XLRI Jamshedpur The Ordnance Factory J.

Singh

Company Profile:
 Manufacturer of rifles and pistols for the armed forces.
 Employs 1500 persons
 Most of the production and testing equipment is old because the government has not
provided sufficient funds for maintenance or replacement. It has chosen to spend more
money on more glamorous weapons systems.
 As a result, the factory has faced increasing difficulty in meeting its goals.
 For 4 months in a row, it has failed to meet the quality standards for rifling (cutting the
spiral grooves inside the gun barrel) ---requiring 30 to 40% reworking every month.

The Characters:
 Col. Shamsher Bahadur has been General Manager for the past 5 years—ever since he
was passed over for promotion to the next rank in the army. He has 2 years left until
retirement. He has the image of a ‘kindly father’. He expressed his philosophy thus: “I
have been in the army for almost 30 years and the number of outright shirkers I have
encountered can be counted on my fingers. Most men will give you honest effort if you
treat them fairly, show a strong personal interest, keep them informed, and let them
participate in decisions so that they can affect some aspects of their work….I never
conduct inspections to demonstrate I’m a tough boss, only to assist people in improving
performance.”

 V. Murthy, a civilian, is the Deputy GM. He has been at the factory for the past 20 years.
He is responsible for most day-to-day operations.

 Bansi Lal, a mechanical engineer, is the departmental head in rifling. He is the youngest
officer at his level. He wears long hair and a fine mustache---in sharp contrast to his
short-haired, middle-aged employees. Yet, he is close to them and joins them occasionally
in volleyball games and evening parties.
Bansi seems to be having problems with quality. His men say the problems are due to the
old equipment which breaks down often. The maintenance group (a separate department)
is overloaded and can’t fix the problems. So Bansi, a wizard mechanic, often ends up
carrying out the repairs himself while his men watch.

Bansi and Murthy have some conflicts. Though Bansi tolerates his boss’ wisecracks about his
hairstyle, he resents his criticism of his department. In response to Murthy’s pressures to keep the
department area clean, he has assigned two disgruntled operators as cleaners---and has asked
others to join in when their equipment is down for repairs.
The simmering feud erupted yesterday when Bansi, with his shirt off, was lying under the rifling
drill replacing a stripped gear. The following conversation took place:
Murthy: Bansi, where the hell are you?
Bansi: Over here, under the machine.
Murthy: Get out and come here. Those jokers of yours are sitting outside smoking. Damn it, you
can’t even keep your area clean, much less meet your production goals. What the hell are you
doing about it?
Bansi: Nothing! They’ve worked hard today; they’ll be back as soon as the machine starts
working. When are you going to fight to get some money to replace this lousy thing---instead of
sneaking around looking for dust particles?
Murthy: OK wise guy, that’s it. I’m going to see the Colonel. You’ll be out on the streets.

Murthy immediately went to meet the Colonel.

Stop!
1. What are the main problems, and their causes, at the
factory?
2. What should Col. Bahadur do now?

The following conversation took place between the Colonel and Murthy:
Murthy: Colonel, you’ve got to fire Bansi. He’s insubordinate. His men are running wild. I want
him out.
Col: Hold on, tell me calmly what happened. Bansi seems to be a nice young guy. There must be
some misunderstanding.
Murthy: Like hell! He’s no leader. He does the work while his men stand around. He’s a chicken.
Unless you do something, I’m going higher up to file a formal complaint about him.
Col: Let me talk to Bansi first.
Murthy: OK, but I’ve run out of patience.

Stop!
What would you say to Murthy if you were the Colonel?

The following conversation took place between the Colonel and Bansi:
Col: Bansi, what is the problem between you and Murthy?
Bansi: Nothing---if he would mind his own business. But he keeps poking his nose around telling
me to clean up rooms, wax the floor, cut the break time. He doesn’t understand that our main
problem is our lousy equipment.
Col: But aren’t you fixing the equipment yourself too often? What of the Maintenance Dept or
your men?
Bansi: Time is too precious; I can’t wait on them. What we really need is more maintenance and
new equipment. Can you get that for us?
Col: I’m trying but nobody is listening to me. If I argue any more, we’ll only make
enemies….I’m sure things will work out eventually. In the meantime, work along with Murthy.
Bansi: OK—but he better get off my back.

This afternoon, Murthy walked into the department 10 minutes before the end of the shift and
found Bansi conducting calibration tests on the equipment while his men were washing up. He
burst out:
Murthy: You clowns, you can’t even keep your equipment running and you are playing around.
…And Bansi, you incompetent fellow, you are afraid of your men. I’ve had it. If the colonel does
not act this time, I’m going to the Ordnance Board to complain about you.

Without saying a word, Bansi punched Murthy in the face.

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*Condensed and adapted from Ross Webber: Management (Irwin)