Human Resource management

Case Study
Does Sincerity Pay?






Submitted to: Submitted by:
Prof. Taranjeet Duggal Mayur Arora
Anekant Jain
Mohit Juneja
Sunil Yadav
Pratham Rathi

Ques1. What is the main problem in the case ?
Answer.
The main problem in the case was that the relationship between the supervisor and the workers
was not pleasant. Baluja , supervisor ,of the manufacturing division was technically sound,
hardworking and performed his duties sincerely but he lacked interpersonal skills which are must
to perform a job of that kind. Baluja did not maintain a pleasing relationship with the workers.
He should have used his brains rather than his hands while dealing with people. Workers are
illiterates and respond negatively to foul language. He could have managed the situation well by
treating the workers nicely. Thus it is important on the part of the supervisor to deal with these
types of people without losing their cool even under provocative situations so as to extract work
from them effectively and efficiently.
In this particular case the problem lies in lack of interpersonal skills on the part of the supervisor
Baluja and and ineffective dealings with workers. In human resource management the primary
focus is on improving the employer-employee relationship. A relationship is not a toy or game
with which the supervisor is free to experiment. Relationships should be honored and treated
with deep respect and sensitive consideration. If you hurt the relationship between you and your
employee, you may lower productivity. The employee may at times seem too far away to be hurt
by your actions, but he or she will certainly be aware of your attitude.












Ques 2. What would you do, if you were in place of shekhar?
Answer.
In this case, Shekhar faces a catch 22 situation where the organization was at a loss , no matter
what decision he takes. On one hand , he had the option of not taking any actions against Baluja
but it could have resulted in a revolt by the workers . On the other hand, he had the option of
demoting Baluja but it would send wrong signals to other supervisors and demoralize them.
However, Shekhar was forced to demote Baluja and as a consequence Baluja resigned
immediately thereafter.
Since, Baluja had the history of arguments with the workers, it may be appropriate to say that he
lacked IR(Industrial relations) skill . This is mainly because of the fact that Baluja had recurring
problems in handling the problems related to workers while other supervisors seemed to be OK.
If I was in Shekhars place , keeping in mind the history of spats between Baluja and some
notorious workers, I would have made him understand that this kind of dirty job is not his cup
of tea ( as obviously I cannot tell anyone that you lack IR skills and you are not fit for the job).
Even though Baluja was not at fault in any of the situations and his actions were in the favour of
the organization but in some cases organization cannot afford to go against workers will
specially when there exists a strong worker/labour union( even if they are at fault).
Baluja was certainly a very dedicated and a sincere employee . Also, he was very proficient
technically. But, I guess he ignored the fact that most of the workers are not very well educated ,
some of the workers even lacked motivation to do work. Therefore, instead of using the stick
approach of directly confronting them and getting into useless arguments which fetched no
benefit to any of the two arguing parties I would have encouraged Baluja to use the carrot
approach of finding ways to motivate the workers , counselling them, building friendly relation
with most respected individuals among the workers( which in most of the cases is the union
leader). Friendly relations with the union leader will benefit both the organisation and the
supervisors as most of the time union leaders themselves will assume the responsibility to solve
the disputes between the workers and the management.
But, in this case none of the above mentioned steps were taken. Therefore, as a matter of last
resort I would have suggested Baluja to leave the job on his own terms before the workers resort
to even stronger revolt against him or perhaps, I would have advised him to assumed some other
set of responsibilities which did not involve direct confrontation with the workers.
Demoting Baluja was not needed as this step was a serious blow to the self respect of Baluja as
a result of which RTL lost its one of the most hard working and sincere employee.

Ques 3. Do you think Baluja was wrong on both the occasions? Why? Why not?
Answer.
Yes I personally think Baluja was wrong on both the occasions. He shouldnt have used his
hands at the first place on the second occasion and should have handled the matter carefully. He
must have known the fact that workers are very sensitive to foul language, and they act in
unwanted ways when their egos are hurt. For performing a job of an industrial relationship
supervisor one need to possess certain skills that would help him perform the job better. These
skills include analytical and critical thinking skills, strong interpersonal and negotiation skills,
and a lot of patience. The primary goal of the employee relations section of HRM is to strengthen
the employee-employer relationship. Baluja was doing the job with sincerity but he may have
forgotten the very reason for his employment. A role of a supervisor is to use his brains while
dealing with people. All I can say is he was not fit for the job and wasnt adept at certain
qualities that were a must to perform his job.
















Ques. 4: What ways do you suggest for dealing with tough employees in an organization?
Answer.
Following are the various suggestions by which an organization can deal with its tough
employees:
By counseling workers in personal and family matters, adjusting to the working
environment and understanding their rights and privileges.
Appreciate the workers viewpoints in various matters in the organization.
By having the proper way for prompt redressal of grievances and the quick settlement of
disputes.
By maintaining harmonious industrial relations in the firm.
Instead of attempting to force the employees to conform to company policies, they need
to understand the needs, aspirations, concerns of employees proactively and resolve the
issues amicably.














Case facts
Rajdhani Tyres Ltd. is a tyre company with 6000 workers and 400 executives.
Manufacturing division headed by Ramlal, chief engineer was Shekhar. This division had
400 workers, 20 executives and 40 supervisors.
Baluja was a skilled worker and was promoted as a supervisor because of his sincerity.
One day Baluja advised Raghu to concentrate on is job. To this, Raghu shot back you
mind your business. I am the senior most in this department. Dont think you have
become big after yoyr recent promotion. When Baluja tried to retort, Raghu retaliated
using unparliamentary words. Baluja reported the matter to Shekhar who issued a stern
warning to Raghu.
After 2 years, a worker named Roberts came to duty in a drunken state and was
celebrating his birthday with other colleagues. After half an hour, Baluja intervened and
told Roberts to go back to work. In a fit of anger, Roberts slapped Baluja in front of
others and later reported the matter to the union, alleging verbal as well as physical abuse
from Baluja.
Since Roberts was in drunken state and it was his birthday, Baluja never thought of
reporting this matter to boss.
The union fabricated the case and demanded immediate disciplinary action against
Baluja. Ramlal instructed Shekhar to demote Baluja. Shekhar advised restraint since this
would send wrong signal other supervisors however eventually he demoted Baluja.
Baluja resigned immediately stating personal reasons. Shekhar was unhappy with the
incident and he decided to take advice from personnel manager Khurana.
Khurana responded quickly and emphasized on picking up people as supervisors with
interpersonal skills rather than technical skills.
On the other hand Shekhar supported Baluja by saying that he was a sincere and hard
working person but he could have managed the situation in a better way.
Ramlal showed his concern on the incident and said that a supervisor should use his brain
to handle the situation rather than hands and asked Shekhar to be careful in future in
selecting supervisors.