Rubble Of Rana Plaza Case Study

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Recommended: Disaster in Bangladesh : the collapse of the Rana Plaza building

Case Study: Rubble of Rana Plaza
I chose rubble of the collapsed Rana Plaza building because it is considered to be the deadliest garment-factory accident in history, as well as the deadliest accidental structural failure in modern human history. More than 1100 number of lives which were lost due to poor management of the company brought my attention to do this case study.
Contemporary management issue in relation to this article
Issue: Diminishing Corporate Social Responsibility across global supply chains and sweatshops.
Background and context of the company
The eight-storey high building, Rana Plaza, is located near Dhaka, which is the capital city of Bangladesh. This building was owned by Sohel Rana, allegedly a leading member of the local Jubo League, the youth wing of the ruling Awami League political party. It housed a number of separate garment factories employing around 5,000 people, several shops, and a bank. The factories manufactured apparels for brands including Benetton, Bonmarché, the Children's Place,El Corte Inglés, Joe Fresh, Mango, Matalan, Primark, and Walmart.
Key issues for the company
As a result of poor building constructions and running heavy equipped machineries, despite not being designed for industrial use contributed to the collapse of this eight-storey building, two floors of which were added illegally. Besides that, employees of the garment factories were forced to work by the owners even after discovering cracks on the exterior walls of the building. The employees were clearly under poor working conditions.
Relevant Management Theories and the key issues relating to them:
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): “Socially responsible practices related to employees, customers, sup...

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...er grounds with good quality construction materials. Besides that, employees must be given training on how to escape in adverse situation and normal working hours should be ensured. Any extra working hours (overtime) must be with the consent of the employee. This step matches the CSR theory (Kumar, et al. 2004).
Key challenges that the company faces are shortage of employees and hesitation or withdrawal of foreign apparel companies to operate in their factories. The issue may be resolved by an increase in wages for garment-factory employees with proper working conditions and proper supervision of the stability of the building as well as the employees' safety. I recommend those practices are ensured in the factory and the government imposes harsh punishment towards factory owners and building constructors if they do not fulfill the building criteria.

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