November 30, 1997 goes down in the history of a Bangalore based electric company as the day nobody wanting it to recur but everyone recollecting it with sense of pride. It was a festive day for all the 700 plus employees. Festoons were strung all over, banners were put up, banana trunks and leaves adored the factory gate, instead of the usual red flags; and loud speakers were blaring Kannada film songs. It was the day the employees chose to celebrate Kannada Rajyothsava annual feature of all Karnataka based organizations. The function was to start at 4 PM and everybody was eagerly waiting for the big event to take place.
But the event budgeted
at Rs. 100000 did not take place. At around 2 PM there was ghastly accident in
the machine shop. Murthy was caught in the vertical turret lathe and was
wounded fatally. His end came in the ambulance on the way to hospital. The
management sought union help and the union leaders did respond with positive
attitude. They do not fish in troubled waters.
Series of meetings were
held between the union leaders and the management. The discussions centered
around two major issues-(i) restoring normalcy and (ii) determining the amount
of compensation to be paid to the dependents of Murthy. Luckily for the
Management, the accident took place on Saturday. The next day was the weekly
holiday and this helped the tension to diffuse to a large extent. The funeral
of the deceased took place on Sunday without any hitch. The management hoped
that things would be normal on Monday morning.
But the hope was
belied. The workers refused to resume work, again the management approached the
union for help. Union leaders advised the workers to resume work in all
departments, except in the machine shop and the suggestion were accepted by
all. Two weeks went by; nobody entered the machine shop though work in other
places resumed. Union leaders came with a new idea to the management – to
perform a pooja to ward off any evil that had befallen on the lathe. The
management accepted the idea and homa was performed in the machine shop for
about five hours commencing early in the morning. This helped to some extent,
the workers started operations on all other machine in the machine shop except
on the fateful lathe. It took two full months and a lot of persuasion from
union leaders for the workers to switch on the lathe. The crisis was blown over
thanks to the responsible role played by the union leaders and their fellow
workers. Neither the management nor the workers wish that such an incident
should recur.
As the wages of the deceased grossed Rs. 6500 per
month, Murthy was not covered under ESI Act. Management has to pay
compensation. Age and experience of the victim were taken into account to
arrive at Rs.1, 87,000 which was the amount payable to the wife of the deceased.
To this was added Rs. 2, 50,000 at the intervention of the union leaders. In
addition the widow was paid the gratuity and the monthly pension of Rs. 4300
and nobody wages were cut for the days not worked.
Murthy’s death
witnessed an unusual behavior on the part of workers and their leaders and
magnanimous gesture from the management. It is the pride moment in the life of
the factory.
Q1.What made employee union respond positively towards solving the crisis?
Employee union does not
want employees and employers suffer due to shut down of factory that can harm
both employers and employees. Employee Union responds positively towards
solving crisis because they do not want to create nuisance on the death of a
worker. Rather, they focused on resolving the issues created in the factory. It
is a sound example of participative management of Industrial psychology in
which during such a crisis the company and the union both showed great sense of
oneness. They both come together for solving the problem and thus ensured that
the employees and the employers both don’t suffer the consequences of the
factory being shut for non-production by the workers. Involvement of the
employees or the representative of employees (Union) is an element or
participative management. Representative participation allows workers to be
represented by a small group who actually participate. Employees' interests
become as important as those interests of management and stockholders. Employee
union wanted welfare of both the parties, thus acted positively and blew over
the crisis of the factory with active support of employers and workers.
Q2. Apply the following concept to the case and write a note on each: (a) Attitudes (b) Values (c) Job satisfaction (d) Organizational commitment
Attitude is described
as a tendency to react positively or negatively to a person or situations. Thus
the two main elements of the attitude are the tendency and the direction of the
approach. It is defined as the mental state of readiness, Organize through
experience that has a directive or dynamic effect on responses. In this case
attitude of workers, management and employee union are positive towards
resolving issues created in the factory. All the parties reflect participative
management approach in which welfare of all stakeholders are considered while
reaching to a solution.
Value
denotes the degree of importance of something or action, with the aim of
determining what actions are best to do or what way is best to live or to
describe the significance of different actions. Values reflect a person's sense
of right and wrong or what "ought" to be. "Equal rights for
all", "Excellence deserves admiration", and "People should
be treated with respect and dignity" are representatives of values. In the
above case, value system of management and employee union was commendable. The
crisis was blown over by role played by the union leaders and their fellow
workers. Importance has been given to execute right course of action rather to
make the situation drastic, which could be bad for all parties. Employee union
has supported management and workers both considering what is right and what is
wrong for both the parties. Deceased worker’s wife got compensation along with
gratuity and pension and lock down was prohibited in interest of management.
Job Satisfaction is the
feeling of contentment or a sense of accomplishment, which an employee derives
from his/her job. It is a result of appraisal that causes one to attain their
job values or meet out their basic needs. It helps in determining, to what extent a person likes or dislikes
his/her job. In the case study, employee union remains supportive to workers
and management as well. This will surely increase job satisfaction of employees
in the factory. Deceased employee has been given additional compensation and
gratuity and monthly pension as well. This attitude of management towards
employees increases employee morale and satisfaction at work place.
In industrial
psychology, organizational commitment is an individual's psychological
attachment to the organization. Organizational commitment predicts work
variables such as turnover, organizational citizenship behavior, and job
performance. The attitude of management towards its employees in the case is
positive. Management has not deducted salary of employees for not deducted for
days not worked by them in the factory. This attitude of management will help
to increase attachment of employees towards organisation and they will remain
loyal and contribute their best to achieve organisational goals. Organisation
commitment of employees towards the company will be high and turnover, job
dissatisfaction; and absenteeism will reduce in the organisation.
