: CONFLICT AT MRW: THE NEW EMPLOYEE’S PREGNANCY Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

CONFLICT AT MRW THE NEW EMPLOYEE’S PREGNANCY Case Study Solution

Case Summary

MRW is one of the growing companies in Barcelona, Spain. The company was consolidating the internationalization its business in 2010. It is during this time that a highly sensitive and emotional issue us faced by the HR and systems department managers of the company. A new manager has been recently hired in the systems department of the company and she has just revealed during her probationary period that she is pregnant and it was a risky pregnancy. Her role was highly critical to the internationalization of the company and the company was also weathering the economic crisis. Therefore, a dilemma is created for all the protagonists in the case for the newly hired manager, Sonia’s situation. The case aims to analyze the ethical perspective of this issue and determine that whether the company’s interests should be defended at this critical point of time or Sonia should be granted maternity leave as her pregnancy is a risky one. The question of what to do about Sonia should be approached with great care.

Question 1

Which protagonists in the case would fire Sonia and which protagonists would not fire her? Why?

There are a number of protagonists in the case which might support the situation faced by Sonia and which might not support the situation faced by her. Sonia first talked with Raul about her pregnancy and Raul had mixed feelings about this. On one side, he was happy that she would be granted her wish of becoming a mother and on the other side; he was worried about the enormous work problems faced by MRW. Raul had just run through his annual leave and now was trying to get the computing system back on even kneel.

Therefore, he would not fire Sonia. Similarly, Luis would also not fire Sonia as Luis thought that the situation was a delicate one and the company also had to follow its CSR strategy.Luis was aware that the top priority at this point of time was the stabilization of the IT systems of MRW. Both of these men did not follow the male stereotype, as they both were diligent. On the other hand, Silvia relied on Maria to take a stand on Sonia’s pregnancy situation (EEOC, 2014).

Silvia understood the situation of the company, which was quite demanding as the focus of the management, was on having good people to pursue the internationalization objective of MRW. Therefore, Silvia might fire Sonia even though this was counter to the CSR strategy of the company. Similarly, Maria might also choose to fire Sonia, as she could be stiff in her approaches to others and also in her own work habits. The staffing of the systems department was important for MRW at this time and thus Maria would also fire Sonia.

Question 2

Did she know or did she not know? Should she have told the company if she knew? Ethically, is it fair for a company to ask a worker if she is pregnant?

It is not evident from the case if she knew that she was pregnant. Although, after listening to the explanation of Raul, Maria had realized that she had also suspected how Sonia had concealed about her pregnancy during the selection process. During the hiring process, Sonia had no inkling that she was pregnant when she joined the company. More possibilities came up when Raul discussed this situation with his wife.

Sonia could have told the HR about her pregnancy at the time of her hiring process or she might herself not be aware about it then. Therefore, it is not clearly evident that whether Sonia knew if she was pregnant at the time of her hiring process or not. If Sonia was sure that she was pregnant and that her pregnancy was a risky one, which might require her to take a leave at home and avoid all sorts of physical efforts then it, was her responsibility to inform the management of the company at the time of the hiring process (Shelley, 2011).

Lastly, it is completely ethical for a company to ask a worker if she is pregnant. As there are many legal precedents for the pregnant women in Spain therefore, this is a serious situation and can lead to dilemmas for the companies, as is the situation in this case. Therefore, it is completely ethical for the management to ask its potential workers about whether they are married or pregnant so that the operations of the organizations are managed accordingly and an unexpected situation could be avoided.

CONFLICT AT MRW THE NEW EMPLOYEE’S PREGNANCY Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

Question 3

What do Silvia and Maria Jose do? Why do Silvia and Maria Jose not confront Luis and Raul?

The HR department studied each case and then solutions were proposed which conformed to the law or which improved the working conditions of the employees. Silvia had considered the appraised performed by Luis and Raul and she concluded that both of them did not follow the male stereotype and they were both open minded to face such situations. However, both of them were under great pressure to come up with the computing problems for MRW.........................

This is just a sample partial case solution. Please place the order on the website to order your own originally done case solution.