants.
After the takeover, the Chennai plant soon became a training ground
for the employees of the rest of the plants of Alpha. People selected from
Chennai and nearby places were trained for technical skills and then sent
to the other manufacturing plants of Alpha across the country.
Mohan was aware that the Chennai plant followed this unique work
culture. He had his own apprehensions about the working of this system.
He had recently witnessed a strike in the Gwalior plant. The strike went
out of management’s hands and they suffered huge losses in terms of
production and goodwill. After the settlement the management felt that
Mohan should be shifted to the Chennai plant.
There were also constant comparisons with the services and salaries
provided in other companies. The employees wanted Alpha to revive their
salary structure, improve their transport facilities, reduce canteen charges,
etc. With the increased production the workload on employees were also
increased, so they demanded more allowances and increased pay.
Mohan, 40, was new to South India. He was a man with a fixed
mind set. According to him the employees were very well taken care by
Alpha and there was very little that could be done for their benefit. He
was also not keen at communicating with the employees, although all
the employees were proficient in English.
30 C a s e s in O B a n d H R M a n a g e m e n t
His working style was quoted as rude and mean. Employees did
not believe in sharing their views with him because according to them,
he ultimately did whatever he wanted. There had been instances where
employees had gone with their grievances to him and he took that as
an opportunity to settle his grudges against them. He never went to the
shop floor. He always said, “My door is always open, anybody can come
to me. I need not go anywhere.”
One of the most unique features about Alpha’s Chennai plant was
that most employees were unmarried, graduates or postgraduates residing
in the nearby places with little family obligations. All of them had their
training in Bangalore. So they knew each other even before joining the
company as employees. They were competent and proficient enough to
look for better options outside, which worried the Alpha group.
As time went by, the monthly meetings and open houses became
just a formality. The absenteeism in these meetings were largely evident.
The employees believed that the management was doing these activities
just for the sake of it and were not taking any serious action. This belief
stemmed from their experiences with the management where their ideas
and suggestions were not taken into account. People soon lost their trust
Or ganis a t io n al B e ha vi ou r
in them and stopped participating and sharing their views, which spoiled
the whole purpose of these initiatives.
The union got support from political parties and various other
influential people of the society like the Panchayat President, etc. There
was also a sudden spurge in the employees who were leaving their jobs
at the Chennai plant of Alpha. Many of the star performers were leaving
the organisation and that further accentuated Alpha’s troubles.
BEC Limited
good relations with the community since the management had to face
different kinds of problems at the construction stage. Not too soon, the
management came to realise that this neglect led towards a negative
pattern of thinking and expectations on the part of the community.
Another important reason for the formation of such attitudes had been
the lack of communications or inadequate communication between
the organisation and the community, Hence, it was felt essential by the
management to develop direct contact with the local residents. One of
the recent methods adopted to mould the community perceptions has
been through the medium of in house journal.
In order to find out if the journal had been meeting the aims for
which it was set up, the management decided to review the contents of
this journal. For this purpose all the twelve issues of the house journal
for the year 1990 were selected and analysed. A content analysis of the
information presented is given in Table I. This table is prepared in terms
of the frequency with which each of the listed information was reported
in the journal.
3 C a s e s in O B a n d H R M a n a g e m e n t
Bharat Rayons
GETs who are the direct recipients of induction training feel this
training to be generally inadequate. They feel that the new entrants are left
on their own to learn. They are, of course, provided with the opportunity
to identify problems at the shop floor but there is no guidance on how
to solve day-to-day problems. Some trainees feel that sufficient time is
not provided to know about the company’s work procedures, equipment,
etc. This is due to a very brief orientation in each department as well as
on the job training. Further discussions with the trainees revealed that
because of the brief assignment in each department, the departmental
head also did not take sufficient interest in the trainees. No important
work was assigned to them, since their presence in the department was
very temporary.
Mentors can guide and improve the system of training new entrants as
well as in imparting effective and purposeful training. They try to instill
confidence in new entrants and guide them in case of difficulties. On the
personal front they have helped a lot and provided valuable advice. At
the same time it is felt that the concept is not being practiced seriously.
Very few mentors are serious; they are just wasting time. It is felt that
trainees are not guided properly by some mentors. They do not take due
interest in their protégés because they are too busy with their own work.
They are also neither interested nor powerful to influence training due to
cost considerations. It is also felt that the system is not monitored well
by the HRD department.
Further discussions with some mentors reveal that they are not very
clear about the role they are to play. The mentors and the protégés meet
very infrequently. The designated mentors feel that protégés should come
to them rather than them going to the protégés. There exists a system of
convening regular meetings of GETs and the mentors to take stock of the
progress and to chalk out further course of action. But these meetings
are also held very infrequently.
Farmers Empowerment
—An ITC Way
— Bill Gates
Government’s Dilemma
not even suffice the owner. But, of course, due to the lack of the flow of
cash economy they exchange their produce to buy essential household
goods for their personal consumption. The reasons for the low yield goes to
multiple factors notable among these are poor quality of land, land being
un-irrigated on cobbled and rocky hill terrains, untimely or no supply of
seeds and fertilizers to the farmers, their dependency on the rain, which
may not come when it is really needed and most important by lack of
knowledge of modern agricultural machines and techniques.
During the monsoons most of the lanes within the village are
inundated with rain water and overflowing drains and the entire village
is cut-off from the outside world because of the overflowing seasonal
rivers. Maintaining the drainage system, waste disposal system, wells,
water supply, roads and lanes within the village is the responsibility
of the Panchayat but, due to the lack of the funds and any controlling
mechanism, which can check their activities they work at their ease and
for their ease. In the list of the most influential people of the village few
people enjoy extra and exclusive status and power they include Sarpanch,
doctors, social workers, veterinary assistants, school teachers and local
MLA, who comes to the areas for the votes and to hire the villagers
when she has to organise a rally. Except appearing during the formal
functions and making casual talks to increase her vote bank, MLA remains
persistently unapproachable for the common villagers.
The Forest Policy has restricted the rights of the villagers to the land,
forest produce and game. This has got the villagers annoyed profusely to
an extent that there are daily incidents of quarrels between the poachers
and the Forest Guard, which sometimes takes an ugly turn leading to
killings. It is more of an emotional matter. The land and the environment
they live in have been accommodating them since ages. Now, they feel
cheated and deprived of the things which according to them belong to
them.
C a s e s in O B a n d H R M a n a g e m e n t
There are few government officials who are posted in the area and
have an important role in the implementation of the programmes and
the policies. They directly interact with the people. The more important
among them are Block Development Officer (BDO), bank manager, district
collector, forest guard/officer, tehsildar, police constables, doctors and
sometimes school headmasters. Unfortunately, these people have formed
a nexus among them, which is very hard to pierce through. Many of
them do not want to move out because of their vested interest and if
they have to, then they prefer to go to an area where they could get a
similar environment. These people merge the issue of social welfare and
development with their personal development and gradually their focus
changes from people centric development to self-centered development.
As a result the programme evaluation in the area hardly shows any
difference in the life and lifestyle of the people. Now, over a period of
time people have partially become aware of few of these things. This
partial awareness spiced up with the full confidence sometimes creates
very embarrassing situations and at other times where confidence is
replaced with shyness and ignorance, the people continue to live the
way they are.
The bank manager was maintaining false records of the loans and
subsidies allotted in the names of the villagers. A sudden inspection by
the auditor on receiving complaints followed by his investigations in
the nearby villages resulted in the suspension and transfer of the bank
manager. He was transferred to the urban centre and was trying his level
best to come back to the area.
The police constable is looked upon with awe more because of his
muscular power than because of his authority. The BDO is the most
powerful government employee, who directly deals with the development
and welfare activities in the entire block. He is one of the persons who
organises and is invariably present in all the public meetings of the MLA
and other senior politicians, bureaucrats and VIPs visiting the area and
since he does not deal with the disbursement and procurement of the
funds, etc. directly villagers regard him in the high esteem. During the
time of the inspection it was found that in the political arena his status
Or ganis a t io n al B e ha vi ou r 4
In the above mentioned scenario the villagers do not get the benefit of
even 25 percent of what they should be getting. Most of the programmes
meant for the development of the villages and welfare of the villages
run-out before reaching the stage of implementation and those which
get implemented have partial impact on the village and the villagers. Out
of all the programmes meant for the beneficiaries only 4–5 percent are
utilised and the rest of the programmes are left unutilised. To combat
with this situation and to make the micro level planning more effective,
government is in a dilemma regarding what should be done.
CASE 7
International Market
Research Company
One of the three team leaders in Delhi resigned and a new person,
Siddhant replaced him. Till Siddhant joined everything seemed to be
running smoothly at least at the surface level. The other two team
Prepared by: Anima Sharma
“This case was prepared by the author for the sole purpose of aiding classroom discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as
endorsements, or sources of data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management.”
Or ganis a t io n al B e ha vi ou r 4
leaders Vishal and Lokesh showed the first sign of disagreement with the
appointment of Siddhant, when they came to know that he has received
his higher degrees from the U.S., which had put him several points ahead
of both of them. The first jolt was felt by Vishal and Lokesh when in the
first meeting with the President and Vice President (VP) they realised
that Siddhant is given special treatment and the President and VP were
paying serious attention to whatever he is saying. At the end of the
meeting Siddhant was given an extra task of organisational restructuring.
For this, he had to evaluate the performance of every worker including
the team leaders and to check the balance sheet of the organisation. The
objective of this was to decide the qualification/skill based allocation
of duties for all staff members, hiring/firing, promotions given to each
of them, compensation and packages as per the performance and cost
cutting on the unutilised items, thus bringing transparency in the system
and to increase its sustainability.
Siddhant never knew that he was going to put his hand in the
beehive. In his draft plan he mentioned several discrepancies in the audit
records and the ways to cut down upon few extra expenditures. In his
human resource plan the responsibilities were decentralised and he also
presented a 360 degree evaluation system in which team leaders had
little role while deciding the fate of the research team. The copies of this
plan were distributed amongst the President, VP and the team leaders
for the feedback. It brought the turmoil in the entire office. Vishal and
Lokesh, who were already discomforted by the entry of Siddhant in the
office, now felt that not only they will have to make compromise with
several of their personal expenditures, which they were charged to the
office account but they were also losing their power on the field staff by
showing their favour time to time. Immediately, both the team leaders
mobilised the office staff and the entire staff split into groups. Some were
favouring the old team leaders, few were favouring Siddhant but due to
old association with the other team leaders they did not want to oppose
them either. Few were under the obligations of the old team leaders hence,
did not oppose them and others played the role of mere spectators.
30 percent of them expressed any opinion. In the meantime, the office had
become a battlefield in which not only Siddhant with his insignificant
supporters was at a logger heads with the other two team leaders but their
supporters had also started giving a cold treatment to Siddhant. It was
perpetual cold war like conditions in the office. The older team leaders
mobilised the office staff and soon the complaints against Siddhant
started to pour in the HR department and HRD was inundated with the
resignation threats of several members unless Siddhant was dismissed.
The President and the VP are thinking of how they should come out
of this situation.
CASE 8
Mahila Mandal10
The modern system has taken away their independence and has
pushed them into earning daily wages. Forest Policy has put restrictions
on their traditional economic activity, ‘Hunting and Gathering’ and they
are neither educated nor trained for the skilled jobs hence, working on
daily wages as labourers is the only way of earning left with them.
Or ganis a t io n al B e ha vi ou r
Manufacturers Limited11
• Attendance system was adhoc and not followed properly. The shop
managers/supervisors reports on such matters were final.
• Any sick employee not attending office would get basic salary and
Dearness Allowance (D.A) for one year during illness. Besides,
employees’ medical claims were rising and in most cases due to
simple manipulations.
• The union leaders had become very strong and peaceful industrial
relations was being bought by appeasing the union leaders.
About this time, there was a change in the leadership at the top. The
new leader was very clear that this unprofessional style of management
will have to change. He called a meeting of his senior management
to discuss strategies to resolve problems and formulate new policies,
which would integrate the interests of the organisation with that of the
employees.
CASE 10
Modernisation of Mind at
Tata Steel12
started in 1980 and went on till 1997. The four phases varied in terms of
time period as seen below:
Tata Steel has a customer base of over 5000 customers out of which
158 have been identified as key customers accounting for 51 percent
of the total business. One percent increase in sale to key customers
contributes Rs 1.8 crores. Tata Steel ensures preferential treatment to
these key customers in the area of redressal of complaints and quick
handling of accounts. An Enterprise Resource Planning System has been
implemented to improve availability and analysis of customer needs
and other market demands, stock management, quality assurance and
accounts management.
Tata Workers’ union is one of the earliest trade unions in India. Its
history dates back to 1920. Over the years it has seen the involvement
of political stalwarts like C. F. Andrews, C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru
and office bearers of such caliber as Subhash Chandra Bose, Prof. Abdul
Bari and Michael John.
0 C a s e s in O B a n d H R M a n a g e m e n t
When the modernisation plan started in 1980 both the union and the
management agreed on no retrenchment, redundant labour to be retrained
and redeployed in suitable jobs. Talking about modernisation, Mr. D. K.
Singh, General Secretary said that Union agreed to bring new technology
because it was consulted. They cooperated because they wanted to serve
the company and they got a good deal. There was continuous dialogue,
openness and transparency and schemes suggested by management
were not very painful to workers. They found a common path by joint
consultation, which has been a culture in Tata Steel. The relationship
between the union and the management was best vocalised by Mr. Singh
when he said, that they have different paths but their destiny was the
same.
success indicators
The General Manager of NEEC was the Chief Executive who had
under him a marketing manager, a production manager, a personnel
manager, a controller of accounts and a chief of design. All the managers
were Graduates in Arts. They were untrained in management and in
their day to day work relied mostly on their knowledge of the products
and the processes.
The General Manager had been concerned about the losses the
company had been incurring since the last seven years. A preliminary
discussion amongst the managerial group indicated that the following
factors were responsible for these losses, i.e. excessive overtime payment,
idle working time, power failure, shortage of materials, communication
gap between the top management and the workers at the shop floor, lack
of motivational incentive and plan and lack of training of personnel at
all levels. During this meeting there was a consensus that there was a
need to go into the problem more systematically. Rather than exploring
and identifying areas for corrective action by the internal managerial
manpower, it was decided to hire the services of an external consultant.
A reputed organisation engaged in research, training and consultancy
was approached.
Main Points
(1) The roles of line and staff were not clearly delineated
A few also pointed out that employees did not understand how the
“organisation operated”.
general
Some of the other important points emerging from the survey were:
The General Manager has been analysing the consultants reports for
the last two days. He has decided to invite the consultant a week later
to discuss further action.
CASE 12
Ramson Company1
Despite getting very high salaries, workers are not happy and
disapprove of the management’s heightened emphasis of highly stretched
targets. The management has made it clear that the workers will never
attempt to form a union. Infact, learning from their past experience, the
management had, as a matter of policy, recruited workers of their new
plants from different parts of the country. According to the management,
this was done to facilitate the creation of a company culture. Workers,
however, perceive that this was done to ensure that workers do not unite
together to form a union. In the social dialogue forums, workers feel that
their problems are never taken up and the members of the management
often impose their agenda.
Rash Pharmaceuticals1
2000 field staff working in about a dozen field offices all over the country.
The company personnel are highly qualified with many years of formal
and technical education and the employees keep themselves abreast
with the latest innovations in products and technology through books
and journals subscribed by the library of Rash Pharmaceuticals. The
average age of the employees is 33 years. Most of them are married
and of those 30 percent have their spouses working. On an average the
employees have about eight and a half years of working experience in
Rash Pharmaceuticals. They have been in their present position for six
years and have been promoted on an average 1.5 times during their
association with the organisation.
strengths
• Rash Pharmaceuticals has a large percentage of employees who
are highly educated. They have several years of formal education
as well as professional training. These employees are also keen
to keep themselves updated by reading professional journals and
magazines.
• The employees are particularly pleased with the realisation that Rash
Pharmaceuticals provides sufficient opportunities to its employees
to use their skills and abilities (average = 5.09).
Concerns
• Supervisors feel while they somehow should get the work done, they
are helpless in either rewarding or punishing their subordinates.
The Directors have gone over the report of the consultants and have
asked the General Manager (Personnel and Administration) to prepare
a blue print of specific activities that should be initiated to manage the
concerns expressed in the report.
CASE 14
Despite the fact that his wife is a competitive partner in his clinic,
she never participates in any of the activities of the NGO. The MD is a
man of several credits and few but serious vices overshadow his gains.
He has an internationally acclaimed research work and a vision to
grow more. Because of this he is traveling most of the time within and
outside Delhi and is hardly available to his staff. During his absence he
communicates electronically with a few of his selected staff, chief among
whom is the Deputy Director (DD) for whom he has an exceptional high
degree of softness.
The DD hated everything about Rewa and that hate became more
intense when she started feeling that the MD is taking interest in Rewa.
Though, it was purely professional interest it invoked unfounded sense
of insecurity in the DD. Being well aware of their relationship, Rewa
maintained her distance and even if he tried to be over friendly, she
7 C a s e s in O B a n d H R M a n a g e m e n t
Seeing that grapevines and gossips ruled the office and there was no
hope of any improvement and in the meantime due to some demanding
situation appearing at her home Rewa finally thought that she cannot take
it from both the fronts. Now she is in a fix as she is not sure whether she
should stay in the organisation and wait for things to improve or leave
the organisation and simply walk away.
CASE 15
Techtel Company1
I n the 1970s when telecom industry was still in its infancy in India, a
young U.S. returned Mr. Gupta started TechTel. When TechTel started
its picture tube manufacturing plant in a small town near Delhi, they
faced agitation from locals demanding employment. It was a tough time
for TechTel, facing hostility from media, politicians and all other quarters
which looked at them with suspicion. At this stage, TechTel carried out
a survey in the local community about their perceptions, apprehensions
and expectations from TechTel. The survey revealed that most of the fears
were due to a lack of clarity. TechTel felt the need for clear and complete
communication. A structured plan for regular communication with the
media, government, local community and the surrounding villages was
then put in motion and responsibilities allocated. This worked effectively
and in less than six months, all agitation died down and the locality was
all praises for the plant’s contribution to the local community.
in the long run. The vision and culture of the group were designed to make
it a strong and stable organisation powered from within by a committed
workforce. The group firmly believes in total employee involvement
through their empowerment and participation in decision-making.
Over the years the company grew to become the largest Indian
manufacturer of a wide range of display devices like colour and
monochrome T.V. Headquartered at New Delhi, it has a number of
manufacturing locations all over India. The group employs over 6000
people in its world-class factories and has a combined turnover of more
than Rs 3000 crores per annum. To meet future challenges, TechTel has
taken many initiatives to build their knowledge infrastructure. The tube
development group, with its dedicated pilot line, continuously develops
new products and processes. The projects group excels in creating state of
the art equipment and production facilities. Various national awards for
indigenisation have recognised these efforts. TechTel has also registered
many patents for developments in display technology. The group is also
highly focused on the preservation of the environment and has set up
extensive environment protection systems.
TechTel started its Quality movement in the 1980s and is based on the
strong belief that self-motivated employees work towards continuously
improving customer satisfaction, business results and societal impact.
With a workforce of about 6000, communication remains a focus
0 C a s e s in O B a n d H R M a n a g e m e n t
Transtel Electronics1
Both the managers and supervisors felt that in the kind of operations
involved, the special abilities/skills of women make them more suitable
for jobs in an electronics industry. Most of them felt that women
possessed the qualities of patience, sincerity, loyalty, cooperativeness, etc.
Administrative control could be easily exercised on women employees;
they also created lesser labour problems. In addition, women required
less time to pick up new assignments, and they performed routine jobs
better. All these were distinct advantages as far as work in the present
organisation was concerned.
The consultant, also felt that it was important to find out from
the employees themselves as to how they experience work i.e., how do
they relate and react to their work situation? What are the factors that
promote or inhibit their effective performance in the organisation? Do the
factors lie within the organisation, in the women themselves or outside
the organisation? Answers to such questions would help in not only
improving the quality of their performance, but also increasing their
commitment to work.
Universal Limited1
One of the senior managers, Mr. Gupta had a different opinion about
the CMD. He felt that his soft approach would make the employees take
a laid back approach to work, which would not allow the company to
retain its position in a highly competitive, demanding and changing
business environment. Mr. Gupta adopted a different style in getting
work from his subordinates. One of his deputies, Mr. Sharma had newly
joined the company as an assistant manager. He had come from a work
culture where targets were decided in consultation with the subordinates,
which according to him led to more involvement and commitment from
the subordinates. Mr. Sharma found the style of his boss, Mr. Gupta very
imposing, and restrictive. He was a person who believed in functioning
independently with least supervision and direction. He considered
Mr. Gupta’s approach to be very interfering and autocratic. On a few
occasions Mr. Sharma did try to give suggestions to Mr. Gupta but the
standard response he got was “this is not the way things are done at
Universal.” After a few attempts, feeling frustrated, Mr. Sharma gave up.
have a long lineage and in the past tended to focus on the institutions
involved in codifying, negotiating and affecting employment conditions. The
preoccupation of industrial relations has been dominated by collective action
by way of unions and state regulation (Sodhi, 2001). The development in
the practice and theory of industrial relations indicate that it will no longer
mean labour relations narrowly defined as collective bargaining and contract
administration. Nor will it mean industrial relations covering only aspects
of labour relations. Instead it would involve the reciprocal expectations
and behaviours of employers and employees. In fact the erstwhile industrial
relations are being given the new nomenclature of Employee Relations where
the subject would encompass the coverage of non-unionised workers along with
the unionised, the non-manufacturing worker along with the manufacturing,
and the white-collar along with the blue-collar (Blyton and Turnbull, 1993).
HRM’s main function has been referred by scholars (Raymond et. al,
2007) as policies, practices, and systems that influence employees’ behaviour,
attitudes, and maximise performance. Many practitioners refer to HRM as
involving “people practices”. HRM must have any and every practice, which
helps in achieving the goal of performance of the company while integrating
the interests of the employees.
Over the time, HRM has acquired a key role in building a competitive
organisation. In progressive companies it is expected to play the roles of a
strategic partner in terms of aligning HRM strategies to the business strategies
of the organisation; being an administrative expert in terms of designing
H um an R eso u rce M an ag e me nt
and delivering efficient and effective HRM systems, processes and practices;
employee advocate in terms of managing the commitment and contribution
of employees and that of a change agent in terms of helping transform
organisations to meet the new competitive conditions.
India has been a late entrant to the globalised world but is now
witnessing the kind of pressures on the enterprises as seen in the eighties and
nineties in the developed world. The requirements are more intense in view
of the higher rigidities of the labour market in India.
While all this was happening, the country in the early 1990s embarked
on a newer economic policy framework, which had wider implications for
industrial organisations. They were faced with the reality of national and
international competition, a need to deal with IR in a proactive manner,
maintaining industrial peace, providing excellence, upgrading technology and
quality, improving productivity, etc. These required a different orientation to
9 C a s e s in O B a n d H R M a n a g e m e n t
the pioneer.
The first thing that Kishore Bhai Chauhan did was to go through the
MSW rules in detail. He tried his level best to understand the purpose,
procedures and expected outcomes of the rules by himself and by
consulting others like Mr. Asnani, member of Asia Pacific Solid Waste
Management Committee. He even made a visit to have a feel of similar
experiment that was tried by other municipalities in cities like Bangalore
and Trichur. He did realise the need for involving various stakeholders
like the government, voluntary organisation and the ultimate clients,
i.e. the residents of his Nagarpalika.
His actions started with critically looking at the existing systems and
practices of garbage disposal and the income and expenditure pertaining
to waste disposal of the Nagarpalika. This step revealed to him the scope
for cutting 50 percent of the cost on transportation by introducing the
system of segregating the waste into dry and wet waste. He desired to
provide the best quality services to his people and wished to work out a
model of garbage collection at the doorstep of each household. It was at
that point of time, Kishore Bhai met the Vice President, Ms. Manalisha
Ben of SEWA, for exploring the possibility of issuing licenses for shops
to their women vegetable vendors.
H um an R eso u rce M an ag e me nt
monitor the attendance of the rag picking employees and to ensure quality
services to the public at their doorstep by getting constant feedback from
the residents and society. The area is fixed such that she is responsible
to ensure the system efficiency for at least 2500–3000 households. The
contribution from the individual residents for paying the supervisors
worked out to Re 1 so that individual supervisors could earn Rs 2500 to
Rs 3000 per month.
Kishore Bhai and the SEWA jointly evolved certain norms, which
needed to be strictly adopted by the rag picker members. Kishore Bhai
strongly emphasised three non-negotiable norms to be adopted by the
rag picking employees at their workplace. They are
• Keeping oneself very clean, neat and fresh with tilak on their face
thereby giving emphasise to personal hygiene.
The need for winning the confidence and trust of the resident
societies and commercial shopkeepers was strongly felt. Kishore Bhai
also realised the necessity for educating them on the importance of
solid waste management and to discuss the importance of their role
in this collaborative model. With the support of SEWA, he planned
and implemented an awareness campaign by holding a series of public
meetings with the resident societies. He also developed a brochure on
the project details for mass awareness. By convincing the public on the
project ideas, specific support decisions and declarations were made.
H um an R eso u rce M an ag e me nt 0
The resident societies were also entrusted with the monitoring of the
attendance of the Arogya baginis and their quality of work. In order to
develop the practice of keeping dry and wet wastes separately, the public
were educated on giving logical and scientific reasons of environment
pollution and everybody were provided with a plastic bag printed with the
slogan, “Keep house clean, Keep society clean and Keep city clean”.
The system of coding the vehicles, container sites, etc, site maps to
the tractor drivers, registration of containers that are shifted to landfill
sites are entered in the computers and online monitoring system of work
done was developed. Because the whole procedure is online, both the
citizens of Nagarpalika, administrative system and governance were
enabled for efficient administration of the entire project cycle. Also, the
Management Information System (MIS) was used to monitor the payment
of salaries and wages on time to the employees.
At one point of time, they had become the best effective channel of
communication between the Nagarpalika and the residents as any letter
10 C a s e s in O B a n d H R M a n a g e m e n t
or message was passed to all the residents within two to three hours time.
Residents also passed complaints if any, through Arogiya bagini.
Salient features
increased, their shift output decreased and the line production dropped
much below the expected level.
This development was reported to the GM. Before the situation could
deteriorate further, the GM asked the training manager to investigate
the matter and make recommendations as to how the situation could be
improved.
CASE 20
Sunil Kumar added, “I’ve also been noting down the happenings in
selection for the last six months since I’ve been in this job.
Employee Participation
at Bank of Baroda 2
The bank had two workmen unions. The first, Bank of Baroda
Employees Union, Madhya Pradesh (MP) was a constituent of All India
Bank of Baroda Employees Federation and recognised by the bank as
2 Prepared by K. K. Verma
“This case was prepared by the author for the sole purpose of aiding classroom discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as
endorsements, or sources of data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management.”
H um an R eso u rce M an ag e me nt
the sole collective bargaining agent for the employees (henceforth called
Union 1). The second was Bank of Baroda Employees Association, MP.
This was a constituent of the All India Bank of Baroda Coordination
Committee, affiliated to banking industry major power block, AITUC
(henceforth called Union 2). For officers, All India Bank of Baroda Officers
Association was recognised by the bank.
Besides the formal joint forum meetings the regional mangers and
the unions/association representatives began interacting informally.
11 C a s e s in O B a n d H R M a n a g e m e n t
Fitter Murari 2
The same year Mr. Murari was promoted as fitter grade II and
transferred to the tool room. Mr Bhatnagar, in charge of tool room,
explained to him his duties saying, “Murari, I have heard a lot about
your devotion to work. I am confident that you will continue working
hard. You can come to me whenever you need help. You will not find me
wanting in any way.”
During the next two years, Mr. Murari, though not the senior most
fitter grade II, had officiated twice as grade I fitter. He was grateful to
Mr. Bhatnagar for providing him these opportunities. This, however,
caused some sort of heart-burning among other senor grade II fitters.
When Mr. Babu Lal, grade I fitter, retired. Mr. Murari was almost
certain that he would be appointed as grade I fitter in place of Mr. Babul
Lal. But, as a bolt from the blue, Mr. Murari came to learn a week later
that a notice had been put up on the company’s notice board to invite
applications for the post of grade I fitter. He rushed to Mr. Bhatnagar and
said, “This is how the company appreciates hard work! Strange are the
ways here! I have sweated all these years and when it comes to reward,
I am made to feel like a beggar; stand in the queue with a begging bowl
in hand and crying for mercy. Mr. Bhatnagar, you must help me in getting
my due promotion.” “No, no,” replied Mr. Bhatnagar, “Do not get upset.
I shall plead for you when I meet the works manager this evening. Rest
assured, things will come out alright.”
Next day, Mr. Bhatnagar sent for Mr. Murari and told him, “I am
sorry, the works manager insists on selection by interview. In his view,
you should also apply for the job and follow the same procedure as the
rest of applicants would do. There are other grade II fitters and some are
senior to you. Their claims cannot be brushed aside.” Mr. Murari could
stand it no longer. He shouted, “ I knew it already. You officers are all
made of the same stuff. You and your tribe do not believe in justice and
fair play. Merit and hard work mean little to you. What a fool I am that
I did not understand the position earlier.”
Mr. Murari did not apply for the post. Instead, he started looking for
a suitable job elsewhere. After a few months he left Laxmi Instruments
and joined the United Engineering Company as a foreman.
CASE 23
Germalim Limited2
primarily for short list purposes, and on the basis of the latter exercise
another 10 could be eliminated. A comprehensive job description had
been prepared which stipulated, on the one hand, familiarity with the
industry particularly with the product lines on which the company was
operating, appreciation of marketing problems in the field as well as good
understanding of the product development, aspects of marketing, and on
the other, certain personality characteristics such as drive, willingness
to travel extensively, sociability, etc. The short-listed candidates
were subsequently put through a selection procedure consisting of an
unstructured group discussion, a few relevant psychological tests focusing
on the relevant traits, and independent interview by the MD and an
external consultant.
field and the problems of selling, and also that in the course of long
association with marketing services he naturally had acquired as much
of field familiarity as a sales manager did. Probing his familiarity with
the field and problems of actual selling seemed to produce encouraging
results. He was quite high on self-assurance too. His weakness appeared
to be only two, namely a certain amount of slowness in comprehending
and responding to stimuli, and no demonstrated competence and history
of achieving results in the line function of marketing. The last weakness
was important but it was reckoned that the company already had a group
of people down the line who had produced excellent results over the last
several years, and that what the company therefore needed at the head
of the marketing function was someone who could think, conceptualise,
diagnose problems, etc. Accordingly, the second applicant Mr. Chatterji
got selected.
Mr. Chatterji was probably trying to play safe, was avoiding quarterly
review of results with the MD or even if he participated in such reviews he
usually would come up with a whole host of rather lame explanations as to
why results had not been achieved. Defensive behaviour was increasingly
being observed in his decisions and responses. Increasing evidence was
also available that the marketing function at the Head Office (HO) had
slowed down and now took much more time to process information and
issue decisions than was the case before. In a number of instances, the
field managers were getting impatient because such delays at the HO
directly affected their performance and results, and they started making
complaints to the marketing manager. And since the MD himself had
looked after the marketing function earlier, and this being a private
limited company, copies of these complaints were usually marked to the
MD too. This only made the relationship between the Marketing Manager
and the MD further confounded because every time the MD received a
complaint from the field, he would try to discuss with Mr. Chatterji, who
generally continued to be even more defensive.
project. The union was, however, affiliated to the main workers’ union
operating at the headquarters, which in turn was superintended by labour
leaders of the same union at the national level. The union-management
relations at the project level were generally cordial.
A few days back, Harnam Singh was assigned the task of loading a
ten-ton trailor with pipes dismantled at Salal site for transporting to the
new site of Dongri about five kilometers away from Salal. Ramamurthi
noticed that Harnam Singh was moving the crane with three pipes at a
time whereas, he thought, the crane could easily take a full load of at
least six pipes at a time. He came to the crane cabin where Harnma Singh
was sitting and driving the crane.
his protest, Ramamurthi told him to take back the crane and said, “Do
not move until I tell you”. So saying he got three more pipes placed on
the slings and then asked him to move these to load on the trailer. When
Harnam Singh returned after a few minutes for another load, Ramamurthi
told him, “You think you are in a marriage party. The way you work the
crane it would seem we have no deadline to meet. Don’t think you can
get away with all this. I have set many scoundrels right.” Ramamurthi
then walked away to another location but kept watch on Harnam Singh
throughout.
Harnam Singh felt deeply hurt by this incident, but kept quiet then.
During lunch interval, he went to Rampal, a worker in his section and
a member of the executive committee of the union, and told him about
the Foreman’s behaviour. Soon the report of the incident spread to other
workers, and a group of them assembled together and decided to lodge a
compliant about the incident with the Personnel and Industrial Relations
Officer of the project. Daulatram, another union activist, had also by
then joined the group.
In the evening, on the same day, the union held a meeting of their
workers at the main gate of the project office wherein the Union President
and Secretary strongly condemned the behaviour of the Foreman. The
Union Secretary demanded the withdrawal, by management, of the
charge-sheets issued to Rampal and Daultram and asked for proper
punishment for the Foreman. They held out threats of direct action and
cessation of all drilling work, if the company pursued the disciplinary
proceedings against Rampal and Daulatram.
Indian Company 2
not win the support of all the workers. About 20 percent workers formed
another union with the support of Hind Mazdoor Sangh (HMS). Despite
this, the erstwhile union continued for some time with its operation as a
recognised union, although splinter groups along with those who were
with the Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) fomented trouble in the factory
resulting in tensions on the industrial relations front. The INTUC union
organised a two day strike. Alongwith this, dharnas (sit in) outside the
factory gate were organised disrupting the entry and exit of workers
and officers.
In the 1990s, the then State Government attempted its best to prop
up an outside union in the factory with a political affiliation to the Lok
Mazdoor Sangh (LMS). About 20 percent of the workers did lend credence
to this union. The union was not recognised by the company. However,
some of the active members of this union gave their charter of demands
which included, among others, 20 percent bonus (during that year no
bonus was paid till that time) and production bonus at a higher rate.
The management adopted a policy of not entering into any dialogue with
them. The LMS leaders resorted to negative tactics of a dharna outside
the factory premises, boycott of canteen and even assault on a number
of managers. The company moved to court against dharna, which was
organised outside the factory gate. The High Court decided in favour of
the company. Despite this, dharna at the gate was not lifted, as the state
government kept on instigating the agitators. The Labour Commissioner
had to intervene. Finally, the state government and the leaders of LMS
relented, because the company management went public with the
statement that it is ready to shift the factory site from Haryana, which
would have resulted in heavy loss of revenue to the government.
increased output, which has been resisted by the management. This led
to renewed agitations and a call for strike.
The level of trust between the management and the union has
reached its lowest level and the management is wondering what should
be done.
CASE 26
Management’s Dilemmas 2
2 Prepared by J. S. Sodhi
“This case was prepared by the author for the sole purpose of aiding classroom discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as
endorsements, or sources of data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management.”
H um an R eso u rce M an ag e me nt
(a) Ward off monotony—QCs would make people feel that their work
was meaningful.
(b) Enable workers to utilise their capabilities and do something
creative.
(c) Enable them to do something worthwhile on their own.
(d) Contribute to the development of workers and sharing of experiences,
knowledge and ideas in the process.
(e) Develop a problem-solving attitude in workers rather than creating
problems for the management.
0
Marine Electric Company
30 Prepared by K. B. Akhilash
“This case was prepared by the author for the sole purpose of aiding classroom discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as
endorsements, or sources of data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management.”
H um an R eso u rce M an ag e me nt
they are only informed about the “annual targets and monthly targets”
to be achieved.
The following are the views about career planning expressed by the
Corporate Management Members (reproduced from the minutes of top
management committee meetings):
1
National Oil Company
31 Prepard by K. D. Kohli
“This case was prepared by the author for the sole purpose of aiding classroom discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as
endorsements, or sources of data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management.”
H um an R eso u rce M an ag e me nt
Handa, a retired army officer, on hearing the noise, asked his peon,
“Tell them to move away from the porch as the noise caused by them is
disturbing me.” The peon went out and asked Bala and others to move
away. “Who the hell are you to ask us to move away? Go, do your work.”
Bala rebuked the peon. Handa heard this and came out to the porch and
roughly told the group, “It is I who had asked the peon to tell you to
move out of the porch, as I cannot concentrate on my work with all the
noise you are making.” Just then, before anyone could reply, Acharya,
the CAO also came out of his office.
Seeing the PM and others in the porch, he brusquely asked the group
in the porch, “What is going on here? Why have you left your office?”
When no one replied, CAO looked at Bala and asked him, “What are you
doing here?” Bala, then, somewhat angrily replied, “Who are you to ask
me this question? I am here on duty.”
Why have you come to this building? Go away and don’t waste your time
here.”
“Hmm, so you will not tell me, Where do you work?” CAO then
enquired.
“I work in Oil Labs, and now you can do what you like,” Bala
replied somewhat indifferently but loudly added, “I know how to deal
with people the like of you.”
Finding the situation getting out of hand and not wanting to worsen
it further, the CAO hurriedly left the place. Later, the Deputy CAO and
WWO persuaded Bala and others to return to their respective places of
work.
2
Quality Engineering Works
All the three categories of jobs were usually filled from amongst
skilled workers from tool room, machine shop, assembly or fitting
32 Prepared by K. D. Kohli
“This case was prepared by the author for the sole purpose of aiding classroom discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as
endorsements, or sources of data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management.”
1 0 C a s e s in O B a n d H R M a n a g e m e n t
shops. Most of the skilled workers in QEW had served three years’ trade
apprenticeship. Being white-collared jobs with enough opportunities
to rise further to supervisory staff jobs, the jobs of planners, estimators
and rate fixers, were very much sought after, particularly those of the
planners.
This time, however, the demand for planners, estimators and rate
fixers was unprecedented and the Production Manager refused to spare
some of the men, until the General Manager used his authority to direct
the Production Manager to at least spare some of the selected workers.
In spite of this pressure from above, some of the fitters from the assembly
shop were not allowed to change over to these jobs, which obviously
resulted in a lot of frustration all around.
When the Planning Manager found that the planning work had
started suffering for want of adequate number of planners and others,
he took up the matter with the General Manager and persuaded him to
call for applications from amongst the skilled workers, in the hope, that
he would be able to get about 20 trainee planners and equivalent, which
he required immediately. The General Manager instructed the Personnel
Manager to do this. Unfortunately, this decision had been taken without
consulting the Production Manager. The latter’s reaction, when he saw
the General Manager’s order in the mail box was that he would find it
impossible to spare more than half a dozen men all at once, let alone
20. But he took no further action, thinking that they would in any case,
on the basis of standards used earlier, find a few suitable men from the
production shops.
When order for their release were received by the shop managers
concerned, they protested vigorously and appealed to the Production
Manager who in turn took up the matter with both the Personnel Manager
and the General Manager. Discussions however went on for sometime
between the interested parties, but without any satisfactory solution.
Meanwhile, the workers concerned who had been finally selected for
the posts in the Planning Department started getting impatient. Some
of the shop managers tried to pacify the affected workers of their shops
by saying, “I would hate to stand in the way of your promotion, but how
can I let so many of you go at this stage when my own shop needs you
so much. I will certainly try to release you sometime later when the load
situation is a bit better.”
Tiger Toys
I t was a pleasant day with the weather getting cooled by a heavy rain.
But Mr. Vivek Aggarwal was not feeling very comfortable as he had
to urgently deal with some issues. He had been observing that during
the last one year the productivity of his department had declined. This
was contrary to his expectations. He had recently hired four graduate
trainees, fresh MBAs from a premier business school.
impression they created was that they were competent enough to do the
job and they knew better how the job was to be accomplished. They kept
saying that they needed more of head and elbow room, to deliver results.
After all they were equipped with the latest knowledge and skills which,
according to them, the senior managers lacked. Vivek said that he would
get back to Manoj later. In the meantime, he expected Manoj to deal with
his subordinates so that the performance of his department improved.
Vivek: A very good morning. How are you getting along with the work?
Hope everything is fine. How do you find the work environment?
Rahul: Sir, frankly speaking we expected a different job profile. After all
we have the requisite knowledge and skill to carry out more important
jobs. But what we are assigned is normal routine work. Even there, we
are not allowed to exercise our independence in carrying out the job.
There is too much interference from our boss.
Vineet: Sir, I would also like to add that there is no consultation with
us before assigning the jobs. I have been given the responsibility of
compiling data from various sources and preparing a demand forecast
for a number of products, which are to be launched shortly. I don’t find
any application of my customer relationship management expertise in
the jobs assigned to me. It seems that the people here do not have any
idea of person-job fit while assigning responsibilities.
Sumit: In the initial six months all four of as worked with full commitment
but there was no appreciation for our effort. In fact, productivity could
be improved if there is a system of remuneration in which part of the
salary is fixed and part of it is variable, based on output.
Vivek: I appreciate your views and concerns but at the same time I would
like to share my own concern regarding the decline in productivity of
your department.
Vadatra International
Solutions
is red hot as the industry expands into new areas such as manufacturing
and retail from finance, but customers want multiple vendors, said the
President of Vadatra International Solutions’s core business.
They are: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4 and each level has four
sublevels namely a, b, c and d. In short, Level 4 will have sublevels
namely Level 4a, Level 4b, Level 4c and Level 4d. However, the basic
salary of employees differs from country to country depending on the
local compensation trends.
Level 1: This is the highest level in the hierarchy and this level includes
all the people in the top management and senior most management.
Managing director, section marketing manager, finance director, business
development manager, etc. come under this level.
Level 2: People who come under this category are accounting aid, zonal
sales manager, technical sales manager, HR manager, Information
Technology (IT) & communication manager, national sales manager,
marketing manager, etc.
Level 3: This level consists of people who are into middle level
management and are known as middle level executives. HR executives,
accounts executives, officer account payable, IT administrator, product
manager, marketing coordinator, service coordinator, event coordinator,
area sales managers, etc. come under this level.
Level 4: This is the lowest level in the hierarchy and people who fall
under the category of level 4 are executives, sales executives, service
engineers, customer support coordinator etc.
The salary structure for a person in level 1 and for a person in level
4 are given in the table 1 below:
Table 1 Compensation and Benefits Structure for Vadtra India Employees
Level 1 Level 4
MD in Rs Executive in Rs
Basic salary 25,00,000 1,68,000
House rent Allowance (HRA) 6,25,000 42,000
25% of basic salary
Medical allowance** 1,00,000 6,720
(4% of basic salary)
L.T.A (leave travel llowance)** 2,00,000 13,440
( 8% of basic salary)
Bonus (One month basic 2,08,333.33 14,000
salary)**
TOTAL (Compensation) 36,33,333 2,44,160
** These are given only once in a year to an employee but if an employee wants he/she can
The officer, with whom Mr. Vipul Kumar had an appointment, was in
a meeting with his senior officers and got delayed by about an hour and
a half. The meeting with Mr. Vipul Kumar actually started at 12.30 p.m.
and went on upto 1.45 p.m. The driver had no information about this.
When Mr. Vipul Kumar came out at 1.45 p.m., he found that the car
was there, but the driver was not there. He waited for 15 minutes and
the driver did not turn up. As he had a meeting with his CMD at 2.15
p.m. he took a taxi and came to office. Later, he submitted a voucher to
Head of HR for reimbursement of taxi fare and a complaint against Veer
Singh saying that he was absconding and that disciplinary action should
be taken against him.
35 Prepared by M.S. Ramanujam
“This case was prepared by the author for the sole purpose of aiding classroom discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as
endorsements, or sources of data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management.”
150 C a s e s in O B a n d H R M a n a g e m e n t