Question

Caselet (Questions 97-100): Om Chowdhury was one of the supervisors in the Fire and Safety (F&S) department of Maqsood Textile Mills. He was a distant cousin of Mr. Bhiwani, the General Manager (Personnel & Administration), and the Personnel and Administration department handled all personnel-related decisions. It was often rumored that Om had gotten the job because of his cousin's influence. Om, however, was careful in his work and never gave anyone a reason to complain. He was known to be a quiet man who kept to himself and his duties.

All F&S supervisors reported to Mr. Rabindra, the shop-floor manager. The mill ran on a three-shift basis, and Rabindra allotted supervisors to the different shifts. Supervisors had to stay present through the whole shift and run scheduled checks on the machinery and firefighting equipment. For some reason, Rabindra kept assigning Om to the night shift more often than the other supervisors. Om never objected to this, while the other supervisors often pleaded with Rabindra to be given day shifts instead. Staying awake and alert through the night shift was one of the hardest parts of the job.

After a while, Rabindra noticed that Om seemed indifferent to his work. Twice he found Om missing from his cabin, and others told him Om had been seen wandering different parts of the shop floor. Rabindra called Om in and reminded him of his responsibilities. Om did not argue and promised not to be careless again. Rabindra also raised the matter with Mr. Bhiwani, who called Om in for a personal talk and reminded him that their family tie made the situation awkward for everyone. Om agreed to improve, and soon he became a model supervisor, even going out of his way to help employees with their problems.

Three months later, Rabindra visited the plant at night and, looking into the F&S office, found Om playing solitaire on the office computer. Rabindra fired Om on the spot.

The next morning, Mr. Bhiwani called Rabindra and asked how he could fire an employee like that, and suggested he reconsider the dismissal. Rabindra replied, "This decision has already been made. There will be no turning back."

Question: The details of the entire episode have become common knowledge among all the employees of the company. Out of the options below, which one presents the best way for the top management to resolve the issue so as to benefit the organization as a whole?

• A. Revoke Rabindra's order. It can be communicated to others that firing was too severe a punishment for such a small incident of indiscipline.
• B. Ask Om for clarification. It can be communicated that since Om had clarified regarding his duties, the order has been taken back.
• C. Declare Rabindra's order as void. Reiterate officially the disciplinary processes that need to be followed by managers along with their scope of authority.
• D. Ask for feedback from other employees on the shop floor regarding Om's performance. This can be used to revoke Rabindra's order.

Hint:

Think about what fixes Om's specific case without weakening every manager's authority to discipline staff.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

The task is to pick top management's best move once the whole company already knows Om was fired. Let's go through the choices.

1. A. Revoke the order and call firing too severe: this openly tells every manager that a firing decision can be undone just because it looks harsh, which weakens discipline everywhere, not just in this case.
2. B. Ask Om for clarification, then reverse the order citing his clarification: this deals with the actual person involved, confirms the real facts of that night, and frames the reversal around new information rather than around overruling Rabindra, so his authority stays intact.
3. C. Void the order and rewrite disciplinary rules and authority scope: this is a much larger response than one incident needs, and turns a personal dispute into a full policy overhaul.
4. D. Use general shop-floor feedback on Om to revoke the order: other workers' opinions of Om in general do not tell management what actually happened on the night he was caught at the computer.
5. E. Collect feedback from other F&S supervisors on night-shift work: this is about the shift in general, not about resolving Om's specific firing.

Option B is the cleanest fix: it gets the facts straight from Om, corrects the decision if warranted, and does so in a way that does not undercut Rabindra's standing as a manager.

Let's summarize:

• Fixing a specific case should start with hearing the person directly involved, not general opinion.
• A reversal framed around new facts protects managerial authority better than a blanket "too harsh" ruling.

So option B best serves the organization as a whole.