Critical Thinking (Case Study: II)

Mark: 5

Subject: Human Resource Management (HRM)

Little Beauty Bisoyi

1906335
Question:

A startup company has not been successful due to severe pandemic

situation in 2020. what are the possible industrial disputes may
arise-(economic & non economic)?

Ans- The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the overall

investment. Be it big corporate or a small startup it hasn’t spared
anyone except for some companies who have planned and executed
it properly.

While businesses across all sectors can sense the repercussions of

COVID-19, start-ups have particularly been one of the most
vulnerable, and in fact, are facing various formidable challenges both,
from a business as well as from an operations' perspective. Most
start-ups have witnessed a decline in supply and or demand, except
for those start-ups that are engaged in the supply and, or delivery of
'essential services', educational technology, gaming or streaming
services. Notwithstanding the above, glitches in the supply chain
network have either way presented challenges for all start-ups.
However, the start-up ecosystem has been continuously striving to
adapt to the present situation as flexibly as possible, by focusing on
the need to innovate and diversify their business techniques and its
operations.
Any dispute or difference between employers and employers or
between employers and workman or between workman and
workman which is connected with the employment or non-
employment or the terms of employment and condition of
employment of any person .

There are many internal industrial disputes that are not new to the
startups but I would like to discuss some major disputes that are
highlighted in the media every now and then.

1)Strike :- Non-acceptance of employees demand leads to stop the

work means strike. The unions support it when all hopes of the
workers are shattered out there is no way left out but the strike.
Strike can be for a definite period or for an in-definite period. Strike
can be:-

A)Economic Strike:-This strike undertaken by the members of the

union to fulfil the financial benefits of the workers. Financial benefit
may be rise in wages , bonus, health services, education services,
living condition, working condition etc.

B)General Strike: - When all the employees irrespective of regions ,

unions and position are involved in strike is known as general strike .

C) Sympathetic Strike: - It is known as token strike .When the strike is

undertaken by the members off one union and other union as a
token of sympathy support that striking union.

D)Sit down strike :- It is known as pen down or tools down strike .In
this type the workers stop their work but do not leave the place of
work .

E)Slow- Strike:- Here the employees do not stop the work but do not
work enthusiastically .It is an organised way of protest in order to go
slow which resulted in less output .
2)GHERAO:- It is a common means of protest .It can be done at any
time by any group when they are dissatisfied .The workers surround
the head or executive with a human chain preferably in his office and
do not allow him to leave the place sometimes gears tums to
violent .

3)LOCK- OUT:- It is undertaken by the employers .In order to resume

work on the terms and conditions of the employer ,By lock out the
employer curb the militant activities of the union lockout considers
to be the trial of strength between the employer and employees .

4)PICKETING :- When the employees draw the attention of common

public regarding a dispute between the management it is known as
picketing .In picketing the leaders of the employee group dissuading
the employees to report to work .Picketing considers to be legal in
character to protest for a demand .

5)BOYCOTT:-When the workers disrupting the normal functioning of

the organisation. The striking workers appeal to other workers for
voluntary withdrawal of co- operation with the employer .Boycott
adversely affect the company image.

6)Layoffs - We are at the business end of the year 2022, which has
hardly been a smooth ride for the Indian startup ecosystem.

The spurt in termination of contracts and layoffs of employees at a

number of domestic startups have compounded woes for
employees, who are possibly also staring at being robbed of a
shield that was designed to protect them during such emergencies.
In the name of ‘trimming the fat’, or simply, a bid to earn more
profit, at least 5,600 tech employees have been hit by workforce
cutbacks at Indian startups in the first four months of 2022,
according to a dataset compiled by Inc42.

So far, 15,708 employees have been laid off by 44 startups, including

unicorns BYJU’S, Chargebee, Cars24, LEAD, Ola, Meesho, MPL,
Innovaccer, Udaan, Unacademy and Vedantu.

Following the recent news not only startups but employees of these
big organization like Twitter has not been spared. As per their new
boss he said that Twitter's workforce was too large and placed too
much emphasis on content moderation, platform safety, product
development and marketing.

7)Moonlighting - The 2nd word other than Layoff popular in the

corporate world. Due the pandemic many companies started work
from home facility for their employees, Which allowed many
employees to take up another job along with their full time job to
earn more money during this recession time.

The current situation has been coming for a while. Work from home
was necessitated by the pandemic, which led to hybrid operations,
issues such as the Great Resignation and then the talent hiring boom
in the tech industry in 2021, which increased costs, and now startups
are laying off employees. As companies look to cut back to conserve
cash, there is a mismatch in expectations, which has led to frictions
and cases of moonlighting.

In such situations, unhappy or underpaid employees use their

downtime to either pursue their passions independently, explore
new opportunities when not working their main job, or start up new
ventures.
While surveillance software and tools can help track some loss of
productivity, what employees do in their free time cannot possibly
be monitored.

1. Disruptions in production and supply chains have raised urgent

contractual liability issues.

2. Across business ages, entrepreneurs were most concerned

with finding new customers. Among entrepreneurs with a new
business, finding new customers surpassed funding to start the
business as the top reported challenge during COVID-19.

3. Accessing startup and growth financing during COVID-19

conditions was a bigger challenge for entrepreneurs with a new
business less than 1 year old, compared to entrepreneurs with a
young or mature business.

4. Keeping old customers.

5. Funds to grow the business