Assignment for session 9 - Tata Consultancy Services Case - Due by Sunday EOD

1. Understand the following terms and categorize them into distinct groups
1. Layoff
2. Retrenchment
3. Performance-related restructuring
4. Workforce optimization
5. Workforce restructuring
6. Termination
7. Dismissal
2. Which group of terms above best explains the events in the TCS case?
1. From your perspective
2. From TCS perspective
3. From FITE perspective
4. From the perspective of employees who were forced to leave TCS
3. What could be the consequences of dismissal? And of retrenchment?
1. To the employees who were forced to leave TCS
2. To TCS
3. To the employees who survived
4. Which other set of actors can/will be involved in the whole case? How would they
react to retrenchments vs. dismissals?

- Layoff: This is a provisional termination that is usually done by the employer temporarily
with an intent to reinstate the laid-off employees once the layoff period is lifted. This
happens due to reasons like economic recession, stagnated growth of a particular industry,
breakdown of machinery, that are temporary in nature. This is not a punitive measure
taken against the employee.
- Retrenchment: This is followed by the decision of the company to cut costs by discharging
surplus labour. Here, the termination is permanent and the employee-employer relations
are severed completely. Again, this is not a punitive measure or a disciplinary action
against the employee.
- Workforce Optimization: It is focused on increasing the overall efficiency of the organisation
by making it leaner by re-analysing the skills of the employees and the job requirements.
- Termination: This simply means that the employee-employer relation, the contract between
the two parties have come to an end. The terminated employee is still entitled to all the
benefits – gratuity, severance pay.
- Dismissal: In this case, the termination is followed by a misconduct by the employee. This is
a punitive measure that takes away the right to all the terminal benefits.
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