PriyamMalik_MarutiCase_TransformationalIR

                                                                Transformational IR

The first case we analyse in this new course at SOIL is the Maruti-Manesar incident of July 2012.
The incident was an outcome of a history that was waiting to conclude!
Though there various reasons that led to the strikes and then the gruesome killing, I will highlight a few factors that led to the strike from the insights we got in class and also the experiences shared with us.

1. Power and Politics at Play!

    It was well known that the Manesar plant was one of the best and at par. The workers during the initial days were all happy and hardworking. The senior and middle management too didn't sense what was coming.
But what went through the Japanese management's mind is not known and lack of autonomy with Indian Management at Manesar had RIPPLE effects till the blue colored workers level.
 When the senior management is helpless ( as they say!) they lead to being clueless as to how manage the plant the Indian culture compatible way, if I may say so.

2. Communication: Missing the crucial bridge!

    As I heard and read the events that happened and understood what people at all levels felt, there was a sheer communication gap. This is the basic expectation that people have and even if they expressed, it was ignored. This leads to anger, frustration and lack of trust.

3. Breach of Expectations : Basic Needs!

    The hygiene factors were not as needed. This led to agitation and union feelings go against the Maruti management. A comparison was done with the Gurgaon Plant and other companies like Honda. Highly demotivated and unsatisfied workforce. The contract workers were exploited and basic requirements were for some reason not met. When there is a strong bond and one voice, people do unite and fight for themselves.

According to me, there were a lot of feelings being ignored or being shut off. The psychological contract was the basic premise of the cause. As we know, its from both the employee and the employer side and at thee major levels; transactional, career and relationship level. There was a clash at all the three levels and flowed from Japanese to Indian Senior management ; then Senior to middle management and finally supervisor to workers.

For me, it was a fundamental base that was shaken. The people were ready to give it their best but the insecurity was eating them and with out it, according to me it being one person's fault, many paid a heavy price.

This case teaches us not to ignore the small but meaningful indicators we may sense but ignore, that cause huge losses ultimately.

Maruti Case_Moni Raj_HRLP010

The Labor violence at Maruti Manesar plant which led to the death of Awinash Kumar Dev, General Manager HR of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd is condemned by the entire business fraternity of India. But this is not the only case of labor violence, recent trends suggest an increase in labor violence in India. Maruti Suzuki itself had to face four instances of labor violence since June 2011, which has led to the lost in production of around 1,50,000 units. All these incidents makes you think about the possible reason for labor violence, the reason behind the formulation of labor union and it even makes you think is it because of the inherent violent nature of the labor force who are not ready to listen and negotiate. As rightly pointed out by Anil Sir that there is no good or bad union, there is only good or bad management style. So according to me the onus is on the management to build trust and a sense of community without creating any difference with the work force. The fundamental reason therefore is lack of trust which leads to formation of a union or body who can represent the workers and put forward their demands and expectation. Also I feel the recent rise in cost of living, scarcity of jobs, outdated labor laws adds on to the problem. Now coming back specifically to the Maruti case, the possible reasons for the violence are as follows-

·         Lack of parity within the same workforce- Maruti had a large number of contract or temporary workers to meet cyclical demands of the Industry. These temporary workers get a fraction of salary when compared to the salary of permanent workers with no benefits. They also have a question mark on their job security and are dependent on the contractors. Such difference within the same workforce is bound to result into labor unrest. Thus there is need to regularization of contract labor and also look into increasing their wages as the socio-economic condition is tough for workers residing in the Manesar region

·         Outdated labor laws- Labor law doesn’t allow companies to regulate their permanent employees according to the demands of the business cycle. Therefore to meet the flexibility in demand they rely on contract workers

·         Difference in work culture- Strict Japanese way of doing things were imposed on the workers which they were not used to. It was not clearly communicated and they were not able to understand. Workers felt like the management was using them as machines

·         Lack of proper communication channel- Japanese were strong in communication, but didn’t accepted other thoughts, focused on processes and systems and fail to understand the Indian ground level issues. The creation of two in a box organization structure(2 head in every department- 1 Indian and 1 Japanese), meant there was no proper communication which led to lot of confusion

·         No Union at Manesar Plant- It meant that all the grievances had to be routed to the Gurgaon plant which took a lot of time to get resolved

·         Lack of trust- The level of trust was so bad that whenever workers saw HR personnel they started thinking that someone would be fired. Clearly the management at Maruti had failed to build the level of trust between management and workers. Labor violence will never go away unless organizations stop focusing too much on profit and in the process use its workforce as mere machines or means to achieve that profit. The focus should be to communicate to the workers that organization is for the people, build by the people and of the people. Good example is how Toyota for 3 yrs apologized to every single employee who were being retrenched which resulted for more than a decade of good industrial relation

·         Lack of proper working condition-  Basic hygiene factor were not in place. Canteens and washroom were way too far and there was not enough break time being provided. Majority of workers were young and courageous. They clearly felt cheated which gave rise to anger and frustration against the management

Thus all this factors led to the labor unrest at Manesar which the management clearly failed to understand.

Too Little Too Late: Ananya Dhall Maruti Case

The Maruti case has become a notorious legend and cause of debate amongst the academic intelligentsia of India in the past year. While no one can pinpoint a single cause or method that could have prevented the gruesome violence and abhorrent attack on the HR manager at Maruti in July 2012, we all like to understand, interpret, analyze and evaluate such incidents in the hope that maybe tomorrow we’d be better prepared to face such circumstances. Hope springs eternal, and as I hope to become a budding HR professional who implements best practices in the corporate world, here are my musings on the what, who, why and how of the failures that occurred in the Maruti Manesar case.

Japanese Management:

• ·      Traditional Theory Z of management that was popularized as an efficient people management philosophy in Japan was not practiced by Suzuki in India. Traditionally, Japanese believed in taking over all the burdens of the employee workforce in and outside the workplace so they could in return focus on providing productivity and high quality. This would include the working environment, friendly benefits etc. The uncooperative conditions of the mediclaim policy as well as the working conditions and locations of utilities such as water and bathrooms defied this.
• ·      Top Japanese management moved focus from relationship orientation to task orientation as Maruti India became a large profit center for them, thus widening the preexisting cultural divide, as people and relationships built between the management and workforce lost importance.
• ·      Third culture: As is urged in any cross-cultural collaboration, rather than one party imposing its culture/values on another, it is important to create a common third culture that is equally owned by both parties. This was missing in the Japanese-Indian collaboration at Maruti Suzuki, as the Japanese had become inflexible and resistant to accepting differences with the Indian workforce (“response of Japanese…rigid..did not act”)
• ·      Inequity: By interfering in governance of one plant more than another, the top management created underlying inequity that could become a cause of discontent for the Manesar workers, as they felt less in ‘control’ compared to Gurgaon plant.

Indian Management:

• ·      Stagnation and ‘tied hands’: Although the Indian management had laid precedence for good HR practices, and led by example, somewhere during the phase of Maruti Manesar’s success they were left behind by the Japanese management and unable to take the lead. As Maruti Manesar become the hot spot for production of high demand vehicles, the Japanese management and style of thinking took over and the Indian management wasn’t able to help them in creating a strong connection with the Indian workforce. The lack of empowerment and autonomy in the hands of the Indian management, coupled with the controlling nature of the Japanese in the day to day matters led to discord and a wide barrier between the young Indian associates and the middle aged Japanese managers, who weren’t seen as ‘family’ or figures who cared for the well being of the associates. Here, the Indian management could have played a strong hand, had they tried to understand their Indian workforce better and present this knowledge as a core asset they possessed which could be of use to the Japanese to enhance productivity while maintaining a ‘great place to work’ that elicits trust, pride, and fellowship amongst its employees.

Associates:

·     

• Demographics: The age (22-25) and place of origin (mostly from nearby towns rather than a healthy mix of diversity from all over India) led to an aggressive, foolhardy approach towards matters involving the management. Add to this the fact that they were needy and desperate to support their dependents (parents), and the result was a group of youth with high energy and a strong voice to fight for their concerns. Considering the lack of involvement of the Indian management and the strong controlling nature of the Japanese management, they had a lot of grievances as they felt they were not understood or treated well, and raised their voice against the management with desperate measures like allegedly secretly recording conversations and tailing the management.
• Theory of Needs: A lot of the basic needs of the young associate workforce were not met, which ultimately led to discord and frustration. Contractual labor dealt with a lack of job security and inequity in pay, the physiological needs of safety, transportation, washrooms, drinking water, and other needs like work hours etc. were also not met which added fuel to the fire. The need for belonging and a nurturing work environment wasn’t met as nor did the top Japanese management take initiative to build such a culture and take their grievances into account, nor were the young supervisors able to manage and lead their juniors who were peers in age. Also, the poor management of trade unions and MUKU led to detachment and disconnect amongst the workforce and management. Further, the need for self esteem and taking pride in the work one is doing was also left behind, as pride and confidence in the strengths was overtaken by harsh deadlines that required overtime.
• Communication, or the lack of it: Poor channels of communication along with the inability of the MUKU Union to help the cause of the Manesar associates led to a lot of frustration. Communication and transparency is the core foundation of trust, which is what was lacking the most in Manesar. The mechanisms of communication used by the management, such as waiting until union formation was at the doorstep to address the issues of the associates, as well as taking decisions in Gurgaon regarding Manesar workforce without any involvement/transparency with the workforce, were poor and ill-timed.

Work Environment:

The technology, equipment, layout and infrastructure were excellent at Manesar, but machines don’t make a plant successful, people and people practices do. Poor administrative/HR practices related to transportation, housing, medical care, employee engagement, contractual employment and inequity, task focus>relationship focus, lack of transparency and participative involvement in decision making, cost cutting and focus on production over employee engagement initiatives etc. all led to dissatisfaction and detachment from the core purpose of excellence. Management should have realized that the key to the hearts and efficiency of the workforce lied in creating a friendly, cooperative work environment where their needs are heard and met to the best of management’s ability. Had the benefits/engagement policies been more employee friendly, the impact of harsher deadlines and productivity demands would not have been so bad. If employees are able to feel attached to the core purpose of the company’s existence, and able to identify with Maruti Suzuki’s needs as well as they do with their own, productivity becomes an easy target.

Too little too late:

Trust, communication, and transparency were the core and simple needs at Maruti Manesar according to me.

Trust amongst all the employees and management: trust that the Japanese management has the best interests of everyone at heart and don’t just look at Manesar plant as a resource to be milked dry, trust that the Indian management is given respect and empowerment in merging the cultures and thinking styles of the young Indian workforce and wise Japanese management, trust that the Indian supervisors can keep the best interests of the associates at heart and ensure their needs will be heard and met, and finally trust that the associates do wish to work and feel proud of their association with Maruti, they just cannot work while their basic needs are not met at the workplace.

Transparency of the decisions that are being taken, and participative involvement where possible. Even if decisions relating to Manesar need to be forwarded to Gurgaon, certain mechanisms need to be in place where Manesar associate needs are heard and clarified, and taken into account while decisions are made. Transparency and ease of the HR practices, especially those relating to career management (promotions and differentiating between casual/permanent workforce) was needed to be put into place.

Finally, constant communication was crucial and missed the most. Although efforts to communicate better and clarify/work through grievances were made once the problems arose to the surface, it was too late. Communication isn’t something to be used as a reactive measure, which can help resolve problems that are ready to burst at the seams from being held in too long. Communication is and should be used as a proactive measure to maintain cordial and friendly relationships amongst all the stakeholder’s of an organization’s existence and wellbeing. Organizational health can be directly measured by the communication systems and mechanisms in place, which lead to equity, justice, fairness, transparency, trust, and positivity at the workplace. Strong communication from the beginning can help create a culture where any problems/difficulties arising can be dealt with like a family, example- increasing demands and stricter deadlines for production could have been understood better by the associates had their needs for a trade union (that could fairly represent them and help in resolving their grievances) been heard in the first place.

Hence, trust, communication, and transparency are the keys to rebuilding the Manesar plant’s strong work culture and remodeling its practices to take everyone’s needs into account equally. The Maruti family can excel again, and it can become a great place to work if the fundamentals are paid more attention to from the very beginning rather than as a reactive measure in the end to try to push the problems under the carpet.

Industrial Relations_Maruti_Khushboo Adlakha

The gruesome and brutal act of violence that took place at ‘Maruti Manesar’ plant is condemned by the entire business fraternity and the whole of India. The incident that led to the death of Awanish Kumar Dev and 100 other people being injured was inhuman and brutal. No matter what the provocations were, an atrocious crime like this cannot be justified.

The mob violence cannot be looked at in isolation and hence from my analysis the various reasons that blended into all this were – the Internal and External wage disparity, non uniform policies that prevailed across the organization, additional benefits being provided to Gurgaon workers, no system and processes were streamlined, grievances were never addressed, increase in work pressure . There was dispersal of trust throughout the organization. Ego issues between the supervisors and the associates, union rivalry and the rift between the GCB and non GCB workers were few reasons that scattered the trust.

Despite being aware of the circumstances, the Indian Management failed to initiate a change in the organization culture, processes and policies. They failed to explain the same to the Japanese stakeholders, who focussed on productivity and efficiency, which is not the only facet of work culture in India. They failed to realize the importance of people within the system. The senior management also failed to empower authority to managers and assistant manager. Thus, despite the awareness of issues at all levels, a complete turmoil occurred because of the failure to act which came from missing autonomy and lack of decision making authority.

 Also, we have learned the need in reforms required in the labour laws and the implementation of the same. The state government must not overlook the same and absolve from its responsibility so that the chances of such distress in future can be minimized. The labour laws must be so reformed that addresses the present day economic challenges. Say, for instance companies keep contractual labour in the companies so as to meet the seasonal demand. The company pays less for the same work that is done by the permanent employee and don’t have to contribute towards their PF, gratuity. This is done by companies as our law does not permit to retrench workers as per the business demand. It is needed to look at the west to see how reforms can be made so as to reduce the labour exploitation as well addressing the business need in the globalized world. These labour reforms must focus on skill development, education. There are also certain amendments required in the Minimum Wages Act so as to reduce the gap between the blue collared workers and senior managers and an increase in a standard of living can be achieved.

Thus, it is important for the corporate India to understand the need of maintaining and understanding the employee relations, develop a transparent environment, build trust and manage people and their grievances and aim at building a community at the workplace. A happy workforce would help the company attain its business objectives and lead them towards their vision and attain competitive advantage in this globalized world.

Industrial Relations_Maruti_Lagnajita Sanyal

Maruti Suzuki Limited considered as one of the most reputed and respected company leading the Indian Auto Industry has recently been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons. As an HR student I could very well relate the various issues that had become a dominant factor for unrest in the Manesar plant and the consecutive strikes that occurred with three in 2011 and the most recent one in July 2012.

I was quite surprised to study that how such a big organization with its management practices rooting down to the best HR practices (Japanese) known to the world failed to do justice to innumerable problems faced by the workers. India being a progressive economy tolerates ill treatment of its workers and does not enforce a strong law and order against the same. Adding on to it is the greed for profit, unprofessional approach of the management and no concern for the labour class. I would like to address the issues in the context of:-

1)      Unprofessionalism –Despite repeated strikes at Manesar plant the labour class was not given any comfort but the senior management got promoted irrespective of their unprofessional behaviour. The question to be asked is whether the HR people are mature enough to be a true professional. As HR people they never did anything to motivate their workers who were just left behind to come to work for their livelihood and this resulted in the accumulated anguish. There was ego clashes amongst the management and the worker class and thus it lead to unsupportive and negative working conditions.

2)      In the event of such strikes , instead of understanding the reasons for such anguish the higher management hired top consultants from world over to solve their burning issues; and what lead was that they did not have the expertise to understand the problems at this level.

The consultants were in favour of the contract labourers working in any number and advised not to encourage unionization of labours at MSL.

Ensuring ethical and legally compliant decision making along with fairness in the management approach would create a win-win situation for both the parties was never observed. The MSL management did not cater to the needs of the workers in terms of the urgent requirement of humane working condition or increasing the low wages.

3)      Loss of trust:-all the three strikes lead to complete lack of trust wherein the management failed to keep up to the promises and never adopted the path of two way communication to resolve the conflicts that were pertaining. The HR people were involved in activities like 360 degree feedback, assessment Centre, psychometric tests etc. but none of them thought of understanding the basic demands which would have motivated them to perform irrespective of all odds.

4)      Defence Mechanism:-The Company never accepted the fact that it did not provide safety for its employees and hence did not take any action against its managers. Not only this the basic humane conditions for the workers were not catered to and this has been completely ignored.

5)      No proper channel for grievance redressal  was in place  and the workers were harassed with continuous increase in work pressure. Despite understand the reasons for the unrest amongst the worker class no step was taken to improvise the processes and the working conditions in the factory.

6)      Bonds were signed by the worker class for Good conduct even though this was not required as a part of the job duties of the HR managers.

7)      Demographics- Hiring people from all sections of society create a diverse workforce and enforces motivation amongst the workforce and not any conspiration against the management. They hired in bulk workers aged between 20-25 mostly from nearby areas which resulted in aggressive approach towards the management. The workers faced tremendous inequity in terms of the wages that were being paid both internally as well as externally and also lack of job security.

8)      Lack of autonomy and empowerment in the hands of the Indian Management along with the dominating nature of the Japanese management led to issues of conflict between the Indian Managers and the Japanese Senior Management and often did not treat them right .The Indian management could have played a crucial role in understanding the core issues faced by the young workforce and if communicated the same to the Japanese management would have led to some sensible solutions for the Manesar Plant.

I would like to  collate my thoughts on this learning incident of Industrial Relations and its importance to today’s Business and to the HR fraternity especially  that all the mishaps led to few negative outcomes like the brand image of Maruti getting tarnished constantly due to regular strikes and improper management at Manesar Plant, Lack of trust between management and the workers which lead to accumulated frustration and the outburst of the violence at the plant, Financial Loss despite the claim that even if MSL was shut down for days it would not encounter any monetary losses which was evident from its loss in the market share and last but not the least loss of life of an experienced professional in the capacity of Avanish Dev.

Insights on Maruti Story_Kushagra Jhalani_HRLP035

The tragic Maruti incident has left the entire Business and specifically HR community shell-shocked. Before I move on to present my analysis of the root cause of the issue, let me highlight some of the most important contextual points relating to ‘before the strike’ situation:

·         There was clear lack of satisfaction of basic needs for workers – no proper rest breaks, drinking facilities far away from the manufacturing facilities etc.

·         The policies were not communicated to the workers effectively

·         There was too much of micro management by the senior management

·         There was extreme focus only on productivity and efficiency

·         The workforce, including the supervisors, was much younger as compared to that of Gurgaon plant

·         Decision making was highly centralized

So what could be the root cause of such an outburst? Here is my point of view:

The senior management focused enough on efficiency, but lost the ground when it came to effectiveness; efficiency is about doing things right – the management tried their best to ensure high productivity by putting tremendous pressure on workers to do more and more in order to get the numbers. But effectiveness, which according to me is more important than efficiency, is about doing the right things – and that is where the management failed big time. The best that Maruti should have done is to ensure ‘Effecticiency’ – i.e. doing right things in the right way! Let me explain:

The Maruti incident has reminded the business and HR community of the tremendous importance of maintaining cordial industrial relations. This subject was getting buried under the earth since quite long, and the HR community to a great extent kept losing its focus on maintaining the right ‘human touch’ in order to connect effectively with the workforce and therefore maintain peace, harmony, and happiness to a great extent. The Maruti HR department must ensure ethical and legally complaint decision making, as it is unjust to employ contract workers for the same job done by permanent workers, just in order to save some cost. When you try to save cost injudiciously, it costs you more in future.

It seems that the HR head was seriously lacking the ability to play a proactive and balanced role of true facilitator and collaborative decision maker, and had no knowledge or network to gauge the distress and dissatisfaction among contract/permanent workers. The HR head has to act as a fair middleman – who takes into account the expectations of both the senior management and the bottom of the pyramid. HR department must be armed with the arrows of ‘clear, complete, and effective communication’ in the quiver, to ensure engagement of all stakeholders.

The outcome of the negligence by senior management and the HR head is as follows:

·         Loss of a highly diligent and professional HR general manager Avanish Dev

·         Tremendous financial loss

·         Loss of brand image

·         Loss of trust between management and workers

·         Loss of market share

Also, the expectations in terms of level of autonomy, acceptability and suitability of micro management etc. are different in different countries. So outsourcing same ideology and practices to a different country without deep understanding of the different workforce and work dynamics is not the way to go.

In addition, the management hired very young people probably with the prime motive of saving some cost in the beginning. They did not consider various demographic related nuances while hiring – different people have to be managed differently.

The Maruti fiasco indeed reminds us of the fact that small nuances matter big time, and ensuring effective communication and strategizing towards benefiting all stakeholders fairly is at the deepest layer of the iceberg which should not be forgotten in order to maintain peace, happiness, and respect in the long term. I hope Industrial Relations as a subject gets the required attention and emphasis that it deserves, in times to come.

In the past, the need for labor unions came up due to unwarranted exploitation of workers by the management, which unfortunately in a few decades because of politicization and criminalization of trade unions seems to have turned vice versa as well. Many organizations encourage labor unions to promote so called ‘collective bargaining’ – atleast that’s what they say. But there are many organizations where there are no labor unions, because such organizations care deeply for its people and ensure the protection of their interests as a result of fair policies and practices. Such organizations ensure happiness of all their stakeholders including their junior most hierarchy of workers, and therefore happy people ensure happy numbers, automatically!

The problems shall cease if the unions exist for constructive purposes, and the same goes as well for the management. This will ensure peace, harmony, and happiness of the organization, its people, and the community at large; as long as the ‘human touch’ prevails.

Kanika Jindal_HRLP028_Transformational Industrial Relations

Insights on the Maruti Case

Indian automobile sector has been enjoying a super-fast development at an increasing rate of 33.9% per year. Automobile industry is currently contributing about 5% of the total GDP of India and is very important for the development of India. Thus stability in this sector is not only very important for the particular company but also plays a pivotal role in the GDP of the country.

Also, globally India has been accepted as a good manufacturing base. But, workers protests have been one of the top of the agenda of the Indian automobile industry. Being a democratic nation India is suffering from various kinds of worker strikes and, unrests since her birth. Such acts of violence have tarnished the image of India, especially in view of the economic slowdown.

One such case is the Maruti Suzuki Manesar plant case which has been unimaginable for most of us. To analyze the root cause of this outburst it is important to first analyze the contribution of different stakeholders to the problem:

• Japanese management was more work oriented and there was no emotional sensitivity towards the workers.
• Though the Indian management was a great source of inspiration at the start of the plant, they failed to understand the workforce well. The communication channel was very poor and they were too aligned to the Japanese way of thinking. There was too much domination by the Japanese culture.
• Managers and supervisors carried an unfavorable attitude towards the workers.
• Associates lacked trust within the management and supervisors, and were too young and immature.
• Interpersonal relations at different levels and the work environment were not conducive.

From the above reasons we find out that the main and ultimate reason behind the worker unrest was communication gap and lack of trust between top management and workers.

If the workers were motivated enough to follow the rules and regulations and maintain a certain level of productivity, it would have lead the Company to success. This could have been achieved if the management was transparent with the workers and helped them fulfill their aspirations. In this connection we may focus on Victor Vroom’s expectancy theory, which deals with motivation and shows a path how managers can secure a highly motivated workforce.

Firstly the top management should have found out what the workers really wanted and what is it that would present highest value to them. This is what we call ‘Valence’. Secondly, managers should have created instrumentality, which means that the managers should have convinced the employees about work related expectations from them, which would give them the desired rewards or value. Finally, managers should have ensured that the employees had the perfect conditions and necessary capabilities to accomplish the given task.

Also talking about perfect working conditions, I feel that there is greater need of labor reforms in India, which can provide

-          Extension of working hours, to compensate for lower productivity

-          Allowing adjustments in workforce, in terms of providing the right to hire, assign work, reward, promote, transfer, and adjust work-force as managerial rights

-          Providing Employee State Insurance scheme: For example, certain employers incur expenses towards Employee Insurance Scheme (ESI). However there are no ESI hospitals except for a few clinics which have been developed, thus forcing the companies to shell out additional expenses on labor welfare apart from ESI.

Conclusion:

As the number of middle class people is rising at a rapid speed the market of small size automobile in India is also rising. Moreover Indian automobile market has a bright future. That is why almost all the world leading automobile manufacturer has started their facilities inside India. India herself is a business hub in south Asia, where 22% of the world’s total population lives and 10% of the world’s wealth is located. Thus there is enormous scope to prosperity to the key automobile players who can cope against the unavoidable circumstances such as work slow-down, worker unrest and strike. Some of the efficiency factors that can play vital roles in the success of automobile players are: labor productivity, labor flexibility, resource availability, establishment of export markets, successful industrial relations policy, ethical and tactical industrial relations, understanding implications from Government policies, etc. 

Kanika Jindal
HRLP028

Insights on Maruti Story_Anvesh Apale_HRLP014

Insights on Maruti Story: Anvesh Apale_HRLP014

The importance of trust of organizations has been associated with the changes in the way of thinking and functioning of organizations during the last decades of the millennium.  Trust is the basis for much of the environment you want to create in your work place. Trust is the necessary for feeling able to rely upon a person, cooperating with and experiencing teamwork with a group, taking thoughtful risks, and experiencing believable communication.

The series of unfortunate events at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) which were followed by the strike was a clear indication of lack of trust amongst the various employee groups of the company. From the interactions Team SOIL had with the associates at Maruti it was evident that the Associates has lost their faith in their management and were hence very furious about their state of affairs. It would not be correct to attribute one single reason for blowing things out of proportion. I believe there were several factors which led to the extreme situation at the Manesar plant of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.

It is rightly said “ If you Fail to Plan, you Plan to Fail”. It was really strange the management of one of the largest automobile company in India failed to fulfill the hygiene needs of their workforce. For instance the washroom and canteen were located at a very far distance from the work area of the employees and surprisingly even the duration of breaks given to these workers was as less as 7.5 minutes, which obviously was not enough for a worker to go and come back on time. After the breaks, any delay in arrival of workers on time meant not only a penalty for the worker but also meant loss in terms of the quality of the units produced. Another major reason which could have made things worst was too much intervention of the Japanese counterparts in the working at Manaser plant. The Japanese focused more on processes and systems and less on the issue people were facing which indicates that the Japanese were not aligned to Indian sensitivities. Management decided to move the production of hot selling models of cars to Manesar. This led to a situation where workers were overloaded with the pressure meet the targeted volumes of production on a frequent basis. To make things worst they were not even paid the overtime wages at par with their counterparts working at Maruti Gurgaon.  Unlike Gurgaon, there was no union at Manesar plant which meant all the grievances at Manesar were to be routed to Gurgaon. These issues hence took a lot to be resolved which led to a feeling of restlessness amongst the workforce at Manesar.  The supervisors were of the age 24-28 years and there was very little difference in the age of the supervisors managing the workers and the workers themselves. Hence the supervisors did not come across as people who could handle the situation with maturity. There was a lot of communication gap between the management, supervisors and the workers. When the workers started facing issues with the supervisors, they escalated their concerns to the management. When the management gave some support, the workers felt it is alright to bypass the supervisors and hence escalated all the issues directly to the management. The supervisors felt insulted and undervalued because of the way workers behaved with them. The young workforce was ambitious and aggressive. They started comparing their wages, working hours and the working conditions of the workers in Honda plant situated at Manesar. In the entire process of comparing themselves with the workers at Honda they realized that they were getting far less than other workers who were doing the similar job for Honda. This led to a feeling of dissatisfaction amongst the workforce. As a result of this dissatisfaction workers decided to go on strike. This was the time when management at MISL realized that now things have gone out of their hands and if they want to make things better they would require an external consultant to reconcile things between them and workers. By the time SOIL was involved, most of the damage was already done.

It will be unfair to hold responsible only the agitated workforce which was involved initially in strike and later in violence.  It was in fact an inability of management to understand something that was happening right under their nose. The unfortunate event which happened on July 18th, 2012 could have been avoided if the workers would not have lost faith or trust in the management. I firmly believe the best way to maintain a trusting work environment is to keep from breaking trust in the first place. The integrity of the leadership of the organization is critical. The truthfulness and transparency of the communication with staff is also a critical factor. The presence of a strong, unifying mission and vision can also promote a trusting environment. 

THE MARUTI STORY_Sukriti Sinha_HRLP023

“Unions are born when the management is not able to take care of their people.” In India, unions are an important part of a manufacturing unit. This is because there is a communication gap and honest relationship between the management and the workers which has to be bridged by the Union. While a Union bridges this gap, it is not always for the good. This is exactly what happened in Maruti Manesar plant. It faced the most violent situation and the angriest workforce that we could have imagined. It started with a strike which was also the reason for the intervention by SOIL.

It was quite evident from the interaction of Yogita and Shailendra Sir with Maruti Associates that these Associates had lost their trust and confident in their management and were very angry and agitated. There was also a sense of agony that could be seen from their behaviour and dialogue. I believe, that the reason for this extreme situation Is not one, but a combination of many which had piled on with time. These are as follows:

1.  Their basic hygiene factors were not being met – washroom and canteen were very far and the breaks were only for 7.5 minutes which was not enough to go and come back on time
2. They were being micro-managed and there was too much involvement of the Japanese in their work – Japanese way of working is very different. They are highly committed towards their nation and they expected the same from these workers but this is not the Indian style of working and this clashed
3. There was no Union at Manesar plant – All the grievances had to be communicated to the Gurgaon plant and then had to be addressed there which took a lot of time and were mostly not addressed due to this reason
4. Overload, Underpayment – All the hot selling models of cars were moved to Manesar, thereby, causing pressure on volumes and operations on Manesar workers who had to work overtime. These workers readily worked overtime but were paid lesser overtime wages as compared to Gurgaon Maruti workers.
5. Immaturity of Supervisors – The supervisors were of the age group of 24-28 years which was similar to the age group of the workers and hence could not handle situation with maturity.
6. SOIL was involved in the situation when most of the damage was done and it was a bit too late to make things 100 % right.
7. There was a big Communication Gap - First the workers got agitated with supervisors and went to the management. When the management gave them a little support, they decided to go directly to the management for all their issues bypassing the supervisors. This made the supervisors also feel agitated and left out.
8. Young workforce belonging to the same region - The workforce was young, aggressive and ambitious. This was the first job for most of them. They compared their wages and working hours with that of Honda plant workers in Manesar and their working conditions with that of Maruti’s Gurgaon plant. There were lot of differences that they could see and felt that they were being discriminated and cheated.

So, according to me we cannot point our finger at one cause for this strike and later, violence. It was a plethora of causes that led to this mishap. We can sum up all of this as a “Management Failure to understand something that was happening right under their nose”. Unfortunately by the time the management realised this, it was a bit too late and the mistrust and anger was in an extreme stage which came out in the open in a very sad and unforgettable manner on July 18^th, 2012.

Sugandha Singh- Maruti Case Analysis

Manesar Case Analysis:

It is a thought-provoking case to study from the Industrial relations view point. The consequences that resulted from the entire event were tragic and no one has expected that the strike and anger of employees will transform into violence and result in harming the HR fraternity. The workers were full of pain, distrust, anger and ill treatment. There was lot of unrest and turmoil in the premises of Maruti.

The case reveals that there was a communication gap between the management and workers which was prolonging for quite some time and as a result of which there was anger, distrust, agitation and dissatisfaction among employees.

The conversation with Yogita during the session revealed that the workers were not ready to speak to consultants, each & every actions and discussion reflected the pain. There are number of reasons that led to this extreme step:

 ·  Japanese management was micro managing the Manesar plant. They were clashes in the working styles of the management. The Japanese management was result oriented & hence focused more on productivity which generated pressure on the Indian management to increase productivity and give results

·     Infrastructure design was not according to the workers need. The hygiene needs were not met: canteen and washroom facilities were far off and the breaks offered were of 7:30 minutes only which wasn’t sufficient enough to go and come back

·   Centralized union- there was no union at the Manesar plant as a result all the grievances were communicated to the Gurgaon plant where it was addressed but there was no clear communication and so the decisions were not taken

·   There was no common platform for the communication between the management and workers

·    There was communication gap between the supervisors and workers. Workers approached the management with their issues which were not getting resolved and left them agitated. Moreover the supervisors were  frustrated as they were left out

·    All he latest selling models of cars were manufactured in Manesar plant, thus causing pressure on operations & volumes. Workers enthusiastically worked overtime but they were offered lesser overtime wages in comparison to the Gurgaon plant

·    There was no internal and external equity amongst the workers in the plant. The incentives offered to them were less and there were no mediclaim facilities and felt that they were being discriminated and cheated

·    Gurgaon plant was more people oriented and Manesar plant was more task oriented

·    Less experienced supervisors – The supervisors and the workers at Manesar plant were of the same age (24-28 years) so there were a lot of personality clashes and conflicts which the supervisors couldn’t handle with maturity. The workers were not willing to listen to the supervisors because of peer age

After observing these reasons it is clear that the unrest at Maruti Manesar plant was attributed to it and led to such horrifying event on 18^th July 2012. In my opinion, to avoid such type of situations in the future, a step wise approach should be followed:

 · Timely feedback from the employees should be conducted to know the pulse of the employees

 ·  Plan course of action and  break the issue into smaller problem and address them on the priority basis from urgent to routine  

·  Detailed analysis and structured approach to solve the situation 

·  Be proactive in future and develop strategies to curb the reaction