Case Study: Tiger Nurturing Goats

The Tiger Group of Companies is a major conglomerate in Bangladesh, with market leadership

in 3 industrial sectors and strong positions in another 5. Its founder Mr. Amjad Hussain started

his business 30 years ago with very little capital and a lot of courage. Mr. Hussain’s deep

understanding of consumers’ basic needs and his aggressive business tactics converted a small

home-based business into a corporate powerhouse.

However, the group has never thought of HR planning and as the business grew, people were

mostly hired on an immediate need basis: to tackle short term crises and exploit immediate

opportunities. Also, common with other one-man-shows, the hiring was mostly done through Mr.

Hussain’s personal network of friends and family, never were there any real assessment of skills,

person-job fit tested or questioned. The upward mobility of these people was also done

personally by Mr. Hussain based on loyalty appeal and personal needs of the employees rather

than job evaluation of any kind. As a result, as the group matured, many people with limited

abilities came to assume crucial positions, for which they were not always qualified.

For example, some of the unit heads did not know how to read balance sheets, some senior

accountants are not computer literate and still preferred keeping transaction records on paper;

many line chiefs could not develop strategies for their functions! In the old days ‘Tiger’ Hussain

made the strategies and they just obeyed his orders. They were never encouraged to develop their

own business plans, take decisions or question the orders of the boss, so even when they thought

he was wrong – he expected silent obedience and people who spoke up in top level meetings

were humiliated in front of all.

This Case Study is prepared by Parveen S. Huda -1–

This case is completely imaginary, any resemblance to any real-life organization is unintentional.
Once this practice of haphazard hiring and promotions was established as a norm in Tiger Group,

it continued even after the business had survived its toughest times and employed thousands of

people. Little thought was given to future competency and leadership needs, questions of equity

or transparency, or the compounding costs of unplanned, impulsive hires. Wrong hires only

resulted in more wrong hires. The issue was compounded by poor management of talent and

compensation. Seniority and personal relations determined a person’s value. There were many

machinists, drivers and support staff who were from Mr. Hussain home district and due to long

service with the group they were earning higher or almost as much as officers and junior

managers. Soon there were two people doing the work of one, and with half the efficiency!

In recent years, Mr. “Tiger” Hussain gradually began to take assistance from four directors: his

four children. As he had grown richer and more aware over the last 30 years – he had wisely

guided his children with their education and they all went abroad for their business degrees. As

they came back one-by-one – they joined the family business – but as Management Trainees.

Each of them of course was destined to have the fastest growth in their careers and as expected

became Directors of business units within 3 years of joining. Although he has still retained most

of the executive powers on major decisions, his heirs’ rational and sound analysis of problems

and practical solutions have helped to provide the group some formal structure and an

increasingly uniform appearance. Finally, having gained their father’s trust and professional

respect, the young directors have received the ‘go–ahead’ to conduct a group – wide assessment

of the actual contribution of different positions and their corresponding monetary value. This

meant that eventually there would be a group wide restructuring initiative, which also meant

many jobs were now hanging in the balance.

This Case Study is prepared by Parveen S. Huda -2–

This case is completely imaginary, any resemblance to any real-life organization is unintentional.
Aggressive as Mr. “Tiger” Hussain might be against his competition, he is known to be a very

kind and benevolent employer. He also places a high premium on loyalty and has a soft corner

for those who stood by him in the early days; whether they are senior managers or workers at the

plants. Mr. Hussain was convinced that the group needed to be more efficient with its resources.

But he still wanted to soften the impacts on those who would suffer from the restructuring. The

directors presented an analysis of total extra cost the group was incurring every year for keeping

the wrong people in important positions and paying many people much more than what their

contributions were worth in the job market. But Mr. Hussain appealed to them for as few job-

cuts as possible!

Question 1: If you were one of the Directors of the Tiger Group of Industries, what

Strategic HR systems and procedures would you introduce and/or change, to make this

group more effective, but at the same time make sure that those who will lose their jobs will

have a good exit from the group of companies?

Question 2: What suggestions will you give to the Chairman of the Board for future

Strategic HR Management of the group of companies, based on their next 30 years of

business sustainability?

This Case Study is prepared by Parveen S. Huda -3–

This case is completely imaginary, any resemblance to any real-life organization is unintentional.