Answer – 2

a) Factory manager should keep in mind a number of key issues and concerns while
reaching upon a decision, or developing a line of action:
i. There appears to be two clear disjoint parties in the conflict – corporate office
and union.
ii. Factory manager can view himself/herself as a liaison of one side to the other
side and must clearly relay the views, opinions and rationale of both sides,
objectively.
iii. Festivals are an occasion to build a sense of social connect and bonhomie
and to share celebrations and happiness. To monetize such events will
dehumanize the employment relation.
iv. It is important to communicate to the workers the emotional and social
rationale behind gifting sweets and if possible, deal with any qualm they
might have, related to unfair treatment in the type/quality of sweets received,
in comparison with top management.
b) Implications of disagreeing with workers;
i. Deterioration of employer relations between employer and workers. Workers
might refuse to cooperate with management, for future initiatives.
ii. Corporate office will be effectively distancing workers by ignoring their
appeals and this might give rise to further aggravation of any latent grievances’
workers might have, potentially giving rise to a full-blown conflict.
iii. It is natural for employees to view compensation and benefits, as their
employers’ perception of worth of workers’ efforts in organization’s success. A
gift of low value and utility (in their view) might be perceived as
devaluation of their labor.
Implications of disagreeing with corporate office:
i. Corporate Office, sensing its clout under threat, might take a high-handed
action which might unnecessarily aggravate the situation, out of control.
ii. Once, a benefit associated with festival, bonhomie and goodwill is given a
monetary face, in terms of vouchers/cash, Corporate might start treating the
Diwali gift as an expense to be controlled, rather than a token of goodwill.
iii. There might be direct as well as indirect professional consequences for
factory manager.
c) Providing workers with flexible gifting options
i. 1st step is to engage Union leaders in an informal discussion and to explain as
to why gifts over cash voucher is a better option – we understand their qualms
about sweets i.e. utility, quality etc. ,we as management do not wish to monetize
the festive and emotional worth of festivals, the motive of Diwali gift is
gratitude for their service, and not compensation.
ii. 2nd step is to ascertain the value of Diwali gift to be distributed, the worth of
such gift should preferably be as egalitarian as possible. This value must
preferably be agreed upon by both parties, otherwise it can be matched to the
worth of sweets/voucher demanded by workers.
iii. 3rd step to develop a mix of gifting options – dry fruits, apparels, sweets,
chocolates etc. and let the union decide upon which is the most preferred gift
option – based on their demands on utility, quality etc.
 iv. As an additional step, for Diwali gifts to the top management, such should be
the gift that the sentimental value of gift must make up for the low commercial
worth.
d) Enumerating pros of gifting vouchers instead of sweets:
I. Employees will have the freedom of buying any other commodity of their
choice/based on their need etc.
II. Employees at lower echelons will heard and valued, which will go long way in
building a sense of trust between ground level employees and top management.
III. Gifting generic vouchers instead of specific type of sweets is a time-efficient
process.
Discussing cons of the same decision:
I. Cash voucher gifted in lieu of sweets might be very meagre, this might
subconsciously put a low (and purely monetary) value to relationship between
employer and employee
II. Gifting cash vouchers in future might prompt employees to demand hikes
(possibly unreasonable) in the value of voucher, also this stems the possibility
to shift to previous norms and practices of gifting, further exposing the
management-employees’ relationship to possible complications.
III. The marginal utility of the uniform amount of cash voucher might be negligible
to top level employees. There is a possibility that might even feel antagonized
from receiving such a low-value gift.
IV. Vouchers might get taxed as part of income; this might antagonize some
employees in lower pay-grades.
Discussing pros of gifting sweets:
I. Cost-effective gifting option.
II. Creates a festive environment of bonhomie and shared celebration.
III. Possibility to leverage long-term relationship with sweets shops to source in
large amounts of sweets on a reasonable rate, within short time span.
Discussing cons of this alternative:
I. Possibility of dissatisfaction among employees, because they will still be
receiving sweets. Add to this the dissatisfaction with quality, for some
employees.
II. Selecting appropriate type of sweets might be an inefficient exercise in terms of
time.
III. Minor issue that work area might get littered.