CASE STUDIES

SOLVED CASE STUDIES

to automate
Case Study 1: Management Therefore, to reduce the cost, it was essential
Bharat Engineering Works Limited is production lines by installing new equipment.
major not have any
nanufacturer of industrial machineries besides other Director of Research and Development did indicate for any
not
engineering products. It has enjoyed considerable specific problem and, therefore, didscientist in R and D
market preference for its machineries because of limited change. However, a principal of R & D, though
competition in the field. Usually there has been more indicated on one day that the Director
not emphasise short-term
iers than what the company could supply. However, very nice in his approach, did increase production
Se scenario changed quickly because of the entry of research projects which could easily cent within a very
NO new competitors in the field with foreign efficiency to the extent of atleast 20 per
projects did not involve any
chnological collaboration. For the first time, the short period. Moreover, such
company faced problem in marketing its products with major capital outlay.
ISual profit margin. Sensing into the likely problem, the Mr. Kumar got himself convinced
about the management
Chief Executive appointed Mr. Arvind Kumar as process going on in the division
and the type of problems
General Manager to direct the operations of industrial being faced.
machinery division. Mr. Kumar has similar assignment
abroad before coming back to India. Questions: characteristics of
Executive a) Discuss the nature and company.
Mr. Kumar had a discussion with the Chief management process followed in the
the
about the nature of the problem being faced by Chief
company so that he could fix-up his priority. The
One Possible Solution
of Bharat Engineering Works
Executive advised him to consult various heads The management process of of industrial machinery has
However, he
departments to have first hand information. integrated Limited a major manufacturer
an the following characteristics:
emphasised that the company lacked the Board of conscious determination of
planning system while
members of 1) Planning: Planning is theto achieve the desired results.
Directors insisted on introducing this in several meetings a future course of action
doing. It
Planning is the process of thinking beforedone, how
both formally and informally. means the determination of what is
to be
who is to do it and how
Manager, Mr. Kumar got and where it is to be done,
After joining as General departments. He asked all results are to be evaluated. In Bharat
Engineering
briefings from the heads of all major problems and issues Works Limited the planning process was separate for
departmental heads to identify Manager indicated that different functional areas; there is lack of
centralised
Marketing
concerning them. The more sales planning system which is the main cause of
all the
order to achieve higher sales, he neededconcern was
In professionals. His main problems.
managers and sales marketing
engineering support to sales and but they 2) Organising: It is the process of dividing work into
alack of had adequate
engineers
convenient tasks or duties, of grouping such duties in
efforts. The company separate engineering groups.
three the form of posts, of delegating authority to each so
Were spread under
which had that work is carried out as planned. Organisation
had no central organisation
Therefore, some contributes to the efficiency of the enterprise. In the
Salespeople support.
Tesponsibility to provide
sales
at higher costs
or with company the sales department had a decentralised
from outside budget for organisation where the responsibility and authority for
done
Jobs were beingBesides, he needed a generous trial basis carrying-out tasks are delegated to lower-level
a
lower quality. system which could be sent on managers. Because of the lack of centralised sales
demonstration
to win
business.
old organisation in the company there is lack of sales
to customers complained about the
mánager manufacturing.
support to the salespeople.
Production equipment used in without
The 3) Staffing: It means manning the positions created by
machines and production was high but better organisation process. This process includes the
Therefore, cost of competitors had neither
While Engineering selection of the candidates for positions, fixing
Corresponding quality.
machinery, Bharatgot it reconditioned financial compensation, training and development,
equipment and age-old plant
nor
replaced its
 204
MBA First Semester (Management Concepts and Organisational Behaviour) Ava
promotion, transfer, etc. Marketing Manager indicated
that in order to achieve higher sales, he needed more
sales managers and sales professionals, therefore it
can be said that there is an imbalance in the staffing
process in the company. Because of lack of personnel
in the marketing department the
company is
outsourcing its work which is causing higher cost of
the work done.
4) Directing: Direction is the key to the
of the desired result. Once achievement
subordinates are
oriented, the superior has a continuous
responsibility of guiding and leading them for
better work performance and motivating them to
work with zeal, confidence, and enthusiasm. The
directing process of the R&D department of the
company was focused on long-term research
projects and did not focus on short-term research
projects which could easily increase production
efficiency.
5) Coordination and Control: Coordination as a
function of management refers to the task of
integrating the activities of separate units of an
organisation to accomplish the goals efficiently. The
controlling function brings to light the deviations if
any, and assists the management in making the
necessary changes in the plan or policies. Because of
the lack of centralised planning and organisation the
Company was lagging behind in terms of coordination
and control.
b) What are
the real problems of industrial
machinery division of the company?
One Possible Solution
The industrial machinery division of the company faces
the following problems which hinders the growth of the
company:
1) Earlier the company had limited competition so it
enjoyed considerable market preference for its
machineries, but because of the entry of two new
competitors in which had foreign technological
collaboration the company faced problem in
marketing its products with usual profit margin.
2) Bharat Engineering Works Limited faced many
problems due to lack of an integrated planning
system. In absence of the integrated system of
planning, it becomes difficult to coordinate with
different departments and construct effective plans.
3) The company is unable to provide engineering
support to the sales and marketing departments as the
engineers are spread under separate engineer groups.
4) There is also a problem of outsourcing as some jobs
were being done from outside. These jobs were done
at higher costs or with lower quality.
5) A major problem in the industrial machinerydivision
of the company is the use of old machineries for
manufacturing. Due to this the manufacturing cost is
high. undermined.
6) The industrial machinery division of the
alsohas a problem of producing poor quality product
due to old and obsolete machines.
company
c) What steps should be taken by Mr. Kumar t
overcome these problemns?
One Possible Solution
Mr. ArvindKumar was appointed as a General Manaoer
to direct the operations of industrial machinery division
should take the following steps to overcome the
problems of the industrial machinery division of the
company:
1) Mr. Kumar should focus on enabling an integrated
planning system in the company. This integrated
system can help in coordinating planning activities
with all departments and functional areas.
2) The company should recruit more sales managers and
professionals to support sales and marketing efforts.
The company should also focus on reforming the
three separate engineering groups into a single group
so that the engineers can offer their support when
needed.
3) A centralised organisation should be established for
the sales people and also a generous budget for
demonstration system which could be sent on a trial
basis to customers to win business.
4) The company should replace or recondition the old
machineries and equipments in order to reduce
production cost as well as to improve the quality of
the products. This will also help the company to
counter competition and win back their position in the
market.
5) Mr. Kumar should take steps to change the
functioning techniques in the research and
development department and to encourage the director
of R & D department to emphasise on short term
projects which could easily increase production
efficiency to the extent of atleast 20 per cent within a
very short period.
Case Study 2: Delegation
Akash is the supervisor of a busy clerical section set up in
ABC bank six months ago. He has six clerks under his
supervision; one senior clerk and five juniors. Each junior
clerk has different regular tasks to perform, all of which
interlink and each of which is understood by the senior
clerk. He covers for them occasionally and is competent in
every job, although he lacks sufficient experience and
knowledge to tackle more complex iechnical matters.
Akash, on the other hand, cannot only do all the clerical
jobs in the section, but he also taken sole responsibility for
more complicated work. He supervises the output of all
the staff very closely, so closely, that they joke about it to
the senior clerk and complain to each other about Akash's
constant attention. This leads to resentment on the part of
the senior clerk, who feels that his authority is constantly
Case
Studiec

As
a rule all the clerks
5.00 p.m. complete their day's work
and 205
30p.m.
arelyfinishes his work However,
before Akash,
6.30
between
on the other
hand,
c)
What would you do if vou were the senior clerk?
tine
forIunch, bccause he is p.m.
so busy and also has litle
ohordinates as wel as completing hischecking own the work of
One Possible Solution
ITTwould have been the senior clerk then Iwould do the
Recently,the section had a
due to illness. The bad work, when following:
work
chance to deputise for
senior clerk hadAkashnever
was off ) Monitor the individual performance of all junior
Akash and had a clerks as Akash used to do,
unableto handle Akash' s
Akash's normal
more therefore was simply
difficult work. Because of 2) Properly delegate the individual task to all the juniors,
experience of methods
of 3) Do not try to cover up for the task of
o operation,
effectively supervising the senior clerk had try to save them for their faults,
juniors neither
On
several the
the manageractivities
the section. 4) Conduct proper follow-up meeting with the
intosolve time-consuming occasions had to
of
step 5) Supervises the output of all the staff very juniors,
closely, as
couldnot be solved at all problems, some of which closely as Akash used to do.
infact
without the presence of Akash.
Onhis return to his work, d) As Akash, what would be your course of action to
in no uncertain terms of
Akash was told by the ensure that such situations never arise?
inefficiency and
the damage
caused manager
by the
performance as adisorganisation of his section. His poor
One Possible Solution
badly in his supervisor meant that his section ran As Akash my course of action to ensure that such
hock and dismay. absence.
very Akash's situations never arise:
reaction
He felt that he had worked was one of 1) Strictly monitor the performance of senior clerk as
stra effort, was unaware of the hard, put in well of junior clerks,
nrk and concerned to save his quality of his section's
bis distress, however, he staff excessive effort. In 2) Conduct regular meeting and follow up with senior
assured his manager that such a clerk as well as the manager of the company so that
situation would never arise again. they can be made aware of the current scenario,
Questions: 3) Do not cover up for the juniors in order to protect
them as this makes them more dependent on Akash,
a) Identify the problems in this case. 4) Teach or give training to. all the people in the
department so that they can manage the work in the
One Possible Solution absence of Akash,
The various problems that could be identified in this case 5) Make the junior compensate (by increasing the
include the following: scheduled working time) for working below standard
)) The main problem is of proper supervision as if they do so.
we
know that supervision means overseeing from above
by a superior therefore Akash is not able to supervise Case Study 3: Attitude
properly, Express Courier Services is engaged in providing courier
2) Second problem concerns the mistake of Akash for services throughout the country. Besides all metropolitan
covering the task of junior clerk occasionally as this cities, it has its branches almost in every large city. In
has resulted in dependence on the part of junior clerk, providing its courier services, the company- has put
3) Thirdly the policy that involves regulation of five emphasis on fast and reliable delivery at the least possible
junior clerks by one senior clerk is also a big problem cost. With this emphasis, the company. has been able to
as this reduces the chances of finding the mistake on attract large number of customers, both corporates and
the part of senior clerk, individuals. The company's financial performance has
for completing been quite satisfactory up to 2000. However, with the
4) Finally taking the sole responsibility
although he lacks entry of low-cost couriers during 2000 and onwards, the
complicated work by Akash number of customers of Express started declining. Many
to tackle more
sufficient experience and knowledge problem. of these couriers have franchisees in different cities which
another big
complex technical matters is yet collect and distribute parcels fOr the couriers on
manager, would you do commission basis. Further, each of these couriers has a
b) What, if you were Akash's single branch even in very large cities rather than having a
to help Akash? network of branches in a city.They collect parcels through
One Possible Solution firstly franchisees which are mostly Public Call Offices (PCOs).
Akash's manager I would clerk Parcels are also distributed through some of these PCOs.
TIwould have been the senior
senior clerk or replace that he has
Because of such a system, operating cost of these couriers
<pPOint one more be pretended is comparatively much lower, hence lower
his activities it could now not able to courier charges
4S by and that he is to customers.
VCCome irresponsible
efficiently.
Supervise the junior clerks In order to face challenges posed by these
assistant under Akash
sothat he can Express Courier Services decided to makelow-cost courier
couriers,
Also I would give an case of his absence
dåe to
competitive by bringing them down. In order to maintain charges
according to Akash in
De trained reason. profitability at the existing level, it designed and implemented
illness or any other