THE REIGN OF ZERO TOLERANCE

A Sindhuja (12PGP001) Aditi Bajpai(12PGP005) Apurva Bajaj(12PGP010) Kumar Saurabh(12PGP022) Saurav Mondal(12PGP042) Pulak Jain(12PGP113)

STEP1

CASE SUMMARY
ISSUES ALTERNATIVES BEST SOLUTION FOR EACH ISSUE

STEP2

STEP3

STEP4

3/18/2013

Indian Institute of Management Raipur

CASE SUMMARY: CHARACTERS

Simon Pemberton: Employee at Applied Devices, Inc. Sallie Tillotson: HR Manager at AD Gottfried Harberg: ADs chief scientist Don Hardee: ADs CEO Martin Ledecky: Teaches at Amman University, Jordan. Acquaintance of Simon and Gottfried Shirlee North: Head HR Melissa Dresser : Shirlee Norths second in Command

ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY

Initially, it covered only weapon and drug possession. Possession of alcohol or showing signs of intoxication while at work Misappropriating company property, regardless of value. Incurring unauthorized expenses above $100 Engaging in unauthorized e-mailing and Internet use FAILURE TO WHICH WILL LEAD TO IMMEDIATE TERMINATION!!

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Indian Institute of Management Raipur

MONITORING
More than eight hours online per week, identified an employee as suspect and precipitated spot monitoring of Web sites visited. If 25% or more were found to be unrelated to the employees duties, then e-mail would be monitored, too. The auditing of all e-mails sent to employees of competitor companies. The auditing of all e-mails with destinations carrying a foreign suffix.

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Indian Institute of Management Raipur

STEP1

CASE SUMMARY
ISSUES ALTERNATIVES BEST SOLUTION FOR EACH ISSUE

STEP2

STEP3

STEP4

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Indian Institute of Management Raipur

ISSUES
No proper communication of rules of zero tolerance policy and no prior warning of offense. No proper investigation done and opportunity given to Simon to justify his actions. Policies started encroaching on personal space of the employees e.g.. smoking, personal relationships. Internet usage and other restrictions decrease the creativity of the employees, de-motivation, dissatisfaction.

3/18/2013

Indian Institute of Management Raipur

ISSUES CONTD
Six Sigma was not properly adopted as HR policy as it involved lot of statistics but ignored the organisational behaviour and emotional part of human behaviour. With such strict policies the recruitment process becomes difficult. There was no proper committee for firing an employee.

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Indian Institute of Management Raipur

STEP1

CASE SUMMARY
ISSUES ALTERNATIVES BEST SOLUTION FOR EACH ISSUE

STEP2

STEP3

STEP4

3/18/2013

Indian Institute of Management Raipur

Issue: No proper communication of rules of zero tolerance policy and no prior warning of offense.
Solution :The policies should be explained in detail during induction program. Present working employees also should have interactive session with HR team.
PROS People will understand the dos & donts better The documents will not be merely handouts or formal documents CONS Tough to remember all policies Over emphasis on zero tolerance policies may lead to impact dilution
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Indian Institute of Management Raipur

Issue: Internet usage and other restrictions decrease the creativity of the employees, demotivation, dissatisfaction.
Solution :Separate kiosks/computers for personal usage in canteen
PROS Improve IT infrastructure Blogs/helpful sites can be accessed CONS

Security and hacking issues

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Indian Institute of Management Raipur

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Issue: No proper investigation done and no opportunity given to Simon to justify his actions. Solution 1: The nature of offence, previous record of the employee and intent should be taken into account.

Solution 2: The committee for framing rules and monitoring the behaviour should not include only HR Manager but other department heads. Also include employee union.

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Indian Institute of Management Raipur

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Solution 1: The nature of offence, previous record of the employee and intent should be taken into account.
PROS Removes embarrassment Might save the employee Warns others but morale not lost CONS Reactive in approach Verifying the intent is difficult Previous records might mislead Encourages wrong practices in case of wrong judgment

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Indian Institute of Management Raipur

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Solution 2: The committee for framing rules and monitoring the behaviour should not include only HR Manager but other department heads. Employee union also to be involved.
PROS Pro-active in approach Thinking long-term Confidence among employees Employee representation in making policies Needs of all departments known-creativity, etc.
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CONS Employee unions support employees HR team would become weak More time

Indian Institute of Management Raipur

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Issue: Encroachment of personal space

Solution1 : Make separate zones for smoking, meeting relatives and provisions for recreational rooms . Solution 2: Put restriction on the sites which can be browsed. Create a separate channel for employees to share videos, photos, personal information etc among themselves and a list of some approved email ids outside the office

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Indian Institute of Management Raipur

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Solution1 : Make separate zones for smoking, meeting relatives and provision for recreational rooms.
PROS People will not indulge unnecessary browsing through their office computers. By having separate zone for smoking there will be no harm done to other employees CONS Employees may start spending more time in the caf. High investment

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Indian Institute of Management Raipur

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Solution 2: Put restriction on the sites which can be browsed. Create a separate channel for employees to share videos, photos, personal information etc among themselves and a list of some approved e-mail ids outside the office .
PROS Employees can share among themselves and company will be able to monitor it. Proper demarcation of official and personal channels.
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Issue: Six Sigma was not properly adopted as HR policy as it involved lot of statistics but ignored the organisational behaviour and emotional part of human behaviour. Solution: Rather than directly punishing them for violation of any rule employees should be put through counselling or employee assistance programmes first.
PROS
Detects the problems from the root and helps to identify the primary reason behind the unexpected behaviours of employee. Make employees motivated to comply with the regulations rather than forcing them to do so.
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CONS
Employees may not be willing to go through counseling sessions to maintain confidentiality of personal problems. Additional costs. Employees may take violation of regulation as granted to some extent.
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Indian Institute of Management Raipur

STEP1

CASE SUMMARY

STEP2

ISSUES
ALTERNATIVES BEST SOLUTION FOR EACH ISSUE

STEP3

STEP4

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Indian Institute of Management Raipur

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BEST SOLUTION
ISSUES Encroachment of personal space No proper communication Decrease in the creativity No proper investigation done Six Sigma was not properly adopted SOLUTION Put restriction on sites and create separate channels Policies to be explained Separate kiosks Committee with other department employees Employees to be counseled

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Indian Institute of Management Raipur

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REFERENCES
Brevelle, D. L. (Spring 2006). Zero-Tolerance Policies: When Are They Right. Employment Relations Today , DOI 10.1002/ert.

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Indian Institute of Management Raipur

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THANK YOU

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Indian Institute of Management Raipur

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