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Human Resource Management Case Studies

Case Study 1

Harsha and Franklin both of them are post graduates in management under different
streams from same B-School. Both of them are close to each other from the college days itself
and the same friendship is continuing in the organisation too as they are placed in the same
company, Hy-tech technology solutions. Harsha placed in HR department as employee counselor
and

Franklin in finance department as key finance executive. As per the grade is concerned both
are at same level but when responsibility is concerned Franklin is holding more responsibility
being in core finance.

By nature Harsha is friendly in nature and ready to help the needy. Franklin is silent in nature
ready to help if approached personally and always a bit egoistic in nature. They
have successfully completed 4 years in the organization. And management is very much satisfied
with both of them as they are equally talented and constant performers.

Harsha felt that now a days Franklin is not like as he use to be in past. She noticed
some behavioral changes with him. During general conversations she feels that Franklin is
taunting her that she is famous among the employees in the organisation in the other hand he is
not even recognised by fellow employees.

One morning Mr. Mehta General Manager Hy-tech technology solutions shocked while
go through the mail received from Franklin about his resignation. Mr. Mehta called
Harsha immediately and discussed about the same as she is close to Franklin. By hearing the
news Harsha got stunned and said that she do not know this before she also reveled here
current experience with him. Mr. Mehta who do not want to loose both of them promised her that
he will handle this and he wont allow Franklin to resign.

In the afternoon Mr. Metha took Franklin to Canteen to make him comfortable after some
general discussion he starts on the issue. Franklin, after some hesitations opened his thinking in
front of Mr. Mehta. The problem of Franklin is 1) when he comes alone to canteen the people
from other dont even recognize him but if he accompanied by Harsha he get well treated by
others. 2) one day Both of them entered the company together the security in the gate wished
them but the next day when he came alone the same security did not do so. 3) Even in meetings
held in the office the points raised by Harsha will get more value so many a times he keeps silent
in the meeting.

It happens to Franklin that he has to face such degradation in each day of work which
totally disturbs him. Franklin also questioned that Harsha and myself have same
qualification, from same institute, passed out in the same year both with first class. We have
same number of experience in this organisation. More over the responsibilities with me are more
valuable than that of Harsha. After all this things if I am been ignored or unrecognized by the
fellow employees my ego does not allow me to continue here.
By listening this statement Mr.Metha felt that it is not going to be very difficult to stop
his resignation. Mr. Mehta explained Franklin the reasons for such partial behavior of the
employees.

After listening to Mr. Mehta Franklin said sorry for his reaction and ready to take back
his resignation. And he called Harsha and spoke with like before.

Question
Find the reason that Mr. Mehta would have given to Franklin.

Solution for Case Study 1

Mr. Mehta listening to this case understood the situation and realized the reason behind the
partial response given by the employees towards Franklin and Harsha. As Franklin said both
Harsha and Franklin are passed out from same college in same year. Both of them joined the
company together both have same experience. Even in performance wise both stands in the same
level i.e. both are constant performers and good performers.

Franklin analysed all the above said similarities between him and Harsha. He also stated that he
holds more responsibility than that of Harsha. One thing Franklin did not notice or analysed is
the job profile of Harsha. It is true that Franklin holds more responsibility than that of Harsha but
when it comes to direct interaction with employees Harsha wins the employees attention in this
aspect. Harsha being counselor in HR she faces the employees every day. She developed good
rapport among the employees due to her friendly nature. She is always remembered by the
employees whenever they face any problem as she gives good counseling and most of the times
she suggest best solutions for such issues.

Franklin though holding key position in finance his profile does not allow him to interact with
the employees. Though he has helping tendency he does only when someone approached him
personally. As the employees of other departments do not have any relation with him they never
approach him for help.

Mr. Mehta having good experience understood these things when Franklin explained his
problems one by one. Later he relates each situation, explained by Franklin with the above said
reasons, and made Franklin understood the reality.

Mr. Mehta said that the security in the gate or the employees in the canteen who recognized
Harsha and not Franklin would have interacted with her during counseling or approached her for
any issues. And as usual she would have counseled well or solved the issues of them that is the
reason why they treat her and wish her whenever where ever they meet her. When it comes to the
case of Franklin they would have hardly met him or interacted with him.

When it comes to the point that even in office meetings Harsha, points are valued so Franklin
keeps mum. For this Mr. Mehta replied that the points put forward by her would be related to
employees or from employees point of view which actually the management wants to know so
they give value to her points. And as quoted Fraklin after, one or two such incidents, keeps silent
in the meeting. He never made an attempt to raise some suggestions so management does not
have any option to listen to that suggestion.

After listening to all the explanations given by Mr. Mehta Franklin realized his mistake and felt
proud about the Rapport developed by Harsha among the employees. He said to Mr. Mehta that
he will take back his resignation. And rushed to Harsha to make an apology and to meet her as a
friend as like his college days.

HRM CASE STUDY 2

Watson Public Ltd Company is well known for its welfare activities and employee
oriented schemes in manufacturing industry from more than ten decade. The company employs
more than 800 workers and 150 administrative staff and 80 management level employees. The
Top level management views all the employees at same level. This can be clearly understood by
seeing the uniform of the company which is Same for all starting from MD to floor level
workers. The company have 2 different cafeterias at different places one near the plant for
workers and other near the Administration building. Though the place is different the amenities,
infrastructure and the food provided are of same quality. In short the company stands by the rule
Employee Equality.

The company has one registered trade union and the relationship between the union and
the management is very cordial. The company has not lost a single man day due to strike.
The company is not a pay master in that industry. The compensation policy of that
company, when compared to other similar companies, is very less still the employees dont have
many grievances due to the other benefits provided by the company. But the company is
facing countable number of problems in supplying the materials in recent past days. Problems
like quality issues, mismatch in packing materials (placing material A in box of material B)
incorrect labeling of material, not dispatching the material on time etc

The management views the case as there are loop holes in the system of various departments and
hand over the responsibility to HR department to solve the issue. When the HR manager goes
through the issues he realized that the issues are not relating to system but it relates to
the employees. When investigated he come to know that the reason behind the casual approach
by employees in work is

The company hired new employees for higher level post without considering the
potential internal candidates.
The newly hired employees are placed with higher packages than that of
existing employees in the same cadre.
Questions with solutions:-

Q 1. Narrate the case with suitable Title for the case. Justify your title.

Solution:

Employee Equality is not the need for every hour. In the above said case Watson Ltd had
provided all facilities to employees at each grade in equal manner. But still the employees started
creating certain issues like materials are meeting the quality supply schedule is not met etc.. and
the HR manager said that the policy of hiring new employees for higher post without considering
old potential employees is the major problem.

Employee recognition VS Employee equality. As the HR manager states that employees are
not been recognized for the potential rather company has gone for new recruitment. Because of
which the company faces problems.

Q 2. The points rose by the HR manger as reason for the latest issues in the organization
is justifiable or not. Support your answer with Human resource related concepts.
Solution:
Yes the points raised by HR manager is justifiable because Human beings are social Animals as
popularly said by many Human resources Scholars. So human minds demands for social
recognition, self respect, consideration etc for their work and performance.

In the above said case even the company provides and stands by the concept employee equality
when it fails to recognize the potential talents of existing employee they felt dissatisfaction
towards the organization and they showed in the way of quality issues and slow down
production.

Related HR concept.

Slow down Production:

The concept of slow down production is a type of strike done by employee. The Industrial
Relations sates that when the employee wants to show their dissatisfaction to the management
but dont want to go for strike they follow slow down strike. The impact of which will be
understood after a particular time period

Employee Recognition:

Human beings can be easily motivated by Rewards and recognition than that of money. In this
case also the employee are not satisfied even after all facilities just because of the reason that
they are not recognized.

Hawthrone Experiment:
In the four type of test conducted by Elton mayo the remarkable hike in production is recognized
in the stage when they consulted the employees for the management decisions regarding them.
The same thing was missing in Watson Ltd. Before the new hires if the management consulted
the employees both management and employees would have avoided this issue

Hygiene Factor:

Theory of hygiene factor states that there are certain factors related to employees the presence of
which will not create major impact but the absence of such things will lead to a de motivation to
the employees. Employee Recognition is one such factor when the management fails to do so it
will Detroit the employees to a great extent.

Q 3. Help the organization to come out from this critical issue. If you are in the role of
HR manager what will be your immediate step to solve this case.
Solution:
If I was in the post of the HR manager I will try to discuss the issue and ask for the reason from
the management for new recruiting rather than considering available potential talents. I will
personally analyses the reasons provided by management and if acceptable i will discuss the
same with the employees. Everything is possible when discussion is done. So I will discuss and
convince the employee that this wont happen again in the organization. I will also initiate the
collective bargaining process for reasonable salary hike for the existing employees.

HRM CASE STUDY 3:

You Mr. A of Alfa community, are a newly appointed manager of a workshop, which has been
categorized as an essential service. This means that the workshop must function on all the days.
Rules lay down that, at least, two individuals must be on duty irrespective of their seniority or
specialization. The workshop is manned by an equal number of individuals of the two
communities, Alfa and Beta. A good tradition has been built, i.e. when one community has a
festival, the workers from the other community man the workshop and vice versa.

Recently, there were labour union election and Mr. Beta community has been elected as the
leader. The new leader is reported to be very Whimsical (unusual), though very good at heart.
Your day of trial dawned when it came to light that on Friday next, both the communities claim
to be their religious day. Both the communities want the other community to perform the duty on
that day. While Alfa community is banking on you; the others are equally sure of their union
leader from beta community winning the day for them. You realise that there have been a lot of
discussions and more negotiations and discussions are making the situation worse. The attitudes
of both the parties are hardening and the last discussions had ended as a war of words. You do
not want to damage the good relations between the two communities built over the years but still
have to solve the problem. What will you do?

Solve this case using following method:


Give all the possible solutions available for the case along with advantage and disadvantage for
each solution.
Compare the solutions and justify the best solution.

Give suitable Title for this case.

Solutions for Case Study 3


Answer of this case study will be available soon. Stay Connected.

HRM CASE STUDY 4:


Mr. Bhat, Human Resource Manager of IVS Group of companies approached the CEO on 30th
march, 2007 and apprised him of the absence of Mr.Ajay Vaidhya, Assistant Accountant in the
Corporate Finance Department, for the past one month and requested him to approve the show-
cause notice to be saved to Mr.Ajay as per the Labour Laws in force.

The CEO told Mr.Bhat: When Mr.Ajay has been absent for the last one month , your duty is to
go to Mr.Ajay,s house, find out the reason and solve the problem of Mr.Ajay, and not just to
report the absence to me. Go immediately to Mr.Ajay,s house find the reason and report it to me
before 5.oo P.M. today.

Mr. Bhat immediately left for Mr.Ajays house and learnt from Mr.Ajay s Wife that Mr.Ajay has
been in distress as he has been trying to mobilise Rs.1,00,000 for the surgery of his sick wife in a
reputed hospital in Chennai. Mr.Bhat could meet Mr.Ajay around 3.PM and both of them then
met the CEO. Both of them apprised the CEO the reason for the absence and distress of Mr.Ajay.

The CEO immediately contacted the hospital and informed them that the company will pay
Rs.1,00,000 tomorrow i.e., 31st March 2007 and requested the doctor to conduct the surgery for
Ajays wife tomorrow itself.

The CEO ordered Mr.Bhat to arrange to issue a cheque for Rs.1,00,000 in favour of the hospital
and also pay Rs.10,000 in cash to Mr.Ajay to meet incidental expenses as a grant. Mr.Ajay as
well as Mr.Bhat were surprised at the decision of the CEO Mr.Ajay became emotional and
touched the feet of the CEO.

The CEO told Mr.Bhat:Problems of our employees are the companys problems. We treat the
employees as human being and members of the companys family.

This piece of news spread in the entire company within no time and the employees felt highly
secured. The productivity level increased by 100% in the next quarter itself and sustained over
the years to come.

Questions:-
1. Why did Mr.Bhat prefer to follow a legal approach to the problem?

2. Why did the CEO provide Rs.1,10,000 as just a grant to Mr.Ajay ?

3. What would be the morale of employees family members after this incident?
4. Suggest a suitable title for the above said case and justify that title.

Solution
1. Why did Mr. Bhat prefer to follow a legal approach to the problem?
Solution:
Mr.Bhat preferred to follow a legal approach against Mr.Ajay for being absent from his job, for
the following reasons

As Mentioned in the case by Mr.Bhat noticed that Mr.Ajay kept himself absent from job
without being informed the authorities which is not considered as a fair practice done by any
employee as per Labour Law.

Mr.Ajay is working in an important department in the organisation ( corporate finance), his


absence might affect the performance of the department.

In the other hand remaining employees in the department are loaded with extra responsibility as
they need to share the duties of Mr. Ajay which may created stress on them.

Above all if any legal action is not taken against Mr.Ajay this may lead to a bad example to
other employees and among some of them may take an advantage of this.

Hence by considering the above said reasons Mr.Bhat preffered to follow a legal approach of
issuing a Show cause notice to Mr.Ajay

2. Why did the CEO provide Rs.1,10,000 as just a grant to Mr.Ajay ?


Solution:
CEO Didnot approach the issue of an individual who didnot return to the job for more than one
month. He realise that there must be an valid reason behind this. So he demand Mr.Bhat to visit
Mr.Ajays resident and find out the reason for his absence. When he get to know the issue he
analysed it and considered it as an opportunity to make the employees realise that they are the
assets of the organisation. And being a CEO employees well being and his family members well
being matters for him.

He also knows that the loyalty of the all the employees will be improve and this will ultimately
increase the efficiency of the employees. Hence he granted Rs.1,10,000 to Mr.Ajay and his
family which will benefit both Ajay and his family and also create a positive impact on the
employees.

There are so many benefits behind this grant some of those benefits are increased Job security,
increased morale , strong loyalty, improve efficiency, employees family will have faith on the
organisation, increased production output etc

Considering the above said benefits CEO granted the above said amount to Mr. Ajay.

3. What would be the morale of employees family members after this incident?
Solution:
The incident spread like an fire in the organisation and through the employees to their family
also. After listening to this Ajays family members felt so thankful to the organisation especially
to the CEO who considered their problem and helped to solve the issue. The concern of the CEO
obvious saved a life in their family.

Along with Mr.Ajays Family members the family members of other employees also felt that
IVS is the safe place to work and it is safe not only to the employees but also to their family also.

So the family members felt secured, loyal and very well satisfied about the organisation.

4. Suggest a suitable title for the above said case and justify that title.
Solution:
By reading the case one can judge or decide the Suitable title of the case as there is no restriction
to it.

Example title is employee morale leads to improved efficeny

satisfied employees produce tremendous results


GHRIEM
INTERNAL EXAM
MBA YEAR II
CASE STUDIES IN HRM 406 C MARKS 20
Analyze the case
The worlds airlines have undergone significant changes since the early 1980s. The major
airlines in Australia have not been isolated from these transformations. Airline deregulation,
exposure to the vagaries of international oil politics in the 1970s(Spencer & Cassell 1987, p. 6)
and again in 2000, the Gulf War, company mergers, full or part privatisation of government
owned airlines, increased international competition, strategic alliances within routes and between
regions, two major recessions and the 1997-8 Asian currency crisis have contributed to pressures
upon Australian airline companies to become more competitive. While dealing with these
contexts, airlines have had to develop strategies to deal with both the longer cycles of the
economy as well as seasonal market fluctuations.
The emphasis has been on cost cutting, especially reductions in labour costs through moderation
of wage costs, increased productivity, and the introduction of flexibility through a motivated and
more versatile workforce (Rojot 1992; Kochan & Verma 1992). Cutting labour costs in airlines
both in Australia and overseas have involved measures such as reducing salary and wages bills
through downsizing and eliminating expensive work practices. On some occasions and in some
airlines in North America these measures have included wage reductions and wage freezes. At
the same time, the imperative for airlines was to provide high quality service in order to maintain
market share, improve revenues, and to maintain high safety standards in operations and
maintenance (McDonald 1992a; 1992b).
Along with most corporations, airlines have a number of strategies available to them to reduce
their labour costs and they are subject to a number of moderating influences which might prevent
a company within the boundaries of industrial relations law from slashing the benefits of
employment in an airline. One of these processes is collective bargaining.

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