November 30, 1997 goes down in the history of a Bangalore based electric company as the day nobody wanting it to recur but everyone recollecting it with sense of pride. It was a festive day for all the 700 plus employees. Festoons were strung all over, banners were put up, banana trunks and leaves adored the factory gate, instead of the usual red flags; and loud speakers were blaring Kannada film songs. It was the day the employees chose to celebrate Kannada Rajyothsava annual feature of all Karnataka based organizations. The function was to start at 4 PM and everybody was eagerly waiting for the big event to take place.
But the event budgeted at Rs. 100000 did not take place. At around 2 PM there was ghastly accident in the machine shop. Murthy was caught in the vertical turret lathe and was wounded fatally. His end came in the ambulance on the way to hospital. The management sought union help and the union leaders did respond with positive attitude. They do not fish in troubled waters.
Series of meetings were held between the union leaders and the management. The discussions centered around two major issues-(i) restoring normalcy and (ii) determining the amount of compensation to be paid to the dependents of Murthy. Luckily for the Management, the accident took place on Saturday. The next day was the weekly holiday and this helped the tension to diffuse to a large extent. The funeral of the deceased took place on Sunday without any hitch. The management hoped that things would be normal on Monday morning.
But the hope was belied. The workers refused to resume work, again the management approached the union for help. Union leaders advised the workers to resume work in all departments, except in the machine shop and the suggestion were accepted by all. Two weeks went by; nobody entered the machine shop though work in other places resumed. Union leaders came with a new idea to the management – to perform a pooja to ward off any evil that had befallen on the lathe. The management accepted the idea and homa was performed in the machine shop for about five hours commencing early in the morning. This helped to some extent, the workers started operations on all other machine in the machine shop except on the fateful lathe. It took two full months and a lot of persuasion from union leaders for the workers to switch on the lathe. The crisis was blown over thanks to the responsible role played by the union leaders and their fellow workers. Neither the management nor the workers wish that such an incident should recur.
As the wages of the deceased grossed Rs. 6500 per month, Murthy was not covered under ESI Act. Management has to pay compensation. Age and experience of the victim were taken into account to arrive at Rs.1, 87,000 which was the amount payable to the wife of the deceased. To this was added Rs. 2, 50,000 at the intervention of the union leaders. In addition the widow was paid the gratuity and the monthly pension of Rs. 4300 and nobody wages were cut for the days not worked.
Murthy’s death witnessed an unusual behavior on the part of workers and their leaders and magnanimous gesture from the management. It is the pride moment in the life of the factory.
Q1.What made employee union respond positively towards solving the crisis?
Employee union does not want employees and employers suffer due to shut down of factory that can harm both employers and employees. Employee Union responds positively towards solving crisis because they do not want to create nuisance on the death of a worker. Rather, they focused on resolving the issues created in the factory. It is a sound example of participative management of Industrial psychology in which during such a crisis the company and the union both showed great sense of oneness. They both come together for solving the problem and thus ensured that the employees and the employers both don’t suffer the consequences of the factory being shut for non-production by the workers. Involvement of the employees or the representative of employees (Union) is an element or participative management. Representative participation allows workers to be represented by a small group who actually participate. Employees' interests become as important as those interests of management and stockholders. Employee union wanted welfare of both the parties, thus acted positively and blew over the crisis of the factory with active support of employers and workers.
Q2. Apply the following concept to the case and write a note on each: (a) Attitudes (b) Values (c) Job satisfaction (d) Organizational commitment
Attitude is described as a tendency to react positively or negatively to a person or situations. Thus the two main elements of the attitude are the tendency and the direction of the approach. It is defined as the mental state of readiness, Organize through experience that has a directive or dynamic effect on responses. In this case attitude of workers, management and employee union are positive towards resolving issues created in the factory. All the parties reflect participative management approach in which welfare of all stakeholders are considered while reaching to a solution.
Value denotes the degree of importance of something or action, with the aim of determining what actions are best to do or what way is best to live or to describe the significance of different actions. Values reflect a person's sense of right and wrong or what "ought" to be. "Equal rights for all", "Excellence deserves admiration", and "People should be treated with respect and dignity" are representatives of values. In the above case, value system of management and employee union was commendable. The crisis was blown over by role played by the union leaders and their fellow workers. Importance has been given to execute right course of action rather to make the situation drastic, which could be bad for all parties. Employee union has supported management and workers both considering what is right and what is wrong for both the parties. Deceased worker’s wife got compensation along with gratuity and pension and lock down was prohibited in interest of management.
Job Satisfaction is the feeling of contentment or a sense of accomplishment, which an employee derives from his/her job. It is a result of appraisal that causes one to attain their job values or meet out their basic needs. It helps in determining, to what extent a person likes or dislikes his/her job. In the case study, employee union remains supportive to workers and management as well. This will surely increase job satisfaction of employees in the factory. Deceased employee has been given additional compensation and gratuity and monthly pension as well. This attitude of management towards employees increases employee morale and satisfaction at work place.
In industrial psychology, organizational commitment is an individual's psychological attachment to the organization. Organizational commitment predicts work variables such as turnover, organizational citizenship behavior, and job performance. The attitude of management towards its employees in the case is positive. Management has not deducted salary of employees for not deducted for days not worked by them in the factory. This attitude of management will help to increase attachment of employees towards organisation and they will remain loyal and contribute their best to achieve organisational goals. Organisation commitment of employees towards the company will be high and turnover, job dissatisfaction; and absenteeism will reduce in the organisation.
