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.