Case Analysis: TESCO

Group 7, Section B
Abhishek Nvale | Anish Barjatya | Jyothish Jose | Lipika Agarwal | Samaksh Chhabra | Shashank Kothari

 Single decision maker

Constant micromanagement of the workers
Distrust and miscommunication between the management
and the workers
Gera acting reactively and shutting the plant down
No mutual efforts being put in by the conflicting sides

Introduction

Factors
contributing to
the breakdown
of IR in TESCO

Expectations
of each
party

Issues that Gera

must consider
and address

Questions

Power with
different
actors in
the case

Lessons
learned

What Factors Contributed to The Breakdown of IR In TESCO?

 His strong willed and business minded personality had led to an

establishment of a boss- subordinate relationship as the workers
were always constantly directed and supervised by the manager
Rohit Singh, leader of the trade union saw his own interest as the
workers were a constant source for him to earn his income.
Therefore, his personal and selfish interests made him instigate
the workers
Rigidity of Gera to not come to a negotiation with his workers
which further aroused them.
The conciliation offer with the workers was bribed by Gera in an
attempt to subdue them. However, that worsened the scenario
further and the strike by workers continued.
Closing down of the sub-assembly plant permanently leaving all
the poor workers unemployed.

What Were the Expectations of Each Partythe owner,

Trade Union, Workersfrom the other parties?

 The other parties- the trade union and the workers except a
certain amount of compliance from the management and not
continue his dominating behavior
The trade union consists of workers and Rohit Singh. The
workers expect Gera to understand their demands and not be
so rigid in their dealings with them. Rohit, on the other hand,
has his own personal interests in deriving constant income
from the workers
The workers are upset about the prevelant dominance on the
part of the manager and expect certain amount of
understanding from him to atleast increase the wages by some
amount

What power in IR did different actors in the case have, how

did they derive it, and how did they use it?

Manish Gera
(Chairman, MD and Majority Owner of Tesco)
Type of Person:
Dynamic, enthusiastic and self-motivated person
Genuinely kind and helpful
Had a penchant for efficiency and discipline.
Pre Union days
Showed a deep concern for the welfare of his worker Workers treated him with dignity.
He was bestowed with power related to personnel matters and a relationship of superordination and
subordination existed.
Overall in pre union days Geras source of power was his strong relation with employees and he used it
to
ensure
no
conflicts
arose
by
a
people
oriented
approach.
Post Union days
He was very determined not to compromise.
He directly spoke with the workers but the solution didn't last long.
Initially he used delay tactics and later strong-arm tactics.
Finally he decided to close the plant.

Rohit Singh
(Trade Union Leader, Member of the Indian National Janata Party
and also had close links with some ministers in the state government)
His objectives:
The labour situation at this ancillary plant offered immense scope for him to
carve out a following for himself
Valuable capital for him and assured him a steady income
Post Union days
Wanted to demonstrate his utility when the wage settlement was negotiated
between the management and workers
He would thus arouse a feeling of unrest among workers, which would also
serve his ulterior motives
Stubborn with the proposal

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Workers
Source of Power:
Pre union days: Good relation with owner
Post Union days: Strong union presence
Caught in the power battle between union leader and company
owner/MD
Supported the union unconditionally and did not stick to their stance
(After Gera directly approached them and resolved the issue the
immediately flip-flopped after external influence)
Government/Legal bodies
Did not exercise any power
Did not consider implication of factory closing down on workers
(Unemployment)

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What issues must Gera consider and address before

planning ahead?

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 He needs to improve his image to win back the orders

He needs to build up his capacity by possibly renegotiating with
employees regarding a reopening of the plant, but with no union
activities
He also needs to ensure that such union activities do not happen
in other main plants
He needs to have mechanisms like regular meetings with workers
to discuss their concerns
Since he is attempting to follow paternal unitarism, he needs to
communicate more with workers and market his characteristics
of caring towards them better.

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What lessons in IR do you learn from this case?

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 The owner strongly believes in dominating his employees

and at no point in time will he negotiate with the workers
to reach a cordial solution
The trade union is led by Rohit Singh who has his
personal interests in earning incomes constantly.
Therefore, he has provoked the workers further to
maintain a constant rift between the management and the
workers

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THANK YOU

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