Organisational Behaviour: IIML Caselets
CASELET I
Rohit Kumar, a young IIML Graduate was a very sensitive and shy person by nature.
A thinking type of guy, he always had a flair for writing, having written a fair bit for
many publications and newspapers. He had been trained as an engineer but did his
MBA only because it was the “right thing to do after engineering”. He hailed from a
small city yet was unaware of his caste or religious identity because of an enlightened
upbringing at home. He thought deeply about social issues of the country. He was
particularly sensitive to the poor and prided himself to be anti-establishment and a left
leaning liberal. Pursuing his B-School Degree at the behest of his parents who wanted
him to have a “safe career” he was not particularly enamored by the single-minded
focus of the B School on merely wealth creation. After passing out of the B-School, he
went on to join an MNC but found the job extremely uninspiring notwithstanding the fat
pay package. Having spent a couple of years in his job he thought of pursuing his true
passion of doing public service by joining the Civil Services.
2. Rohit took a year off to prepare for the Civil Services after a lot of dithering as it
would cost him financially and could also adversely affect his CV to write his Civil
Services Examination. There was tremendous pressure from his B school colleagues
who questioned his dare-do. However, there really was no other option but to take a
year off since the preparation of the Civil Services examination entailed much higher
uncertainty and hard work as compared to preparing for CAT. He choose the optional of
Geography in the Preliminary examination and Sociology in the Mains examination and
after a year of grueling hard work and endless rote he got a rank in the Civil Services
which gave him a toehold in the IPS even though it really was not the career in the Civil
Services he was looking for. He had hoped of getting into the Indian Administrative
Service as he thought it to be the right platform to serve the poor. IPS happened because
his final score after cumulatively adding the scores in the 9 papers in the Mains
examination and the score obtained in the Interview stage was below the last cut off for
the IAS. Already 31 when he wrote his Civil Services examination, he really was not
left with any choice to write the examination again and was really left with no choice
but to pursue a career in policing even though he felt that he was never temperamentally
suited for a career in policing.
[Link] along with his batchmates from the Maharashtra cadre called upon the Director
General of Police (DGP) of Maharashtra immediately after passing out of the Sardar
Vallabh Bhai Patel National Police Academy. It was just before the meeting that a
batchmate pointed out to him that neither the Chief Minister nor the DGP were from the
same caste as his and so he could expect some terrible postings coming his way. After
the call on, he received an Office Memorandum stating that for his first posting he had
been posted at Gadchiroli, Maharashtra: a place notorious for Naxalism and Maoist
violence. He had to report to the Deputy Inspector General of Police of the Gadchiroli
Organisational Behaviour: IIML Caselets
range. On the very first meeting the DIG directed him to go after the Naxals and use all
means possible to eliminate Naxal related violence in the District.
4. It was his first month in the District as an Assistant Superintendent of Police and he
headed out for a recce of his District along with a veteran inspector one night. Although
not inclined to carry a weapon, he was persuaded by his junior to carry one just in
case!!!
5. After walking through the forest for sometime, he noticed a group of villagers who
were busy talking in a low voice in an obscure corner. They began to run away when
they saw the uniformed officers in the vicinity. They entered into a ramshackled house
of a poor farmer. At this moment Rohit received a wireless alert that some naxals were
in the same area. As the nerves frayed and the tensions mounted, there was a burst of
firecrackers in the vicinity. Amidst the tensions, one of Rohit’s constables fired at the
house resulting in a volley of fire from the rest of his colleagues. As the dust settled, the
Police team entered the house to see 3 dead bodies.
6. All the commotion attracted a big crowd in the area. The sarpanch of the village came
forward to identify the bodies and revealed that two of the three killed were local
farmers and were not known to be Naxals even though the third one was found with a
country made weapon. Some literature linking the villager to the CPI (ML) was also
found on his person. He was infact the Chairman of the district committee of the
Peoples War Group. The other two were however poor villagers who left behind
grieving families in destitution. An enquiry was instituted to examine the incident.
7. After 3 months of examination and cross-examination of witnesses Rohit was
exonerated of any wrongdoing and was awarded a gallantry medal for gunning down a
proclaimed Naxal. However, Rohit was filled with remorse and held himself to be
responsible for the death of the two innocents.
8. As a team reflect on the case and give your considered response on:
How does Rohit’s context (his organisational culture, organisational structure
and societal systems from which he came) effect his individual adaptation to a
challenging situation?
How can Rohit as a leader influence his organisational structure and systems to
enable future leaders be more effective?
Use any of the theories of motivation to answer how he should motivate
himself?
What learning do you draw from the case if you put yourself in Rohit’s shoes?
In other words what methodology would you adopt to enhance your learning of
organisational culture, systems, processes etc. and facilitate organisational
adaptation to the environment?
Organisational Behaviour: IIML Caselets
Give an example from your work life when you faced such a situation of
cultural mismatch between your assignment and your value anchors and how
did you resolve it and motivate yourself?
