War of Wits @ Ensemble ‘09

XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, Jamshedpur

 WAR OF WITS

CASELETS FOR THE PRELIMINARY ROUND

CASE 1
Rahul Khanna was a bright and promising lad at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi studying Software
Engineering. One of the first to be placed in his batch, he got an offer with a prestigious IT firm-XYZ enterprises and
promptly signed out.

XYZ follows a policy that requires the employees to sign a bond with them at the time of joining, as a measure to
reduce turnover in the organization. So, Rahul also had to sign this bond. The Employment bond stipulated that he
had to work at least two years in the organization or else he has to pay rupees one lakh as compensation.

A competent, hard working lad from a premier Institute, Rahul was assigned a critical project of a foreign client of
XYZ enterprises. But competitor firms also keep a look out for bright, ambitious employees at the time of talent
crunch. Rahul was contacted by various competing firms in the IT sector with highly lucrative packages.

Finally, Rahul found one offer by BR Systems too hard to resist both because of the profile and package offered. He
submitted his resignation letter and quit XYZ enterprises merely ten months after joining, in order to pursue better
opportunities. Soon thereafter, the foreign client also cancelled the project as they realized that a critical employee
(Rahul K) had left the organization and they did not feel that a new employee could easily take Rahul’s shoes as he
was involved from the time of project inception in the team.

Now, answer the following questions in light of the above facts by quoting the relevant section:

1. Is the Management entitled to more money than 1 lakh because they also lost the project money where the
employee was working?

2. Is Rahul bound to pay rupees one lakh to XYZ enterprises?

3. The Management justified the loss as up to ten lakhs due to the following reasons:
 Loss of project
 Expenses borne by the recruitment agency to find a new hand

Are they justified in doing so?

CASE 2
The workers of TISCO resorted to strike on 15 December 2008 because their demands were not fulfilled. In this
respect, they have given a notice on 25 November 2008 and there in it was mentioned that if the management will
not concede to their demand of wages on or before 16 December 2008, they will resort to strike.

However, on 22 December 2008, the management discussed with the Union that their demands will be looked into
and necessary action will be taken in this effect. The Union notified the workmen to join their work and the factory
resumed operation as usual.

Now, the union is also demanding wages for the strike period. However, the management did not agree to this
demand.

For this reason, the workers served notice that they would stop the work, after 20 days if their demand of wages
during the strike period is not fulfilled.

After twenty days, a strike was resorted to by the workmen.

Answer the following questions by quoting relevant Industrial Disputes Act provisions and decided cases of
the Supreme Court.(landmark case)

1. Was the first strike pertaining to wage revision, a legal strike?

2. Was the second strike pertaining to wages during the strike period legal and will the workers be entitled to
get wages during the strike period?

CASE 3
Situation I

Ramavtar reached at 6:00 am to his working place as he has been allotted for Shift A which runs from 6 am to 2 pm.
He was informed at 9 am that he cannot be provided any work due to breakdown of the machine.

Situation II

Ramavtar reached at 6 am to his working place as he has been allotted for Shift A which runs from 6 am to 2 pm. He
was asked to report himself at 10 am, that is the second half of the A shift. He reached at 10 am but could not be
provided any work as the machine was not repaired.

Situation III

Ramavtar reached at 6 am to his working place as he has been allotted for Shift A which runs from 6 am to 2 pm. He
was asked to report himself at 10 am that is second half of the A Shift. He reached at 10 am and given job to him.

Situation IV

Ramavtar reached at 6 am to his working place as he has been allotted for Shift A which runs from 6 am to 2 pm. He
was informed at 7:55 am that he cannot be provided job due to shortage of raw material and asked him to report
himself next day.

The basic wage including Dearness Allowance of Ramavtar was Rs. 100/- per day. How much money would
Ramavtar would get in the above situations and why??

CASE 4
REGIONALISM @WORKPLACE
A team working from 3 locations across India in a major Indian IT firm maintains and develops critical business
applications for a global Credit Card Major. Started with around 12 software engineers the team is now 100 strong
and have 5 sub teams with every team having an offsite (India) and onsite (USA) coordinator to interface with the
client.

The position of the onsite coordinator is highly prestigious (because of the exposure and high remuneration) and
hence has an aspirational value for everyone in the team. Since the initial team was solely from a regional
community, these people got the opportunity to go onsite before the new joinees as the team expanded. Due to
influence of the regional community in the management, 3-4 years down the line the people not belonging to this
community were feeling rather dissatisfied with no scope for advancement.

Despite 2 notable exceptions, most of the onsite coordinators (35 in total) still belong to a particular regional
community and day by the day the non-community members are getting more and more dejected. The motivation is
at all time low, few such employees have even left the company due to this issue. There seems to be a divide between
the employees in the team and hence leading to unnecessary politics which is ultimately resulting in a decline in
productivity. Also women employees feel that there is a discrimination against them as far as promotion and
additional responsibilities are concerned.

1. What seems to be the issue here and how would you solve this issue?

2. How would you ensure to avoid any such issues in future?

CASE 5
A DIFFICULT MARRIAGE

In May 1996, Mr. Siddesh Sarabhai replaced Narayan Choudhary (Vaghul), as CEO of India's leading financial
services company FinWiz Ltd. Immediately after taking charge, Sarabhai introduced massive changes in the
organizational structure. It resulted in refocusing the organization from an internal development based company to
a market driven financial conglomerate, setting aggressive targets for its future business performance. In order to
create an agile organization which can promptly respond to market changes he created new divisions to tap new
markets thereby hoping to introduce more flexibility to the organization.

These large-scale changes aimed to become a financial powerhouse caused enormous tension within the
organization. The systems within the company soon were in a state of stress. Employees were finding the changes
unacceptable as learning new skills and adapting to the process orientation was proving difficult.
Doubts were soon raised regarding whether Sarabhai had gone 'too fast too soon,' and more importantly, whether
he would be able to steer the employees and the organization through the changes he had initiated. The basic
objectives of Fin Wiz Ltd. were to

 Encourage and promote the participation of private capital, both internal and external
 Take up the ownership of industrial investment; and
 Expand the investment markets.

The company again faced resistance to change in December, 2000 when it was merged with Jonathon Brothers Ltd.
Though FinWiz Ltd. was nearly three times the size of Jonathon Brothers Ltd (in terms of revenue), its staff strength
was only 1,400 as against Jonathon Brothers Ltd 2,500. Half of Jonathon Brothers Ltd personnel were clerks and
around 350 were subordinate staff.

There were large differences in profiles, grades, designations and salaries of personnel in the two entities. It was
also reported that there was uneasiness among the staff of Jonathon Brothers Ltd. as they felt that FinWiz Ltd would
push up the productivity per employee, to match the levels of FizWiz Ltd. Jonathon Brothers Ltd. employees feared
that their positions would come in for a closer scrutiny. They were also not sure whether the rural branches would
continue or not as FinWiz Ltd.’s business was largely urban-oriented.

The obvious difference in culture and management focus was a critical issue to be managed in integration of both
organizations. While Jonathon Brothers Ltd management concentrated on the overall profitability of the Bank,
FinWiz Ltd. management turned all its departments into individual profit centers and bonus for employees was
given on the performance of individual profit center rather than profits of whole organization.

FinWiz Ltd. not only put in place a host of measures to technologically upgrade the Jonathon Brothers Ltd branches
to FinWiz Ltd. standards, but also paid special attention to facilitate a smooth cultural integration. The company
appointed a reputed consultancy firm to help in working out a uniform compensation structure and work culture
and to take care of any change management problems.

1. Is it justified on behalf of Mr. Sarabhai to make the organisation grow '' too fast too soon”?

2. What advice would you give Mr. Sarabhai to help him integrate both of these organizations as an external
consultant?

CASE 6
THE FAT CAT DILEMMA
Manish is known to be a good and consistent worker in the large financial services firm in which he has been
employed for the last 5 years. As a product specialist, he is an invaluable resource to the salespeople and the
consultant relations managers. Manish’s colleagues had come to depend on him to even outline their pitch books and
talking points. Manish has always received an above average rating and is known to be an amiable person to work
with. Hence, when a new job opened up, Manish assumed that he would be chosen for the post.

The sales head, Arun, who had to make the final selection, faced a unique dilemma. The new job profile revolved
around impressing the polished professionals at major benefits consultancies on a face-to-face basis. And, Manish
was a thyroid patient, and as a result faced a severe obesity problem. More, disturbing than the health problems, was
the attitude of the people at work towards him. Arun’s colleagues had laughed at the idea of putting Manish in the
position, but the final decision still lay in Arun’s hands.

The company has an explicit policy of preferring internal candidates over external ones, if they’re equally qualified.
Sid is the only person who has applied for the internal job posting. However, can the sales head actually risk reduced
returns because of the internal candidate’s appearance?

1. Should Manish’s weight be a factor in Arun’s decision? On what basis should Arun make the decision?

2. If Manish is passed over on the basis of physical appearance, what kinds of negative effects could follow?

3. How can the company tackle such problems in the future?

CONTACT DETAILS
For queries please contact:

Amit Mehta : +91 90069 00874 | amit.mehta@astra.xlri.ac.in

Garima Bawa: +91 99343 62461 | p08019@astra.xlri.ac.in