Ques 1.

Do you think that the Bangalore-based company had practiced

participative management? Answer. 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 dont suffer the consequences of the factory being shut for nonproduction by the workers. Yes, they have practiced participative
management. Participative (or participatory) management, otherwise known
as employee involvement or participative decision making, encourages the
involvement of stakeholders at all levels of an organization in the analysis of
problems, development of strategies, and implementation of solutions.
Employees are invited to share in the decision-making process of the firm by
participating in activities such as setting goals, determining work schedules,
and making suggestions. Other forms of participative management include
increasing the responsibility of employees (job enrichment); forming selfmanaged teams, quality circles, or quality-of-work-life committees;
andsoliciting survey feedback. Participative management, however, involves
more than allowing employees to take part in making decisions. It also
involves management treating the ideas andsuggestions of employees with
consideration and respect. In this case when the accident happened in the
Machine Shop, which could have snowballed into a full fledged strike, the
management sought help from the union leaders who responded in a
positive manner. After discussions between management and the union
leaders, a decision was made about how to create normalcy and the
compensation package for the deceased employees family. Thus, we can
see participative management in force

Case Study 4 Crisis

B
lown Over
Ques 1. Do you think that the Bangalore-based company had practiced
participative management?Answer. 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 dont
suffer the consequences of the factory being shut for non-production by the
workers.Yes, they have practiced participative management.Participative (or
participatory) management, otherwise known as employee involvement
or participative decision making, encourages the involvement of
stakeholders at all levels of anorganization in the analysis of problems,
development of strategies, and implementation of solutions.Employees are
invited to share in the decision-making process of the firm by participating in
activitiessuch as setting goals, determining work schedules, and making
suggestions.Other forms of participative management include increasing the
responsibility of employees (jobenrichment); forming self-managed teams,

quality circles, or quality-of-work-life committees; andsoliciting survey

feedback. Participative management, however, involves more than
allowingemployees to take part in making decisions. It also involves
management treating the ideas andsuggestions of employees with
consideration and respect.In this case when the accident happened in the
Machine Shop, which could have snowballed into afull fledged strike, the
management sought help from the union leaders who responded in a
positivemanner. After disccussions between management and the union
leaders, a decision was made abouthow to create normalcy and the
compensation package for the deceased employees family. Thus, wecan
see participative management in force.
Ques 2. If your answer is Yes, with what method of participation (you have read in the
chapter) dorelate the above case?Answer. Participative Management involves
both the management and the employees or therepresentative of the
employees in the decision making process. Thus it ensures a higher level
of transparecny among the employee and management.
To know what type of participation method was used in the case, lets first know what is
a Union? Aunion is an organization that represents employees interests to
management on issues such as wages,work hours and working conditions.
Employees participate in administering the union and support itsactivities
with union dues, fees they pay for the union services. The law protects
employees rights to join and participate in unions. The law also requires employers
to bargain and confer with the unionover certain employment issues that affect
unionized employees.Involving the employees or the representative of
employees (Union) is an element or participativemanagement.
Representative participation allows workers to be represented by a small
group whoactually participate. The goal of representative participation is to
redistribute power within theorganization. Employees' interests become as
important as those interests of management andstockholders.According to
Stephen P. Robbins, author of
Essentials of Organizational Behavior,
the two most popular forms of representative participation are works councils
and board representatives. Workscouncils are groups of employees who have been
elected by their peers and who must be consulted bymanagement when making
personnel decisions. Board representatives are employees that sit on the board of
directors and represent labor interests.This behavior is also similar to
collective bargaining procedure where unions and managementnegotiate with
each other to develop the work rules under which union members will work for
astipulated period of time. Work rules include any terms or conditions of
employment, including pay,work breaks and lunch periods, vacation, work
assignments and grievance procedures.
Ques 3. If you were the union leader, would your behavior have been different? If yes,
what would it be?Answer. The decision taken between the management and

the union helped to take care of a situationwhich would have resulted in a

crisis, if the action would not have been prompt.The union leader took every
measure possible to have the workers back to work as soon as possible.As a union
leader what decisions were taken, they were a good measure of the unions intent
of starting the work in the factory as soon as possible. As delay in this regard
would have not onlyresulted in the loss of man hours but the wages of the
employees would also have been suffered I would have given a thought about getting
as many workers under the ESI Act., so that, in case of such situation, the ESI Act.
Would have been appropriate to cover it.
Ques 4. If you were the management, would your attitude have been different? If yes,
what would it be?Answer. The good thing about a participative management is
that it not only let the management listento the needs of the employees but
also formulate the policies with their help, which is necessary inorder to
increase the faith of the employees in the management and thus help in
solving issues infuture also.The management did a good thinking to involve the
union in decision making, which ensures thesupport of the employees and also
prove the intentions of the management to be honest when it comesto the
wellness of the employees.The only different action that I would have taken was to try
and fix an amount of compensation for the employees who do not covered under ESI
Act. By doing this, such kind of issue would have beensolved then and there. As
seen that the union was able to make the employer pay a higher amount
thanthey have anticipated, by fixing an amount for 2 or 3 years of time and get it into
the company policy,it would thus ensure the further openness of settling such claims in
future.