NMIMS Case Discussion 1 – 2018-20 Batch Prep

[Abhirup]

@ Diptarka – well done. Great approach and articulation. Missing part – few statistics to support your views + 3

[Shreyasi Dewan]

The data given is that of Australia and the scenario in India is not necessarily same. So first the BCA (or equivalent organisation) should find out what is the percentage of literacy in women , the workforce ratio and the CEO position held by women with respect to the workforce.

Also one needs to look at what are the domains and job roles women are employed in. If it’s a role where one gets to rise to executive level or further CEO. Next we need to know if women stay in an organisation till the age of retirement or leave at a professional rank way below that of senior officials? Or is it actually the biased bodies that don’t let women rise ?

So our concern here is to empower women and increase the percentage of women on top. And in the long run assure that a proper system is maintained.

What can be done to know to identify the actual problem is appoint a person by a neutral governing organisation who dosent belong to the organization, in the panel that decides the appointment of top level positions at various corporations. This will eliminate the problem of gender biased decision. This neutral body employee can also keep an eye on the day to day functioning and issues raised by the female employees and report the same to the governing body.

Next if it’s personal or family issues that leads to women leaving the organisation. There needs to be proper rules to see to their problems. Also at times it is seen that even if these rules are there to help women join the organisation the peers don’t help the person or back her up or the organisation dosent promote her siting reasons of performance. So there should be proper HR rules that back up female employees and offer flexibility.

Next if the problem is at the grassroot level of unskilled job roles being performed mostly by women that don’t lead to executive positions, then there should be periodic training classes organised for women to give them equal opportunity and opt for better job roles. The senior female employees can be appointed to select the employees fit for better job roles after training to eliminate biased decision.

 

Also if there is a huge gap in the gender ratio in terms of education then the organisation can take up CSR activities seriously and make sure that the women in the society are educated and given equal opportunity. This will further add to the reputation of the company and neutralise any bad publicity in the name of gender biasness .

[Skill it]

It is absolutely an ethical problem and bias to promote female strength by direct appointment rather than merit.

Instead ground research can be done so as to know the reasons for why women are not equally in superior position. Reasons may be

1.marital or maternal matters which cause disruption in between the career which are left for individual choice and they can be assured of continuing after these long gaps if interested

2. Lack of strong education background which needs to be attended by providing open support accecible to even male employees and check with the merit

3.Environment of work involved(some senior level job profiles need working under harsh climatic conditions which are avoided either by them, their dear ones or by the government rules)- providing work environment such that everyone is capable adds to company values and people avoiding those also be willing to join

4.Time flexibility should be provided as it is a concern working late nights and night shifts

 

 

 

[Abhirup]

@ Sreyasi excellent analysis. Really liked the approach. Well done. U missed the keyword “Glass Ceiling”. +5

[Abhirup]

@ skill good example of root cause analysis. Well done + 2

[Aarathi Krishnan]

According to me, promotion of women should not have effect on the compensation of the CEO.

Though there are woman giants like Arundati Bhattacharya, Chanda Kochhar, in India, the top positions in firms are majorly dominated by males.

There are many issues which leads to this imbalance. This starts from the grassroot level. Parents mindset is to get them married as soon as they enter 20s. And most of them become housewives without proper career support. Hence less amount of females join the workforce. They have family commitments which affects their careerlife. If a female needs to grow up the corporate ladder, she needs good determination and family support. These are examples where the problem is the women herself.

Coming to the company part, most of the time women are denied of executive roles.There are cases of sexual harassment which shakes the confidence of women. The HR of the company should take serious measures in improving the balance. The CEO should hold meetings with HR heads and bring in schemes to improve women population in executive roles. Reducing the CEO’s pay is an extreme measure and causes no good, the CEO will only compromise on quality to overcome the crisis. Promotion of women should be done based upon their skills, talents and how much they can contribute to the company.

The situation in India and Australia cannot be directly compared, as in India there are more social issues leading to this imbalance.

 

[Abhirup]

@ arathi well structured approach with examples + 3 . Few statistics can help. Liked the overall methodology and articulation

[Harshal Milani]

First of all, before promoting females to higher level wnt be right. As we have to find the root cause for not promoting females to the higher position. Because without considering the reasons for this it would be unfair as well as unethical on the male CEO.

In case of India, the main problem here is the sex ratio, also without considering the experience they have, their achievement to improve the organisation it would be unfair on both the sides for considering who is superior. We can also have public voting for nominating the CEO of the organisation with considering their deeds of work.As public relation within the organisation is also essential.

Also, we have to create more n more awareness in India regarding women education for tough competitions.

 

PS:- Sorry for late discussion. rest points are covered by others so point in giving now.

 

[Abhirup]

@ harshal – focus on root cause analysis…. +2 Points could have been more fact based.

Can someone conclude the discussion

[Muskan Kharbanda]

In order to implement this in India, we first need to analyze the actual situation of India. Here with are fighting against low sex ratio to begin with, then girls are considered liabilities because of which they are not getting education and hence the girl attendance in schools is low which gets carried to the colleges as well. Here in India we compromise on talent pool due to lack of good value system. So the first thing we need to focus on is our value system and encourage more and more girls to come up. Due to this root problem we have less women workers in offices or corporates. But still the women on board are no less and should be given equal chance by the heads to compete and be selected on the basis of MERIT ONLY. Simply promoting women and compromising with talent would never tale company forward. Talent knows no gender. Then so as to give women equal chance , women security is amother front that needs to be looked at in the male chauvanist society that we live in. I would like to give example of the film industry here, now heroines have started getting good pays and are coming up havinghbetter roles and opportinities. Similarly if given a chance women can do wonders at corporate as well but the fact remains talent would take the first place.

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