Mitsuba vs Pricol
[Note: Some newspapers reported that the incident was about Mitsubishi but in fact it was about Mitsuba, not Mitsubishi. I have corrected the title of this blog and also references. Regret error]
In the last fortnight Mitsuba and Pricol made big news. Unfortunately it’s half-truth. Mitsuba made a big news and Pricol went unnoticed! [Shame on you, business journalists!]
That is what happens to the news of violence in industrial relations – it receives wide publicity, and the news of rebuilding industrial relations, which Pricol did, is ignored.
Let me tell you what this is all about.
Read this: “A Human Resources (HR) head at a Japanese company in Gurgaon was shot at by two bike-borne assailants while he was heading to work on Thursday morning, said police. A disgruntled employee, whose services he had terminated “around three months ago”, is suspected to be behind the attack. The suspect, who was employed as an ‘apprentice’, has been arrested along with another person. He had been sacked by the HR manager for ‘unprofessional behaviour’.” [The Life of Labour, The Wire, June 10, 2018]
And here is the second part. Pricol was conferred National Award for Outstanding Industrial Relations (IR) Practices by AIOE [All India Organisation of Employers], an arm of FICCI [Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry].
Yes, Pricol, the same company where the VP-HR lost his life a few years ago in the violence of labour unrest. The event was similar to Mitsuba, or rather Mitsuba event is similar to Pricol.
But if you now study Pricol, there is something to learn for students of industrial relations, and HRM too. The lessons of rebuilding industrial relations. Unfortunately the Press goes after what sells [ONLY] than what matters.
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In the eighties and early nineties, Marathi newspapers covered the industrial relations scenario. Once in a week they devoted one full page for the coverage of industrial relations activities. Sharad Chavan ran a column in Maharashtra Times for several years and did a wonderful job of placing critical issues before readers. An in-depth reporting is essential because the narratives which a reporter presents are insightful and 
help us take a balanced view of the situation. We have read about violence in Maruti and in Pricol. We have not read the narratives of workers, we have not read what were the lessons learnt by the management as well as workers. These voices are lost. People who have not witnessed the textile strike, and I guess they form the majority among the readers of this blog, may like to read the book ‘One hundred years, one hundred voices’ authored by Neera Adarkar and Meena Menon to appreciate my point. We need good coverage and balanced coverage of industrial relations events, but where are the reporters?
All India Organisation of Employers (AIOE) is an allied body of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Delhi. It confers National Award for Outstanding Industrial Relations (IR) Practices in enterprises every year. This year the award winning enterprise is Pricol. Yes, Pricol it is, which came in limelight because of the violence in which their VP-HR lost his life. We as IR functionaries should be happy that Pricol has risen as a phoenix on the employee relations scenario, but has anybody covered the story from all perspectives? There would be so much to learn, it is after all an extreme case of aligning industrial relations imperatives to business strategies.
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During the textile strike TISS organised a symposium. Academic activities like this are essential because the symposium culls out learning on issues of policy and practice. With IR events out of public gaze we will lose such important inputs.
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Does Pricol story and the lesson it holds mean anything to you CEO and CHRO?
Vivek S Patwardhan
Dear Vivek,
Thanks for sharing bringing forth the Pricol story and their recent achievement. I agree with your quote -‘We as IR functionaries should be happy that Pricol has risen as a phoenix on the employee relations scenario.
We should keep sharing such good stories and compliment colleagues whose efforts often go unnoticed .
Appreciate the learnings from your Blogs and articles.
Regards, Vineet
Nice article. would be of interest to know what improvements in HR practices Pricol did to get the award.
Rightly Mentioned boss…The Media is only concerned about their own TRP rather then the crux of the matter. They are more inclined towards consequences but never dare to do root cause analysis.
Dear All,
Even in spite of such unrest why MNC companies want to have plants in such places,when there is lot of talent in other parts of India.
Thank you for sharing this article. It does indicate that Companies need to go in depth and study the workers requirements – there should be a homely atmosphere and workers should be trusting their company. As IR head we should always keep it in mind in order to prevent further mishaps of this kind.
Sir, a very good read indeed. I keep following your blogs and I feel glad to have been a part of your really valuable sessions at TISS.
Thanks for writing this Sir. Always appreciate the multidimensional focus you bring to all the issues.
Thanks a lot for writing something, which brought us back to our consciousness.This is what you have been doing for long.
Very rightly you have presented two different pictures of reality.
In depth analysis can make big difference in all complex situations.Certainly so in news analysis.
For many, IR is not a matter of interest. Bad.
But unfortunately for many or most leaders it is not a subject also.This is the worst.
Some more sharing on Pricol could have enlightened us more;
Pricol’s points and moments of transformation.
Indeed a Good Read,Sir.This article spoke about two important points the unfortunate state of Indian media and the deep rooted analysis of Industrial Relation that the current generation of student of HRM and Industrial Relations need to take up to understand the present situation better and to be better equipped to face such situation in future.
As a student of Labour Studies,I have made a note of another important point here of symposium will try to ensure that events on the lines of such sensitive issues get organised at our institute.
Sir,
Excellent article. Aptly said, there has to be proper balance while reporting I R issues by Press.
I R issues are social issues and one- side information to society may create social issues.
During my 30 years of experience in I R & H R i have noticed how local journalist depict half truth picture and mislead the readers.
I also feel some times we in management shy out (for some reasons) to come forward and spell out the facts.
Thanks for sharing
Uday
Dear Sir,
is it that we are loosing sensitivity. Relations that to long lasting are ignored. two cases you mentioned that people are taking lost life of HR professional quite easily.
very shocking.
Respected Sir, A very interesting article.
It touches our consciousness as HR/IR professionals.
Thanks for sharing.
Please keep posting such great articles.
Sincere regards
Good Morning Sir
As you rightly mentioned, it is very much important
to have good and balanced coverage of stories like
this. Yes, it should be with the spirit of what matters
than what sells
Regards
Trinadh
Dear Sir,
Thanks for sharing such an informative article.
I think in general, our system/style/attitude (at home, at work, in society…)focuses more on negativity (shortcoming/defect/mistake…) rather than positivity (day to day achievement, quality work, uninterrupted output and so on). We are pretty slow in appreciating but very quick to critic on a mistake. Is it more dominant in the eastern part of the world? Is Japan / Western world different? I am not quite sure! I think this culture percolates in journalism also.