SecA Group7 TheReignOfZeroTolerance

7/29/2019 SecA Group7 TheReignOfZeroTolerance

1/22

THE REIGN OF ZERO TOLERANCE

A Sindhuja (12PGP001)

Aditi Bajpai(12PGP005)

Apurva Bajaj(12PGP010)

Kumar Saurabh(12PGP022)

Saurav Mondal(12PGP042)

Pulak Jain(12PGP113)


2/22

STEP1 CASE SUMMARY

STEP2 ISSUES

STEP3 ALTERNATIVES

STEP4 BEST SOLUTION FOR EACH ISSUE

3/18/2013 2Indian Institute of Management Raipur


3/22

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


4/22

ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY

Initially, it covered only weapon and drug possession.

Possession of alcohol or showing signs ofintoxication while at work

Misappropriating company property, regardless ofvalue.

Incurring unauthorized expenses above $100

Engaging in unauthorized e-mailing and Internet use

FAILURE TO WHICH WILL LEAD TO IMMEDIATE

TERMINATION!!



5/22

MONITORING

More than eight hours online per week, identified an

employee as suspect and precipitated spotmonitoring 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 destinationscarrying a foreign suffix.



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STEP1 CASE SUMMARY

STEP2 ISSUES

STEP3 ALTERNATIVES




7/22

ISSUES

No proper communication of rules of zero tolerancepolicy 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.



8/22

ISSUES CONTD

Six Sigma was not properly adopted as HR policy as itinvolved lot of statistics but ignored theorganisational behaviour and emotional part of

human behaviour.

With such strict policies the recruitment processbecomes difficult.

There was no proper committee for firing an

employee.



9/22

STEP1 CASE SUMMARY

STEP2 ISSUES

STEP3 ALTERNATIVES




10/22

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 bemerely handouts or formal

documents

CONS

Tough to remember all

policies

Over emphasis on zerotolerance policies may lead

to impact dilution



11/22

Issue: Internet usage and other restrictions

decrease the creativity of the employees, de-

motivation, 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



12/22

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.



13/22

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 moralenot lost

CONS

Reactive in approach

Verifying the intent is

difficult Previous records might

mislead

Encourages wrong practices

in case of wrong judgment



14/22

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.

CONS

Employee unions support

employees HR team would become

weak

More time



15/22

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 bebrowsed. 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



16/22

Solution1 : Make separate zones for smoking, meeting

relatives and provision for recreational rooms.

PROS

People will not indulge

unnecessary browsing

through their officecomputers.

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



17/22

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.



18/22

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 violationof any rule employees should be put through counselling or

employee assistance programmes first.

PROS

Detects the problems from theroot and helps to identify theprimary reason behind theunexpected behaviours ofemployee.

Make employees motivated tocomply with the regulationsrather than forcing them to doso.

CONS

Employees may not be willingto go through counselingsessions to maintainconfidentiality of personalproblems.

Additional costs. Employees may take violation

of regulation as granted tosome extent.



19/22

STEP1 CASE SUMMARY

STEP2 ISSUES

STEP3ALTERNATIVES




20/22

BEST SOLUTION

ISSUES

Encroachment of personal

space

No proper communication

Decrease in the creativity

No proper investigation

done

Six Sigma was not properlyadopted

SOLUTION

Put restriction on sites and

create separate channels

Policies to be explained

Separate kiosks

Committee with other

department employees

Employees to be counseled



21/22

REFERENCES

Brevelle, D. L. (Spring 2006). Zero-Tolerance

Policies: When Are They Right. Employment

Relations Today, DOI 10.1002/ert.



22/22

THANK YOU


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SecA Group7 TheReignOfZeroTolerance