1. www.humancapitalonline.com ■58 N April 2015
CASE STUDY
government owned subsidiary,
Bharat Metals and Chemical Ltd
(BMCL), which manufactured
Many a time, work related conflict between a manager and his
subordinate , especially if its a woman, tends to get complicated
and perceived to have sexual harassment overtones. HR
should minimize such conflicts by sensitizing the male
managers to ensure a conducive work environment as well
as help women employees to maintain work-life balance.
N
eeru Bannerji (Neeru) was a
middle aged lady with 20
years of experience in HR
and administration in
electronics sector. She was
recently hired by a
BY PROF. BIJU VARKKEY AND ANAMIKA SINHA
Make a choice!
chemicals, metals and alloys
specifically for the defence sector.
BMCL directly employed around
4500 employees, with 85% belonging
to blue collared category.
Considering the nature of work in
the factory as demanding, women
were traditionally recruited in
support roles only. Many male
employees, who joined as workmen
had risen the rung with time, to now
be supervisors and even senior
executives.
Realizing the gender unequal
skew; and the mandates from the
ministry for better representation of
genders in the workforce, the
organization had started hiring more

2. www.humancapitalonline.com■ April 2015 N 59
CASE STUDY
women in different roles including
production. Neeru herself was
laterally hired from another PSU to
head the HR function as General
Manager. She reported directly to the
Chairman and Managing Director
(CMD).
Most new women recruitments
were for the post of Management
Trainees, Asst. Managers and other
junior management positions. Fifteen
graduate engineer trainees were hired
in the production department during
the last five years.
Introduction to BMCL
BMCL was established before India's
independence in collaboration with
a German firm, which had strong
hold on defence equipment supply.
Over time the product line had
grown to include manufacturing
different types of alloys, specific
chemicals and small engineering
parts for defence purposes. In spite
of growth, the company remained
in a single location.
BMCL had a strong culture, which
had its own pros and cons. Since it
was a German parented company,
which was initially incubated by the
British Government, quality
orientation was valued highly. People
were strongly bonded and had
worked together for a long time;
many of them had their parents
having worked in the same
organization. Attrition rate was
minimal and perceived loyalty for
the company was high. Being in the
Public Sector, most employees
enjoyed the comfort and job security
factors when working for BMCL.
When Neeru joined BMCL, she
felt, that because of the lack of churn
of employees in comparison with
competing companies, employees
behaved as though frozen in time.
Precedence and compliance to
instructions were the norm. For
every small decision, there was
reference to the heritage and
practices that came from even the
Germany and British days. Decisions
were taken in accordance with what
seniors presumed was 'the BMCL
way' to work.
The flip side of all this was that
employees lacked initiative and
innovation. There was a strong old
boys club which was the power
centre, as well as hub for all informal
information. Many important
decisions were taken at the officers'
club and golf grounds, which never
officially got communicated in writing
or documented.
Neeru's dilemma
Neeru's present dilemma was an
incidence reported by a young
Assistant Manager- Aarti Shah, who
was hired from a very reputed
engineering college two years ago.
She was part of the batch of 15
women Graduate Engineer Trainee
(GET) group, originally recruited for
production. Aarti was now a
confirmed employee and at the post
of Assistant Manager.
The women GET recruitment
drive was initiated five years ago, with
the purpose to attract women from
reputed colleges to join BMCL. Since
the company was expecting large
scale retirements between 2012 and
2018, these new recruitments were
planned as it would help fill the gaps.
Eventually, the aim was that there
would be proportionate
representation of women at all
hierarchical levels.
In a formal complaint, Aarti, a 25
year old employee had alleged that
her AGM, Nagaraj, a 42 year old
management cadre employee with
good track record had harassed her.
According to her, "her dignity had
been compromised by physical
advances made by him."
Neeru understood that the nature
of complaint was such that it could
be defined as 'Sexual Harassment',
by the law.
When the complaint was received,
Neeru had offered that Aarti could
chose mediation with the help of
sexual harassment committee. Aarti
was called by her and given the
options to settle the case mutually.
She was also informed that the
settlement arrived in this way could
not include any monetary exchange.
During the discussions, informally,
Neeru suggested that Aarti could
ask for a transfer, or her boss could
be transferred, and her reporting
officer could be changed.
Dr. Anamika Sinha is a Ph.D. from
University of Lucknow. She is currently
an Assistant Professor with the Nirma
University. She has a total of 11 years of
experience and has been involved in
teaching, research, training and
consulting. She has also been associated
with NGOs for over a year. She has
conducted several in house and on- site
training program for organizations like
GSFC, NDDB, RIM, Bharti-AXA, Kalptaru
Power Ltd, Torrent Pharmaceutical Ltd,
Midhani, etc.
AnamikaSinha
Assistant Professor with the Nirma
University
Biju 's professional experience spans
across industries, consulting and
leading management schools. His
areas of interests are Strategic Human
Resource Management, Performance
Management, Employment Relations,
Web based HRM and infrastructure
management and has published
articles in national journals as well as
presented papers in seminars.
BijuVarkkey
Faculty Member - Indian Institute of
Management, Ahmedabad

3. www.humancapitalonline.com ■60 N April 2015
CASE STUDY
approach would not only end the
career of the gentleman, who had
been loyal to the company; Also
this decision would have a lot of social
implications for him. This man is 42
years in age and has grown up
children, it would destroy the family."
He further read out the counter reply
given by Nagaraj and said "it was
clearly a case of good intentions
being misunderstood. But one must
check legal status in these cases as
well." (exhibit 2)
On another occasion he asked if
there was a gender sensitivity training
ever done to familiarize the senior
employees on how to deal with the
newly recruited women employees?
On enquiring this, Neeru found
out that there was no such training
done ever.
He also remarked "we have an
annual performance
management process, right?
As a company, HR should
have taken steps to sensitize
employees to how to
handle issues in
the work place."
and kept quite after
that.
Neeru was
compelled to think, almost aloud, if
indeed the intention of Nagaraj was
just to enquire the well being of lady
and the over enthusiasm for
adherence to departmental
performance mandates!, The second
General Manager remarked, "The
stupid fool should have trusted the
performance management system of
the organization and instead of
personalizing the whole affair. He
should have controlled his anger and
impulsive behaviors. He could have
reported the matter to higher levels
and HR formally and also held Aarti
accountable through the
performance management system.
Whether we like it or not, the fact is
that he had jumped his gun and taken
things a little too far."
Neeru was not sure what she should
do.
EXHIBIT 1
Statement of the aggrieved as
recorded in the first sexual
harassment committee meeting:
On 21st July 2014, around 11.00 AM,
I was called by. Nagesh, to whom I
report; to report to his office for a
meeting. I was on leave on that day
as my child was ill. I had asked Janaki
my colleague to inform Nagesh
about my leave, and I will give the
application once I return.
Nagesh told me that it was a very
critical meeting and my presence in
the meeting was mandatory and if I
could come for just one hour to
attend the meeting. I had obliged to
his request and had come to office,
but had brought my un-well child
along with my maid. During meeting
my child had started vomiting and I
had to rush to the washroom. I left
with permission of all members
present, including Nagesh. To my
surprise, immediately afterwards,
Nagesh followed me and started
knocking on the door of the
washroom. As my maid opened the
door, he got inside the washroom
and demanded that I return to the
meeting immediately. Photograph of
him in the ladies washroom is
attached. I had taken this photo with
my cell phone
This is not the only time that such
an incidence is experienced with him.
Ever since I have joined, he gets
irritated even with my entitled leave
requests and very frequently calls me
to office during my leave on some
pretext or the other. I have shared
this feeling with my close friend, Ms
Janaki who is working in the same
department. I have been ignoring all
his behaviors, but this time he has
crossed his limits, and I feel
compromised and humiliated.
I seek justice, so that such an
incidence is never repeated in the
organization,
EXHIBIT 2
Counter reply statement of the
accused
I deny all allegations made by Aarti.
It is true that Aarti was called for
a very urgent meeting despite the
fact that she was on leave. There
At the table itself, Aarti had
forgone the mediation suggestions
and had insisted for an enquiry. She
strongly felt that her case should
become precedence in the
organization, so that no other man
would dare to do or act in such a
way, in future.
The enquiry
Given this decision from Aarti, Neeru,
met the CMD and informed that a
formal enquiry will be held by the
Anti- Sexual Harassment committee
of the organization, constituted as
per law. For the committee also, the
case was the first since its inception.
The committee in BMCL
consisted of four more members,
including one lady member from an
NGO, who was also the NGO's
promoter, a lady legal
expert (lawyer) and two
male General
Managers from
BMEL, one of whom
was sensitized on
women and
gender issues
through a
program conducted by the
State Women's Commission. (Some
of the proceedings related to the
enquiry process in this case are given
as exhibit 1-4.)
As the enquiry proceeded, Neeru
realized that within the committee
there was difference in views.
General Manager Marketing and the
lady lawyer were in favor of Mr.
Nagaraj, where-as the lady from
NGO was of another view, insisting
"law doesn't question intentions, it is
breach of private space of a woman.
Nobody can get into anyone's brains
and know the intentions. If we are
lenient with this case, all men will
take law for-granted"
The fourth member who was
General Manager Finance was only
asking some questions, though
Neeru felt that he was supporting
Nagaraj. He said, "Declaring the
person guilty and taking a blind

4. www.humancapitalonline.com■ April 2015 N 61
CASE STUDY
was a scheduled management
committee meeting one week later
to decide on the capital investments
for next year, and the meeting was
to review the department's
presentation. Aarti had already
missed one of the three internal
meetings over last one month, and
this meeting being the last before
the GM consolidates our proposal,
required her presence. Hence it was
necessary that she attended the
meeting.
Aarti joined BMCL in June 2012.
Within three months of her joining
and almost within two weeks of her
completion of the structured two
months orientation program, she
took 15 days leave on loss of pay for
her marriage. In December first
week, she announced that she was
pregnant and therefore needs to shift
from the production line to office
work. We agreed and virtually, no
heavy production/engineering job
was given to her. Between June 2013,
she was on medical leave for a
month, and then on maternity leave
from September 2013. She resumed
office in February 2014 and then
took annual leave in March 2014 for
15 days. Between March and July
she has taken leave on two more
occasions, not to mention the late
coming and early leaving from office.
She plans her leave in such a manner
that combining leave with Saturday
- Sunday and other holiday in
between, she is actually available for
work for less than three weeks each
month for office. Her work patterns
stalls regular work and makes it
difficult for everybody. Others end
up doing her share of job and
therefore are overloaded. Some of
them had indirectly mentioned about
this to me. I had shared that with
Manohar Kumar, who is Manager in
the purchase department.
On the said date, we had to call
Aarti, as some decisions related to
the budget for factory machinery up
gradation were to be taken, and since
she is member of the purchase team
for our department. Without her, we
could not have taken the decision.
She joined the meeting after it started
and within 10 minutes, even before
we had started with the agenda,
excused herself telling that she has
to go to the washroom. We tried her
mobile number from the conference
room phone, after waiting for 20
minutes, but she was not picking up
the phone. Actually over the next
ten minutes, and making at least five
to six calls to her, none of which
were responded, I decided to look
her up. I could hear voices coming
from the washroom and therefore I
opened the door after knocking twice.
The objective was to find what was
happening, as I knew that her child
was unwell. It was for concern and
goodwill for her child and not to
harass her in any way.
Attendance sheet of Aarti
attached and minutes of previous
meetings, emails regarding her
absence also attached.
EXHIBIT 3
Witness 1
Extract of statement given
by Janaki
I am a friend of Aarti and she had
shared with me that her boss
harasses her for nothing. She has a
small child who is not keeping well
and requires her attention. She has
informed me that, he tries to create
situations where she has to be called
back from leave on some pretext or
the other, and gets very personal and
angry about any disagreements.
EXHIBIT 4
Witness 2
Extract of statement given
by Manohar Kumar
Nagaraj has been with BMCL since
1998 and there have been no
complaints for him on discipline or
moral character ground so far. He is
perfectionist and demanding when
it comes to work, but that is with a
good intention for the organization.
He has led production teams of more
than 50 people since 2009. There have
been no compliant about him about
misbehavior so far. Some employees,
particularly those who have poor
work ethics and attitude were not
happy with him, on account of his
strictness.
If you want any specific
information, I can meet you and
clarify.
B
MCL is a pre independence
era German origin and
British incubated manu-
facturing company. Like any giant
multinational with strong culture and
heritage , BMCL also has some
precedence and practices deeply
rooted amongst "strong old boys
club with power center" which
makes the " BMCL Way" to work,
like it or not. With the new practice
of more representation of women at
all hierarchical levels, more
opportunities are made available to
women employees which , indeed, is
a positive sign and a much needed
step towards next level of open
culture in the tough sector of
chemical, metal and alloys company.
Given the facts of the case, the
meaning of the term "sexual
harassment" includes any
unwelcome sexually determined
behavior (whether directly or by
implication) as physical contact
and advances; a demand or
request for sexual favours; sexually
coloured remarks; showing
pornography and any other
unwelcome physical, verbal or non-
verbal conduct of sexual nature"
however, from the complaint of the
aggrieved, the dignity was
compromised by "physical advances
made by him" cannot be considered
and hence is a different case to be
handled by sexual harassment
committee. From the exhibits, few
things were clear
1. The manager, Nagesh (Nagaraj),
has certainly made a mistake by
knocking on the doors of the
washroom and getting inside it and
demanding her to return to meeting.
Nagesh, whatever stressed, tensed,

5. www.humancapitalonline.com ■62 N April 2015
CASE STUDY
excited or nervous may be, shouldn't
have done the said act. He could
have asked other female colleague
to enquire and request her to join
the meeting. Also continuously calling
five to six times in short time shows
unprofessional approach which can
irritate any person, specially a lady
(mother) who is already in a panic
stage. Many times in the
organization, the stronger decisions,
like Aarti made, were made on the
basis of such acts and in a spur of
moment.
2. The "bogged up by boss's
irritable behaviour" Aarti, on the
other hands, has also decided to
gain from the situation by bringing
on to table, the behavior as Nagesh,
is a hardcore perfectionist
production manager and normally
calls frequently during leave.
However, Aarti should also
understand that she is working in
manufacturing setup which requires
precision and punctuality in
activities. In professional
organizations, one has to effectively
balance the cord between work and
life to keep them separate. The leave
record of Aarti and her attendance
pattern, since joining is against her,
which is creating burden on other
colleagues. Aarti, on the other
hands, seems not much bothered
on her professional commitments
as she missed important meetings
budget and machine upgradation.
She should not be in a revengeful
attitude, but sincerely address the
behaviour of Nagesh in particular
to resolve the issue to see that such
reoccurrence is not repeated.
Statements made by Janaki are not
particularly in favour of Aarti and
Manohar (Purchase Manager)
supported Nagesh from character
and work ethics point of view.
In my opinion, the committee
should ask Nagesh to submit a
written apology for the over
enthusiastic approach of barging
into ladies room and demanding her
presence in meeting. There is some
basic social etiquette which, each
one should follow to maintain
dignity of employees, especially
female employees. In case of any
reoccurrence, the matter can be
dealt with utmost strictness and
there are legal frameworks available.
The complaint of Aarti turns out to
be partially false hence; a strong
reprimand should also be recorded
on Aarti's part to refrain from such
acts and not to misuse.
Neeru, on the other side will also
have to counsel Aarti on work-life
balance principles for effective
management of self and work. She
should also explain Aarti, the
expectations of job from employees
working in manufacturing industry
and how punctuality and regular
presence can help improve the
views and work environment.
HR can play a very vital role as
BMCL have a structured two
months orientation program.
Several important topics need to be
addressed like women safety at
workplace. There are trained
internal assessors to tackle such
issues and HR can arrange such
trainings. Compulsory training on
Awareness of gender neutral
workplace policy and availability of
the document related to such
trainings on intranet can help.
(There are many good German
MNC's, like ours, who are updated
on employee and workplace safety
policies) A Grievance Redressal
Committee should function
effectively to tackle such issues and
ensure that no person (irrespective
of gender) should be targeted on
false grounds/with other motives.
Formation of Crèche can be a
simple solution for giving
satisfaction to working moms. HR
can also create arrangements where
employees can speak out their
frustrations and ventilate their
feeling to outside experts (helpline)
who are masters in handling any
such cases and they can, in time,
address such concerns before it gets
on different and tough track like
enquiry.
To avoid victimization, one and
all in the organization should work
towards making work environment
on the basis of trust, transparency
and clarity of expectations to plan
things effectively and avoid last
minute rush. HC
A passionate HR professional, Anurag is
a post graduate in HR from university
of Pune and pursued his Labour laws
further. He has been associated with
corporate and factory roles of Human
Resources in organizations like Skoda
Auto, Caterpillar Group and Videocon.
He has vast experience in the areas of
Industrial Relations, Strategic HR,
Talent Acquisition and employee
engagement. His strength lies in
designing and implementing creative
campaigns to bring about positivity
and change in workforce.
AnuragGKalyani
Senior Manager - HR, Siemens Ltd
Aurangabad (MH)

6. www.humancapitalonline.com■ April 2015 N 63
T
his is a typical case of inter-
personal conflict between a
manager and his subordinate
that happens but gets complicated
into a perceived sexual harassment
tenor if the latter is a woman. Aarti
alleges that her boss Nagaraj
intruded into the ladies washroom
whereas he defends that he went to
the washroom out of concern as she
was not reporting back to work post
attending her sick child, she had
brought along because of his
summons for an important meeting.
Prima facie, all the statements
and the exhibits in the case for and
againstdonotleadtoaclearevidence
of sexual harassment and therefore it
should be dropped and Aarti
cautioned.For,thenearestamongthe
list of nearly ten behaviours that can
beinterpretedassuchisthe"invasion
of personal space" which here is the
ladieswashroom.Sincetheintention
istocheckfortheinordinatedelayand
not for any other reason, it is a false
allegationbyAarti.Thiscouldbebetter
categorized as another type of
harassment-bullyingorpsychological
harassment. Nagaraj has certainly
gone overboard by rushing into the
ladieswasroombynotcontrollinghis
emotions. He could have sent any
otherwomancolleaguetofetchAarti.
To answer the specific questions in
thiscase,
1. Neeruandtheenquirycommittee
may also take feedback from a few
more peers and team members of
Nagaraj to clarify whether his
behaviourisconsistentwithothersas
well. If this case is proved as
harassment of the other kind which
could stem from prejudice to the
opposite gender or low relative
performance, Nagaraj and Aarti need
tobecounselledappropriately?
2. Organizations should avoid such
situationsthrough:
a. A strong policy with proper
definitions, scope and education
through e- learning, posters, desk top
messages,internalcommunicationon
what constitutes sexual harassment
andwhatisnot.
b. Most women prefer flexible work
schedules to manage their career and
family.Makingavailableflexiblework
practicesonaneedbasisbuttoalimit
that is not exploited by employees.
Organizations and men need to be
empathetic for it is tough for women
employees particularly with infants
and nuclear families to balance life
and career.
c. EnablinganeffectivePerformance
Management Process where
consideringthesituation,expectations
should be mutually agreed upon and
performance appraised accordingly.
Managers have to walk the tight rope
toallocatejobsjudiciouslytohisteam
members. If he or she hands over
better or challenging assignments to
other men and women who do not
have family issues they are criticized
asbeingbiased.
3. HR should have made efforts to
minimizetheconflictsinwakeofmore
womenjoiningtheworkforceatBMCL
by sensitizing the male managers to
ensure a conducive work
environment. However, the problem
isnotasgraveasitappearstobe.Apart
from an effective Performance
Management System, extended
maternityleavepracticesandlighter/
non critical jobs should be entrusted
to women when they face a crisis.
4. To avoid misunderstanding and
such events in work place requires a
total modernization of mindsets of
managers particularly the Gen-X and
Baby Boomers. The Gen-Y should be
assertive but also make efforts to
socially orient and respect the other
generationsofemployeesempathising
with them too. People need to be
publicizedthatleveragingthediversity
and creating an environment that
enable constructive employee
interactions will improve employee
morale, motivation and enable
fulfilmentofmutualaspirations. New
and innovative methods of training
employees that enable them to
effectively communicate and
collaborate formally and informally
through company events can
encourage cohesion and promote
partnerships.
Thiscaseisasmuchorifnotmore
about work-life integration than
harassment. Apart from cultural
changesthatBMCLasanorganization
should work on, it is also required of
womenemployeestoleverageontheir
support systems to adapt to new
challengesthantocomplainandblame
peopleandsituationstheyperceiveare
creatingdissonanceintheirworklives.
They themselves are responsible for
thechoices andprioritiestheymake.
Women can better overcome
prejudice at work by demonstrating
commitmenttoworkandensurethat
it does not suffer due to personal
reasons. Theyneedtoseekcounselling
or mentoring to avoid reactions to
conflictsituations.
Workplace biases and stereotypes
tend to put women on the defensive
andadoptanaggressiveapproach.But
it does not mean that they should shy
away from the real issue and focus on
copingmechanismsandbeassertive.
Men too should believe that women
are more committed and excellence
driven and therefore need to
encourage and support them. For
womenbringtothetablecertaintraits
andstrengths,e.g.,multitaskingwhich
canbetapped.
In a career spanning 29 years, V Ravi
currently heads the learning and
development function for Reliance
Project Management Group. Prior to
Reliance, he was Head of L&D at L&T
Hydrocarbon and Voltas. His interests
include TQM, value engineering,
individual and organizational learning.
He is an engineer with post-graduate
qualifications in industrial engineering,
management and training &
development.
V Ravi
Vice President & HEAD - L&D (RPMG)
Reliance Industries Ltd
CASE STUDY
HC