WE
ARE PROVIDING CASE STUDY ANSWERS
ASSIGNMENT
SOLUTIONS, PROJECT REPORTS
AND
THESIS
ISBM / IIBMS / IIBM / ISMS / KSBM / NIPM -
SMU / SYMBIOSIS / XAVIER / NIRM / NAMS….
MBA EMBA
BMS GDM MIS
MIB
DMS
MMS DBM PGDMA
DBA…..
WEBSITE: www.casestudies.co.in
ARAVIND 09901366442 09902787224
CASE I
EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION IN A GOVERNMENT
ORGANIZATION"
Bhumika Services Ltd., one of the largest public sector companies of India Indore Indore
S. Baheti took charge as Area Manager (North) on July 25, 2001 In the Indore
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
- Discuss the long-term relevance of
motivational techniques used by Baheti in the light of prevailing environment
in the organization.
- 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
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:
- 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
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
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 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. Inhouse 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
HE WHO RIDES A TIGER
In the Year of the Youth, the author took up a research project on young
industrial workers. It involved comparing young and old workers.
Two industries producing the same machines at similar technological level were
selected. One belonged to the private sector and the other to the public
sector. While the latter was started a decade later than the former, it had
achieved greater expansion. Both were located in the same state.
After we obtained necessary permission to conduct our
study, we reached the mofussil town where the private sector
industry was located. Before we could launch our study, as a matter of
principle, we wanted to meet the General Secretary of
the workers' union. The Personnel Department was not willing for this. On our
insistence they called the union official. We talked to him for about half an
hour but Personnel Department people were all the time hovering around. So we
fixed a time in the evening to meet him in the union office in the town. We visited the union office in the evening. The union was having problem regarding wage deduction of some workers who did not show up
for overtime. The overtime notice was short and they had not consented either, even then the management was threatening wage
deduction for one week. The union could hardly do a thing' as they in the past had burnt their hands when they had to unilaterally call off the 106 day old strike in which even their Treasurer had committed suicide. They were scared to the extent
that they had productivity linked bonus agreement for even 12% bonus. Moreover,
a new minuscue union was recently started in the company.
We visited the new union's office next evening and held a long discussion.
They asked for' our suggestions. The union believed in legal
battles more than agitations. After a visit to the industry the author visited
the state headquarters of the new union. There every office bearer was
surprisingly a lawyer. In the HQ we learnt that after we left, their union took
out a procession and held a meeting in the temple. Perhaps this was the result
of our discussion. While the older union was a prisoner of its past, the new
union was free to write its own history. Workers' interests were being served
perhaps by both.
QUESTIONS:
1.
Discuss merits/demerits of the role of
strike, agitation and legal approach in unionmanagement relations.
2.
What role does mutual trust play in building
union-management relations?
No comments:
Post a Comment