CASE ANALYSIS 2: RAJAN THE DRIVER

Group 11
Ameya Pradip Shirodkar p43004
Anupama D p43006
Arathi S J p43008
Shubham Sonar p43054
Debanjan Das f2101
SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS:

Sagarmatha Diary Union has a cattle feed plant which is located around 20 Km North of

Nathadwara. The plant has around 200 employees and works on three shifts (7:00 a.m. to

3:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., and 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.). There is about 20 staff

quarters near the plant site, rest of the employees stay at Nathadwara and commute every day

from there. The Nathadwara–Valta Road is one of the most deserted roads and very few

public transport vehicles are available on this road. Therefore, the plant has two mini buses

which are used to take the employees back and forth and four drivers who work on shift

basis.

On 23rd January, Rajan, one of the drivers of cattle feed plant had the duty to take the

employees of first shift to Nathadwara and drop them near their respective residences and

bring the empty bus back to the plant. As the route from cattle feed plant to Nathadwara is

not well connected by public transport system at times, the plant drivers had carried ordinary

passengers on their way back in the vehicle and no one ever objected to such practices. Mr

Somaraju, security officer of Sagarmatha Diary Union has a good track record in the

organization except for few instances where he had to bear the wrath of employees’ union.

Mr. Suresh Mohan, the Personnel Manager, of the cattle feed plant was in a fix trying to solve

a case involving Mr.Rajan and Mr.Somaraju. The case revolved around an incident that

happened on 23rd January where Rajan, on his way back to the plant from Nathadwara did not

stop the vehicle near Sabjimandi inspite of Mr.Somaraju signalling him to stop. Mr.Somraju

also complained about the driver abusing him when he arrived at the plant. Mr.Rajan tried to

justify himself by stating that he had school children in the bus at that time and did not stop

when he received the signal from Mr. Somaraju as he observed that he was drunk and added

that he didn’t like the idea of having a drunk person along with the school children. On the
other hand, the Mr. Somaraju stated that all allegations made by Rajan were baseless and

claimed that he was not drunk at that time as he never taken alcohol during daytime.

On 1st February 1993, Rajan was transferred to the Production department based on the

decision taken by the General Manager along with Mr.Suresh Mohan. The employees’ union

was unhappy with decision and thought it was unfair. They issued an ultimatum to the

management to either solve the case fast enough to reinstate Rajan as a driver or else they

will go against the management. But, the Security officer was dissatisfied with the way

management had treated the issue and believed that justice had not been served.

Problem Statement:

Rajan and Mr. Somraju have completely opposing viewpoints. Mr. Suresh mohan has to

decide which one of them is right. There is a lack of hard evidence to support the arguments.

He also has to look at the interest of all the parties involved.

Solution:

 An investigation should be conducted to collect evidence and know more about the

situation. A decision should then be taken on the collected evidence.

 Rajan should apologize to Mr. Somaraju for not stopping the bus and later abusing

him as well. He should also be reinstated in his original position.

 Bring both parties to a common platform to discuss the situation and put forward their

points.
Conclusion:

We feel that the best solution would be that Rajan apologizes to Mr. Somaraju for not

stopping the bus and abusing him. Rajan should be reinstated in his original position as well.

The rationale behind this approach is that Rajan is at fault for not stopping the bus for

Somaraju. Even if Somaraju was drunk he should have stopped and checked Somaraju’s

condition. He could have refused to board Somaraju if he was too drunk. He also later abused

Somaraju. Also taking from a previous situation where Somaraju had mercilessly beaten a

couple of casual workers for theft, he was not asked to leave his job and was asked to

apologize. Firing Rajan from his job would be unfair and would also cause a stir in the

organization as the union was already upset with his transfer. This approach would ensure

that the union is satisfied and also make sure that Somaraju does not lose his morale.