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Bachelors Program in Business Management (BBA) Year-II
Specialization: - Business Administration
Note :-
(i) Attempt any four Cases
(ii) All Cases carry equal marks.
Case 1 :-
“ Left or Right?”
Rajinder Kumar was a production worker at Competent Motors Limited (CML), which made components and accessories for the automotive industry. He had worked at CML for almost seven years as a welder, along with fifteen other men in the plant. All had received training in welding, both on the job and through company-sponsored external programmes. They had friendly relations and got along very well with one another. They played volleyball in the playground regularly before retiring to the quarters allotted by the company. They ate together in the company canteen, cutting jokes on each other and making fun of anyone who dared to peep into their privacy during lunch hour. Most of the fellows had been there for quite some time, except for two men who had joined the ranks only two months back.
Rajinder was generally considered to be the leader of the group, so it was no surprise that when the foreman of the department was transferred and his vacancy was announced, Rajinder applied for the job and got it.
There were only four other applicants for the job, two from mechanical section and two from outside. When there was a formal announcement of the appointment on a Friday afternoon, everyone in the group congratulated Rajinder. They literally carried him snacks and celebrated the event enthusiastically.
On Monday morning, Rajinder joined duty as Foreman. It was company practice for all foremen to wear blue jacket and a white shirt. Each man’s coat had his name badge sewn onto the left side pocket. The company had given two pairs to Raijnder. He was proud to wear the coat to work on Monday.
People who saw him from a distance went upto him and admired the new blue coat. There was a lot of kidding around calling Rajinder as ‘Hero’, ‘Raja Babu’ and ‘Officer’ etc. One of the guys went back to his locker and returned with a long brush and acted as though he were removing dust particles on the new coat. After about five minutes of horseplay, all of the men went back to work.
Rajinder went back to his office to get more familiar with his new job and environment there.
At noon, all the men broke for lunch and went to the canteen to eat and enjoy fun as usual. Rajinder was busy when they left but followed after them a few minutes, later. He bought the food coupon, took the snacks and tea and turned to face the open canteen. Back in the left side corner of the room was his old work group; on the right hand side of the canteen sat all the other foremen in the plant all observed in their blue coats.
At that point of time, silence descended on the canteen. Suddenly both groups looked at Rajinder anxiously, waiting to see which group he would eat with.
QUESTIONS:
1. Whom do you think Rajinder will eat with? Why?
2. If you were one of the other foremen, what could you do to make Rajinder’s transition easier?
3. What would you have done if you were in Rajinder’s shoes? Why?
Case 2 :-
“Naughty Rule”
Dr. Reddy Instruments is a medium-sized the Industrial Estate on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The company is basically involved with manufacturing surgical instruments and supplies for medical professionals and hospitals.
About a year ago, Madhuri, aged 23, niece of the firm’s founder, Dr. Raja Reddy, was hired to replace Ranga Rao quality control inspector, who had reached the age of retirement. Madhuri had recently graduated from the Delhi College of Engineering where she had majored in Industrial Engineering.
Balraj Gupta, aged 52, is the production manager of the prosthesis dept., where artificial devices designed to replace missing parts of the human body are manufactured. Gupta has worked for Dr. Reddy Instruments for 20 years, having previously been a production line supervisor and, prior to that, a worker on the production line. Gupta, being the eldest in his family, has taken up the job quite early in life and completed his education mostly through correspondence courses.
From their first meeting, it looked as though Gupta and Madhuri could not get along together. There seemed to be an underlying animosity between them, but it was never too clear what the problem was.
Venkat Kumar, age 44, is the plant manager of Dr. Reddy instruments. He has occasionally observed disagreements between Madhuri and Gupta on the production line, Absenteeism has risen in Gupta’s department since Madhuri was hired as quality control inspector. Venkat secretly decided to issue a circular calling for a meeting of all supervisory personnel in the production and twelve quality control departments. The circular was worked thus:
Attention: All Supervisors Production Quality Control Departments
A meeting is schedule on Monday, Feb 20, at 10 a.m. in room 18. The purpose is to sort out misunderstanding and differences that seem to exist between production and QC personnel.
Sd. Venkat Kumar
Plant Manager
Venkat starred the meeting by explaining why he had called it and then asked Gupta for his opinion of the problem. The conversation took the following shape:
Gupta: That Delhi girl you recruited is a ‘fault finding machine’ in our dept. Until she was hired, we hardly even stopped production. And when we did, it was only because of a mechanical defect. But Madhuri has been stopping everything even if ‘one’ defective part comes down the line.
Madhuri: That’s not true. You have fabricated the story well.
Gupta: Venkat, our quality has not undergone any change in recent times. It’s still the same, consistently good quality it was before she came but all she wants to do is to trouble us.
Madhuri: May I clarify my position at this stage? Mr. Gupta, you have never relished my presence in the company. I still remember some of the derisive remarks you used to make behind my back. I did take note of them quite clearly!
Suresh (another quality control supervisor): I agree with Madhuri Venkat. I think that everyone knows that the rules permit quality control to stop production if rejections exceed three an hour. This is all Madhuri has been doing.
Gupta: Now listen to me. Madhuri starts counting the hour from the moment she gets the first reject. Ranga Rao never really worried about absolute reject rule when he was here. She wants to paint my department in black. Is not that true Riaz Ahmed?
Ahmed (another production supervisor): It sure is Gupta. Every time Maduri stops production, she is virtually putting the company on fire. The production losses would affect our bonuses as well. How long can we allow this ‘nuisance’ to continue?
Thirty minutes later Madhuri and Gupta were still lashing out at each other. Venkat decided that ending the meeting might be appropriate under the circumstances. He promised to clarify the issue, after discussion with management, sometime next weel.
QUESTIONS:
1. Should Venkat have called a meeting to sort out this problem? Why or Why not?
2. What do you say about the rule calling for production to halt if there are more than three rejects in an hour? Should it have been enforced? Explain.
3. What do you feel is the major problem in this case? The solution?
Case 3 :-
ABC LIMITED
M/s. ABC Ltd. is a medium – sized engineering company production a large-range of product lines according to customer requirements. It has earned a good reputation as a quick and reliable supplier to its customers because off which its volume of business kept on increasing. However, over the past one year, the managing director of the company has been receiving customer complaints due to delays in dispatch of products and at times, the company has to pay substantial penalty for not meeting the schedule in time.
The managing director convened an urgent meeting of various functional managers to discuss the issue. The Marketing Manager questioned the arbitrary manner of giving priority to products in manufacturing line, causing delays in products that are in great demand and over-stocking of products which are not required immediately. Production control manager complained that he does not have adequate staff to plan and control the production function; and whatever little planning he does, is generally overlooked by shop floor manager. Shop floor manager complained of unrealistic planning, excessive machine breakdowns, power failure, shortage of materials for schedule. Maintenance manager, say that he does not get important spares required for equipment maintenance because of which he cannot repair machines at a faster rate. Inventory control manager says that on the one hand the company often access him of carrying too much stock and on the other hand people are grumbling over shortages.
Fed up by mutual mud-slinging, the managing director decided to appoint you, a bright management consultant with training in business management to suggest way and means to put his “house in order”.
QUESTIONS:
1. How would you examine if there is any merit in the remarks of various functional managers?
2. What, in your opinion, could be the reasons for different managerial thoughts in this case?
3. How would you design a system of getting correct information about job status to identify delays quickly?
4. List some scientific decision aids that you may prescribe to improve the situation.
Case 4 :-
In Search of Greener Pastures
Rohit joined ABC Ltd., a heavy engineering unit, having a turnover of about Rs. 20 crores, in the junior management cadre as a direct recruit. During his tenure with the company, Rohit proved to be a dedicated and sincere worker which earned him quick promotions in the organization. He had made a mark in whichever department he had worked and his departmental heads were happy with his work. After serving the company for a period of ten years, Rohit felt that there was no scope for further improvement in his position and started applying for better jobs commensurate with his experience. He finally succeeded in getting a job but his new employer wanted him to join within one month. To this, Rohit pleaded inability, as he was required to give three month’s notice to his present employer, as per company rules. However, he said he would discuss the matter with the personnel manager and try to reduce the period to one month by paying two month’s salary in lieu of the required notice. Rohit accordingly, submitted his resignation to the present employer and requested the departmental head to recommend his case to the personnel manager for relieving him after one month. The departmental head, said that he would discuss the matter with the personnel manager and try his best to help him. However, the latter turned down Rohit’s request stating that the rules require him to give three month’s notice and that the alternative suggested by Rohit was not acceptable.
When Rohit learnt about the personnel manager’s response, he approached his prospective employer to explain his difficulty, which was beyond his control, and requested them to extend his joining period to three months. This was acceptable by them, as a special case.
The departmental head took up Rohit’s case with the management and suggested that in future, the officers who resigned may be permitted to give one month’s notice and two month’s salary in lieu of a further two month’s notice, if required, so as to ensure against any unnecessary delay in the work of the department. But, the management refused to accept this proposal, stating clearly that the company’s policy cannot be changed.
QUESTIONS:
1. Did the management take a correct decision in Rohit’s case under the circumstances?
2. What steps should the departmental head take to do not adopt an indifferent attitude towards their work during the three month’s notice period?
3. If you were in the position of the management, how would you have handled the situation?
Case 5 :-
Ramesh Publishing Company
Mr. Ramesh was the founder of a publishing company specializing in accounting books. Within a short span of time, the company prospered and grew very fast. Its sales rose from Rs 60,000 the first year to Rs 6lakhs three years later. The editing, production and sales staff grew almost as fast.
But the company was having problems, and of late uncertainly and confused grew in the company. New people were making decisions to the best of their ability but many of them did not fit together. One of Mr. Ramesh’s key associates suggested that the company ought to have better planning and certainly needed clear policies to guide decisions making, but Mr. Ramesh was unimpressed. His response was that if he took time off to plan and develop policies today, he might not have a company tomorrow, and that he had no choice but to spend his time meeting today’s problems as they came up.
QUESTIONS:
1. If you were one of the newer managers in the company and had taken a course in the basics of management, what would you say to Mr. Ramesh?
2. Outline exactly how would you show him that planning and policy making are important to the company if it has to grow effectively.
Case 6 :-
THE Marquee Garment Retailer
I knew we were right, Neil Simon thought himself as the steward brought him a glass of Cardhu single malt. The Whisky felt good after week when he was allowed to drink nothing but champagne by his hosts in India. Ah, but then they had reason to celebrate. Simon signaled to the steward that he’d like a refill - he planned to take his time over the second one – and thought about the week that had been.
Simon, the director-in-charge of international franchise operations at Smith & Robin, a $8-billion marquee garment retailer, had arrived in India exactly seven days back, with mixed feelings. He’d been at S&R Less the eight months-he had been hired when the company decided to abandon its twenty-year old strategy of expanding geographically through owned outlets as against franchised ones-but he knew the India trip was one of those things that could make or break his career.
This wasn’t his first visit to India. He’d visited it as a backpacker in his second year at collage, then as a middle-level executive of a cola company, and then again, soon after he joined S&R. It was during the last visit that he noticed the kind of brand equity the company enjoyed in India. S&R was a know name and there was huge demand for its offerings. The grey market did a thriving business in both real S&R products, smuggled into the country, and ersatz ones. So, he had gone back and made case for India.
“Let us go in now and seed the market and leverage our equity there “He’d told the board. Convincing the board hadn’t made his job any easier. Then, there were tales of poor infrastructure, horror stories about how foreign investors were treated, and wholly inappropriate real estate options. Worse, some members of the board weren’t fully convinced about the ‘franchise strategy’, S&R had moved to. “I see that we are shutting three of our profitable shops in London, “one of the board members Barbara Rutherford had shifted. Fortunately for Simon, the chairperson lucy Walters had to come to his rescue. “we decide that franchising was the best way to grow last year Barbara; this meeting isn’t about that.
Finally, a compromise had been reached. S&R would enter the country through one or two pilot outlets’. To Simon went the task of finding a suitable franchise. That had been easy. The Kathuria family that ran S&R Malaysia franchise had business interests in India, and it hadn’t taken Simon much to convince them to take on the India franchise.
The two Kathuria-owned franchise store had opened in upmarket malls, Delhi and Mumbai, the previous week and Simon had winged it down to be there at the opening. The Mumbai outlet 7,000 square feet large; the Delhi one, 3,000 square feet. And both sold a range of garments for men and women, lingeries, and toiletries-all imported , and all under the S&R brand name, in keeping with the company’s policy of only selling the best quality products sourced at the least possible cost at all its outlets.
The tariff regime in India made some prices look Ludicrous-a women’s shirt cost over Rs2, 500; men’s jeans, Rs3,200-and made S&R, which was perceived to be a high-end value-for-money brand into a premium one with aspirational trimmings. Indeed, the only other stores that stocked merchandise of compatable prices were boutiques devoted to designer wear.
S&R’S Long–term Prospects
Best-case Scenario Worst-case Scenario
• Indian customers continue treating S&R as
an aspirational brand.
• The company is able to sustain its premium pricing in India.
• S&R repeats the Delhi-and Mumbai-model in other metros.
• The scalability across centers makes S&R’s local franchise profitable. • The novelty factors surrounding S&R’s launch wears off.
• Customers start asking questions about the super-premium positioning.
• Sales plateau in the Delhi and Mumbai stores.
• The franchise shows no interest in expanding a loss-making operation.
The India –strategy’s detractors at HQ had raised objections over the size of the Delhi outlet (“S&R isn’t associated with cramped buying spaces”) and the price-tags (“Indians aren’t dumb, you know). But Simon managed to steer clear of the flak. The fact that leading consulting firms estimated India’s organized retail business to zoom from Rs 5,500 crore in 2000, to Rs 35,000 crore in 2005, helped his cause.
Then, he had landed in India; the Kathurias had welcomed him like he was royality; he had been allowed to drink nothing but champagne (“Here’s to the stop reopening”; “ Here’s to our first sale”, “Here’s to our first individual sale over Rs 100,000”….); and things had gone like a dream.
The launches had coincided with India’s equivalent of the Christmas season-the festival of lights, they called it, Diwali. The two stores’ initial stock had been sold out in three days flat. And the fact that some of the products still carried their dollar prices-an oversight by the stores and a full 40 per cent lower than their prices in Indian rupees, thanks to the duties- hadn’t deterred shoppers. True, there appeared to be more demand for lingerie and cosmetics, but the other products had takers too.
Simon was surprised by the reaction. He knew that he would have to wait a few months to understand the real demand for S&R products in India. Only once the initial novelty had worn off, would the company have better idea of what Indian customers bought, and what they did not. He was also aware that while the mere fact S&R products were available in the country could have encouraged customers to overlook the 40 percent mark-up (thanks to import duties), they’d soon move to the ‘value’ buying behaviour Indians were famous for.
Simon had raised these issues at his last meeting with the Kathurias, but they were still celebrating the phenomenal success of their opening gambit and their only response had been to ply Simon with, what else, more champagne. Still, he had to admit, it had been a good beginning.
Simon signaled the steward for another refill. What the heck.. he’d earned it.
QUESTION:
1. Has Smith & Robin (S&R) chosen the right entry strategy for the Indian market?
2. “S&R has taken a risk in entering a market that is large, but offers little flexibility in terms of price and business environment” Discuss.
3. What kind of advance planning and strategic thinking should go into S&R’s corporate planning efforts so that the Indian consumer gets ‘value for money’?
Bachelors Program in Business Management (BBA) Year-I
Note :-
(i) Attempt any four Cases
(ii) All Cases carry equal marks.
CASE I
NAVEEN FISHERIES LTD.
The managing director of Naveen Fisheries Ltd. (NFL) received a message from one of the members of the crew that their mechanized boats had sunk at sea off Paradeep Port Trust due to unfavorable weather. The other directors of NFL ascertained the detailed information regarding the incident. All the promoters were fresh graduates.
Naveem, Praveen, Nagain, Ravi and Chandra were the promoters of the organization (NFL at Vishakhapattanam) with a capital contribution of Rs. 25 lakh each. Three of them had an engineering background. The other two were commerce graduates. They had thought of designing the vessels themselves so that the cost each mechanized boat would be reduced from Rs. 30 lakhs (if they bought them) to Rs. 22 Lakh. They designed three boats and these were sent out with a newly – appointed crew. Two vessels were sent to Paradeep and the third to Kakinada. Unfortunately, the weather was unfavourable. All the vessels sank. The crew also did not have experience. Two workers were injured and the rest arrived sagely. There was significant damage to the vessels and the residue was considered scrap. The cost of scrap of the vessels was nominal. As their working capital was scarce, and they were unable to invest more capital, they were in a dilemma whether to continue the business or not.
Case I Questions:
1. What were the reasons for the sinking of the vessels?
2. How could they reorganize the businesses?
CASE II
MNC CORPORATION
At MNC Corporation, a foreman of inspection noticed a mistake in the assembly of transmitter cases. The foreman, a shy man when speaking to his immediate superiors, mentioned this matter to the senior supervisor in a weak, ineffectual manner. The senior supervisor nodded his head and continued to work on a report that he was writing. Later, a production slowdown occurred, and it was discovered that this flaw in the transmitter was the cause. The chief of production engineering, upset because this error had passed inspection unnoticed, reproved the senior supervisor in a brusque manner.
The senior supervisor called in the foreman of inspection and asked why this error had not been brought to his attention. The foreman said, “I told you the other day they were missing same of the punch-outs in those transmitter cases.” The senior supervisor said, “Yes, but you did not pound the desk when you told me!”
Case II Questions:
1. Why did the communication problem arise?
2. What do you suggest to prevent the communication problem?
CASE III
MEHTA BANK LTD
Venkataraman was an officer in a leading nationalized bank with years of service to his credit. During his long period of service, he worked in different capacities and sections. His attitude and behavior made him a trusted in the organization. Having been posted in a big branch based in a large city, he was not keen on getting further promotions.
On one occasion, when he was working as an incharge of the draft issue section, he issued bundles of drawing books from the main stock of the security forms of the branch and kept the same in his custody in an almirah provided to him. One fine morning, he removed three drawing books out of the stock of books valued below Rs. 10,000 which he had in his own custody and kept them in his house. He then started issuing drafts in various names form his house out of the aforesaid stolen drawing books by allotting correct branch serial numbers obtained from the branch register under his control. The drafts were deposited in different banks/branches of the same bank in different accouns opened in the names of the payees of the drafts. These accounts were introduced by the bank employees, and some of them were in different representations only, like Mr. Venkataraman Aiyar, Mr Venkataraman Iyengar, etc. The drafts thus deposited were presented in clearing and were passed in the normal course without any doubt or suspicion. In the evening, he would visit the concerned drawee offices and collect such paid drafts.
Having found this technique successful, he tried his hand at yet another. This time he started issuing drafts in fictitious names or in the names of his close relatives drawn on outstations without any vouchers or deposits. After a few days, he would cancel the same drafts by allowing the credits to the respective accounts in his own branch by debiting the head office accounts. He continued to do this for about three months, causing a loss of over Rs. 700,000 to the bank.
The fraud came to light thanks to the presence of mind exercised by on e of the officers at another local office. He found that on the previous day also, he had paid a similar draft with the leaf number previous to the draft presented now. In his view, it was not possible for such a big office to avoid consumption of draft leaved in this fashion. Consequently, the matter was taken up with the issuing branch. Unfortunately for Venkataraman, someone else was working as the incharge of the draft issue section on that day. On checking up the records, it transpired that no such draft was issued. This led to promt investigations and detection of the whole fraud committed by Venkataraman.
Case III Questions:
1. How do you view the present fraud case: a human failure or a system failure?
2. What are the main issues in the case, and how can our present system of control prevent such fraud?
3. How would you manage the situation on detection?
CASE IV
SHAHID FABRICS
Mr. Lateef, Chairman of Shahid Fabrics, a Hyderabad-based garments and piece goods firm which exported all its products to the USA, faced a decision in August 1985. The US government had imposed quota restrictions which reduced the exports of his firm by 40 percent. He had to find a new market for his products.
Shahid Fabrics was one of Pakistan’s major exporters of garments and piece goods. Its share was 25 percent of the exports of these goods of the whole country. It was established in 1954 as a producer of cotton cloth and later, in 1966, it extended production to include garments and piece goods. It had eight local production units and the total number of employees was 8,000. All its garments and piece goods were exported, and branded according to customer specification. All the goods were exported to the USA and the sales of the firm amounted to US$ 100 million. In 1984, the US government imposed quota restrictions. By August 1985, Shahid Fabrics exports had been reduced by 40 percent.
Mr. Lateef believed that finding new markets was the only way to survive. The possible alternatives according to him were the EEC countries, the USSR, the Middle Eastern Arab countries and the other Asian countries. The EEC was a very good potential market, but Europeans were very tough buyers. It would be necessary to segregate the EEC from other buyers because of their existing specifications with regard to style, colour and packing. The USSR too was a potential market as far as demand was concerned, but the country did not have enough money in foreign exchange.
The Middle Eastern Arab countries had money, but their requirements were small due to their smaller population. Second, these countries preferred not to buy Pakistani goods directly from Pakistan$. They would rather like to buy the same Pakistani goods, branded differently from other Western countries, say France.
Asia was a big market, but the Asian countries, including turkey, were Shahid Fabrics’ competition in the international market. Mr. Lateef was deeply concerned with the loss of 40 percent of his export goods. He was eager to determine which new market offered the highest potential. He wondered what specific information he could use to help his decision.
Case IV Questions:
1. What information should Mr. Lateef develop to evaluate foreign markets?
2. Where should he look for this information?
3. Develop a framework to help Mr. Lateef identify his best potential foreign markets.
CASE V
WESTWARD EXPORTS LTD.
Mr. Abdul Ahmed, Production Manger, Westward Exports Ltd, Karachi, faced a decision in 1984. the rejection rate of their exports of readymade garments was 20 percent of total production. He also felt that their productivity was not as high as it might have been.
Westward Exports Ltd. was a large Pakistani company exporting ladies fashion garments made of pure cotton. Their main product items were blouses, skirts, dresses, shirts, pants, etc. their main overseas markets were the USA, Europe and Japan, and production was Rs. 100 million. They had about 2,000 workers engaged in production through their various subcontractors.
Production was carried out by 138 subcontractors. They did not utilize assembly line production: each individual worker carried out all the jobs required on each garment. The machinery and equipment used by the machines had a low output, and were not suited to high technology application. Mr. Abdul knew that male workers performed 60 percent of the total production and the rest was done by females. He also knew that while male workers were always willing to work overtime, their absentee rate was greater than that of women. Abdul felt that productivity could be higher, and he wondered how he should approach this issue.
The company purchased raw material (grey cloth) from several sources and had it dyed by different concerns, which sometimes caused variation in the colors. Both dyeing and inferior stitching caused the rejection rate, to rise to 20 percent of their total production. Mr. Abdul was worried about this high rate of rejection, and wondered what sequence of steps he should take to help reduce this high rejection rate.
Case V Questions:
1. What alternatives are available to Mr Abdul?
2. Other than purchasing higher technology machinery, in what ways might Mr Abdul increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the dyeing and stitching operations?
CASE VI
BABA BEARINGS COMPANY
The quality circle Sigma was started in the heat treatment section of Baba Bearings Company with seven members.
The members prepared the following list of various factors affecting the productivity of the heat treatment section.
1. Distortion of bearing races in sealed quench furnaces.
2. Loss of productivity and energy in sealed quench furnaces.
3. Excess consumption of LPG.
4. Rejection of cages due to scaling during annealing.
5. Shrinkage in tapered roller bearing outer rings.
6. Broadly, bearing are manufactured in the following three stages: (a) Turning, (b) Heat Treatment, and (c) Grinding.
The circle members, in their brainstorming session, gave priorities to the study aspects with the help of Pareto analysis. Distortion of bearing races in sealed quench furnaces was a major factor affecting the productivity. Hence, the circle decided to take this up for study. Turned rings in the soft condition are hardened and tempered. After heat treatment, it was noted that about 30 percent of the rings were beyond the specified limits of distortion (ovality). These rings were subject to straining for rectification.
Straining is a laborious process involving extra manpower and time. It affected schedules and deliveries to customers. The cause and effect diagram was employed for analysis, and the following causes identified:
• Design of heating elements
• Mesh baskets distortion
The members collected data regarding the heating element. Rings are loaded into the furnace keeping in a mesh basket in layers. The rings are heated by corrtherm heating elements; the heat is made to circulate uniformly throughout the furnace by a circulating fan. After the hardening process, it was observed that in general, the rings arranged at the sides of the basket adjacent to the heating elements showed greater ovality (50 per cent) than those at the centre (17 percent).
The members felt that rings at the sides were directly exposed to the radiant heat of the elements, and this resulted in a temperature gradient within the cross-section of the rings, causing more distortion. The temperature adjacent to the heating elements was higher by 26 degree Celsius than at the centre of the furnace.
Case VI Questions:
1. What are the measures to be taken to avoid direct effect of heat?
2. Design a quality improvement process for the bearings company.
Bachelors Program in Business Management (BBA) Year-II
Note :- Solve any 4 case study
All case carries equal marks
CASE I
EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION IN A GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION"
Bhumika Services Ltd., one of the largest public sector companies of India, was serving more than 31 million customers. Along with its vast customer base, BSNL's financial and asset bases too were vast and strong. Changing regulations, converging markets, competition and ever demanding customers had generated challenges for BSNL. The Indore division of BSNL was the first in the country, which faced competition in basic telecom services from 1998. In spite of being a government department, Indore telephones had to face the competition, and relentless efforts were put in to improve the services and provide world¬class telecom services to its customers. Among the various services offered by Indore Telecom, 197 and 183 were two special services. 197 provided non-metered enquiry services to obtain telephone numbers by simply giving the name of person/name of organization/ name and designation of person, or by giving address. 183 on the other hand, was a non¬metered enquiry service that provided similar services for distant stations. There were a large number of complaints related to these services. Complaints were either directly forwarded to the district office by customers or raised during Telephone Adalats or pointed out by correspondents during press conferences, which were conducted quarterly. Complaints ranged from non-response, long waiting time to rude responses.
S. Baheti took charge as Area Manager (North) on July 25, 2001 In the Indore Division. Immediately after taking charge, he realized that special services like 197 and 183 required urgent attention as they were directly affecting the image of the organization amongst customers. Since most of the complaints during Telephone Adalats and press conferences were related to these services, Baheti wanted to reach the root cause of the problem, to solve it forever. In this process, he looked at the background of the employees involved in the special services and found that most of the employees were office bearers of various unions that were active in the organization. The problem was more complicated than it seemed to during interactions, the employees indicated that they were not to be blamed for poor services since they were facing a number of problems in providing services and senior officials were not paying enough attention to alleviate their problems. Defective handsets, non-operating telephone lines, disturbance in lines, jacks not making proper connections, fans and air conditioners not working properly and non availability of typewriter/computer terminals were some of the problems brought to the notice of Baheti by operators.
Further investigation revealed that in addition to these technical problems, there were some Human Resource Management problems as well, such as frequent short leave, extended breaks, uninformed leave and indifferent attitude of employees towards customers. Baheti identified that despite technical problems, some operators were sincere towards their viork and tried their best to provide better services. To improve these services, Baheti decided to use multipronged strategies. Most of the technical problems were solved immediately, other problems that could not be solved at his level were forwarded to higher authorities and pursued rigorously. As the technical problems were taken care of, efficiency of sincere employees went up. Moreover, Baheti also began regular interaction with the operators, appreciating their good work, listening to their problems and explaining them the;-i. importance of their jobs. The employees were made aware of the facts that B5NL did not enjoy a sole monopolistic position any more and had to compete with private players. So the laidback attitude towards customer complaints was not only detrimental to the image of the organization, but also could lead to a reduced market share.
After gaining the confidence of operators, the next step was to motivate them. Towards this end, Baheti started announcing the best operator of the month and recognition was given to the operator by displaying his name on the board of honor. The criteria for award were minimum 200 calls attended per day and 20 days' attendance. In addition, based on last six months performance, three best performers were identified. Appreciation letters from Area Manager and General Manager were conferred upon these operators in a public function and prizes of their own choice were given to them. These efforts had a desired result and the performance of all the operators showed a marked improvement. The number of calls attended by some operators increased from 200 to 700 calls per day. Further, quick and polite response had reduced customer complaints. While reviewing the situation, Baheti was quite contended to see a remarkable change in the behavior of operators just four months. He wondered whether this change was a permanent phenomenon or he would have to strategize further.
QUESTIONS
1. Discuss the long-term relevance of motivational techniques used by Baheti in the light of prevailing environment in the organization.
2. Had you been Baheti, what other techniques you would have used to improve the special services provided by the organization?
CASE II
EMPLOYEE RELATIONS AUDIT
Triveni Foods Pvt. Ltd., a multinational confectionary company, having its branches in more than 50 countries and marketing its products in about 135 countries, established one of its production units in 1988 at Mathura near Delhi. It had a workforce of nearly 320 employees and sales turnover was more than Rs. 150 crores. Being a confectionary unit, hygiene was given the upper most priority to the extent that no one was allowed to enter the production area without taking bath and wearing sterilized clothes provided by the company. The entire process was automatic and required only food specialists and labor. In order to match the required standards, emphasis was given on training and welfare of employees on regular basis. Facilities like transportation were also provided since delay by ten minutes could cause production losses at the time of shift changes.
Over a period of time due to start and workers' redundancy, it was observed that problems like lethargy, absenteeism, violation of work practices were increasing. Absenteeism rate went up to 18 percent. Employees visited canteen for drinking water and started gossiping during working hours. Buses did not arrive on time due to which production suffered. Operators came late and left shop floor early without waiting for relievers. Employees were found hovering in administration building without any reason. It was also found that employees were violating personal hygiene standards. Malpractices were also reported with attendance process and records. These activities were having a negative impact on managerial effectiveness and performance of the unit. The management tried to take number of initiatives to overcome these problems. However, these initiatives seemed ad hoc solutions and did not serve the purpose in the long run.
In 1996, Alok Trivedi joined the company as Head of the Department H.R. While facing these problems, he realized that the causes of these problems were deep rooted and required a proactive approach. He started with an approach called Employee Relation Audit, developed by him, where everything was to be monitored, regulated and reported on regular intervals. He along with his team prepared an action plan (Appendix 1) and corrective measures were taken accordingly. Facilities of drinking water were arranged at 3 to 4 places in the production area which stopped employees from going to canteen for this purpose. Action was taken against the late arrivals of the buses. A proper time study was done and they were given ten minutes margin so that they could report on time. Operators were frequently questioned and stringent vigilance was kept for amenities. Regular counseling was also arranged. A grievance register was also kept and effective grievance redressal was undertaken. Groups were formed called 'Pragati' groups for solving work related problems. Employees were frequently checked for ensuring their strict adherence to personal hygiene standards. For ensuring timely processing and printing of attendance records, training was given to al! line officers and production of records was made mandatory on shift basis.
It was further decided that based on this action plan an audit should be carried out at regular periods so that actual performance could be measured. For quantification, a 5 point. scale 0- poor, 2-below average, 3-average, 4-good, 5-v.good) audit report was prepared featuring practices, criteria for evaluation, standards, observations/comments and rating :Appendix 2). For example, in canteen criteria for evaluation there were food quality, menu, timings and unauthorized presence of the employees in the kitchen. The standards were strict adherence to the rules defined. For transportation, arrival, departure and punching of cards by drivers were the criteria for evaluation. Internal teams of auditors were asked to observe and comment against the set standards and give the rating accordingly. Performance vas evaluated on the basis of percentage, the highest point being 215. For example, if the total points scored on various parameters in a audit report was one hundred and fifty five, hen percentage score would be seventy-two (l55/215xl00 = 72 per cent). The first audit "as carried out in August 1999 and percentage of performance was sixty two.
In the year 2000, the performance rose to sixty-five per cent. Proactive approach of solving le problems was adopted. For example, registers were maintained at different work areas, write down the complaints experienced by employees and action was taken by the concerned person. A complaint of tap leaking in a bathroom was recorded in register by a workman. It was attended by a supervisor in charge and he got it repaired immediately. At times these were reviewed and signed by H.R. department and the higher management. Due to these practices, a lot of improvement was observed. Better working conditions, increased productivity, rise in employees' commitment towards their goals and better superior -subordinate relationship could be seen. In 2001, the percentage of the performance rose to seventy two. While reviewing the Employee relation audit, Alok Trivedi was quite satisfied to note the steady though slow improvement in the figures of performance.
QUESTIONS
1. Had you been in place of Alok Trivedi, what additional measures would you have taken?
2. Critically analyze the Employee Relations Audit in the light of its contribution to self motivation of employees.
CA S E III
EMPLOYEE TURNOVER AT XYZ MOON LIFE INSURANCE
In 1950, with the enactment of the Insurance Act, Government of India decided to bring all the insurance companies under one umbrella of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). Despite the monopoly of LIC, the insurance sector was not doing well. Till 1995, only 12% of the country's people had insurance cover. The need for exploring the insurance market was felt and consequently the Government of India set up the Malhotra Committee. On the basis of their recommendations, Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IRDA) Act was passed in parliament in 2000. This move allowed the private insurers in the market with the stop foreign players with 74:26% stake. XYZ- Moon life was one of the first three private players getting the license to operate in India in the year 2000.
XYZ Moon Life Insurance was a joint venture between the XYZ Group and Moon Inc. of US. XYZ starred off its operations in 1965, providing finance for industrial development and since then it had diversified into housing finance, consumer finance, mutual funds and now its latest venture was Life Insurance. Its foreign partner Moon Inc. was established in 1858 and had grown to be the largest life insurance and mutual fund company in the U.S. Moon Inc. had its presence in Asia since the past 75 years catering to over 1 million customers across 11 Asian countries.
Within a span of two years, twelve private players obtained the license from IRDA. IRDA had provided certain base policies like, Endowment Policies, Money back Policies, Retirement Policies, Term Policies, Whole Life Policies, and Health Policies. They were free to customize their products by adding on the riders. In the year 2003, the company became one of the market leaders amongst the private players. Till 2003, total market share of private insurers was about 4%, but Moon Life was performing well and had the market share of about 30% of the private insurance business.
In June 2002, XYZ Moon Life started its operations at Nagpur with one Sales Manager (SM) and ten Development Officers (DO). The role of a DO was to recruit the agents and sell a career to those who have an inclination towards insurance and could work either on part time or full time basis. They were very specific in recruiting the agents, because their contribution directly reflected their performance. All DOs faced three challenges such as Case Rate (number of policies), Case Size (amount of premium), and Recruitment of advisors by natural market, personal observations, nominators, and centre of influence. Incentives offered by the company to development officers and agents were based on their performance, which resulted into internal competition and finally converted into rivalry.
In August 2002, ,a Branch Manager joined along with one more Sales Manager and ten Development Officers. Initially, the branch was performing well and was able to build their image in the local market. As the industry was dynamic in nature, there were frequent opportunities bubbling in the market. In order to capitalize the outside opportunities, one sales manager left the organization in January 2003. As the sales manager was a real performer, he was able to convince all the good performers at XYZ Moon Life Insurance to join the new company. As a result of this, the organizational structure got disturbed and the development officers, who were earlier reporting to the SM had started reporting directly to the branch manager. Now, nepotism crept in and the branch manager began reallocating good agents to his favorite development officers. The sales team of another sales manager became weak (low performer). Seeing the low performance of the sales manager and his development officers, the company decided to terminate their services. As the employees' turnover rate of the organization was more than the industry rate, the company had to continuously recruit sales agents as well as development officers to sustain itself in a highly competitive environment. The internal competition among development officers resulted into problems like, high employee turnover and dissatisfaction. Hence the branch was not able to perform as per the benchmarks set by the company. Its performance was not even comparable to that of other branches of the same company.
In April 2004, the company faced a grave problem, when the Branch Manager left the organization for greener pastures. To fill the position, in May 2004, the company appointed a new Branch Manager, Shashank Malik, and a Sales Manager, Rohit Pandey. The Branch Manager in his early thirties had an experience of sales and training of about 12 years and was looking after two branches i.e., Nagpur and Nasik.
Malik was given one Assistant Manager and 25 Development Officers. Out of that, ten were reporting to Assistant Manager and remaining fifteen were directly reporting to him. He was given the responsibility of handling all the operations and the authority to make all the decisions, while informing the Branch Manager. Malik opined that the insurance industry is a sunrise industry where manpower plays an important role as the business is based on relationship. He wanted to encourage one-to-one interaction, transparency and 4iscipline in his organization. While managing his team, he wanted his co-workers to analyze themselves i.e., to understand their own strengths and weaknesses. He wanted them to be result-oriented and was willing to extend his full support. Finally, he wanted to introduce weekly analysis in his game plan along with inflow of new blood in his organization. Using his vast experience, he began informal interactions among .the employees, by organizing outings and parties, to inculcate the feelings of friendliness and belonging. He wanted to increase the commitment level and integrity of his young dynamic team by facilitating proper civilization of their energy. He believed that proper training could give his team a proper understanding of the business and the dynamics of insurance industry.
QUESTIONS:
1. If you were Malik, what strategies would you adopt to solve the problem?
2. With high employee turnover in insurance industry, how can the company retain a person like Malik?
CASE IV
FRAGRANCE COMPANY LIMITED
Petals Company Limited (PCL) was initiated in the year 1919. Since then, it had produced a number of brands which enjoyed customer loyalty. It had adapted well with the changing environment and had entered into a strategic alliance with the S & G Limited, the producer of personal care products. The new company Fragrance Company Limited Was formed as a result in 1993 with equity participation from S& G and Petals Company Limited. This company marketed the products manufactured by the PCL. This alliance had given PCL access to the latest international technology in soaps and detergents. Thus, Fragrance Company Limited was now ideally placed to offer high value, international quality products at competitive prices. It was already an exporter of toilet soaps, detergents and cosmetics. It was a private organisation headed by Dharamchand, with its company's headquarters at Mumbai and seven units all over the country with one of the units at Faridabad. The turnover of the company was Rs 900 crores. The company marketed the products using the latest international technology in soaps and detergents.
The organization structure was traditionally hierarchical with the senior vice president at the top of the management, the supervisory heads at the middle level and the workers at the shop floor. The company had 450 permanent workers, and 150 contract workers, with an average age of 32 years. The recruitment policy framed was to employ freshers. The various departments in the organization were: purchase, finance, systems, engineering services, excise and dispatch, operations and personnel department. The personnel and administration department were headed by Gyanchand and the functions of the personnel administration department were: recruitment, selection, training, counseling, performance appraisal, internal mobility of employees, negotiation With workers, fixation and implementation of rules and regulations regarding wages, salary, allowances and benefits to the workers. The philosophy of the company was based on Total Quality Management (TQM) and Kaizen. The company was highly environment-friendly and was oriented towards customer’s satisfaction.
Fragrance was facing an acute crisis due to high rate of absenteeism among its permanent workers. The losses were soaring high. There was loss in production, and high expenses and indiscipline were also observed. The personnel administration department conducted a survey in the year 1998. They found that the rate of absenteeism was about 20% on an average. The rules and regulations regarding leave were-12-17 days of leave with pay, 7 days casual leave with pay, 5 day sick leave with pay, extra leave without any pay. The benefits were provided as per the Employees State Insurance Act. The data collected revealed that 36% of the absenteeism was due to transportation problem, 48% was because of the workers staying away from their families, 52% due to festivals, 32% due to farming, 48% on account of alcholism, 80% on account of social occasions/marriages and 76% due to sickness of family members.
The other findings were that approximately 80% of the workers were married and they had children to look after and hence had a greater tendency towards taking leave, 8% of workers possessed dual jobs ,e.g., driving for others, mechanic work etc., so they felt that they could earn more on a particular day by remaining absent; 96% of the workers did not like night shifts and they remained absent from duty; 28% of the workers were not satisfied with the working conditions i.e. canteen facilities, drinking water, social and cultural activities and cleanliness. In 1998, the company tried to reduce absenteeism by introducing conveyance allowance for attendance and night shift allowance. The scheme called Inaam; was launched in which a worker who did not avail leave in three months, received Rs 200 per month. In¬house training was imparted to workers In order to educate them about the consequences of absenteeism. They were also sent for 3-6 months training to the Central Board of Workers Education on rotation.
Counseling sessions were held for the workers in order to increase their awareness. The company also introduced the philosophy of workers participation in the management to increase their involvement and commitment towards the work. The practice of organizing picnics, festival celebration, informal get-togethers, and sports activities were also adopted to increase the commitment. Regularity was made an important component of performance appraisal and promotion. After one year, Gyanchand was highly perplexed to see only a negligible improvement in the report of the survey conducted by the personnel administration department. The rate of absenteeism had dropped by only 3%, i.e. from. 20% to 17% in spite of introducing the aforesaid schemes.
QUESTIONS:
1. What role do the non-financial incentives play in motivating the workers and minimizing the rate of absenteeism?
2. What innovative solutions would you suggest to minimize the rate of absenteeism?
C A S E V
Vetements Ltee
Vetements Ltee is a chain of men’s retail clothing stores located throughout the province of Quebec, Canada. Two years ago, the company introduced new incentive systems for both store managers and sales employees. Store managers receive a salary with annual merit increasing based on sales above targeted goals, store appearance, store inventory management, customer complaints, and several other performance measures. Some of this information (e.g., store appearance) is gathered during visits by senior management, while other information is based on company records (e.g., sales volume).
Sales employees are paid a fixed salary plus a commission based on the percentage of sales credited to that employee over the pay period. The commission represents about 30 per cent of a typical paycheck and is intended to encourage employees to actively serve customers and to increase sales volume. Because returned merchandise is discounted from commission, sales staff are discouraged from selling products that customers do not really want.
Soon after the new incentive systems were introduced, senior management began to receive complaints from store managers regarding the performance of their sales staff. They observed that sales employees tended to stand near the store entrance waiting for customers and would occasionally argue over “ownership” of the customer. Managers were concerned that this aggression behavior intimidated some customers. It also tented to leave some parts of the store unattended by staff.
Many managers were also concerned about inventory duties. Previously, sales staff would share responsibility for restocking inventory and completing inventory reorders forms. Under the new compensation system, however, few employees were willing to do these essential tasks. On several occasions, stores experienced stock shortages because merchandise was not stocked or reorder forms were not completed in a timely manner. Potential sales suffered from empty shelves when plenty of merchandise was available in the back storeroom or at the warehouse. The company’s new automatic inventory system could reduce some of these problems, but employees must still stock shelves and assist in other aspects of inventory management.
Store managers tried to correct the inventory problem by assigning employees to inventory duty, but this has created resentment among the employees selected. Other managers threatened sales staff with dismissals if they did not do their share of inventory management. This strategy has been somewhat effective when the manager is in the store, but staff members sneak back onto the floor when the manager is away. It has also hurt staff morale, particularly relations with the store manager.
To reduce the tendency of sales staff to hoard customers at the store entrance, some managers assigned employees to specific areas of the store. This also created some resentment among employees stationed in areas with less traffic or lower-priced merchandise. Some staff openly complained of lower paychecks because they were assigned to a slow area of the store or were given more than their share of inventory duties.
Question
1. What symptom(s) exist in this case to suggest that something has gone wrong?
2. What are the root causes that have led to these symptoms?
3. What actions should the organization take to correct these problems?
CONTACT:
DR. PRASANTH MBA PH.D. DME MOBILE / WHATSAPP: +91 9924764558 OR +91 9447965521 EMAIL: prasanththampi1975@gmail.com WEBSITE: www.casestudyandprojectreports.com
Bachelors Program in Business Management (BBA) Year-II
Specialization: - Business Administration
Note :-
(i) Attempt any four Cases
(ii) All Cases carry equal marks.
Case 1 :-
“ Left or Right?”
Rajinder Kumar was a production worker at Competent Motors Limited (CML), which made components and accessories for the automotive industry. He had worked at CML for almost seven years as a welder, along with fifteen other men in the plant. All had received training in welding, both on the job and through company-sponsored external programmes. They had friendly relations and got along very well with one another. They played volleyball in the playground regularly before retiring to the quarters allotted by the company. They ate together in the company canteen, cutting jokes on each other and making fun of anyone who dared to peep into their privacy during lunch hour. Most of the fellows had been there for quite some time, except for two men who had joined the ranks only two months back.
Rajinder was generally considered to be the leader of the group, so it was no surprise that when the foreman of the department was transferred and his vacancy was announced, Rajinder applied for the job and got it.
There were only four other applicants for the job, two from mechanical section and two from outside. When there was a formal announcement of the appointment on a Friday afternoon, everyone in the group congratulated Rajinder. They literally carried him snacks and celebrated the event enthusiastically.
On Monday morning, Rajinder joined duty as Foreman. It was company practice for all foremen to wear blue jacket and a white shirt. Each man’s coat had his name badge sewn onto the left side pocket. The company had given two pairs to Raijnder. He was proud to wear the coat to work on Monday.
People who saw him from a distance went upto him and admired the new blue coat. There was a lot of kidding around calling Rajinder as ‘Hero’, ‘Raja Babu’ and ‘Officer’ etc. One of the guys went back to his locker and returned with a long brush and acted as though he were removing dust particles on the new coat. After about five minutes of horseplay, all of the men went back to work.
Rajinder went back to his office to get more familiar with his new job and environment there.
At noon, all the men broke for lunch and went to the canteen to eat and enjoy fun as usual. Rajinder was busy when they left but followed after them a few minutes, later. He bought the food coupon, took the snacks and tea and turned to face the open canteen. Back in the left side corner of the room was his old work group; on the right hand side of the canteen sat all the other foremen in the plant all observed in their blue coats.
At that point of time, silence descended on the canteen. Suddenly both groups looked at Rajinder anxiously, waiting to see which group he would eat with.
QUESTIONS:
1. Whom do you think Rajinder will eat with? Why?
2. If you were one of the other foremen, what could you do to make Rajinder’s transition easier?
3. What would you have done if you were in Rajinder’s shoes? Why?
Case 2 :-
“Naughty Rule”
Dr. Reddy Instruments is a medium-sized the Industrial Estate on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The company is basically involved with manufacturing surgical instruments and supplies for medical professionals and hospitals.
About a year ago, Madhuri, aged 23, niece of the firm’s founder, Dr. Raja Reddy, was hired to replace Ranga Rao quality control inspector, who had reached the age of retirement. Madhuri had recently graduated from the Delhi College of Engineering where she had majored in Industrial Engineering.
Balraj Gupta, aged 52, is the production manager of the prosthesis dept., where artificial devices designed to replace missing parts of the human body are manufactured. Gupta has worked for Dr. Reddy Instruments for 20 years, having previously been a production line supervisor and, prior to that, a worker on the production line. Gupta, being the eldest in his family, has taken up the job quite early in life and completed his education mostly through correspondence courses.
From their first meeting, it looked as though Gupta and Madhuri could not get along together. There seemed to be an underlying animosity between them, but it was never too clear what the problem was.
Venkat Kumar, age 44, is the plant manager of Dr. Reddy instruments. He has occasionally observed disagreements between Madhuri and Gupta on the production line, Absenteeism has risen in Gupta’s department since Madhuri was hired as quality control inspector. Venkat secretly decided to issue a circular calling for a meeting of all supervisory personnel in the production and twelve quality control departments. The circular was worked thus:
Attention: All Supervisors Production Quality Control Departments
A meeting is schedule on Monday, Feb 20, at 10 a.m. in room 18. The purpose is to sort out misunderstanding and differences that seem to exist between production and QC personnel.
Sd. Venkat Kumar
Plant Manager
Venkat starred the meeting by explaining why he had called it and then asked Gupta for his opinion of the problem. The conversation took the following shape:
Gupta: That Delhi girl you recruited is a ‘fault finding machine’ in our dept. Until she was hired, we hardly even stopped production. And when we did, it was only because of a mechanical defect. But Madhuri has been stopping everything even if ‘one’ defective part comes down the line.
Madhuri: That’s not true. You have fabricated the story well.
Gupta: Venkat, our quality has not undergone any change in recent times. It’s still the same, consistently good quality it was before she came but all she wants to do is to trouble us.
Madhuri: May I clarify my position at this stage? Mr. Gupta, you have never relished my presence in the company. I still remember some of the derisive remarks you used to make behind my back. I did take note of them quite clearly!
Suresh (another quality control supervisor): I agree with Madhuri Venkat. I think that everyone knows that the rules permit quality control to stop production if rejections exceed three an hour. This is all Madhuri has been doing.
Gupta: Now listen to me. Madhuri starts counting the hour from the moment she gets the first reject. Ranga Rao never really worried about absolute reject rule when he was here. She wants to paint my department in black. Is not that true Riaz Ahmed?
Ahmed (another production supervisor): It sure is Gupta. Every time Maduri stops production, she is virtually putting the company on fire. The production losses would affect our bonuses as well. How long can we allow this ‘nuisance’ to continue?
Thirty minutes later Madhuri and Gupta were still lashing out at each other. Venkat decided that ending the meeting might be appropriate under the circumstances. He promised to clarify the issue, after discussion with management, sometime next weel.
QUESTIONS:
1. Should Venkat have called a meeting to sort out this problem? Why or Why not?
2. What do you say about the rule calling for production to halt if there are more than three rejects in an hour? Should it have been enforced? Explain.
3. What do you feel is the major problem in this case? The solution?
Case 3 :-
ABC LIMITED
M/s. ABC Ltd. is a medium – sized engineering company production a large-range of product lines according to customer requirements. It has earned a good reputation as a quick and reliable supplier to its customers because off which its volume of business kept on increasing. However, over the past one year, the managing director of the company has been receiving customer complaints due to delays in dispatch of products and at times, the company has to pay substantial penalty for not meeting the schedule in time.
The managing director convened an urgent meeting of various functional managers to discuss the issue. The Marketing Manager questioned the arbitrary manner of giving priority to products in manufacturing line, causing delays in products that are in great demand and over-stocking of products which are not required immediately. Production control manager complained that he does not have adequate staff to plan and control the production function; and whatever little planning he does, is generally overlooked by shop floor manager. Shop floor manager complained of unrealistic planning, excessive machine breakdowns, power failure, shortage of materials for schedule. Maintenance manager, say that he does not get important spares required for equipment maintenance because of which he cannot repair machines at a faster rate. Inventory control manager says that on the one hand the company often access him of carrying too much stock and on the other hand people are grumbling over shortages.
Fed up by mutual mud-slinging, the managing director decided to appoint you, a bright management consultant with training in business management to suggest way and means to put his “house in order”.
QUESTIONS:
1. How would you examine if there is any merit in the remarks of various functional managers?
2. What, in your opinion, could be the reasons for different managerial thoughts in this case?
3. How would you design a system of getting correct information about job status to identify delays quickly?
4. List some scientific decision aids that you may prescribe to improve the situation.
Case 4 :-
In Search of Greener Pastures
Rohit joined ABC Ltd., a heavy engineering unit, having a turnover of about Rs. 20 crores, in the junior management cadre as a direct recruit. During his tenure with the company, Rohit proved to be a dedicated and sincere worker which earned him quick promotions in the organization. He had made a mark in whichever department he had worked and his departmental heads were happy with his work. After serving the company for a period of ten years, Rohit felt that there was no scope for further improvement in his position and started applying for better jobs commensurate with his experience. He finally succeeded in getting a job but his new employer wanted him to join within one month. To this, Rohit pleaded inability, as he was required to give three month’s notice to his present employer, as per company rules. However, he said he would discuss the matter with the personnel manager and try to reduce the period to one month by paying two month’s salary in lieu of the required notice. Rohit accordingly, submitted his resignation to the present employer and requested the departmental head to recommend his case to the personnel manager for relieving him after one month. The departmental head, said that he would discuss the matter with the personnel manager and try his best to help him. However, the latter turned down Rohit’s request stating that the rules require him to give three month’s notice and that the alternative suggested by Rohit was not acceptable.
When Rohit learnt about the personnel manager’s response, he approached his prospective employer to explain his difficulty, which was beyond his control, and requested them to extend his joining period to three months. This was acceptable by them, as a special case.
The departmental head took up Rohit’s case with the management and suggested that in future, the officers who resigned may be permitted to give one month’s notice and two month’s salary in lieu of a further two month’s notice, if required, so as to ensure against any unnecessary delay in the work of the department. But, the management refused to accept this proposal, stating clearly that the company’s policy cannot be changed.
QUESTIONS:
1. Did the management take a correct decision in Rohit’s case under the circumstances?
2. What steps should the departmental head take to do not adopt an indifferent attitude towards their work during the three month’s notice period?
3. If you were in the position of the management, how would you have handled the situation?
Case 5 :-
Ramesh Publishing Company
Mr. Ramesh was the founder of a publishing company specializing in accounting books. Within a short span of time, the company prospered and grew very fast. Its sales rose from Rs 60,000 the first year to Rs 6lakhs three years later. The editing, production and sales staff grew almost as fast.
But the company was having problems, and of late uncertainly and confused grew in the company. New people were making decisions to the best of their ability but many of them did not fit together. One of Mr. Ramesh’s key associates suggested that the company ought to have better planning and certainly needed clear policies to guide decisions making, but Mr. Ramesh was unimpressed. His response was that if he took time off to plan and develop policies today, he might not have a company tomorrow, and that he had no choice but to spend his time meeting today’s problems as they came up.
QUESTIONS:
1. If you were one of the newer managers in the company and had taken a course in the basics of management, what would you say to Mr. Ramesh?
2. Outline exactly how would you show him that planning and policy making are important to the company if it has to grow effectively.
Case 6 :-
THE Marquee Garment Retailer
I knew we were right, Neil Simon thought himself as the steward brought him a glass of Cardhu single malt. The Whisky felt good after week when he was allowed to drink nothing but champagne by his hosts in India. Ah, but then they had reason to celebrate. Simon signaled to the steward that he’d like a refill - he planned to take his time over the second one – and thought about the week that had been.
Simon, the director-in-charge of international franchise operations at Smith & Robin, a $8-billion marquee garment retailer, had arrived in India exactly seven days back, with mixed feelings. He’d been at S&R Less the eight months-he had been hired when the company decided to abandon its twenty-year old strategy of expanding geographically through owned outlets as against franchised ones-but he knew the India trip was one of those things that could make or break his career.
This wasn’t his first visit to India. He’d visited it as a backpacker in his second year at collage, then as a middle-level executive of a cola company, and then again, soon after he joined S&R. It was during the last visit that he noticed the kind of brand equity the company enjoyed in India. S&R was a know name and there was huge demand for its offerings. The grey market did a thriving business in both real S&R products, smuggled into the country, and ersatz ones. So, he had gone back and made case for India.
“Let us go in now and seed the market and leverage our equity there “He’d told the board. Convincing the board hadn’t made his job any easier. Then, there were tales of poor infrastructure, horror stories about how foreign investors were treated, and wholly inappropriate real estate options. Worse, some members of the board weren’t fully convinced about the ‘franchise strategy’, S&R had moved to. “I see that we are shutting three of our profitable shops in London, “one of the board members Barbara Rutherford had shifted. Fortunately for Simon, the chairperson lucy Walters had to come to his rescue. “we decide that franchising was the best way to grow last year Barbara; this meeting isn’t about that.
Finally, a compromise had been reached. S&R would enter the country through one or two pilot outlets’. To Simon went the task of finding a suitable franchise. That had been easy. The Kathuria family that ran S&R Malaysia franchise had business interests in India, and it hadn’t taken Simon much to convince them to take on the India franchise.
The two Kathuria-owned franchise store had opened in upmarket malls, Delhi and Mumbai, the previous week and Simon had winged it down to be there at the opening. The Mumbai outlet 7,000 square feet large; the Delhi one, 3,000 square feet. And both sold a range of garments for men and women, lingeries, and toiletries-all imported , and all under the S&R brand name, in keeping with the company’s policy of only selling the best quality products sourced at the least possible cost at all its outlets.
The tariff regime in India made some prices look Ludicrous-a women’s shirt cost over Rs2, 500; men’s jeans, Rs3,200-and made S&R, which was perceived to be a high-end value-for-money brand into a premium one with aspirational trimmings. Indeed, the only other stores that stocked merchandise of compatable prices were boutiques devoted to designer wear.
S&R’S Long–term Prospects
Best-case Scenario Worst-case Scenario
• Indian customers continue treating S&R as
an aspirational brand.
• The company is able to sustain its premium pricing in India.
• S&R repeats the Delhi-and Mumbai-model in other metros.
• The scalability across centers makes S&R’s local franchise profitable. • The novelty factors surrounding S&R’s launch wears off.
• Customers start asking questions about the super-premium positioning.
• Sales plateau in the Delhi and Mumbai stores.
• The franchise shows no interest in expanding a loss-making operation.
The India –strategy’s detractors at HQ had raised objections over the size of the Delhi outlet (“S&R isn’t associated with cramped buying spaces”) and the price-tags (“Indians aren’t dumb, you know). But Simon managed to steer clear of the flak. The fact that leading consulting firms estimated India’s organized retail business to zoom from Rs 5,500 crore in 2000, to Rs 35,000 crore in 2005, helped his cause.
Then, he had landed in India; the Kathurias had welcomed him like he was royality; he had been allowed to drink nothing but champagne (“Here’s to the stop reopening”; “ Here’s to our first sale”, “Here’s to our first individual sale over Rs 100,000”….); and things had gone like a dream.
The launches had coincided with India’s equivalent of the Christmas season-the festival of lights, they called it, Diwali. The two stores’ initial stock had been sold out in three days flat. And the fact that some of the products still carried their dollar prices-an oversight by the stores and a full 40 per cent lower than their prices in Indian rupees, thanks to the duties- hadn’t deterred shoppers. True, there appeared to be more demand for lingerie and cosmetics, but the other products had takers too.
Simon was surprised by the reaction. He knew that he would have to wait a few months to understand the real demand for S&R products in India. Only once the initial novelty had worn off, would the company have better idea of what Indian customers bought, and what they did not. He was also aware that while the mere fact S&R products were available in the country could have encouraged customers to overlook the 40 percent mark-up (thanks to import duties), they’d soon move to the ‘value’ buying behaviour Indians were famous for.
Simon had raised these issues at his last meeting with the Kathurias, but they were still celebrating the phenomenal success of their opening gambit and their only response had been to ply Simon with, what else, more champagne. Still, he had to admit, it had been a good beginning.
Simon signaled the steward for another refill. What the heck.. he’d earned it.
QUESTION:
1. Has Smith & Robin (S&R) chosen the right entry strategy for the Indian market?
2. “S&R has taken a risk in entering a market that is large, but offers little flexibility in terms of price and business environment” Discuss.
3. What kind of advance planning and strategic thinking should go into S&R’s corporate planning efforts so that the Indian consumer gets ‘value for money’?
Bachelors Program in Business Management (BBA) Year-I
Note :-
(i) Attempt any four Cases
(ii) All Cases carry equal marks.
CASE I
NAVEEN FISHERIES LTD.
The managing director of Naveen Fisheries Ltd. (NFL) received a message from one of the members of the crew that their mechanized boats had sunk at sea off Paradeep Port Trust due to unfavorable weather. The other directors of NFL ascertained the detailed information regarding the incident. All the promoters were fresh graduates.
Naveem, Praveen, Nagain, Ravi and Chandra were the promoters of the organization (NFL at Vishakhapattanam) with a capital contribution of Rs. 25 lakh each. Three of them had an engineering background. The other two were commerce graduates. They had thought of designing the vessels themselves so that the cost each mechanized boat would be reduced from Rs. 30 lakhs (if they bought them) to Rs. 22 Lakh. They designed three boats and these were sent out with a newly – appointed crew. Two vessels were sent to Paradeep and the third to Kakinada. Unfortunately, the weather was unfavourable. All the vessels sank. The crew also did not have experience. Two workers were injured and the rest arrived sagely. There was significant damage to the vessels and the residue was considered scrap. The cost of scrap of the vessels was nominal. As their working capital was scarce, and they were unable to invest more capital, they were in a dilemma whether to continue the business or not.
Case I Questions:
1. What were the reasons for the sinking of the vessels?
2. How could they reorganize the businesses?
CASE II
MNC CORPORATION
At MNC Corporation, a foreman of inspection noticed a mistake in the assembly of transmitter cases. The foreman, a shy man when speaking to his immediate superiors, mentioned this matter to the senior supervisor in a weak, ineffectual manner. The senior supervisor nodded his head and continued to work on a report that he was writing. Later, a production slowdown occurred, and it was discovered that this flaw in the transmitter was the cause. The chief of production engineering, upset because this error had passed inspection unnoticed, reproved the senior supervisor in a brusque manner.
The senior supervisor called in the foreman of inspection and asked why this error had not been brought to his attention. The foreman said, “I told you the other day they were missing same of the punch-outs in those transmitter cases.” The senior supervisor said, “Yes, but you did not pound the desk when you told me!”
Case II Questions:
1. Why did the communication problem arise?
2. What do you suggest to prevent the communication problem?
CASE III
MEHTA BANK LTD
Venkataraman was an officer in a leading nationalized bank with years of service to his credit. During his long period of service, he worked in different capacities and sections. His attitude and behavior made him a trusted in the organization. Having been posted in a big branch based in a large city, he was not keen on getting further promotions.
On one occasion, when he was working as an incharge of the draft issue section, he issued bundles of drawing books from the main stock of the security forms of the branch and kept the same in his custody in an almirah provided to him. One fine morning, he removed three drawing books out of the stock of books valued below Rs. 10,000 which he had in his own custody and kept them in his house. He then started issuing drafts in various names form his house out of the aforesaid stolen drawing books by allotting correct branch serial numbers obtained from the branch register under his control. The drafts were deposited in different banks/branches of the same bank in different accouns opened in the names of the payees of the drafts. These accounts were introduced by the bank employees, and some of them were in different representations only, like Mr. Venkataraman Aiyar, Mr Venkataraman Iyengar, etc. The drafts thus deposited were presented in clearing and were passed in the normal course without any doubt or suspicion. In the evening, he would visit the concerned drawee offices and collect such paid drafts.
Having found this technique successful, he tried his hand at yet another. This time he started issuing drafts in fictitious names or in the names of his close relatives drawn on outstations without any vouchers or deposits. After a few days, he would cancel the same drafts by allowing the credits to the respective accounts in his own branch by debiting the head office accounts. He continued to do this for about three months, causing a loss of over Rs. 700,000 to the bank.
The fraud came to light thanks to the presence of mind exercised by on e of the officers at another local office. He found that on the previous day also, he had paid a similar draft with the leaf number previous to the draft presented now. In his view, it was not possible for such a big office to avoid consumption of draft leaved in this fashion. Consequently, the matter was taken up with the issuing branch. Unfortunately for Venkataraman, someone else was working as the incharge of the draft issue section on that day. On checking up the records, it transpired that no such draft was issued. This led to promt investigations and detection of the whole fraud committed by Venkataraman.
Case III Questions:
1. How do you view the present fraud case: a human failure or a system failure?
2. What are the main issues in the case, and how can our present system of control prevent such fraud?
3. How would you manage the situation on detection?
CASE IV
SHAHID FABRICS
Mr. Lateef, Chairman of Shahid Fabrics, a Hyderabad-based garments and piece goods firm which exported all its products to the USA, faced a decision in August 1985. The US government had imposed quota restrictions which reduced the exports of his firm by 40 percent. He had to find a new market for his products.
Shahid Fabrics was one of Pakistan’s major exporters of garments and piece goods. Its share was 25 percent of the exports of these goods of the whole country. It was established in 1954 as a producer of cotton cloth and later, in 1966, it extended production to include garments and piece goods. It had eight local production units and the total number of employees was 8,000. All its garments and piece goods were exported, and branded according to customer specification. All the goods were exported to the USA and the sales of the firm amounted to US$ 100 million. In 1984, the US government imposed quota restrictions. By August 1985, Shahid Fabrics exports had been reduced by 40 percent.
Mr. Lateef believed that finding new markets was the only way to survive. The possible alternatives according to him were the EEC countries, the USSR, the Middle Eastern Arab countries and the other Asian countries. The EEC was a very good potential market, but Europeans were very tough buyers. It would be necessary to segregate the EEC from other buyers because of their existing specifications with regard to style, colour and packing. The USSR too was a potential market as far as demand was concerned, but the country did not have enough money in foreign exchange.
The Middle Eastern Arab countries had money, but their requirements were small due to their smaller population. Second, these countries preferred not to buy Pakistani goods directly from Pakistan$. They would rather like to buy the same Pakistani goods, branded differently from other Western countries, say France.
Asia was a big market, but the Asian countries, including turkey, were Shahid Fabrics’ competition in the international market. Mr. Lateef was deeply concerned with the loss of 40 percent of his export goods. He was eager to determine which new market offered the highest potential. He wondered what specific information he could use to help his decision.
Case IV Questions:
1. What information should Mr. Lateef develop to evaluate foreign markets?
2. Where should he look for this information?
3. Develop a framework to help Mr. Lateef identify his best potential foreign markets.
CASE V
WESTWARD EXPORTS LTD.
Mr. Abdul Ahmed, Production Manger, Westward Exports Ltd, Karachi, faced a decision in 1984. the rejection rate of their exports of readymade garments was 20 percent of total production. He also felt that their productivity was not as high as it might have been.
Westward Exports Ltd. was a large Pakistani company exporting ladies fashion garments made of pure cotton. Their main product items were blouses, skirts, dresses, shirts, pants, etc. their main overseas markets were the USA, Europe and Japan, and production was Rs. 100 million. They had about 2,000 workers engaged in production through their various subcontractors.
Production was carried out by 138 subcontractors. They did not utilize assembly line production: each individual worker carried out all the jobs required on each garment. The machinery and equipment used by the machines had a low output, and were not suited to high technology application. Mr. Abdul knew that male workers performed 60 percent of the total production and the rest was done by females. He also knew that while male workers were always willing to work overtime, their absentee rate was greater than that of women. Abdul felt that productivity could be higher, and he wondered how he should approach this issue.
The company purchased raw material (grey cloth) from several sources and had it dyed by different concerns, which sometimes caused variation in the colors. Both dyeing and inferior stitching caused the rejection rate, to rise to 20 percent of their total production. Mr. Abdul was worried about this high rate of rejection, and wondered what sequence of steps he should take to help reduce this high rejection rate.
Case V Questions:
1. What alternatives are available to Mr Abdul?
2. Other than purchasing higher technology machinery, in what ways might Mr Abdul increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the dyeing and stitching operations?
CASE VI
BABA BEARINGS COMPANY
The quality circle Sigma was started in the heat treatment section of Baba Bearings Company with seven members.
The members prepared the following list of various factors affecting the productivity of the heat treatment section.
1. Distortion of bearing races in sealed quench furnaces.
2. Loss of productivity and energy in sealed quench furnaces.
3. Excess consumption of LPG.
4. Rejection of cages due to scaling during annealing.
5. Shrinkage in tapered roller bearing outer rings.
6. Broadly, bearing are manufactured in the following three stages: (a) Turning, (b) Heat Treatment, and (c) Grinding.
The circle members, in their brainstorming session, gave priorities to the study aspects with the help of Pareto analysis. Distortion of bearing races in sealed quench furnaces was a major factor affecting the productivity. Hence, the circle decided to take this up for study. Turned rings in the soft condition are hardened and tempered. After heat treatment, it was noted that about 30 percent of the rings were beyond the specified limits of distortion (ovality). These rings were subject to straining for rectification.
Straining is a laborious process involving extra manpower and time. It affected schedules and deliveries to customers. The cause and effect diagram was employed for analysis, and the following causes identified:
• Design of heating elements
• Mesh baskets distortion
The members collected data regarding the heating element. Rings are loaded into the furnace keeping in a mesh basket in layers. The rings are heated by corrtherm heating elements; the heat is made to circulate uniformly throughout the furnace by a circulating fan. After the hardening process, it was observed that in general, the rings arranged at the sides of the basket adjacent to the heating elements showed greater ovality (50 per cent) than those at the centre (17 percent).
The members felt that rings at the sides were directly exposed to the radiant heat of the elements, and this resulted in a temperature gradient within the cross-section of the rings, causing more distortion. The temperature adjacent to the heating elements was higher by 26 degree Celsius than at the centre of the furnace.
Case VI Questions:
1. What are the measures to be taken to avoid direct effect of heat?
2. Design a quality improvement process for the bearings company.
Bachelors Program in Business Management (BBA) Year-II
Note :- Solve any 4 case study
All case carries equal marks
CASE I
EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION IN A GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION"
Bhumika Services Ltd., one of the largest public sector companies of India, was serving more than 31 million customers. Along with its vast customer base, BSNL's financial and asset bases too were vast and strong. Changing regulations, converging markets, competition and ever demanding customers had generated challenges for BSNL. The Indore division of BSNL was the first in the country, which faced competition in basic telecom services from 1998. In spite of being a government department, Indore telephones had to face the competition, and relentless efforts were put in to improve the services and provide world¬class telecom services to its customers. Among the various services offered by Indore Telecom, 197 and 183 were two special services. 197 provided non-metered enquiry services to obtain telephone numbers by simply giving the name of person/name of organization/ name and designation of person, or by giving address. 183 on the other hand, was a non¬metered enquiry service that provided similar services for distant stations. There were a large number of complaints related to these services. Complaints were either directly forwarded to the district office by customers or raised during Telephone Adalats or pointed out by correspondents during press conferences, which were conducted quarterly. Complaints ranged from non-response, long waiting time to rude responses.
S. Baheti took charge as Area Manager (North) on July 25, 2001 In the Indore Division. Immediately after taking charge, he realized that special services like 197 and 183 required urgent attention as they were directly affecting the image of the organization amongst customers. Since most of the complaints during Telephone Adalats and press conferences were related to these services, Baheti wanted to reach the root cause of the problem, to solve it forever. In this process, he looked at the background of the employees involved in the special services and found that most of the employees were office bearers of various unions that were active in the organization. The problem was more complicated than it seemed to during interactions, the employees indicated that they were not to be blamed for poor services since they were facing a number of problems in providing services and senior officials were not paying enough attention to alleviate their problems. Defective handsets, non-operating telephone lines, disturbance in lines, jacks not making proper connections, fans and air conditioners not working properly and non availability of typewriter/computer terminals were some of the problems brought to the notice of Baheti by operators.
Further investigation revealed that in addition to these technical problems, there were some Human Resource Management problems as well, such as frequent short leave, extended breaks, uninformed leave and indifferent attitude of employees towards customers. Baheti identified that despite technical problems, some operators were sincere towards their viork and tried their best to provide better services. To improve these services, Baheti decided to use multipronged strategies. Most of the technical problems were solved immediately, other problems that could not be solved at his level were forwarded to higher authorities and pursued rigorously. As the technical problems were taken care of, efficiency of sincere employees went up. Moreover, Baheti also began regular interaction with the operators, appreciating their good work, listening to their problems and explaining them the;-i. importance of their jobs. The employees were made aware of the facts that B5NL did not enjoy a sole monopolistic position any more and had to compete with private players. So the laidback attitude towards customer complaints was not only detrimental to the image of the organization, but also could lead to a reduced market share.
After gaining the confidence of operators, the next step was to motivate them. Towards this end, Baheti started announcing the best operator of the month and recognition was given to the operator by displaying his name on the board of honor. The criteria for award were minimum 200 calls attended per day and 20 days' attendance. In addition, based on last six months performance, three best performers were identified. Appreciation letters from Area Manager and General Manager were conferred upon these operators in a public function and prizes of their own choice were given to them. These efforts had a desired result and the performance of all the operators showed a marked improvement. The number of calls attended by some operators increased from 200 to 700 calls per day. Further, quick and polite response had reduced customer complaints. While reviewing the situation, Baheti was quite contended to see a remarkable change in the behavior of operators just four months. He wondered whether this change was a permanent phenomenon or he would have to strategize further.
QUESTIONS
1. Discuss the long-term relevance of motivational techniques used by Baheti in the light of prevailing environment in the organization.
2. Had you been Baheti, what other techniques you would have used to improve the special services provided by the organization?
CASE II
EMPLOYEE RELATIONS AUDIT
Triveni Foods Pvt. Ltd., a multinational confectionary company, having its branches in more than 50 countries and marketing its products in about 135 countries, established one of its production units in 1988 at Mathura near Delhi. It had a workforce of nearly 320 employees and sales turnover was more than Rs. 150 crores. Being a confectionary unit, hygiene was given the upper most priority to the extent that no one was allowed to enter the production area without taking bath and wearing sterilized clothes provided by the company. The entire process was automatic and required only food specialists and labor. In order to match the required standards, emphasis was given on training and welfare of employees on regular basis. Facilities like transportation were also provided since delay by ten minutes could cause production losses at the time of shift changes.
Over a period of time due to start and workers' redundancy, it was observed that problems like lethargy, absenteeism, violation of work practices were increasing. Absenteeism rate went up to 18 percent. Employees visited canteen for drinking water and started gossiping during working hours. Buses did not arrive on time due to which production suffered. Operators came late and left shop floor early without waiting for relievers. Employees were found hovering in administration building without any reason. It was also found that employees were violating personal hygiene standards. Malpractices were also reported with attendance process and records. These activities were having a negative impact on managerial effectiveness and performance of the unit. The management tried to take number of initiatives to overcome these problems. However, these initiatives seemed ad hoc solutions and did not serve the purpose in the long run.
In 1996, Alok Trivedi joined the company as Head of the Department H.R. While facing these problems, he realized that the causes of these problems were deep rooted and required a proactive approach. He started with an approach called Employee Relation Audit, developed by him, where everything was to be monitored, regulated and reported on regular intervals. He along with his team prepared an action plan (Appendix 1) and corrective measures were taken accordingly. Facilities of drinking water were arranged at 3 to 4 places in the production area which stopped employees from going to canteen for this purpose. Action was taken against the late arrivals of the buses. A proper time study was done and they were given ten minutes margin so that they could report on time. Operators were frequently questioned and stringent vigilance was kept for amenities. Regular counseling was also arranged. A grievance register was also kept and effective grievance redressal was undertaken. Groups were formed called 'Pragati' groups for solving work related problems. Employees were frequently checked for ensuring their strict adherence to personal hygiene standards. For ensuring timely processing and printing of attendance records, training was given to al! line officers and production of records was made mandatory on shift basis.
It was further decided that based on this action plan an audit should be carried out at regular periods so that actual performance could be measured. For quantification, a 5 point. scale 0- poor, 2-below average, 3-average, 4-good, 5-v.good) audit report was prepared featuring practices, criteria for evaluation, standards, observations/comments and rating :Appendix 2). For example, in canteen criteria for evaluation there were food quality, menu, timings and unauthorized presence of the employees in the kitchen. The standards were strict adherence to the rules defined. For transportation, arrival, departure and punching of cards by drivers were the criteria for evaluation. Internal teams of auditors were asked to observe and comment against the set standards and give the rating accordingly. Performance vas evaluated on the basis of percentage, the highest point being 215. For example, if the total points scored on various parameters in a audit report was one hundred and fifty five, hen percentage score would be seventy-two (l55/215xl00 = 72 per cent). The first audit "as carried out in August 1999 and percentage of performance was sixty two.
In the year 2000, the performance rose to sixty-five per cent. Proactive approach of solving le problems was adopted. For example, registers were maintained at different work areas, write down the complaints experienced by employees and action was taken by the concerned person. A complaint of tap leaking in a bathroom was recorded in register by a workman. It was attended by a supervisor in charge and he got it repaired immediately. At times these were reviewed and signed by H.R. department and the higher management. Due to these practices, a lot of improvement was observed. Better working conditions, increased productivity, rise in employees' commitment towards their goals and better superior -subordinate relationship could be seen. In 2001, the percentage of the performance rose to seventy two. While reviewing the Employee relation audit, Alok Trivedi was quite satisfied to note the steady though slow improvement in the figures of performance.
QUESTIONS
1. Had you been in place of Alok Trivedi, what additional measures would you have taken?
2. Critically analyze the Employee Relations Audit in the light of its contribution to self motivation of employees.
CA S E III
EMPLOYEE TURNOVER AT XYZ MOON LIFE INSURANCE
In 1950, with the enactment of the Insurance Act, Government of India decided to bring all the insurance companies under one umbrella of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). Despite the monopoly of LIC, the insurance sector was not doing well. Till 1995, only 12% of the country's people had insurance cover. The need for exploring the insurance market was felt and consequently the Government of India set up the Malhotra Committee. On the basis of their recommendations, Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IRDA) Act was passed in parliament in 2000. This move allowed the private insurers in the market with the stop foreign players with 74:26% stake. XYZ- Moon life was one of the first three private players getting the license to operate in India in the year 2000.
XYZ Moon Life Insurance was a joint venture between the XYZ Group and Moon Inc. of US. XYZ starred off its operations in 1965, providing finance for industrial development and since then it had diversified into housing finance, consumer finance, mutual funds and now its latest venture was Life Insurance. Its foreign partner Moon Inc. was established in 1858 and had grown to be the largest life insurance and mutual fund company in the U.S. Moon Inc. had its presence in Asia since the past 75 years catering to over 1 million customers across 11 Asian countries.
Within a span of two years, twelve private players obtained the license from IRDA. IRDA had provided certain base policies like, Endowment Policies, Money back Policies, Retirement Policies, Term Policies, Whole Life Policies, and Health Policies. They were free to customize their products by adding on the riders. In the year 2003, the company became one of the market leaders amongst the private players. Till 2003, total market share of private insurers was about 4%, but Moon Life was performing well and had the market share of about 30% of the private insurance business.
In June 2002, XYZ Moon Life started its operations at Nagpur with one Sales Manager (SM) and ten Development Officers (DO). The role of a DO was to recruit the agents and sell a career to those who have an inclination towards insurance and could work either on part time or full time basis. They were very specific in recruiting the agents, because their contribution directly reflected their performance. All DOs faced three challenges such as Case Rate (number of policies), Case Size (amount of premium), and Recruitment of advisors by natural market, personal observations, nominators, and centre of influence. Incentives offered by the company to development officers and agents were based on their performance, which resulted into internal competition and finally converted into rivalry.
In August 2002, ,a Branch Manager joined along with one more Sales Manager and ten Development Officers. Initially, the branch was performing well and was able to build their image in the local market. As the industry was dynamic in nature, there were frequent opportunities bubbling in the market. In order to capitalize the outside opportunities, one sales manager left the organization in January 2003. As the sales manager was a real performer, he was able to convince all the good performers at XYZ Moon Life Insurance to join the new company. As a result of this, the organizational structure got disturbed and the development officers, who were earlier reporting to the SM had started reporting directly to the branch manager. Now, nepotism crept in and the branch manager began reallocating good agents to his favorite development officers. The sales team of another sales manager became weak (low performer). Seeing the low performance of the sales manager and his development officers, the company decided to terminate their services. As the employees' turnover rate of the organization was more than the industry rate, the company had to continuously recruit sales agents as well as development officers to sustain itself in a highly competitive environment. The internal competition among development officers resulted into problems like, high employee turnover and dissatisfaction. Hence the branch was not able to perform as per the benchmarks set by the company. Its performance was not even comparable to that of other branches of the same company.
In April 2004, the company faced a grave problem, when the Branch Manager left the organization for greener pastures. To fill the position, in May 2004, the company appointed a new Branch Manager, Shashank Malik, and a Sales Manager, Rohit Pandey. The Branch Manager in his early thirties had an experience of sales and training of about 12 years and was looking after two branches i.e., Nagpur and Nasik.
Malik was given one Assistant Manager and 25 Development Officers. Out of that, ten were reporting to Assistant Manager and remaining fifteen were directly reporting to him. He was given the responsibility of handling all the operations and the authority to make all the decisions, while informing the Branch Manager. Malik opined that the insurance industry is a sunrise industry where manpower plays an important role as the business is based on relationship. He wanted to encourage one-to-one interaction, transparency and 4iscipline in his organization. While managing his team, he wanted his co-workers to analyze themselves i.e., to understand their own strengths and weaknesses. He wanted them to be result-oriented and was willing to extend his full support. Finally, he wanted to introduce weekly analysis in his game plan along with inflow of new blood in his organization. Using his vast experience, he began informal interactions among .the employees, by organizing outings and parties, to inculcate the feelings of friendliness and belonging. He wanted to increase the commitment level and integrity of his young dynamic team by facilitating proper civilization of their energy. He believed that proper training could give his team a proper understanding of the business and the dynamics of insurance industry.
QUESTIONS:
1. If you were Malik, what strategies would you adopt to solve the problem?
2. With high employee turnover in insurance industry, how can the company retain a person like Malik?
CASE IV
FRAGRANCE COMPANY LIMITED
Petals Company Limited (PCL) was initiated in the year 1919. Since then, it had produced a number of brands which enjoyed customer loyalty. It had adapted well with the changing environment and had entered into a strategic alliance with the S & G Limited, the producer of personal care products. The new company Fragrance Company Limited Was formed as a result in 1993 with equity participation from S& G and Petals Company Limited. This company marketed the products manufactured by the PCL. This alliance had given PCL access to the latest international technology in soaps and detergents. Thus, Fragrance Company Limited was now ideally placed to offer high value, international quality products at competitive prices. It was already an exporter of toilet soaps, detergents and cosmetics. It was a private organisation headed by Dharamchand, with its company's headquarters at Mumbai and seven units all over the country with one of the units at Faridabad. The turnover of the company was Rs 900 crores. The company marketed the products using the latest international technology in soaps and detergents.
The organization structure was traditionally hierarchical with the senior vice president at the top of the management, the supervisory heads at the middle level and the workers at the shop floor. The company had 450 permanent workers, and 150 contract workers, with an average age of 32 years. The recruitment policy framed was to employ freshers. The various departments in the organization were: purchase, finance, systems, engineering services, excise and dispatch, operations and personnel department. The personnel and administration department were headed by Gyanchand and the functions of the personnel administration department were: recruitment, selection, training, counseling, performance appraisal, internal mobility of employees, negotiation With workers, fixation and implementation of rules and regulations regarding wages, salary, allowances and benefits to the workers. The philosophy of the company was based on Total Quality Management (TQM) and Kaizen. The company was highly environment-friendly and was oriented towards customer’s satisfaction.
Fragrance was facing an acute crisis due to high rate of absenteeism among its permanent workers. The losses were soaring high. There was loss in production, and high expenses and indiscipline were also observed. The personnel administration department conducted a survey in the year 1998. They found that the rate of absenteeism was about 20% on an average. The rules and regulations regarding leave were-12-17 days of leave with pay, 7 days casual leave with pay, 5 day sick leave with pay, extra leave without any pay. The benefits were provided as per the Employees State Insurance Act. The data collected revealed that 36% of the absenteeism was due to transportation problem, 48% was because of the workers staying away from their families, 52% due to festivals, 32% due to farming, 48% on account of alcholism, 80% on account of social occasions/marriages and 76% due to sickness of family members.
The other findings were that approximately 80% of the workers were married and they had children to look after and hence had a greater tendency towards taking leave, 8% of workers possessed dual jobs ,e.g., driving for others, mechanic work etc., so they felt that they could earn more on a particular day by remaining absent; 96% of the workers did not like night shifts and they remained absent from duty; 28% of the workers were not satisfied with the working conditions i.e. canteen facilities, drinking water, social and cultural activities and cleanliness. In 1998, the company tried to reduce absenteeism by introducing conveyance allowance for attendance and night shift allowance. The scheme called Inaam; was launched in which a worker who did not avail leave in three months, received Rs 200 per month. In¬house training was imparted to workers In order to educate them about the consequences of absenteeism. They were also sent for 3-6 months training to the Central Board of Workers Education on rotation.
Counseling sessions were held for the workers in order to increase their awareness. The company also introduced the philosophy of workers participation in the management to increase their involvement and commitment towards the work. The practice of organizing picnics, festival celebration, informal get-togethers, and sports activities were also adopted to increase the commitment. Regularity was made an important component of performance appraisal and promotion. After one year, Gyanchand was highly perplexed to see only a negligible improvement in the report of the survey conducted by the personnel administration department. The rate of absenteeism had dropped by only 3%, i.e. from. 20% to 17% in spite of introducing the aforesaid schemes.
QUESTIONS:
1. What role do the non-financial incentives play in motivating the workers and minimizing the rate of absenteeism?
2. What innovative solutions would you suggest to minimize the rate of absenteeism?
C A S E V
Vetements Ltee
Vetements Ltee is a chain of men’s retail clothing stores located throughout the province of Quebec, Canada. Two years ago, the company introduced new incentive systems for both store managers and sales employees. Store managers receive a salary with annual merit increasing based on sales above targeted goals, store appearance, store inventory management, customer complaints, and several other performance measures. Some of this information (e.g., store appearance) is gathered during visits by senior management, while other information is based on company records (e.g., sales volume).
Sales employees are paid a fixed salary plus a commission based on the percentage of sales credited to that employee over the pay period. The commission represents about 30 per cent of a typical paycheck and is intended to encourage employees to actively serve customers and to increase sales volume. Because returned merchandise is discounted from commission, sales staff are discouraged from selling products that customers do not really want.
Soon after the new incentive systems were introduced, senior management began to receive complaints from store managers regarding the performance of their sales staff. They observed that sales employees tended to stand near the store entrance waiting for customers and would occasionally argue over “ownership” of the customer. Managers were concerned that this aggression behavior intimidated some customers. It also tented to leave some parts of the store unattended by staff.
Many managers were also concerned about inventory duties. Previously, sales staff would share responsibility for restocking inventory and completing inventory reorders forms. Under the new compensation system, however, few employees were willing to do these essential tasks. On several occasions, stores experienced stock shortages because merchandise was not stocked or reorder forms were not completed in a timely manner. Potential sales suffered from empty shelves when plenty of merchandise was available in the back storeroom or at the warehouse. The company’s new automatic inventory system could reduce some of these problems, but employees must still stock shelves and assist in other aspects of inventory management.
Store managers tried to correct the inventory problem by assigning employees to inventory duty, but this has created resentment among the employees selected. Other managers threatened sales staff with dismissals if they did not do their share of inventory management. This strategy has been somewhat effective when the manager is in the store, but staff members sneak back onto the floor when the manager is away. It has also hurt staff morale, particularly relations with the store manager.
To reduce the tendency of sales staff to hoard customers at the store entrance, some managers assigned employees to specific areas of the store. This also created some resentment among employees stationed in areas with less traffic or lower-priced merchandise. Some staff openly complained of lower paychecks because they were assigned to a slow area of the store or were given more than their share of inventory duties.
Question
1. What symptom(s) exist in this case to suggest that something has gone wrong?
2. What are the root causes that have led to these symptoms?
3. What actions should the organization take to correct these problems?
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