Question

Read the situation below

and find the reasons Mr. Mehta would have given to Franklin.

Justify your answer in detail

. Harsha and Franklin are both post graduates in management under different streams from the same B-school. Both of them are close to each other from the college days and the same friendship is continuing in the workplace as they are both find jobs in the same company, Hy-tech technology solution. Harsha was placed in the HR department as an employee counsellor and Franklin was placed in Finance department as key finance executive. As per the grade is concerned, both are same level employees but as far the responsibility is concerned, Franklin held more responsibility as he was placed in a core finance position. By nature Harsha is friendly and ready to help anyone in need. Franklin is silent and egoistic by nature and ready to help only if approached personally. They have successfully completed 4 years in the company and the management is highly satisfied with both of their performance. Nowadays, Harsha feels that Frankiln is not as he used to be. She noticed some behavioural changes in him and during a casual conversation she figured out that Franklin is envious of the fact that Harsha is famous among all employees as opposed to himself, who is not even famous among his department employees. One morning, the General Manager of Hy-tech technology solutions Mr Mehta was shocked to receive an e-mail from Franklin containing his resignation notice. Mr Mehta immediately called Harsha and asked her about the reason of Franklin’s resignation notice as he knew they had been friends since college days. Harsha herself got shocked from this news and told Mr Mehta that she has no information about this. She also revealed her recent observations regarding Franklin to Mr Mehta and explained that she was not in a position to counter these issues with Franklin. Mr Mehta assured her that he would handle Franklin’s issues himself. During lunch time, Mr Mehta took Franklin to the office cafeteria and addressed the issue while making him comfortable enough to share his concern with him. Franklin shared the following problems with Mr Mehta: 1. Whenever he visits the office cafeteria, co-workers do not greet him or even recognize him; but when he goes to the cafeteria with Harsha he gets the attention of co-workers. 2. On days when he entered the workplace with Harsha, the security guards greet them both, but when he enters the building alone, the security guards do not pay him any greetings. 3. During staff meetings, he refrains from giving any input as he fears that his input will not be valued in the presence of Harsha. All these reasons have made Franklin believe that he is being degraded every day at workplace and it has been disturbing him ever since. Franklin also admitted to Mr Mehta that he feels unrecognized and ignored by the co-workers, even though Harsha and he are equally qualified and equally experienced, more so, his position in the organization holds more responsibility and value than Harsha. He eventually decided that his ego would not allow him to continue working in such conditions. After listening to all the grievances on Franklin’s part, Mr Mehta told him the reasons due to which he is facing these issues. After listening to the reasons, Franklin immediately requested Mr Mehta to withdraw his resignation notice.

Answer 1

Reasons given by Mr. Mehta to Franklin :

1. Harsha is friendly by nature and reaches out and builds rapport with other employees in the firm. She actively does this and has built a large network of contacts/friends and that is why so many people know her and recognise/greet her when they see her. Franklin by virtue of his role also is not too chummy with all colleagues, but can try to build his network by being more friendly and approachable to others. He can also be the one to approach others and form relationships among his colleagues so he too will always find someone to greet/be greeted by in the company.

2. Harsha works as an HR employee counselor, a junior role in comparison with Franklin's, and in that role comes into contact with a wide variety of people, including security guards. As they know her personally they feel able to call out or greet her whenever they see her. In his role as a key finance executive, Franklin has a higher-profile role and the security guards are probably in awe of him enough to not want to call out to her casually when he comes in/out of the building.

3. In Staff meetings Franklin's inputs are just as important as Harsha's (if not more due to his role) and so he should definitely put those forward and they will likely be received well. Franklin should shake off his pre-conceived notions, and should take the bold step to speak out and he will surely be appreciated for it.

4. A lot of Franklin's co-workers and colleagues in his department are probably intimidated by him and his senior role and that could be the reason that they do not (dare to) act too familiar with him. Franklin can break the ice with his colleagues so they feel more confident about talking to him. If he does, he is sure to build a good strong rapport with his colleagues who are sure to recognise his worth.