A COCKROACH IN THE RASAM. 

The other day, there was a major hungama in a high profile organization in Bangalore. A senior Executive found a cockroach in his rasam and screamed the roof down. Very logical. Most people would have done likewise. What happened subsequently was, however, appalling. 

This senior executive summoned the canteen supervisor, caught hold of his collar, forced Him to kneel in front of everyone and insisted he drink the rasam. The canteen supervisor left in Tears and never returned to the building. The organization, like all organizations do, tried to Sweep the incident under the carpet.  Now you know what carpets are for in all sophisticated Organizations, along with flower-pots, paintings and smiling receptionists. 

I  throw  this  real  life  incident  open  for  a  case  study  discussion. The concerned

Organization did not have a union, even if it had, the canteen supervisor would have been there On contract. Should we, therefore assume that senior executives in high profile organizations are Better behaved with unionized workers? 

 Or should we assume that the organization has failed to instill basic values in its senior

executives?  That, in  the  lemming-like  race  to success, human  values  is  regarded as  highly expendable?  That people as people  fail to count as  long as  the  sales-curve  is  moving up  in the right direction even if behavior patterns leave much to be desired? 

Ironically, it is fashionable in high profile organizations to talk in terms of not just IQ but

EQ. Should all organizations, especially high profile ones, insist that their senior executives be constantly rated  for  both IQ  and  EQ?  Should one  test  of  EQ  be  whether  or  not  the  senior executives  know  the  names  of  the  junior-most  staff, including contract  workers  like  toilet cleaners, who keep the  premises  clean  for  top brass  attending  to the  small  or  the  big  job in between the organizationally crucial jobs?

 I  grew  up in a  steel  township called Rourkela  where  there  was  once  an  instance  of  a leopard in  the  blast  furnace. The  then  general  manager, who had earlier  worked with  a  public sector  unit  manufacturing  pharmaceuticals,  remarked that,  in his  previous  job,  he  had  come across the odd fly in the ointment. A leopard in the blast furnace was, he remarked, something of a novelty for him. 

Those  were  the  days  of  the  Nehruvian  era  when  PSU  steel  plants  were  regarded as  the temples  of  modern  India  and the  rationale  for  any  enterprise  was  the  employment  it  generated and the  happiness of  its  workers. We  have since progressed to a  high profile era  where a burnt-out cockroach in burnt-out rasam trigger of extreme reactions among senior executives who may or may not have read Graham Greens's "A burnt out case". 

 BEHAVIOURIAL SCIENCE 2009

 It  is  fashionable  in  the case of such  incidents to blame those directly involved. In this  instance, there  were  three  participants, the  cockroach  which  got  cooked in the  rasam, the  traumatized canteen supervisor  who has  sworn  never to return to the building where  he  was  humiliated and the  senior  executive  who must  surely be  wondering why  he  over  treated. A  case  study could increase awareness among the others that organizational Goals cannot be separated from societal goals. That what's good for society is also good for business and for the organization. 

1. Analyze the case with regards to your knowledge of Emotional Intelligence?  

2. What according to you should have been the Sr. Executives action?