CASE II – MANAGING A CHANGE

Akbar finished his MBA in May 1990 and was selected by BEW Ltd., Mumbai, in June. He worked in the corporate office in the Finance Department with a small group of newly hired professionals who were Knowledgeable about accounting, systems and computers. The group was given the assignment of converting the accounting groups located in the various plants to a new companywide computerized cost system.

Damodar Joshi was head of the Finance Department. Joshi had a pretty good reputation in the company although he had little formal accounting education. He had been appointed twenty-five years ago as a clerk and gradually got promoted as deputy General Manager (Finance). Akbar had doubts about Joshi’s abilities when he came to discuss the accounts of the Ranchi plant. Akbar had felt that entire Ranchi system had to be changed, and he had thought of making substantial change. These thoughts used to be discussed with Joshi.

Akbar had carefully prepared his presentation. When he finished the presentation Joshi merely thanked him; no appreciation, no comments. Akbar faced all sorts of problems, in other parts of the corporate accounting procedures. Without giving up his efforts Akbar continued his efforts and proposed to cut down on the amount of time-sharing we would require in the new computer set-up. He presented these ideas to Joshi at various times. Each time he was polite, but there was little appreciation.

Anyhow Akbar was anxious to get out to the field. The biggest job was at Ranchi. It was an old plant. His first job was to dig out information about the relevance of their accounting systems to production, inventory and despatches. Rajendra Sinha was head of the finance wing of the Ranchi plant.

When Akbar met him he explained that the corporate computerized set-up look after a good deal of his work-load as soon as he was aware of the needs of corporate finance department. He said he would happy to help Sinha in installing the new system. Akbar experienced a good deal of difficulty getting relevant data. It was like ‘dragging it out of them’. He discovered that it was easier to spend time collecting the data himself rather than trying to get Sinha or his staff to help him. He stayed there nearly a month, wading through old records over five years. At long last, his recommendations were accepted and incorporated in the new system. It was time to begin testing and debugging the programme. It was decided that for some months there would be parallel accounts at corporate office (with the computer) and at the plants (with their manual methods). Both corporate office and plants would then be able to evaluate how the new system worked.

When the Ranchi office got the printouts, they were very unhappy. They said a number of key parameters had been ignored, they didn’t understand it at all, and the computer-processed data were useless. Joshi called them and said that problems were to be expected, Akbar was called to explain. At his presentation meeting Akbar presented the rationale behind the whole programme which was expected to accomplish better control by centralizing this data analysis. Sinha said it would never work at Ranchi, and got into a long, emotional argument over how different Ranchi was from the other plants.

Akbar got back to Mumbai; he made a number of modifications based on what he had learned. However, the following week Ranchi Plant once again remarked that the new system was not providing a true picture of their operations. However, Joshi was satisfied about the new system.

Joshi decided to push the work ahead at other locations and let Ranchi lag behind. Over the next few months the installation was completed at the other three plants but was not finished at Ranchi. When Akbar decided to leave for another job, Ranchi was still left out of the system. A good deal of blame can be placed on Joshi – he is too easy going and not forceful enough – and on Sinha. Sinha just made up his mind it wouldn’t work. And being stubborn, he wouldn’t change his mind.

Question:

Comment on Akber’s view of this job and its problems.What the processes at work are in re-design of the system?What Akber could have done in the situation?

Ans1: The job Akber faced was to bringing a change in the old procedures and system to be changed over to a new computerized system.

Akber had a very difficult notion about this job than others, as may be because of the MBA he had a bigger perspective of the over all business and how the accounting and other financial information should be presented for a better control and decision making on various issues.

Hence Akber felt it is not just a job of computerization of the accounting but it is building and IT system which should work on MIS concepts.

On the other hand the other managers who have been there in the organization in finance and accounting work were only interested in getting a computerization of the accounting with the way it is.

That is why there were not appreciative of Akbers work and as well reluctant to help him as they see him as threat to their established system and work procedures. In fact the finance DGM himself has no clear interest in the process and he seems not to be appreciative of the extension that Akber has created without anyone’s consent.

Ans2: The Data Analysis and report at of the Plant were being centralized so that proper coordination of material men and money can be done at the same time the Head office and be aware of the present situation of each plant. The work redesign will impact the power and the decision making abilities of the Regional Finance heads who will now be under scrutiny from the head office.

Ans3: Akber seems to be a highly enthusiastic graduate who has a lot of ambition and wanting to prove himself. But at the same time he does not display the maturity which is needed to manage change is systems.

CASE III – MITCO

A company, by the name MITCO, has its employees rated by supervisors be means of graphic scale. The qualities taken into account are performance at work, responsibility, dependability, community activity, initiative, regularity and punctuality and potentiality to develop. The ratings are discussed with the employees and are used to counsel them, to make promotions and salary adjustments and as criteria for evaluating sources, methods of selection, and training. Recently, however, three of the Company’s employees, who have not been given annual salary increment due to their comparatively low ratings, have met the Chairman to express their dissatisfaction with the ratings they have received. They have argued that their ratings are not true indicators of their qualification or performance. They insist that “Community activity” is not properly a part of their job and that what they do off-the-job is none of the employer’s business. They wanted that employees should organize a union and demand that salary increases be automatic. The above experience convinced the top officers that rating was a dangerous source of friction and that its disadvantages outweighed its advantages.

Questions:

Placing yourself in the role of Personnel Manager, prepare

Memorandum for possible submission to the Chairman outlining the

Importance of ratings and suggesting ways of handling problems

Arising out of ratings.

Prepare a merit-rating Performa which you feel would be ideal to

Appraise the merit of non-supervisory staff.

Answer a.

Memorandum

To: The Chairman

From: Personnel Manager

Based on the recent even in the company where a group of workers made representation to you in regard to

Their dissatisfaction from the rating that the got during the last appraisal process.The proposal of an automatic raise for all employees through union negotiation.

The rating system as established in the company presently is based on important presumptions and is being used in a verity of ways.

The graphic rating system is a scale based in instrument which offers advantages like coverage of important variable which constitutes performance.It offers a objective evaluation of performance which can be converted in numeric which offers a clear indicator.Here due to the compulsion of evaluating all the factors there is less chance biasness.In graphic process the supervisor also learns the difference between good to great performance.The variables of performance are set by top management hence what the top management think the employee should focus upon becomes clear.The graphic rating also offers a chance to identity different weak and strong areas of employees which helps in counseling the employees in specific areas of improvement.

But as the employee have a grievance that the rating provided to them does not really indicate the real worth of their qualification and work and also that community work is not a dimension which should be given significance is a matter of importance an hence require a clarification.

The way to handle this situation is that employees should be asked to give self appraisal on the same form as this will be helpful in identifying the difference in their own perception in comparison to their supervisors.Secondly as the supervisors some time due to leniency, halo effect and other factors provide biased ratings which can be solved only by offering supervisors training on the appraisal process and on the use of this data?There is also a need of making a broad based committee which should offer a list of key parameters of performance so it will be more acceptable.

Answer B:

Performance Appraisal Format

Name: Job Title:

Department: Supervisor:

Evaluation Date

Definition of performance factors

Safety:

Demonstrates a commitment to safety by following safety rules & guidelines; follows good housekeeping practices, takes proper care of equipment. Meets requirements of 100% participation in safety training & 100% safety actions completed.

Attendance:

Regular & Punctual attendance at or below the 4 point threshold. Individual is at workstation when scheduled and remains for the duration of shift.

Initiative & Energy:

Takes advantage of training opportunities and progresses through work stations at an acceptable rate. Initiates actions without needing direction; Demonstrates a sense of urgency; Corrects errors; Requests assistance in a timely manner; Handles unexpected situations calmly & efficiently to minimize problems.

Quality:

Considers accuracy & the appearance of work, committed to producing a quality product and to continuous improvement efforts. Recognizes & learns from mistakes, taking appropriate action to reduce errors. Understands the role that quality plays in customer satisfaction.

Productivity:

Properly uses materials and equipment to effectively and efficiently complete varying workload in a timely fashion.

Problem Solving:

Demonstrates the ability to gather information, to critically evaluate options, seeking alternative perspectives to identity root causes & develop solutions.

Accountable/Dependable:

Takes responsibility for decisions, actions and results; delivers on commitments to stakeholders. Acts in the best interest of stakeholders; places success of the organisation ahead of personal gain. Proactive in decisions and actions.

Teamwork:

Builds trust by respecting the ideas & contribution of everyone; works well with others. Coaches & encourages others on a regular basis; contributes to positive morale & spirit within the team; and embraces diverse & global cultures.

Integrity:

Demonstrates a commitment by adhering to its stated values, policies & procedures. Does the right thing, conducts business in an ethical manner in accordance with our conduct guidelines ideas.

Potentiality to develop:

Takes interest in new learning’s and tries new method and previous training.

S no Performance criteria 5 4 3 2 11 Safety2 Attendance3 Initiative and Energy4 Quality5 Productivity6 Problem solving7 Accountable/Dependable8 Teamwork9 Integrity10 Potentiality to develop

5 – Shows this behavior and attribute every time he works or participates in other activities.

4 – Shows this behavior and attribute Most of the time he works or participates in other activities.

3 – Shows this behavior and attribute Many times he works or participates in other activities.

2 – Shows this behavior and attribute only sometime he works or participates in other activities.

1 – Shows this behavior and attribute very less or not at all when he works or participates in other activities.

CASE IX – DIAMOND INTERNATIONAL

Read the following case carefully and answer the questions at the end. In 1981 the 325 employees who manufactured paper egg cartons at Diamond International plant in Palmer, Massachusetts, faced an uncertain future. Styrofoam containers were creating stiff competition, the recession was affecting profits adversely, and workers were worried about being laid off. Labour – management relations were strained at best. Over 65 per cent of the plant’s workforce felt that management did not treat them with respect, 56 per cent approached their work pessimistically, and 79 per cent thought they were not being rewarded for a job well done.

Then the personnel director of the Diamond plant devised a system of productivity incentives called the “100 club”. It is disarmingly simple. Employees are allocated points in recognition of above – average performance, Any employee who works a full year without having a industrial accident is awarded 20 points; 100 per cent attendance is worth 25 points. Every year on February 2 (the anniversary of the programme’s launching date), points are tallied and a record is sent to the individual’s home. Upon reaching 100 points, workers get a light blue nylon jacket emblazoned with the company logo and patch signifying membership in the “100 club”. Every one of the plant’s employee has now earned a jacket. Those who accumulate more than 100 points can receive additional gifts. With 500 points, employee can choose from such items as a blender, cooking accessories, a wall clock, or a cribbage board. Diamond’s management is quick to point out that none of the prizes is beyond the purchasing power of the workers; the real value is this: It’s a sign of appreciation from the company. “For too long, the people who have got the majority of attention have been those who cause problems,” says Diamond’s personnel Director “(Our) programme’s primary focus is the recognition of good employees.”

QUESTIONS:

Do you think recognition alone is enough to motivate employees, or does it always have to be tied to pay?How might Diamond’s recognition programme affect errors, grievances, and time lost due to absence?Can such a programmed be sustained over time? If so, how?Discuss the relevance of the example in the case to Indian situation.Also mention at least one instance where an Indian organization has Tried some creative/innovative/unique way of recognizing its employees and with what effect?

Answer 1

The issue of motivation is affected by various things, as per Herzberg motivation has a relation with recognition, Specialist development and opportunity for cross growth (self actualization).

Pay and other issues like good working conditions can at the most offer good satisfaction to the employees. Motivation definitely has a relation with recognition as recognition is likely to change the

social perception of the individual among peers and other so it plays a great role in motivating the person.

The connecting of recognition with monitory benefits only like increments, allowance etc has a positive but a short term impact. As after the receipt of such monitory reward the value of the reward stars getting low and after some time it becomes part of normal expectations.

Recognition should be offer a variety of chances to reward and recognize employees and it should be done for variety of different behaviors so that the areas of behavior which are key for the organization. The brings a set of reinforcement in the things the organization wants the employees to be motivated towards.

Answer 2

The recognitions program ie the “100 Club”. Is a very good program as it directs the attention of the employees towards those key areas and behaviors which the management appreciates and hence the employees can be motivated to achieve those behaviors like safety, punctuality, productivity etc.

There is a very good system the Diamond management has built in this program as it take into consideration that any employee who works a full year without having an industrial accident is awarded 200 points; 100 per cent attendance is worth 25 points. This way the employees become habitual of continuously remain safety and practice safety practices, one an employees is continuously thinking of accident free working and is cautious in his work he is likely to also reduce errors. As both accidents and errors are associated to low concentration, low awareness and lack of carefulness.

Hence the continuous and conscious efforts by workers in this area will lead to error free working.

Grievance in a organization is a common issue and leads to demotivation. And the most grievances arise to dissatisfaction arising out of inequity of opportunities and rewards. In an environment where clear communication on the area of specific achievement is clear and the points are allocated on a clear method it will reduce grievances of employees regarding inequity, and also as most of the employees will achieve this in due course of time the achievement motivation will lower down their grievances.

The major reason of low productivity is most of the organization is time lost due to absenteeism and this is one menace which most of the organizations face this recognition scheme has the potential to affect the absenteeism behavior and once an employee has been rewarded they would like to retain their image and hence will be more punctual in their behavior.

Answer 3

These type of recognition program have rather a short life as once after a large number of employees have gained it, it becomes unattractive. The charm of recognition is only when it offer distinction from others and hence it requires that new and innovative ways of offering recognition and rewarding employees displaying good behavior should be done.

To sustain such programs the need to devise new programs annually or enhance those programs which became popular with employees is there.

The creative aspect of how too define the program what non monitory or monitory reward should be attached need to be reviewed at quick succession.

Be most important part of recognition and rewarding is that it should be

SignificanceEquitable distributionVisibilityFlexibilityLow cost Timeliness

If these principles are maintained any recognition program will work.

Answer 4

The Taj Mahal Hotel is a hotel which symbolizes the grace, Indian values of being a host and quality.

The recent example of it could be see during the Mumbai Terror Attack where the employees even after

Knowing the terrorist being there kept assisting the quest throughout the night and many of them laid

down their life in the line of duty to save their guest. This is not just an accident that this courage and

behavior was displayed by the employees of TAJ.

Taj hotel has created a deep rooted tradition and culture among its employees to generate the high

level of commitment, quality consciousness and up keeping the values of customer service and quest

services.

This could be achieved by the use of effective reward and recognition programs that have been set up at

Taj. One of the programs is known as STARS – Loyality and Reward Program.

The Features of STARS Program

It is a recognition and rewards systemNon monetary reward systemPushes excellence and team work in employees.Imbibes people in the organization philosophyHelps in the over all appraisal program

Organizational Benefits of its HR initiatives

High Employee retentionImage and Market recognition. Helps in attracting good talent to the company.Better customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.Business development.- Profitability.International Recognitions. High faith in investors and financial supporters.Social benefits.

CASE XI – Mr. Mathur

Mr. Mathur is the Director (Operations) of a large organisation and every year he obtains services of graduates with academic background of science, engineering and mathematics to work in his department. Those executives are engaged in systems work to monitor the operation of the organisation. Mr. Mathur had got Mr. Amin to move from technical department of his unit on transfer. Amin had put in ten years service in the organisation and satisfactorily picked up the systems programming functions of Mr. Mathur department. After about a year Mr. Mathur secured the services of Mr. Ram on transfer from corporate office, who had distinguished himself as a computer specialist. Both Amin and ram teamed up well and the activities of the department were at its best.

After sometime Mr. Mathur problem surfaced principally because Amin came too know the Ram’s emoluments were higher than his, although he had worked for almost a decade, and had demonstrated good professional ability. Ram had put in only four years ‘service in the organisation and was also younger in age to Amin.

When Amin voiced his grievance he was told that the company had specific guidelines for pay fixation. Although Amin and Ram were in the same salary scale. Ram’s emoluments were higher, since he received special pay because of higher professional qualifications. Mr. Mathur explained company policy to Amin, but it did not satisfy him. Amin was not pleased with the situation, particularly because in spite of the recent annual raise in his salary he was getting lesser amount and he would continue like this, unless he secures promotion.

Amin thought he was more experienced and able and had more knowledge about the operations of the company. His discontent was exhibited in his performance and the operations of the company suffered.

Please discuss the following issues:

What role does Law and equity play in this case?Should company demand that individuals do not disclosed their salaries? Why or Why not?Comment on the salary/allowance policy.As Director (Operations) how would you handle Amin/

Answer 1

In this case there is a classic problem many old organizations face where on one hand they have old

timers who have worked with the organization for a long duration and have good experience and

experience based learning which they acquired from their experience in the company. And on the other

hand are other new employees who have latest education and skills acquired which are most recent and

update which could be key for future growth and managing. The conflict lies in whom to pay higher and

what should be the parameter of compensation.

Law has its own role in company decision as policies and strategies are made to gain certain type of

advantage for the company and its operation and such policies and Laws have importance in running the

system hence the Policies should be kept intact as best as possible.

On the other hand Equity is a key concept which has a deep impact on the motivation of the employee.

Equity can be understood by Understanding the following formula

A’s Output or reward/ = B’s Output or reward

A’s Input as work and effort = B’s Input as work and effort

So if the input of two employees is equal and the output or reward is also equal than a equity persist

than it would be seen as employees as fair treatment by management of their work. But if the input is

same and reward is not it could lead to the feeling of inequity which can lead to low motivation in the

employee which could lead to low productivity, disinterest, more conflicts and grievances.

Which seems to have happened in this case where Amin is feeling inequity and hence he is reacting to

the presence of inequity by lowering his productivity and may be cooperation.

Perfect equity can never happen as organizations are a body of people and the Human process is not

necessarily logical.

Answer 2

The non disclosure of compensation is a clause is most of the organisation but as employees while they work together they have curiosity to clear their feeling of equity and hence they try too compare their input vs reward with others.

Equity is normally seen by employees in different ways

1. Equity inside the companySelf Inside – Self work comparing with a similar person inside the company.

Others Inside – observing two other people with similar work and comparing.2. Equity with outside organization

Self Outside – Self Input out put with of similar people in other companies.

Others Outside – Other input out put with of similar people in other companies.

So even with non disclosure agreement of compensation it is not really possible for the company to hide the compensation of people within the organization.

So the company should not spend unnecessary time and energy for hiding and placing wrong information. So the company should not keep the compensation a secret.

This situation will lead to the management having a transparent system and then it will be more responsible of its own decisions and the compensation. And if some complaints arise it will give a chance to the management to solve uncomfortable issues.

Answer 3

The salary and allowance policy of the company as the case fact reveals that the company is very conventional in it compensation policies and has a rather rigid salary structure which is dependent of variables like pre qualification and academic qualifications which has rather created this situation.

The compensation for the same position same work out put and same expectations should draw same rewards for both the candidates. The company should be sensitive about these issues. It should understand when the management expects same out from both they should pat they equally also. Hence the output skills presently displayed should be the major variables on which salary should be fixed.

Answer 4

Amin should be handled very sensitively as he may even react by leaving the job if the inequity he is feeling is not removed.

Ii would invite Amin and would communicate on the policies of the company once and try to make him comfortable with the fact that there is a problem which lies in the compensation structuring in the company.

And assure that I would put my own recommendations in front of the management for a reevaluation of the Compensation to make it possible to bring equity based compensation in the organization.

CASE XIII – BHARAT BANK

The branch manager of Kenya Main Branch of Bharat Bank was faced with the problem of punctuality in his staff. People took time off during duty hours resulting in loss of work and overtime payment. Initially Mr. Vatia, the branch manager, tried to persuade the staff to be punctual by sermonizing but it did not work. Failing in these methods he resorted to punishment. The matters improved little but Mr. Vatia was aware of the long-term consequences of punishment-centered approach. His investigation revealed that ‘time off’ was used for personal work by the staff. Whenever caught the staff explained that they had gone for ‘a cup of coffee’. This branch had no canteen facilities like other banks and the building had no space for canteen. An automatic coffee vending machine was installed but the staff refused to use the machine saying that the coffee was bad. One day it occurred to Mr. Vatia that the muster roll of the branch did not have any provision for marking the period of absence by the members in the event of going out for coffee. He decided to install a ‘time clock’ at the main gate and the staff was advised to punch their attendance cards through this clock for checking their time out. One’s immediate supervisor was authorised to sanction the short leave. The staff took the matter too the union. Meanwhile, the services of three members of the staff were terminated for dishonesty and fraud. They had altered the time in the muster roll for departure, thereby claiming overtime for the period they did not work. It was proved by the photocopy of the muster roll taken by Mr. Vatia without the knowledge of the employees. Mr. Vatia used the above instance to impress upon the union members the utility of time machine in preventing frauds. The union members almost came round to accepting the idea but were somewhat hesitant. At this stage the Regional Manager who came to know about the proposal suggested that Mr. Vatia talked to the secretary, Kenya Bankers Association, as no other Bank in Kenya had this machine. The secretary put his foot down. He was a man of British tradition and was shocked at the idea of using time clock in banks. Other bankers when contacted also did not favor the idea. Not willing to go all alone the Regional Manager advised Mr. Vatia to give up the idea.

Comment on the above case offering suggestions on how best to tackle the Situation.

Answer: The situation with in the case with bharat bank at Kenya branch is a of work culture and employee discipline. There are evidence that the employees are practicing convenient and unproductive behaviors by engaging their office time for the personal work and as well just wasting time in many occasions.

These practices of employees if remain unchecked can result into a low level of productivity, carelessness, customer dissatisfaction and many other problems.

Bharat Bank is a service unit and for a service unit manpower is their only real asset which makes and breaks their organization. If the good culture and discipline is not practiced it is going to put the organization in real trouble.

It is evident from the suspension of three employees that the trouble of indiscipline and bad working culture has taken deep roots in the bank and people are using all tact’s to make their life convenient.

Mr. Vatia has clear vision of the problem and has shown a keen dedication in solving the problem using different tactics like sermonizing and communicating with the employees to positively impress them on the issue, when it did not impact he used mild punishment which is not so easy as the organization is not having labor or unskilled workers who can be punished but has highly educated skilled and respected employees where punishment only leads to ego hurting and is not really easy to do. He also set record that the fudging of data and other practices will not be tolerated by suspending the employees which should instill some fear among employees and deter them from such activities. But Mr. Vatia cannot do this alone and it his not his job to be a detective in the organization.

His idea of short leave for genuine case of personal work and time machine is very good as it will help in not just giving the required time out but will also deter people casually using time off. As it will have a record of frequency.

Though this idea may seem radical to the Kenya Banker association but Mr. Vatia as he has almost even convinced the union representatives also should not leave this here as if he fails to use this opportunity people get a clear reinforcement that they can take things at ease and will be more detrimental.

Mr. Vatia should send this to head quarters with a complete report and comments on the customer service and other issues and try to get a nod from Bharat Bank Head quarters.

Beyond this he should not just depend upon the time machine to change the situation as it is a change in the human behavior is the need so he will have to use some positive reinforcement and recognition techniques to bring a change in the behavior of the employee.

As well treating the complaint of employees of bad coffee should be seen in a positive light and a sincere effort to either appoint a vendor for delivering and a 5 – 10 min break before or after lunch should be announced for a coffee together kind of session. So that people come together socialize. Get relaxed and also do not use the coffee break for their personal work utility. The short leave concept should carry on with a good orientation to the immediate supervisors about when how and what to approve.

CASE XXI – Mr. BANERJEE

“Mr. Alok Banerjee is the chief executive of a medium-sized pharmaceutical firm in Calcutta. He holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacy. However, he has not been involved in research and development of new products for two decades. Though turnover is not a problem for the company, Mr. Banerjee and his senior colleagues noticed that the workers on hourly basis are not working up to their full potential. It is a well-known fact that they filled their days with unnecessary and unproductive activities and worked only for the sake of a pay cheque. In the recent past the situation has become quite alarming as the organisation began to crumble under the weight of uneconomical effort.

The situation demanded immediate managerial attention and prompt remedial measures. Mr. Banerjee knew very well that the only way to progress and prosper is to motivate workers’ to peak performance through various incentive plans.

On fine morning, Mr. Banerjee contacted the Personnel Manager and enquired:”what is the problem with the workers on hourly basis? The wage bill shows that we pay them the highest in the industry. Our working conditions are fine. Our fringe benefits are excellent. Still these workers are not motivated. What do they require really?” The personnel Manager gave the following Reply.

“I have already informed you a number of times, that money, working conditions and benefits are not enough. Other things are equally important. One of the workers in that group recently gave me a clue as to why more and more workers are joining the bandwagon of non-performers. He felt had that hard work and efficiency go unnoticed and unrewarded in our organization. Our promotions and benefit plans are tied to length of service.

Even the lazy workers, accordingly, enjoy all the benefits in the organization, which, in fact. According to the workers, should go only to those who work hard. “Mr. Banerjee then wanted the Personnel Manager to look into the problem more closely and find out a solution to the problems of workers on hourly basis.”

Question:

Explain the motivational problem in this case by relating it to Herzberg’s theory.

What would be your response to Banerjee statement (in the last Para of the case), if you were the Personnel Manager in the company?

If you were the Manager, how would you motivate the employees so that they work better?

Answer A: Herzberg’s theory of motivation was a very significant turn in the understanding of the concept of motivation and led to a great contribution to organizations across the world.

Previously the motivation was seen in light of Maslow theory which identified five factors starting from Physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, Growth/esteem needs and self actualization. Each of

these needs as per Maslow arises once the previous need is fulfilled and becomes more important than the previous one. But his theory was not specific to workforce but generic in nature and also has a lot of gaps which could not give a concrete guidance to the industry in specific to address the motivation of its workforce.

Herzberg came out with a theory commonly known as 2 factor theory or Hygiene motivation theory. This theory explains a very important difference between satisfaction and motivation where satisfaction only makes an employee perform his normal capacity level but motivation is the force which brings a beyond the expected level of energy zeal and performance from the employee.

Herzberg said not all need fulfillment will lead to motivation like good salary, good supervision may lead to satisfaction among employees which is important to get the optimal capacity of performance out of him but factors like growth, recognition and self actualization are the once which lead to motivation which bring a high level of energy which takes employee to his beyond normal level of performance.

For any organization to bring innovation, creativity, dedication, ownership kind of attributes require the employee to be motivated, as these attributes are not really possible to flourish only with satisfaction.

The same is being highlighted by the personnel manager when he says replying too Mr. Banerjee that “ I have already informed you a number of times, that money, working conditions and benefits are not enough. Other things are equally important. One of the workers in that group recently gave me a clue as to why more and more workers are joining the bandwagon of non-performers”. He felt had that hard work and efficiency go unnoticed and unrewarded in our organization. Our promotions and benefit plans are tied to length of service.

So the personnel manager has really hit the right issue and recognized the issue that only by paying good in comparison, offering benefits and facilities does not lead to motivation but at the maximum satisfy the workers.

On the other hand beyond having no recognition and growth prospects the workers are also getting affected by the inequity of reward and hence they have reduced their effort in response to the inequity that they feel.

So the problem of motivation in this case is complex as it requires a overhaul of the existing reward and compensation structure and also the approach of management towards managing the motivation of its workers.

Answer B: Mr. Banerjee is definitely carrying a commonly misunderstood concept when he say we pay the best among our type of industry we have good work environment and as well the fringe benefits then what do the workers want.

The issue is that the company may have built a good compensation but the money that is being invested in the compensation is not targeted and administered in a way to give feeling of achievement for the employees and of growth and hence the employees are not excited about the compensation and hence it does not motivated the workers.

The compensation needs a restructuring to make it more exciting for workers. The workers are facing a job situation which is very much a repetitive work process and hence they require to feel their work is being given due importance and if the they work hard they should be noticed but here in the company the work quality and efforts offers no recognition as all the promotions and increments are related to length of service and hence a culture of just holding on to the job rather than performing the best on the job is getting established and leading to unproductive behaviors.

This is an immediate need to see the different ways of motivating the workers using not just monitory compensation and incentives but even beyond that. Like work motivation.

Answer C: There is a great deal of understanding that is need to bring a new approach to be able to enhance the motivation of workers.

It can be done by using a three phase activity which as separate focus and impact on the motivation of employees.

1. Enhancing the work motivation2. Implementing different incentives, rewards and recognition3. Effectively communicating the connection of what will lead to the achievement of the rewards

1. Work motivation can be enhanced by offering them the possibility of job rotation was different skills will be imbibed in the workers and as well a newness of work will happen. A team approach of work which is more autonomous and self managing can be designed as this brings collaborative energy and feeling of achievement.

Beside this a communication process which offers help and feed back on their performance and how to get ahead is available as this improves the interest in the job

2. Possibility of achieving monitory incentives like Spot bonuses Punctuality rewards Safety reward. Best worker award Special perks like family movie ticket on achievement of target before time etc.

The schemes which are suggested above should be implemented with a very meticulous was and a special attention should be given to provide clear guidelines on how to evaluate the performance and eligibility for the reward and it should be as circular be.

CASE VII – OVERSEAS OVERTURES

Read the case entitled ‘Overseas Overtures’ and answer the following questions:

(a) Do you agree with the view of Avinash Dwivedi on restructuring Sunlight Chemicals? If yes, why? If no, why not?

(b) Comment on the strategies adopted by the company to groom global managers. Explain the principles/concepts based on which the management may have taken the decisions of recruiting and posting employees.

(c) Critically evaluate if proper use was made of employee training and performance appraisal in Sunlight Chemicals.

(d) Comment on Sunlight’s technological competitiveness to be a global player. Suggest how the company could improve its competitiveness in terms of human resources.

Starting at the vast expanse of the Arabian Sea from his corner office at Mumbai‘s Nariman Point, Ramcharan Shukla, the 53-year-old executive vice-chairman and managing director of the Rs 500 crore Sunlight Chemicals (Sunlight), felt both adventurous and apprehensive. He knew he had to quicken to global strides that Sunlight had made in the last four years if the company were to benefit from its early gains in the world markets. However, he was also shaken by a doubt: would his strategy of prising open international markets by leveraging the talents of a breed of managers with transnational competencies succeed?

Globalisation had been an integral part of Sunlight’s business plans ever since Shukla took over as managing director in 1990 with the aim of making it the country’s first international chemicals major. Since then, Sunlight – the country’s third-largest chemicals-maker – had developed export markets in as many as 40 markets, with international revenues contributing 40 per cent of its Rs 500-crore turnover in 1994-95. The company also set up manufacturing bases in eight countries – most recently in China’s Shenzhen free trade zone – manned by a mix of local and Indian employees. These efforts at going global first took shape in December 1991 when Shukla, after months of deliberations with his senior management team, outlined Sunlight’s Vision 2001 statement. It read: “We will achieve a turnover of $ 1 billion by 2001 by tapping global markets and developing new products”. The statement was well-received both within and outside the company. The former CEO of a competitor has said in a newspaper report: “Shukla has clearly sensed the pressures of operating in a new trade order with a tough patents regime”. But Shukla also realised that global expertise could not be developed overnight. Accordingly, to force the company out of an India-centric mindset, he started a process of business restructuring. So the company’s business earlier divided into domestic and export divisions, was not split into five areas: Area 1 (India and China), Area 2 (Europe and Russia), Area 3 (Asia Pacific), Area 4 (Us) and Area 5 (Africa and South America). Initially, managers were incredulous, with one senior manager saying,: “This is crazy. It lacks a sense of proportion.” The cynicism was not misplaced. After all, the domestic market – which then contributed over 90 per cent of the company’s turnover – had not only been with the Chinese market, but had also been brought at par with the areas whose collective contributions to the turnover was below 10 per cent. Shukla’s explanation, presented in an interview to a business magazine:

“Actually, the rationale is quite simple and logical. We took a look at how the market-mix would evolve a decade from now, and then created a matrix to suit that mix. Of course, we will also set up

manufacturing facilities in each of these areas to change the sales-mix altogether.” He wasn’t wrong. Two years later, men as the first manufacturing facility in Vietnam was about to go on stream, the overseas areas’ contribution to revenues rose to 20 per cent. And the mood of the management changed with the growing conviction that export income would soon surpass domestic turnover. Almost simultaneously, Shukla told his senior managers that the process of building global markets could materialize only if the organisation became flat, flexible and fleet-footed. Avinash Dwivedi, a management consultant brought in to oversee Sunlight’s restructuring exercise, told the board of directors: “Hierarchies built up over the years have blunted the company’s reflexes, and this is a disadvantage while working in the competitive global markets.” Shukla agreed. For too long, Sunlight has been structured around the two arms of marketing and manufacturing, each headed by a vice-president. As par of the new plan, both functions were integrated and brought under the common control of a newly-created post, vice-president (chemicals). The new integratec set-up now had four hierarchical layers as opposed to the earlier system of nine layers for each arm. And each of the five reconstituted areas was headed by vice-president geographically based at the epicenter of the market. So, them vice-president of Area I was based in Mumbai, Area 2 in Frankfurt, Area 3 ii Hong Kong, Area 4 in Chicago, and Area 5 in Cape Town.

The selection of vice-presidents for the newly-constituted regions posted n1 immediate problem. For, Sunlight had several general managers – from bot arms of marketing and manufacturing – whose thinking had been shaped by the company’s long exposure to the export markets. For obvious reasons, the ability to built markets was the primary criterion for selection. The second criterion was a broad business perspective with a multi-functional, multimarket exposun that was because Shukla felt it did not make good business sense to send battalion of functional managers to foreign markets when two or three business managers could suffice.

But specific markets also needed specific competencies. That was how Sunlight chose to appoint a South African national to head Area 5. The logic: only a local CEO could keep track of changes in regulations and gauge the potential of the booming chemicals market in the US. However, the effort was always focused on using in-house talent. Shukla put it to his management team: “We should groom managerial talent – whether local or expatriate – for all our overseas operations from within the company and should rotate this expertise worldwide.

In essence, we should develop global managers within the company. “While doing the personnel planning for each area and fixing the compensation packages for overseas assignments, Sunlight realised the importance of human resource (HR) initiatives. The HR division, headed by Vice-president Joseph Negi, had been hobbled for years with industrial relations problems caused by the unionization of the salesforce.” You have to move in step with the company’s global strategy,” Shukla had told his HR managers at a training session organized by Dwivedi, who was spearheading the task of grooming global managers.

Four years down the line, Shukla felt that Sunlight was still finding its way around the task. Sure, a system was in place. Depending on the requirements of each of the four areas, Sunlight had started recruiting between 25 and 30 MBAs every year from the country’s leading management institutes.

During the first six months, these young managers were given cross-functional training, including classroom and on-the-job inputs. The training was then followed by a placement dialogue to determine the manager-area fit. If a candidate were to land, for instance, on the Asia-Pacific desk at the head office, he would be assigned a small region, say, Singapore, and would be responsible for the entire gamut of brand building for a period of one year in coordinate with the regional vice-president.

The Success with which he would complete his task would decide his next job: the first full-time overseas posting. He could be appointed as the area had of, say, Vietnam, which was equivalent to an area sales manager in the home market. After a couple of years, he would return to base for a placement in brand management or finance. A couple of years later, the same manager could well be in charge of a region in a particular area. Over the past four years, Sunlight had developed 30 odd potential global managers in the company spanning various regions, using this system. But, considering that the grooming programme was only three years old, Shukla felt that it would take some time for the company’s homespun managers to handle larger markets, like china, on their own. The real problem in this programme was in matching the manager to the market. Dwivedi suggested a triangular approach to get the right fit: define the business target for a market in an area. Look at the candidate’s past performance in the market. And identify the key individual characteristics for that market. Dwivedi also identified another criterion: a good performance rating at home during the previous two years.

Once selected for an overseas posting, the candidate would be given crosscultural training – a course in foreign languages, interactive programmes with repatriated managers on the nature of the assignment, and often, personality development programmes on the nuances of country-specific business etiquette.

Further, an overseas manager would be appraised on two factors: the degree to which he had met his business plan targets for the market, and the extent to which he had developed his team. After all, he had to vacate the posting within three years to make place for his replacement. Achievements were weighed quarterly and annually against sales targets set at the beginning of the year by the vice-president of the region. The appraisal would then be sent to the corporate headquarters in Mumbai for review by the senior management committee. Shukla had often heard his senior managers talk appreciatively of the benefits of transrepatriation. “The first batches of returnees are more patient, tolerant, and mature than when they left home,” said manohar Vishwas, vice-president (finance), “and they handle people better.”

But the litmus test for the company, Shukla felt, would be in managing a foreign workforce – across diverse cultures – at the manufacturing facilities in six countries outside India. The Shenzhen unit, for instance, had 220 employees, out of which only 10 were expatriate Indians. Further, the six-member top management team had only two Indians. Of course, the mix had been dictated by the host country’s laws and language considerations.

Some of the African markets had their own peculiarities. The entire team of medical representatives, for example, comprised fully-qualified, professional’s doctors. Sharad Saxena, vice-president, Area 5, told Shukla: “As there is heavy unemployment in Africa, doctors are attracted to field sales work for higher earnings.” There were other problems too: as both Chinese and Russian managers had been brought up

on a diet of socialism, they were not used to displaying initiative at the workplace. Dwivedi had suggested that regular training was one of the ways of transforming the workforce. So, Shukla hired a training group from Delhi’s institute of Human Resource Management Training to spend a month at Shenzhen. This was later incorporated as an annual exercise.

Observing that interpersonal conflicts were common in situations where employees with single country background were working together, a new organizational structure was introduced. Here, Sunlight positioned local managers between an Indian boss and subordinate. Similarly, some Indian Managers were positioned between a local boss and subordinate. Says Abhishek Acharya, vice-president, Area 3: “There were some uncomfortable moments, but it led to a faster and better integration of management principles, work practices, and ethics.”

Obviously, reflected Shukla, Dwivedi was doing a great job. As he watched the setting sun, however, he found his thoughts turning to a more fundamental question. However, immaculate his HR planning had been, had be made a mistake by not developing his strategies first? Was he mixing up his priorities by putting people management a head of issues like marketing, technology and global trade? Even the HR strategy he had chosen worried Shukla. Should he have opted for more locals in each country? If expatriate managers failed often then they succeeded in India, wasn’t the same true for other countries? Is Sunlight on the right track in going global without trying to consolidate I position further back home? Can it realise its global vision with its current mix o strategies? Are there any gaps in its gameplan to conquer the globe?

Answers

Ans1: Definitely Yes, We are agree with the view of Avinash Dwivedi on Restructuring of Sunlight Chemicals because hierarchies always creates a problem in globalization operated business that’s why Dwivedi wants to implement that flat structure in an organisation so that everyone be aware of their task & activities. According to Avinash Dwivedi, “Hierarchies built up over the years have blunted the company’s reflexes, and this is a disadvantage while working in the competitive global markets.” While in the flat organization every individual can communicate with each other easily and can take a fast decision so it is time saving & fast operating structure also. That’s why we are with the Dwivedi decision of restructuring the sunlight chemicals.

Ans2: From a long time, sunlight had been structured around the two arms of marketing and manufacturing, each headed by a vice-president. As part of a new plan, when company is going to become a globalized identity, both functions were integrated and brought under the common control of a newly created post, vice-president (chemical). The new integrated set-up now had four hierarchical layers as opposed to the earlier system of the nine layers for each arm.

According to Management Principles, “Sunlight started grooming managerial talent – whether local or expatriate – for all overseas operations from within the company and should rotate this expertise worldwide. In essence, management took the decision the develop global managers within the company.” While doing the personnel planning for each area and fixing the compensation packages for overseas assignments, Sunlight realized the importance of human resource (HR) initiatives. The HR

division, headed by Vice-president Joseph Negi, had been hobbled for years with industrial relations problems caused by the unionization of the sales force. “You have to move in step with the company’s global strategy,” Shukla had told his HR managers at a training session organized by Dwivedi, who was spearheading the task of grooming global managers.

Depending on the requirements of each of the four areas, Sunlight had started recruiting between 25 and 30 MBAs every year from the country’s leading management institutes. During the first six months, these young managers were given cross-functional training, including classroom and on-the-job inputs. The training was then followed by a placement dialogue to determine the manager-area fit. If a candidate were to land, for instance, on the Asia-Pacific desk at the head office, he would be assigned a small region, say, Singapore, and would be responsible for the entire gamut of brand building for a period of one year in coordinate with the regional vice-president.

The Success with which he would complete his task would decide his next job: the first full-time overseas posting. He could be appointed as the area had of, say, Vietnam, which was equivalent to an area sales manager in the home market. Dwivedi also identified another criterion: a good performance rating at home during the previous two years. Once selected for an overseas posting, the candidate would be given crosscultural training – a course in foreign languages, interactive programmes with repatriated managers on the nature of the assignment, and often, personality development programmes on the nuances of country-specific business etiquette. Dwivedi was doing a great job & has suggested that regular training was one of the ways of transforming the workforce.

Observing that interpersonal conflicts were common in situations where employees with single country background were working together, a new organizational structure was introduced. Here, Sunlight positioned local managers between an Indian boss and subordinate. Similarly, some Indian Managers were positioned between a local boss and subordinate. Says Abhishek Acharya, vice-president, Area 3: “There were some uncomfortable moments, but it led to a faster and better integration of management principles, work practices, and ethics.”

Ans3: Training has its own importance and in the globalizes company same as sunlight chemical, training is required on the urgent basis because cross-cultural employees is there if we not provide the cross-cultural training to each & every employee than an individual can’t survive at the workplace. And in the Sunlight chemicals, Dwivedi was doing a great job & has suggested that regular training was one of the ways of transforming the workforce. Shukla hired a training group from Delhi’s Institute of Human Resource Management Training to spend a month at Shenzhen. This was later incorporated as an annual exercise. Once selected for an overseas posting, the candidate would be given crosscultural training – a course in foreign languages, interactive programmes with repatriated managers on the nature of the assignment, and often, personality development programmes on the nuances of country-specific business etiquette.And for measuring the performance of every individual, Sunlight has its own fully structured pre-defined process. Further, an overseas manager would be appraised on two factors: the degree to which he had met his business plan targets for the market, and the extent to which he had developed his team. After all, he had to vacate the posting within three years to make place for his replacement. Achievements

were weighed quarterly and annually against sales targets set at the beginning of the year by the vice-president of the region. The appraisal would then be sent to the corporate headquarters in Mumbai for review by the senior management committee.

Ans4: As a global player, company was doing well but some strategy was not pre-panned and at that time when you are going to expand their business at other countries then it is required that firstly you properly analyze the work culture of particular country, nature of work force, and mindset of customer also. Sunlight management team was adopted the good management practices & principles but some confusion was there between the chairman & the consultant regarding the which type of people they can recruit. Because chairman was focusing on recruiting the more local candidate because they know the market & culture very well while another side, Mr. Dwivedi was focusing on recruiting an expatriate candidate. So, if company wants to survive in the global market so there is a need that firstly top management analyzes the situation and after then take a respective action for getting edge in the competitive globalized market.

CASE VIII – THE CASE OF A DEFIANT WORKER

Examine critically the following case study of “A Defiant Worker” a identify the problems involved, and answer the questions at the end. Mr. X aged 25, who had been working in a large scale textile unit in Madurai, referred to the social worker by the Labour Relations Department for social investigation of the defiant behavior exhibited by him in the work place. He had absented himself from work many a

time due to certain disturbing habits. Mr. X has committed serious sets of misconduct of riotous and disorderly behavior during working hours on 10th January, 1982 as: 1 He came to the Mill in a drunken state and quarreled with his coworkmen, And 2. Abused the supervisor using foul language. On a cursory perusal of the past records of the defiant worker, the social worker came to know that Mr. X has absented himself continually for 176 days during 1981. In addition he had availed himself of 21 days medical leave and 22 days casual leave. As a result of his indisciplined behavior, the company had taken the following disciplinary action against him: 1. He was suspended three times for 30 days by the Labour Relations Department for absenting himself from work for more than six consecutive days on two occasions, and once for committing a serious act of misconduct, 2. He was suspended as many as five times for being absent from the work spot. 3. Once he was fined ½ maximum for carelessly allowing the cotton to wrap on the cylinder roll. 4. He was given a final warning on 27.8.82 regarding his habitual absence.

During the preliminary interview the Social worker had with Mr. X, he came to know that Mr. X was married and had studied up to 6th standard. He had been drawing a salary of Rs. 800 and had put in six years of service as a “worker” in the Blow section. As for the family background Mr. X is the youngest son of his parents. He lost his father and mother when he was 7 years old. Since then his elder brother had been looking after him. In order to know more about the socio-cultural background of Mr. X, the factors which had driven him to indulge in alcoholism and the causes of his indiscipline behavior at the work-place the social worker paid visits to his house many a time and conferred with his family members. In the course of an interview he had with the eldest brother of Mr. X the social Worker gathered information about Mr. X’s life history right from time of schooling. The revealed that Mr. X was never interested in schooling and frequently absented from the class. He was associated with a gang of friends who used to take him to films regularly when Mr. X was in the fifth standard.

During his youth, Mr. X seemed to take active interest in politics and ultimately fell under the influence of gangsters, through whom he had developed certain Vices such as consuming alcohol, ganja and gambling. Seeing the deteriorating morale and social life of Mr. X, his brother procured a job for him in the local textile unit so that Mr. X could settle down and assume certain responsibilities in life. As years rolled by Mr. X got married but in course of time he started developing a feeling of hatred towards his wife in as much as he did no. like her physical appearance. His marital life lasted for only three months after which the nuptial bondage had broken, once and for all. Dissatisfied with the kind of life he was leading, Mr. X began to consume alcohol regularly only ft becomes an addict. He started playing clucks and drakes with all his savings and the income derived from his land too. His eldest brother began to reject him for he was beyond redemption and finally drove him out of the house. Mr. X’s supervisor while interviewed by the social worker stated that Mr. X’ relationship with him and co-workers had been unsatisfactory. He was not efficient in his work. Often times, he quarreled with the supervisor and the other workers when he came to the workspot under the influence of alcohol. The supervisor was of the view that though Mr. X has been counseled and punished on many occasions, he has not repented for the acts of misconduct he had committed.

Understandably, the factors contributing to the deviant behaviour of Mr. X might be the lack of parental care during his childhood, his association with gangsters, marital, disagreement due to dissatisfaction in

his sexual relations, failure on the part of the management to discover the problem at an early stage and control the same, etc., and this might lead us to assume that Mr. x had developed disturbing habits, such as alcoholic addiction and chronic absenteeism owing to various factors indicated above. When the social worker pleaded with the labour officer to grant pardon to Mr. X for the repeated deviant acts exhibited by him, the officer explained that though Mr. X was given the absolute final warning the latter had absented himself for about 45 days even after receiving the same and, therefore, he asserted that he had no other option but to dismiss Mr. X from service.

Questions

The following questions arise from the above case:

1. Is it not the moral and ethical responsibility of the employer to concerned about the quality of life of the defiant worker?

2. How could the misbehavior of the worker be constructively corrected with out penalty?3. Suppose the defiant worker had been counseled by the Supervisor/Manager rather than

progressively penalized, would he have been dismissed from service?4. Is the procedure adopted by the Organisation for disciplining the errant behaviour of the worker

justifiable?5. Could the termination of the defiant worker‘s service have been avoided?6. What rehabilitative measures could be adopted for preventing and correcting the deviant

behaviour of workers who had exhibited disturbances in the work place?

Answers

Ans1: There is a big change that has happened in the industrial scenario of the past and the present and hence the way industrialization has progressed it has taken various role which were never conceived as its role.

The organization today look for employees to take ownership of the work they do put in their heart and sole for the organizational work. At the same it becomes the moral and ethical responsibility of the organization to take interest and nurture quality of work life of the people in the organization. As the industrial and social life interfere with each other and many times the industrial life also adversely affects the workers personal life similarly sometimes the social life of the employee also has bearing impact on the life on the industrial work of the person. Hence any organization has to take ownership of the employee as a whole and try help the employee lead a better industrial and personal life hence it becomes essential moral and ethical responsibility of the organization to offer a better quality of work like to its employees.

There are a lot of key benefits of doing the efforts required to better QWL like.

Improved Loyalty. Less grievances More trust and understanding of each other

Brand of organization become better Higher moral of the workforce

Ans2: This is a difficult but rewarding effort if a misbehaving worker can be correct of his behaviors without penalty.

Penalty is punishment which can only repress some misbehavior for sometime but as soon as the punishment is over the behaviour may surface again.

On the other limitation of punishment is that people take it as a emotional hurt and done not link it with their misbehaviors and find reasons justifying their hurt like…this supervisor hates me that is why he punishes me.

Punishment can spoil relation

And hence punishment is difficult to administer and use effectively to change behaviours.

Behaviours can be changed by enhancing the behaviours you wish the employee to do more so that he does not do the misbehavior.

Like in this case defiant worker takes long leaves and sometimes uninformed leaves. So if a special effort is taken by his supervisor to appreciate him regularly, take special interest in his work and show concern by visiting him in case if he is sick and offer help the worker may get in better relation with the supervisor and for the group reason may skip less days.

Ans3: It is quite possible that if the elements of punishment could have been lower and the supervisors could have used more of counseling and help it could have averted the defiant worker from dismissal.

As in most cases punishment only makes the person more bitter and defiant as punishment is taken as emotional hurt and the worker cannot link it with their misbehaviors and find reasons justifying their hurt like…this supervisor hates me that is why he punishes me.

Other than that punishment spoils relation between the supervisor and the worker as they both are adults and find it difficult to accept such actions.

One other way people react to punishment is manipulation so they try spending more time in finding more ways to avoid getting caught and getting punished than reducing their misbehaviors.

Other way is to remain defiant and react more bitterly against the punishment by doing more harsh misbehavior.

Same in the case of the defiant worker where an excessive punishment has really spoilt the entire case.

Ans4: The Company had taken the following disciplinary action against him:

1. He was suspended three times for 30 days by the Labour Relations Department for absenting himself from work for more than six consecutive days on two occasions,

2. And once for committing a serious act of misconduct,

3. He was suspended as many as five times for being absent from the work spot.4. Once he was fined ½ maximum for carelessly allowing the cotton to wrap on the cylinder roll.5. He was given a final warning on 27.8.82 regarding his habitual absence.

And now he is being dismissed, Mr. X was given the absolute the final warning the latter had absented himself for about 45 days even after receiving the same and, therefore, he asserted that he had no other option but to dismiss Mr. X from service.

The company technically is taking steps which are not challengeable and as the misconduct as defined in the company is normally the basis of such actions it is technically correct.

But as one can observe that the punishment in against of misbehavior are very harsh and hence has made Mr. X more defiant.

Ans5: There is technically no way this decision can be challenged in a legal way as the organization has a very strong case against Mr. X for the misconducts past punishments and defiance of Mr. X on the last warning of the organization.

But this sad end to the situation could have been avoided if the corrective actions could have been taking by inquiring the reasons behind the behaviour of Mr. X and by intervention using good counseling and professional help.

At the very beginning if the organization could have asked the supervisors to take active interest before punishing Mr. X and resort to punishment only if there is now way of improving his behaviour.

Ans6: The organization at the first level will have to change its ideology of only seeing the incident and not seeing the man behind. Misbehavior should be treated as a problem as defiance against rules of the organizations.

Organizations should help individuals facing problems in their personal and social life or atleast concern should be shown as their many problems the organization cannot do anything about.

The corrective or rehabilitative action can be divided in to two areas.

Medical and psychological support.

The cases like Mr. X would require help in both the areas for alcoholism and for sorting his personal life.

Many organizations are organizing medical camps for their workers.

Yoga camps, health counseling, food programs, diet programs.

Psychological counseling, behaviour modification programs. Team games for better repo. Etc.

CASE I – THE FOUNDRY

The foundry has always been regarded as one of the worst places to worst places to work in Hindustan Steel Manufacturing Company. The work is hot, dirty and heavy. Physical endurance, rather than brains and intelligence, is considered as chief requirement to get the job done in the foundry. Yet according to the job evaluation plan of the Company, “physical ability” and “working conditions” are weighted relatively lower than “responsibility”, “training” and “skill”. As a consequence, most of the foundry jobs are related at the bottom of the wage scale of the Company In recent years, it has been increasingly difficult to get men for working in the foundry. Management had to actively search for days to get men to work in the foundry. Often, management had to employ men who could not get jobs elsewhere due to their personal limitations in terms of ability, intelligence and competence. This had led to further lowering of the already low social status of the foundry in the eyes of other employees in the plant. The matter had reached a crisis now. There are sixteen vacancies in the foundry at present and it is almost impossible to hire new men for these jobs at the evaluated rate.

Personnel Manager of the Company, Mr. Siddhartha Ray, has a difficult task on his hand. Following are some of the basic questions which need to be answered:

Question

(i)(a) How should this problem be handled?

(b) Should the Personnel Manager suggest the management to revise its job evaluation programme? Or, Should he suggest treating foundry job as an exception to job evaluation?

(ii) How should management deal with the reactions of other workers if it decides to increase foundry wages or change foundry working conditions, but not other wages or working conditions?

Answer

1A. This is a very difficult but very usual issue in much industry. In job evaluation process while we look at remunerating jobs it is normally perceived that jobs requiring more intelligence and mental process need to be paid more hence the wage rate for such task requirements are higher than the job which requires mainly physical energy and endurance.

The major issue here is that the job of foundry in not just to be seen as a physically demanding job but that it has many task which are in the category of hazard and risk and high pressure which is not normally found in other jobs which only require mainly physical workout. Hence the way to solve this issue is to sensitize the management regarding to the job demands and how a new ideology should be formed to look at the compensation rates for the job.

On the other hand as the job rates and the hardship of the job is leading to the difficulty in finding workers who are willing to take this job which could lead to quality and productivity.

The formation of new compensation structure as well as looking at making the working conditions better which is more difficult as the conditions can only be improved to a limit.

I B. The personnel Manager has two options if he has to suggest a change in the compensation structure

1. To suggest management to change the job evaluation program which would mean changing the wage rates of all jobs which are physical working requirement and it would be raised. Which would change the perception that job requiring more intelligence and brains are not superior that the once which mainly require physical working. This also leads to more complexities like change in all the levels or non equity among various jobs.

2. The other way is provide foundry working a special and exceptional status which offers it more better job rates and hence offer a good respect to the job and remunerative enough to attract good workers this would also improve motivation of workers to endure the hardships.

I would recommend the second option this would solve both the issues one is be able to find good workers for foundry and also not disturb the entire compensation structure which is not posing a problem.

As the foundry job is not just physical job but also a hazardous job involving health risk, stress, strain than any other job hence the factors for compensation need to identify rates for the same and add the compensable factors to such jobs.

Answer ii

If the management if decides to change the compensation rates of the foundry workers it will lead to many reactions and impressions which need to be dealt with.

The change in factors of compensation is being expanded in this case hence it is going to affect only the foundry jobs but all the jobs which require very high physical endurance and risk and hence the respect for such workers and these jobs. And hence it will be a good move.

The announcement of such a change should be done in such a way to clarify the thought process of the management. Hence a circular of such a change which adds a new allowance to such jobs which are to be done in extreme conditions is being added should be released. The circular about the environmental conditions which shall be deemed extreme should be released. And it should ally to all the jobs which fall in that category and thus it will be more acceptable as it provides a clear scientific or logical reason for such a move.

CASE IV – SELECTING A PROGRAMMER

Mariam has been a data processing supervisor for two years. She is in the process of selecting a candidate for a programmer trainee position she has created. Her plan is to develop the trainee in to a

system analyst within two years. Since this is a fast track, she needs a candidate whose aptitude and motivation is high.

Fourteen candidates applied for the job in the employment section of the personnel department. Six were women, eight were men. As employment specialist screened the candidates for Mariam using a carefully prepared interview format that included questions to determine job related skills. Six candidates, three women and three men, were referred to Mariam.

Mariam then conducted structured, in-depth interviews and further narrowed the selection to one woman and two men. Her boss, a company vice-president, agrees with her judgment after hearing Mariam’s description of the candidates. However, Mariam boss feels particularly unsure of the abilities of the female candidate. From the selection interview, past job experience and education, there is no clear indication of the candidate’s ability to perform the job. The vice-president is insistent that Mariam should screen the candidate with a programmer aptitude test devised by a computer manufacturing firm. The test had been given four years ago, and some of the most successful current analyst had scored high on it.

Mariam went to the personnel department and asked them to administer the test to the questionable candidate. The personnel manager informed her that the company policy had been to do no testing of any kind during the last two years. Mariam explained that the request had come from a vice-president and asked that she be given a decision on her request by Friday.

Question:

1. Identify and evaluate the stages of the selection process reflected in the case.2. If you were Mariam, what would you do?3. Suggest a selection process which such organisations as that of Mariam’s could adopt easily.

Answer1: The various stages of selection which are visible in the case are