A POPULAR HR CHIEF BURNED TO DEATH:

PEOPLE MANAGEMENT DYNAMICS AT THE

INDIAN SUBSIDIARY OF SUZUKI Ltd.
Group 6
Harshul Jain -19P198
Kanika Patwari -19P200
Parmit Sihag -19P206
Priyanshi Porwal -19P210
Samarth Shrivastava -19P217
Sundar Nivas M -19P229
  Implementation of same HR policies in Manesar Plant as
that in Gurgaon
 Manesar plant workers(Gen Y) workers were getting
lesser wages than Gurgaon workers
What led to the  Gen Y workers perceived stressful working conditions,
breakdown of IR tight working schedules, indifference of
at the Manesar supervisors/managers and other IR issues

plant?  New demand charter, which the new Union pursued

vehemently
 Demand for instant reinstatement of fired worker,
pending inquiry on misconduct with management
 Due to increasing control of Suzuki, 3 senior level Indian managers
were replaced by new Japanese expatriates. On May 1 2014, MSIL
completely withdrew executive power from three of its COOs, S.Y.
Siddiqui, M.M. Singh and S. Maitra. The last one was COO--supply
What are the chain. They were re-designated as chief mentors. This comprehensive
MSIL restructuring brought HR and financial management directly

dominant cross- under the aegis of Japanese leadership.

cultural issues in EXAMPLES

 During the the Violent union protests and strikes, lack of
this case? Discuss understanding by the senior management lead to the death of a
GM Awanish Dev. Dev wanted to to handle the situtation differently
fully. by cooperating, but Japanese saw IR as class wars. This lead to
escalation of the situation and unfortunate death of the GM.
 The Japanese leadership was taking new steps towards
understanding employee grievances. But this is done in absence of
Indian managers, who are in a better position to understand and
handle this situation. This is leading to discomfort in even the
managers of the company.
  In 2000-01, state agencies helped management win the
case against union. Since it was a Public Sector
Enterprise, government took special interest
 Post the fiasco the government funded the lawyer's fees
against the union leaders. The fees amounted to 5.5
What role was million
being played by  Government took hold of the case in its hands and
the state and its helped management because it became the issue of
agencies in this image of the state

dispute, and why?  Maruti was a big enterprise. Any obstruction or shutting
down of the factories would have had far reaching
consequences on the state economy. Hence
government was all the more concerned about the
subject matter
  The senior management needs to be more aware and
accustomed to the culture of the workers. A Japanese
management dealing in vacuum with the worker union
will lead to gaps in communication and expectation
 Employee work hours and movement are to be made
What should MSIL do flexible
for a sustainable  The senior management in a company has to be
accommodative of employee needs and not just
labour-management brandish a cane and expect work to be done
cooperation at the  In an effort toward ‘New approach to HR’, the actions
Manesar plant? taken for redressal of worker problems were also taken
by Japanese MD, this made even the Indian Managers of
the company uncomfortable
 Decision needs to be taken by taking all stakeholders
in confidence.
  HR policies for GenY should be different from over
generations because GenY workers are well informed
about their rights. And do not have same tolerance
level.
What lessons in  Government should never intervene in corporate
matters. Cross cultural differences should be resolved
strategic HRM do as soon as possible
you learn from  New approach to HR worked for workers
this case?  Approaching family for creating good mindset in
workers.
THANK YOU!