Case Study
Space organization and Human Behaviors
The Records Room of the Exchange Control Department of the Welfare Cooperative Bank is a work unit manned by ten record clerks and the supervisor, Ms.Janki. Mr.Bhisnoi is the manager in charge of the Records Room (RR), a responsibility that is rather insignificant compared to his other duties. The RR serves to store the files sent by the various sections as and when customers' applications are "disposed off" and the "case is treated as closed" and retrieve them as and when needed by the sections. Centralization of the records maintenance function and maintenance of the records at the farthest end of the ground floor of the bank and helped to present a pleasant and neat appearance of the customers and improve customer service, since the respective sections could get the files from the RR without loss of their time in searching for these in their cabinets. Requests for stored files used to be sent generally to RR by the concerned sections every day at 10.00 AM and 3.00 PM. In case of urgent need, the clerks from the sections would request the files in person and these were always made available to them without delay. Ms.Janki was in overall in charge of supervising the staff and all paper work connected with the movement of the files. The tasks were invariably carried out smoothly and efficiently by the RR staff. The Records room was spacious, and enclosed by walls on three sides and a strong steel wire mesh on the fourth side, facing the front side of the hall, with a door. The movement of the files was through the door. A second door on the wall on the east opened to the street and was always kept bolted from within, except when one of the staff had to use it to go out or come in form the street side. Access to the RR was limited, and a messenger boy always stood guard at the front entrance door. He would permit admission only to other messenger boys and clerks with "request challans." None else could come in. This tight safeguard was necessary so that people could not come in anytime they wanted and remove the files themselves. The ten record clerks worked harmoniously and helped one another whenever there was a "flood of requests" for files. At such times, they would often stay 30 minutes to an hour late in the evening or come early in the morning to organize the returned files. They took great pride in efficiently servicing the sections during the day without delays. On certain days the crew would have less work and spend their time chatting, tossing clips and rubber bands at each other, or solving crossword puzzles. People outside the RR had no direct view of what was going in there, but many envied the group for the spirit of camaraderie that prevailed in it. The bank recently bought extra computers to speed up its ever expanding operations and reduce the cumbersome and tedious manual record keeping procedures. Since no space was initially earmarked for the incoming computers, the premises department of the bank decided to house the computer facilities in the RR area and move the Records Room to the third floor of the building, where the manager, Mr.Bhisnoi had his office. The decision to move was communicated to the RR staff, and the shifting was done during the weekend. On Monday when the RR crew reported for work, they found that the third floor office was smaller and rectangular in space in contrast to the big square room they had on the first floor. The RR was exposed in view to the other sections on the floor, and the manager, Mr.Bhisnoi, was sitting in his cabin right outside the RR. Some of the specially designed cabinets used for temporarily storing the returned files were retained by the computer division for their use, and thus, the RR also ran short of cabinets. Ms.Janki tried to get the cabinets returned and stacked against the steel mesh as before, but the director of the computer lab "requested" her to put up with the inconvenience till the new file cabinets ordered for the lab were received. The RR clerks felt they were "exposed to the whole world" and were unhappy that they could no longer talk to each other freely, solve crossword puzzles, or operate as before without attracting the attention of those sitting outsides. To make matters worse, Mr.Bhisnoi frequently instructed Janki to make sure that the returned files were stored neatly and not thrown "all over the place", making the area look untidy and shabby. Her complaints regarding lack of cabinets fell on deaf ears. The unique privileges the RR group once enjoyed were no more theirs to enjoy. Ms.Janki, who had always got along well with her staff who rendered efficient services to the sections, was now getting nervous and full of anxiety about her future. Her stress was heightened when Mr.Bhisnoi called her one day and said that he observed clerks throwing clips at each other and if were not able to control them, she should either resign or seek a transfer. The RR clerks who liked Ms.Janki and did not want to cause her any trouble, thereafter pretended to be quiet and hardworking whenever thy saw Mr.Bhisnoi come out of his cabin. They hid all the returned files in a corner where nobody could notice them, even as thy continued to talk, throw clips, and solve crossword puzzles when nobody was observing them. Ms.Janki just found, to her utter dismay, that about 300 returned files were lying in a hidden corner of the room unattended, and the requisition slips, which were hitherto promptly serviced, now lay piling up inside the clerks' desk drawers.
Question 1. What are the required and emergent behaviors of the Records room group in the old and the new setting? What were the factors influencing the emergent behaviors in both situations? What were the consequences of the emergent behaviors in each case?
Question 2. What were the norms of the group before and after the shift? How did these norms affect group cohesion and performance?
Question 3. If you were Mr.Bhisnoi, what would you do now?