Saturday, 26 January 2013

Sujatha NJ_HRLP024_Transformational Industrial Relations



Introduction
People are the biggest asset of a company, hence manpower safe guard is more than just taking care of their basic needs. Maruthi is one such example of the extent in which an unattended labour force can get violent. The tragedy of losing Mr Awinash Kumar Dev, General Manager HR of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd has led to this study of what happened in Maruthi? Why was there so much distress? And such an unacceptable violent move and motive of workers and What happened to the workers? How can we help solve this?

Case Facts and Analysis

The loss was incomparable to anything; however let us look at the case facts to know more about the situation, from different perspectives

    Ø  Dual management at the top level : Japanese and Indian management system brought in a huge culture difference within the organisation. As Japanese style was low with emotional quotient, highly structured operations, micro management and a closed system which was not open for feedback and suggestions from other employees. Whereas, Indian management lacked empowerment, hence was unable to influence the system. Stringent policies and lack for clear communication increased all the difference between the labour force and management.

    Ø  Piled up labour concerns : The dual structure was supposed to get two different cultures together to construct a best environment, instead the differences has only worsen the situation. This has led to the following consequences:
o   The degree of accountability has increased with two different reporting managers, One from Japan and the other from India
o   Increased production capacity in manesar, made the workers demand for more wages
o   Age difference between supervisor and associates is low, to enable to more collaborative work environment. This disturbed the equity of the workmen, as the associates would not listen to the supervisors and hence production is obstructed
o   Employees on contract suffered the most as they had to struggle for their livelihood

    Ø  Lack of job security: Mostly with the contract workers, job security was a big concern. They did not get any benefits like gratuity, provident fund or annuity. They could be sacked anytime and suffered a lot to even survive in their current work.

The few issues highlighted above gives a gist of what happened in Maruthi, Manesar. A lot has gone beyond control, piled up aggression and hunger for clarity and money led to such dreadful event. To avoid such an event to happen in the future, we suggest for a step wise approach like the following:

1.       Get the pulse : Organisation study, ‘as is’ analysis of the situation to get the pulse
2.       Divide and Plan : break the whole issue into small pieces and prioritize them. Plan your course of action according to the priority list
3.       Attack to solve one by one : now we work on solving the concerns one by one using a detailed and structured approach
4.       Future loop : Forecast and develop keeping the future in mind. BE PROACTIVE.

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