Communication Problem
It was 9.30 a .m. when two trucks brought some large crates to the assembly shop. Everyone saw the truck crew unloading the boxes quickly, leave them piled near the gate of the stores department and drive away. Mohan, a worker, watched and approached the foreman and pointed to the boxes. The foreman stopped, shrugged his shoulders and walked away.
Mohan came across another worker who asked: "What's in the boxes?" "I don't know", was the reply, "and the foreman doesn't know either or at least, he doesn't want to tell me." Mohan went over his work but continued to wonder: "What could be in those boxes? And why does not the foreman want to tell us? May be it is new machines say, that is probably what is, those new automated machines. All you have to do is push the button and the machine does the rest. There won't be many jobs in the assembly shop if these machines are installed."
Mohan became more nervous. He got up and went over to the water cooler where two other workers were gossipping: "The foreman doesn't want to tell us what is in those crates because it is new automatic machinery. That will mean fewer jobs for us." Mohan saw fear than anger creep across the workers' fades.
Words spread like wildfire, soon no one was working, all were talking and their voices grew angrier and angrier. Finally, a worker stood on his bench and shouted, "If this is the way the management treats us, then let's teach them a lesson. If they fire us, we'll fire the boxes."
Just then the Superintendent came running and stood in the middle of the men. "What’s the matter? What's happened?"
"You are trying to replace us with new machines."
"What new machinery?"
"The new machinery in those boxes."
"Oh, my God! That’s equipment for our new plant. We're only keeping these here for a few days."
Everyone looked very foolish and tempers quickly cooled. "You should have told us", one man said dejectedly. Mohan quietly slipped away.
Questions
(i) What is the problem in this case?
(ii) Who is responsible for this episode? What caused the selective perception of the
Workers?
(iii) Do- you feel that the workers would have not agitated if there were two-way
communication between the management and the workers'?
