Subject Name: - Human Dynamics (104)

Case 7 - TRAVAILS OF A TRAINING MANAGER

Ashwin Kumar, who had recently joined System, as a training manager, was feeling uneasy at the end of his
first meeting with Pesu Shroff, the managing director of the company.
Systems was a ten-year-old unit employing 300 people. It had a turnover of Rs 25 crore the
previous year. The company traded in several products—both domestic and imported. Nearly 80 per cent
of its turnover came from selling electronic component products which were assembled locally from imports
of semiknocked-down kits. The landed cost of its imports was about Rs 10 crore last year. The products had
an assured demand in the country, with smuggled goods from Taiwan and Korea providing whatever little
competition there was. The company had been operating in a seller's market for years and, as a result,
most of its activities were production oriented rather than market oriented.
Early during the current financial year, the Government of India had announced, as a part of its
economic liberalization strategy, several policy measures which made imports costlier. All imports had to
be financed by exports—there were restrictions on margin money and interest rates for working capital
had shot up at one stroke. With little export income in its account, Systems had no choice but to
discontinue importing SKD kits.
The company management had three options before it. First, to build up its domestic trading
activity rapidly; second, to assemble at least a few of the component products from raw materials sourced
locally and third, pursue after-sales service aggressively both to generate revenue in the short run and to
establish an enduring client-base for the company's products in the long run.
Invariably, this meant that the survival of Systems depended on how quickly it could train its people
—beginning from a handful of sales engineers—to become market-centered and customer-' friendly in
their approach to business.
The days of easy revenue money are over for us," Shroff had told Kumar, who had a formal training
in HRD and had been an officer in the training cell of a multinational firm before signing up with Systems.
"We have to compete now in the marketplace and sell hard to be able to secure orders. Times are changing.
We have to change too. And that is where you come in. It will be your responsibility, as the training manager,
to ensure that people here acquire marketing skills," he said, adding, as a clincher, "Frankly, have always felt
that a salesman is born, not trained. I have had no belief in non-technical training. In fact, have found no need
so far for a training manager at Systems. But I am prepared to do anything to get more sales."
That punching was what had made Kumar uneasy. But he decided to let it pass. Over the next few days,
Kumar got busy evolving specific training packages for workers, shop-floor supervisors, administrative staff
and senior functional executives and an intensive module for field salesmen. Deciding to start with the
salesmen first, he met the sales manager to ask him to depute 10 salesmen for a draining session the next
day. The sales manager was skeptical and only half-heartedly consented to release people for the two-day
training.
The session was a disaster. No one showed any interest in the proceedings. In fact, one of the
salesmen came up to him during the coffee break and said, "You see, all this is a waste of time. Take the
client for a drink and you get the sale. It is as simple as that. It has worked in the past and it will work in the
future." Kumar laughed it off but the message had been delivered.
The attendance for the second day session was thin. This lack of interest was again obvious at
session for workers next day. The works manager who had originally agreed to the idea was vague about
the absence of so many workers at the training session. 'They are sick, I believe," he said making no
attempts to hide his feeling that to him the whole thing was a big joke.
Kumar had encountered such resistance in the company where he had worked earlier. He also knew
that his training capsule was very effective. He was aware that training needs were universal for all
companies and so were the training techniques which were also easily transferable from one set of working
conditions to another and from one industry to another. He also knew that he had the aptitude and
interest to become a professional trainer.
But Kumar began to realize that he had made a few tactical errors in this particular case. He should
have perhaps asked Shroff to personally inaugurate the training session to give the whole exercise an air of
formality and, more importantly, of authority. He should have perhaps started with the module for senior
executives first.
"I must find a way out of this and bring everyone round. There is simply no way I am going accept
failure. Whatever damage there has been must be undone. I must do something," he said himself. What
should he do?

Analyze the case

Subject Name: - Human Dynamics (104)

Case 8 - HR STRATEGIES AT MADANA COLLIERIES LTD.

Madana Collieries Company Ltd. (MCCL), a 112-year old company, which experienced losses of over 1NR 15
billion in 1998, is today a happy public enterprise. It wiped out all its losses by 2003-04 and entered the
year 2004-05 with net profits. It has a workforce of over 200 thousand.
MCCL was characterized by 160 confrontational trade unions giving one strike call a day, low quality
of coal, no customer focus, and old and obsolete technology. It had to live with administered coal prices
and adverse geomining conditions, and these pushed the only coal-mining company in South India to the
brink of sickness and uncertainty.
Proactive HR policies coupled with strong will power, determination, teamwork, and commitment to
the defined goals facilitated ^ICCL to make a dramatic turnaround by recording a profit of per INR 6.17
billion during 2003-04.
Some of the proactive HR strategies at MCCL include the following:
 Bringing a perceivable change in the attitude of the trade unions, which had the tendency of a constant
head-on collision with the management, MCCL that was earlier known for its poor industrial relations,
multiple and militant trade unions, indiscipline, and deterioration in work norms is now widely
acclaimed for its work discipline and harmonious relations with the employees.
 Conducting trade union elections in 1998 for the first time in the history of Indian coal industry. (The
large number of trade unions and frequent illegal and catcall strikes badly affected the production and
led to confrontations.) With this, MCCL was able to successfully counter the strike culture and
promoted harmonious industrial relations through the unification of trade unions. With this, the
industrial relations department was relieved from the tensions of dealing with multiple trade unions,
and it could successfully focus on productivity-related initiatives since it was to negotiate with only one
union at the company level and a representative union in each area. With the elections set in place, the
trade union leaden became more responsible. There was a shift in thrust from a protected environ-
ment to a fiercely competitive market condition and from an employee-management confrontation
state to that of a partnership.
 Consolidating industrial relations through the trade union reforms with several positive measures,
including building good communication strategies, transparent management systems, and innovative
and effective welfare measures, to integrate the workforce into a motivated and significant force to
achieve its goals.
 Making slight modifications to the recruiting policy.
 Creating a system of paying 10% of the company's profit to the employees.
 Explaining to the employees the work norms and the concept of % fair day's work with the help of the
industrial engineering department. Improved productivity^ linked wage incentive plans were launched.
A system of payment of 10% of the company's profit to the employees was initiated. This changed the
work culture and thereby significantly improved operational efficiency.
 Focusing upon multifaceted workers' safety, welfare,, and environment protection programs.
 Launching literacy programs.
 Promoting open-door policy through innovative pro- ' grams launched like Dial-your-GM, field visits,
interactions, and follow-ups.
 Opening up communication ceils for creating a stable platform for continuous interaction with the
workmen and their families. The cell uses the television as a medium for bringing home the key issues
that the company faces. The company also disseminates information to its employees through the in-
 house magazine. Proactive press meets, and posters and pamphlets on various issues are used to
educate the workmen.
 Creating multidepartment teams composed of members drawn from various disciplines to visit mines
and departments to highlight the performance of the company and the issues concerning production
safety, welfare, and so on. These teams use local language and dialect and also visual aids to
communicate effectively. They periodically visit workmen colonics and townships in the evenings to
maximize coverage. They discuss subjects of topical interests with the workmen. Suggestions arc
invited and implemented wherever feasible. With this, the workmen have realized the need to improve
production and productivity, reduce costs, extract good quality coal, and satisfy the customer's
requirements. These teams have cultivated the habit for the workmen to listen to the views of the
management and appreciate the realities.
 Inculcating the habit of savings among the employees.
 Making its employees "partners m progress." MCCL is the only PSU in the coal industry of the entire
country sharing its profits with its employees from 1999-2000 onward. Around 10% of the company's
profit was paid to the workmen as a special incentive during the last 3 years (INR 679.4 million). MCCL
enhanced the special incentive to 11% of its profit for the year 2004-05.
 Setting up an "Area Terminal Benefit Cell" in each area to speed up the settlement of benefits due to
the workmen on superannuation, death, and so on. 1
 Launching a group gratuity scheme in October 2003. Under this, MCCL set up a trust fund in
collaboration with Life Insurance Corporation (L1C) of India and earmarked INK 2 billion initially. LJC
takes care if investments and actuarial valuation free of charge and pay interest from time to time.
Offering voluntary retirement scheme (VRS).

Questions
1. What else do you think can the company do to transform itself into a high-performing organization?
2. What do you think could be the reason for the attitudinal change for trade unions? Can this be
sustained?