CASE 1: BHARAT
ENGINEERING WORkS LIMITED
Bharat Engineering Works Limited
is a major manufacturer of industrial machines besides other engineering
products. It has enjoyed considerable market preference for its machines
because of limited competition in the field. Usually, there has been more
orders than what the company could supply. However, the scenario changed
quickly because of the entry of two new competitors In the field with foreign
technological collaboration. For the first time, the company faced problem In
marketing its machines with usual profit margin. Sensing the likely problem,
the chief executive appointed Mr. Arvind Kumar as general manager to direct the
operations of industrial machinery division. Mr. Kumar had similar assignment
abroad before coming back to India.
Mr. .Kumar had a discussion with
the chief executive about the nature of the problem being faced by the company
so that he could fix up his priority. The chief executive advised him to
consult various heads of departments to have first hand information. However,
he emphasized that the company lacked an integrated planning system while
members of the Board of Directors insisted on introducing this in several
meetings both formally and informally.
After joining as general manager,
Mr. Kumar got briefings from the heads of all departments. He asked all
departmental heads to Identify major problems and issues concerning them. The
marketing manager indicated that in order to achieve higher sales, he needed
more sales managers and sales professionals. His main concern was a lack of
engineering support to sales and marketing efforts. The company had adequate
engineers but they were spread under three separate engineering groups. Sales
people had no central organization which had responsibility to provide sales
support. Therefore, some Jobs were being done from outside at higher costs or
with lower quality. Besides, he needed a generous budget for demonstration
system which could be sent on a trial basis to customers to win business.
The production manager complained
about the old machines and equipment used in manufacturing. Therefore, cost of
production was high but without corresponding quality. While competitors had
better equipment and machinery, Bharat Engineering neither replaced its age-old
plant nor got it reconditioned. Therefore, to reduce the cost, It was essential
to automate production lines by installing new equipment.
Director of research and
development did not have any specific problem and, therefore, did not indicate
for any change. However, a principal scientist in R&D indicated on one day
that the director of R&D, though very nice in his approach, did not
emphasize short-term research projects which could easily increase production
efficiency to the extent of at least 20 per cent within a very short period.
Moreover, such projects did not involve any major capital outlay.
Mr. Kumar got himself convinced
about the management process going on in the division and the type of problems
being faced.
Questions
1. Discuss the nature and
characteristics of management process followed in the company.
2. What are the real problems of
industrial machinery division of the company?
3. What steps should be taken by
Mr. Kumar to overcome these problems?
CASE 2: MILK
PRODUCTS LIMITED
Milk Products Limited is engaged
in collecting, processing, and distributing milk and milk products in a large
city in South India. Most of the products of
the company are such that these have to be distributed on daily basis. The
company has a crew of distributors who approach the fixed customers, both bulk
buyers and individuals. Mr. K. Ramesh Joined the crew of distributors after
graduating in Commerce. The distribution manager was quite impressed by Mr.
Ramesh but initially could not offer him a better Job than that of a
distributor. However, he promised to give him better opportunity whenever
available. Mr. Ramesh joined gladly.
The distributors are employed on
monthly salary basis. In order to ensure distribution of the products, the
company has a provision of overtime pay. Normally, crew members work slowly in
the beginning just to accumulate overtime pay. The pace becomes hectic towards
the end of the day with some overtime to meet the distribution schedule. There
is no group leader but there are several old- timers who Influence newcomers
regarding the work rules. Mr. Ramesh did not like this method of working but
had to follow the group to be a good team mate. He gathered that over the
years, the company had paid around sixty per cent overtime unnecessarily.
After a year. Impressed by the
work of Mr. Ramesh and his overall suitability; the distribution manager
offered him the position of distribution supervisor. The basic duty of
supervisor was to look after the distribution system and to develop new customers
in a given area. Beside Mr. Ramesh, there were four other supervisors also.
Ramesh was sure of making distribution system effective as he was aware about
the delaying tactics of the crew. He was quite sure about cutting the overtime
cost and impressing upon the manager about fixing the quota of work per day in
two parts—before lunch and after lunch. The distribution manager was convinced
and introduced the system. However, the efficiency dropped down considerably
and no crew member was near the target.
Questions
1. Discuss the nature of control
system of Milk Products Limited and its efficacy.
2. What control system will you
like to suggest to the company?
CASE 3: KAVERY
LIMITED
Kavery Limited publishes
fortnightly magazine titled Kavery. The magazine is published in four regional
languages. The company has its own printing press wi, M.S. Subramanian as press
manager. He is responsible for the overall working of the press. T press runs
on two-shift basis for six days per week and performs all activities related to
magazine printing, that is, starting from typesetting stage to binding stage.
For making magazine successful, ifs timely publication Is one of the crucial
factors. The press manager has a total employee strength of nearly 300 with six
persons at the senior management level who work in the day shift and 25
supervisors and 120 operators for each of two shifts. Each supervisor has 4 to
10 operators directly reporting to him. The number of operators reporting directly
to a supervisor varies according to nature of work involved in different
sections.
One day, the press manager
attended a seminar on management by objectives organized by the local
management association and addressed by a consultant on management by
objectives. He was highly inspired by the theme of management by objectives and
intended to install this system in the press. He was very much sure that he
would make performance evaluation of the employees easier and improve their productivity
Subramanian worked several days
on what the output objective of the press would be. After finishing this work,
he called a meeting of his senior staff. He gave a written statement containing
the objectives of each functional area of the press to senior staff members and
requested each member to review the objectives, ask questions for
clarification, and then prepare specific operational plans and quotas for his
respective departments, supervisors, and operators.
Questions
1.
Is this a workable MBO system? Explain your stand.
2.
Had you been the press manager, would you have
proceeded to install MBO differently? Why?
3.
As the press manager, how will you proceed to define
press’s objectives?
CASE 4: STYLOTEX
LIMITED
Stylotex Limited was the
manufacturer of high fashion dresses, both for domestic and international markets.
Its emphasis was to develop latest and unique designs specially for ladies and
children. Design was the main strength of the company’s business success. The
company employed about 600 employees out of which 20 (all females) were in
design department. The main function of design department was to collect
information about the prevailing fashion in international and home markets, to
analyze the information, and to suggest and prepare suitable design for the
company.
Miss Sangeeta joined the company
as chief designer. Prior to joining this Job, she received M.Sc. degree in
Clothing and Textile with specialization in dress design. She also received
dress design training for six months from a reputed institute in the USA. She also
received her summer training for two months in Stylotex as part of her M.Sc.
degree. During her training, she impressed the ‘management with her creative
thinking about dress design. Many designs suggested by her during this period
were accepted by the management and were appreciated by the customers.
Therefore, When the chief designer of the company retired and Sangeeta applied
for the position, she was taken
by the management to fill the
vacancy.
Since Miss Sangeeta was with the
company for two months as summer trainee, she knew the work culture of the
company. She was knowing most of the employees of design department. She was
also aware about the likely resistance that she could meet on her joining the
position as she was replacing a very experienced and highly esteemed lady.
Though she could not expect direct resistance from others, she was very serious
about the resistance to be shown by one designer, Mrs. Vimala who was in her
fifties and was designer in the company for the last fifteen years. That ‘grand
old lady’, as
she used to be called by her
colleagues, carried lot of weight with the group members. She did not have
liking for a young girl directing and controlling them. Therefore, Sangeeta
thought rightly that without her active cooperation, she could not succeed in
her career. However, she was determined to get her career off on the right
foot. As a result, she was giving serious thought to win over Mrs. Vimala and
other members of the group but was not sure how to proceed in the matter.
Question
Advise Miss Sangeeta about how
she should proceed in the matter.
CASE 5: SUPER
ENGINEERING COMPANY
Super Engineering Company was a
multi-locational light engineering company. It had manufacturing facilities at Hyderabad, Pondicherry; and Indore. The company
adopted budgetary system with main emphasis on production and expense budgets.
The budget targets used to be set on the basis of analysis of production
facilities and production operations. While two units located at Hyderabad and Pondicherry were working
properly and were able to meet their budget targets. Indore unit was not able to do so.
Mr. P Manohar was transferred to Indore unit as plant
manager. He joined the company about eight years back as engineer trainee and
became the assistant plant manager at Hyderabad
unit, the bl of the three units. Mr. Manohar was very ambitious and a little
bit autocratic. He believed in the exercise of authority and control to carry
out his Instructions. He was high achiever and believed in getting things done
He got quick promotions In the company.
Immediately after Joining at Indore unit as plant
manager. Mr. Manohar made preliminary study of the plant and issued
Instructions to all departments to Increase production by ten per cent. He also
instructed all supervisors to strictly adhere to budgets. He introduced several
new reports and watched the operations very closely. He suspended two
supervisors in the second month for not meeting the budget targets.
Subsequently, two supervisors left the plant.
With all his efforts, the unit
was very much on the right track and within six months exceeded the new
budgeted figures by eight per cent. On setting the plant right, he was called
back at Hyderabad
unit as plant manager where vacancy arose. However, shortly after he left for Hyderabad, the
productivity at Indore
unit fell below the earlier level and the budget was again in trouble.
Questions
1. Analyze the type of
organizational climate created by Mr. Manohar at Indore unit.
2. Why was there a drop in
productivity at the unit after Mr. Manohar left It?
CASE 6: SWETAL
FINANCE LIMITED
Swetal Finance Limited is a
non-banking finance company (NBFC). It is engaged in financing hire- purchase
of transport vehicles, more particularly heavy and medium trucks. It has its
branches in most of the large cities of Northern India.
Raxnesh joined this company after doing MBA with finance major. After serving
for six months at the head office of the company, he was appointed as branch
manager in a city having population of about 10 lakh. Alter joining this
branch. Ramesh found that the branch was not working with its full potential.
He further realized that the staff members were not adequately motivated to get
the things done. There were five staff members, four of them being office
personnel while one person was working a class four employee. Ramesh was eager
to motivate these four office personnel to improve the working of the branch.
In order to do so, he analyzed the personality features and need patterns of
these four employees. His analysis revealed the following conclusions about
them:
Arvind, the senior most employees,
is quite creative and may be called as genious to some extent. However, he is
highly emotional and always looks for praise from others. Most of the time, he
talks about himself and wants to become centre of attention. He tends to live
In fantasies and day-dreaming. His work behavior shows that as long as others
praise his work, he comes up with Innovative and creative Ideas. For every
success, he tries to grab all the credit and when there is a sign of failure,
he tends to push the responsibility on his colleagues.
Mohan, the next senior most employees,
appears to care more about himself and his family consisting of his wife and
the only son. His thinking is that he is doing the job to support and provide
happiness to his family. He believes that at least minimal job performance
standard should be maintained so that the company does not have any negative
perception about his work performance. He is very social and creates friendly
atmosphere whenever he meets anyone including the company’s customers.
Rajesh, the third employee in
seniority Is quite opposite to Mohan. Rajesh is quite loyal to the company and
responds well to its rules and incentive plans. However, he lacks initiative.
He does not do anything independently though he does the work well which is
assigned to him by the branch manager.
Sohan, the fourth employee, is
quite intelligent and assertive. He works for earning more money and believes
in job hopping implying that he would readily change his Job if offered more
money from someone else, In his present job, he works over-time to earn more
money. Ramesh informally collected the information about Sohan from his
previous employer. This information content is “Sohan is very adamant and has a
forceful and driving personality With us, he performed very well but his
personality was so strong that we were glad to get rid of this argumentative,
adamant, and arrogant fellow.”
Questions
1. Analyze the need patterns of
these four employees of Swetal Finance Limited in the light of content theories
of motivation.
2. How will you describe the
motivation of each of these employees in terms of process theories of motivation?
3. Advise Ramesh about the
strategies that he should adopt for motivating his subordinates for better
performance.
