How Corporates Must Handle the Wave of #MeToo Allegations and Their Fallout
February 12, 2025
Communicating effectively is an art and must be practiced effectively at workplace for better output and successful achievement of goals of the organization. It also helps in reducing the error rate, better understanding of work, better bonding among the employees as well as conflict management. Every employee must be very clear what his colleague wants […]
In the previous article, we have already seen how reinsurance pools work. We have also seen how the governments of countries around the world collaborate with private reinsurance companies in order to make the concept of reinsurance pools a success. However, a deeper knowledge of this subject is required by any student. Hence, in this […]
Having goals or a clear purpose is important to each of us. In fact, people who set goals are always more successful than the others. For leaders who are serious about setting goals, some things are to be kept in mind. These goals need to be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and with Timelines. Besides, for […]
Teams are formed to ease the work pressure on the individual and achieve the targets within the desired time frame. In teams, individuals share responsibilities among themselves, help each other to accomplish a complicated task. The team members must be comfortable with each other and be a little more flexible and adjusting. Bringing individuals together […]
In many organizations, it is often the practice to give autonomy to many teams and let them take the decisions that affect their day to day affairs as well as some strategic issues. These are the so-called self-directed teams that exist in all organizations where the managers of these teams take the decisions regarding the […]
The previous articles in this module introduced the phenomenon of workplace violence with some contemporary examples. This article provides some pointers on how to avoid the same and prevent violent incidents from happening.
First, it should be noted that early signs of potential workplace violence should not be ignored and should not be left for another day. For instance, when workers demand higher compensation and threaten aggressively, the HR department and the Labor officer must immediately take note of the situation and try to resolve it at the earliest. Since workplace violence happens after a series of low intensity incidents that culminate in an outbreak of large-scale violence, it is better to spot the signs early and then take corrective action before it is too late.
Next, whenever workers or the unions demand more benefits or complain against the working conditions, the HR department and the Labor officer should not be complacent or dismiss the demands lightly.
In the case of the 2012 incident in Manesar (India) involving the workers of the Maruti plant, such demands were pending before the management for a long time, which tried to address them by either coercing the workers or by derecognizing the unions.
The point here is that violence manifests after all possible avenues for reconciliation are exhausted and hence, it is in the interest of both sides to not ignore the initial moves towards rapprochement. Either the best way to deal with the lurking fear of violence is to address the demands forcefully or by deploying additional security, forces instead of letting the situation go out of hand.
Third, in cases where the unions or the workers adopt belligerent stand right from the beginning, it is better to take drastic action right away instead of letting the matter go out of hand and resulting in violence. For instance, companies can threaten to close the plants and move to other states or countries to make the unions see sense and come to the negotiating table. In the recent past, there have been instances around the world where the workers started to behave violently right from the time they put forward their demands, which were first ignored and then ultimately led to avoidable incidents.
Finally, the management must be fair to workers and try to redress their grievances by recognizing the legitimate unions and then bringing them to the negotiating table.
The point here is that management must not give scope to undesirable elements taking advantage of the situation and exacerbating the same. This has been proved repeatedly in the case of management union disputes where outside elements saw an opportunity to create trouble and instigated the workers to violence. Moreover, the government has a duty towards the company and the workers as well and hence, it should play a proactive role in bringing both sides together and not let the situation go out of hand.
It must be remembered that for countries like India to grow and prosper, a healthy manufacturing base is needed that entails cooperative work environment free from violence and a cohesive organizational culture that takes into account all the needs of the stakeholders.
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