CASE
MANAGERIAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH MBO The banking sector is still reeling under the impact. The new American Bank has been in India for the past twenty years with branches in metropolitan of the recent economic crisis cities. The bank can boast of various innovations in the field of consumer banking. Their customer service and finance divisions has been the best of all foreign banks. But the business going through a bad phase from last two years. The vice president asked Mahesh Rao, to draw together a small group to examine and recommend improvement in the current structure and managerial practices within the bank. Though Mahesh was, as manager, training and development, at a lower level then GMs and directors, the VP trusted his abilities to handle the training and improvements. In the month’s time Mahesh reported back with a plan for management training base on job structures. The plan was based on key performance areas identified for various levels and consisted of inhouse and external programmes. All development programmes covered the key areas, which directly affect the performance and development of specific levels of manager. One hundred and twenty managers were earmarked to attend two three programmes depending upon the analysis done by Mahesh. Over the next four months, almost 80% of the managers attended programmes on managerial skill and on their specific area of work. By the end of these four months, most senior managers indicated that improvement in work place is visible. Most of the trainers themselves reacted positively to the training programme.
Answer the following question.
Q1. Agreement between boss and subordinates regarding their goals is vital for the success of Management by objectives. Comment.
Q2. What benefits can you expect from the training programme based upon MBO.
CASE
THE DILEMMA OF UNCERTAINITY The ancient skills Training Company was started by Abu Ibrahim as a major house dealing in silken upholstery and carpets. He sold most of the products directly through the retail chains and also through his own boutiques in metro cities. Two years ago, he entered into a partnership with an old friend, running a direct marketing company to form Ancient skills Pvt Ltd, a small order business. His partner had good exposure to this line and they used one of his old factories at Delhi as head officecum warehouse. The business took off reasonably well but it was slower than what Ibrahim had expected. It also required considerable capital to set up the stocks, computer systems for enquires and follow ups, etc. Recently Ibrahim received an offer from his old agent, a buying house in Mumbai for large quantity of handwoven rugs. The transportation costs were very high and also their profit was dependent on how well the agent sold the rugs. The risk was that if the rugs didn’t sell in high volume, the margin would be very low and also disposing off these unsold rugs would be difficult. They would need to either sell these through their own store in Mumbai or include these in mail order category. Both will require large advertising expenses, thus reducing the profit margin. Still the offer was big enough to give a second thought with 50% chances making a good deal.
Answer the following question.
Q1. Should Ibrahim accept the offer? Give reason for your choice of answer.
Q2. If the rugs failed to succeed in this sale deal, what options should Ibrahim exercise for selling the unsold rugs?
CASE
Safety of aero planes has been a major issue with airlines. The human life in itself is priceless and any accident evens a minor one is a setback to the accountability and reputation of the airline. Apart from this loss, accidents destroy assets worth in crores of rupees including aircrafts, crew and pilots. The magnitude of an air accident is large and thus all the airlines have to constantly maintain and improve upon safety standards. One critical factor in these accidents is human error. The fact about accidents is that majority of them occur at taking off or landing or within ten minutes of any start or end of journey. These operations are done by pilots and administered by the ground control authorities, thus the human factor becomes important. Considering this, International Airways, a private airline, has recently taken up the issues at major level. The top management has decided to compare and study the best available monitoring systems and adopt the one which is most suitable for their process. The top management decided that one of the actions taken in this direction will be to provide the best training to their pilots and crew. It decided to approach one of the best and most advanced airlines. Eska which is a multinational leader in equipment and quality to train their employees. The deal was finalized and a team of twelve senior trainers and pilots came to International Airways. After initial introductions, twenty pilots and twelve senior crew managers were to start their training under these foreign trainers. The top management also took keen interest in their system developed inhouse and training schedules. Generally the people at International Airways have been very positive about this training. The Group Chief training Anil has served many national and international airlines and is considered an icon in the industry. He had cultural differences in the company and its counterpart, Eska. He also felt that the cultural difference is even more apparent in the area of development and training. The trainers have a task oriented style and very upright about it. During training, the trainers used the class room teaching and flight simulators to achieve maximum benefits. The group of trainees for around ten days was fully captivated by the teaching style and the techniques displayed. The concept advocated strongly by the trainers were the ones they never encouraged for in their company. The trainers on the other hand emphasized that the ultimate aim to the pilot and the crew is to avoid a crisis.
Answer the following question.
Q1. What is the case all about? Give brief.
Q2. Compare the cultural aspects of the International Airways with those of their trainers.
CASE
PROMOTIONAL ISSUES Mary Roberts had been with the company three years when she was promoted to manager of the tax department which was part of the controller’s division. Roberts started with the company when she graduated from college as an accounting major. She entered the organization as a management trainee, and during the oneyear program she demonstrated considerable leadership ability as an informal leader her peers. Mary also impressed many senior managers in the company with her sense of responsibility and her willingness to work hard. All of her training assignments were completed on time with considerable skill for an inexperienced person. Since she was very interested in tax accounting, Roberts was assigned to the tax department to be developed further as staff accountant. Within four months she became a supervisor of ten staff as a staff accountants to fill a vacancy created by an unexpected early retirement. Her superior believed her to be the most qualified individual to fill the position even though others in the department had more experience in tax accounting. None, however, demonstrated leadership ability or the commitment to work that Mary possessed. The tax department manager was promoted to fill a vacancy in the financial planning department eight months later, and he recommended to the controller that Mary Roberts be promoted to fill the position he was leaving. He mentioned that her work was excellent and that she was a very effective supervisor. The tax department had 45 employees including 3 supervisors, 10 clerical employees, and 3 typists. Several people in the department were senior personnel with 10 to 30 years of experience in tax work. Some of these were more technically knowledgeable in taxation than Mary. There was some resentment in this group that so young a person was made a department head, and three of these people were particularly upset because they desired the promotion and felt they deserved it. What made them even more upset was the fact that the tax manager did not discuss the promotion with them.
Answer the following question.
Q1. What can Mary Roberts do about the resentful senior employees?
Q2. Will her lack of technical knowledge hinder Mary’s managerial effectiveness?
Q3. Should Mary’s superior have discussed the promotion with the senior employees before announcing it?
Q4. Can higher management do anything to help Roberts make the transitions to greater responsibility?