Maruti Suzuki India Limited- Industrial Relations

A Case Study

Group -2

Ekta Agarwal
Bodhisattwa Dasgupta
Mohit Sethi
Samarth Kapoor
1. Enumerate and discuss the appropriateness of demands raised by the
workers in April 2012.

2. Critically analyze the circumstances leading to the suspension of a worker on July 18, 2012.

3. Does industrial unrest at MSIL suggest a failure of the Japanese style of management in the
Indian context?

4. Suggest a way forward for MSIL after the incident on July 18, 2012.
2. Critically analyze the circumstances leading to the suspension of a worker on July 18, 2012.

 On July 18 2012, the dispute between the workers and management has happened because of a suspended worker.
 There were two versions that come up that how the incident started.
 According to the Management version:
 The worker has been suspended for doing physical violence on supervisor and later the worker union demanded reinstatement for
that worker
 The MSIL management told the workers to wait till the inquiry gets completes
 Before inquiry gets completes, MSIL plant was hit by violence as workers attacked engineers, supervisors, and management
personnel.
 The GM of HR Avnish Kumar Dev had both arms and legs broken by attackers and he was charred to death
 In the meeting after the incident, union representative brought 500 to 600 workers with sticks and iron rods.
 The workers set ablaze both the company office and the surrounding areas.

 According to the workers version :

 The supervisor had abused, pass deriding comments on a low caste worker and suspended the worker.
 The contractor brought hoodlums in order to threaten the workers
 The gates were closed by the security and plant bouncers attacked the workers with sharp weapons and arms

 The conclusion that can be drawn behind the incident to take place can be:
 Planned violence by the workers and union leaders as the former general secretary of disbanded union has surrender before the
police on July 31, 2012.
 Police also arrested 114 people related to incident
4. Suggest a way forward for MSIL after the incident on July 18, 2012

 The incident on July 18th, 2012 shows the total break down of trust between the workers and the management of MSIL
 From here on its an uphill task for MSIL to ensure that it keeps its market share and customer focus
 Indians buy Maruti because of its Value for Money products and Customer Focus
 The recent events have come across as a shock and Indians would always tend to be with the workers
 The workers’ version of castiest slur against them will not go well with the populace
 MSIL now needs to come up clean with its acts
 A presser would help with the MD narrating each event which lead to the death of the Manager and further lockout
 Mr Bhargav is considered a pioneer in the Automobile Industry
 Mr Bhargav can personally interact with the workers and understand their grievances
 This small gesture can go a long way to gain trust- this is inspired by BM Munjal who used to interact with shop floor workers very
frequently
 MSIL also needs to organize certain training and development programs for their supervisor so as to ensure proper communication is
maintained
 MSIL could appoint a Dispute Resolution Team which will have 2 members- one from supervisors selected by the workers and one from
the workers selected by the supervisors
 This would ensure all disputes are resolved quickly and amicably.
 A board at the level of Executive Committee should be formed which should look after every dispute that occurs in the factories
 This would ensure that the Management is always aware of any brewing problem
 There should be strictly a no tolerance policy against cast slurs
 Uniform compensation policy should be implemented across the workers
 There can be a common canteen where both supervisors and workers can share a meal
 This would increase free flow of information and better camaraderie.
 Team building events should be convened which needs to have equal representation from workers and supervisors
 Specific outdoor events like picnics could be conducted again to increase the team bonding and remove all doubts