The story goes like this...

After going through the story, there were certain questions which were disturbing me. I have lived with the story for 2 -3 days now and have tried to find the answers. Let’s see how far I have been successful

I will start chronologically.

“While he was rushing to the office of GM (HR), he squeezed his brain to get the reason for this meeting. Am I going to be fired? Or is it that the long standing promotion is to be announced leading to an onsite opportunity?”

Why does such a conflicting thought process occur within Pritam when he is trying to discover the reason behind the meeting? Why does a drastically negative thought at all cross his mind when there is the happy prospect of a promotion lingering around?

Many might say.. that there is a general tendency among people to be skeptical before any good news actually materializes..But then..Isn’t the thought of getting fired height of skepticism?

Surely, Pritam fears something. And it’s this fear that pops up the issue of firing

“You really want to be promoted?”

Pritam did not know as how to answer.

When the GM (HR) poses this question, I am somehow tempted to read between the lines and rephrase the sentence as …”Do you think...you deserve to be promoted after whatever you have done?”

And why was Pritam tongue tied? The question was a shock or he knew in the core of his heart..that he did not deserve the promotion for something he might have done which might be unacceptable

So, in reaction to this question, he automatically poses another question…

“Why Sir? Is there any problem?”

This question was posed to gauge the depth of the problem that he was about to face. Otherwise… Pritam would have confidently advocated a case for his promotion.

GM (HR) did not answer his question but went ahead and said, “if you really want to be promoted, you will have to sign this agreement. Jagruti has already signed it

Why did the GM (HR) pose such a condition? Had not Pritam earned his promotion? The GM is behaving as if he is giving away the promotion. But he is asking a price for it i.e Pritam’s signature

GM(HR) said, “I prefer that you sign the agreement first and read it at your leisure. It’s self explanatory. Or later you can get to know from Jagruti.”

Why this specific insistence from the GM that Pritam read it only after he signs..Strange indeed coming from a veteran … that too in HR.

” I really don’t know as how my promotion and signing this agreement are related.”

Neither do I

“One of you have to resign from Intermediaries Technologies. I prefer Jagruti puts down her paper before Six O’ Clock.”

Why Jagruti? Why not Pritam? Logically, if Pritam did not sign, then he should be penalized..Why Jagruti?

There are certain other questions…

Why did the GM(HR) go to the extent of charting a written contract for just the two of them? Why not for all ? It would have taken care of all such future incidents.

What are the repercussions if Pritam signs the contract? What are the consequences if he does not sign the contract? Was there a scope for negotiation?

My story goes like this:

A romantic relationship has blossomed between Jagruti and Pritam. Both are very open about it.

Some colleagues/seniors might have raised their embarrassment/concerns regarding this issue with the GM.

Probably, the GM is in a fix. He wants to resolve the issue in the most amicable manner possible. There is a possibility that he might not be wanting to lose either of the two employees. There is also a possibility that he might be not be satisfied by Jagruti’s performance and was in the lookout for a reason to reprimand her.

He draws up a plan.

He drafts a contract and draws up some rules.

He aims to achieve the following through the contract:

• He manages to secure the firm form further embarrassments from the two people (Pritam & Jagruti)
• By making the couple acknowledge their relationship in writing he attempts to promote a sense of responsibility between the two towards each other
• He is able to further a strict warning to both of them regarding their professional behavior.
• He secures both Pritam and Jagruti from possible future accusations from each other (i.e if the relationship turns sour)
• He in turn is also successful in passing a subtle warning to Pritam from extending any acts of favoritism towards Jagruti

This entire motive has been well played by the GM through the act that he put up in front of Pritam and Jagruti.

Somewhere, inside, Pritam knows that he should not be indulging in his public demonstrations of affection towards Jagruti and owes up the responsibility to prevent Jagruti from doing the same. That is why the question “Am I going to be fired? Or is it that the long standing promotion is to be announced leading to an onsite opportunity?”

He knows he is doing justice to his professional responsibilities but is slipping in the personal front.

Now coming to the slightly strange looking behavior of the GM, he wants to convey his displeasure to both of his young colleagues through his pointing and probing questions. The climax arrives with the contract which he tries to enforce on the guilty party.

As per asking Jagruti to resign if Pritam does not sign the contract, there is a possibility that he might have done the same thing with Jagruti..i.e. threatening her to sign, otherwise he might ask Pritam to resign …

As per insisting Pritam to sign the contract without reading, he might want to press the seriousness of the charges on him and hence the hurry.

That’s the story part.

Now coming to the principles

Was the contract enforceable?

The contract draws out a general code of conduct regarding appropriate behavior and takes it in writing that such kind of romantic relationship will not in any way affect their performance barring which they will be asked to quit

But how does the firm prove that bad performance was due to the romantic relationship? Yes, it might remove the employees on this grounds but it could never be proven on court as performance/efficiency etc in itself is difficult to measure and attributing bad performance to a specific cause is even difficult.

Both Jagruti and Pritam can challenge this contract and get away with it.

Did the promotion and signing the contract have any relation?

In my opinion, not really. This was only a tactics employed by the GM to reprimand Pritam. And it was just plain coincidence that Pritam’s promotion was due then. So, the effect was much stronger.

What would have been the consequence had Pritam signed/not signed/negotiated ?

If Pritam had signed, then he would have promised to be a good boy and behave well.

If he would not have signed, the possibilities of which are lean (since his promotion was due), then he would have possibly enraged the GM. But whether the GM would have actually fired Jagruti is debatable. He did not have any valid reasons for that.

If Pritam had tried to reason with the GM, the GM might not have entertained him, as his stand was pretty stubborn and it does not look like he was in a mood to give in to Pritam’s reasoning. But Pritam could have stretched his luck as he had already enraged the GM by reading the contract against his will.

What was the motive behind the non-enforceable contract then?

As has been already mentioned, there were various points that the GM could win over because of the contract. Also, this situation was an indication of similar future events that might occur. And this contract was his hedge against it.

As far as implementing it for the entire firm is concerned, then that might be in the pipeline.