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General Manager in Bangla Craft

tr
Abu Saleh Md. Sohel-Uz-Zaman

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General Manager in Bangla Craft

In June 2001, Rifat Satter, Managing Director of Bangla Craft Ltd. was looking at a
statement on the capability of his four Branch Managers. On the basis of the report he
had to decide whom he would promote as General Manager because Farhat Imran,
General Manager had expressed his interest for retirement.

Bangla Craft and Its Management

Bangla Craft Ltd. is the largest handicraft store in Dhaka city. The business
established as a private limited company in 1984. At the end of the year 2000 the
business had four huge handicraft stores in four prominent parts - Dhanmondi,
Gulshan, IJttaru and Elephant Road of the Dhaka city.

The head office was located in Lalamatia (See Exhibit -1). There were four Branch
Managers in charge of each branch (See Exhibit -2). The head office managed the
business in terms of target sales, sales and promotion, HR polices and practices,
investment and finance and so on; but the day-to-day management of the branches
was vested in the hand of the Branch Managers. The General Manager was in charge
of overall coordination of the activities. Branch Managers reported to the General
Manager while Finance and Accounts reported directly to the Managing Director.

Managers of Bangla Craft

Imran Farhat, a retired army personnel, had joined Bangla Craft as a General Manager
in the year of its commencement. He was one of the real well-wishers of business. In
January 2001, he expressed his willingness to retire from the service. Satter,
Managing Director requested Farhat to continue his work until a suitable replacement
could be found. He (Satter) knew that it would be pretty difficult for him to get a good
replacement. For the convenience of the decision, Farhat provided Satter a
comparative statement on the capability, competency and limitations of four branch
managers. The management was interested to promote instead of recruiting from
outside.

Anwar Ibrahim
Anwar Ibrahim was the manager of Dhanmondi branch. Among the four managers, he
was the senior most. He was well liked and respected by all employees. In Satter's
opinion he was not quite efficient to supervise the business though he was a very hard
working man. He liked to do everything on his own rather than delegating. From a
branch point of view he was quite competent but not for the entire business. Mr.
Ibrahim had another strength; in case of emergency he could lead from the front. His
people-oriented personality made him acceptable to all. There was rumour that
Ibrahim had an offer from a rival business at an increased salary of Tk. 20,000 per
month with a position of General Manager. If he does not get the promotion, chances
were that he would leave.

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Towhid Reza Noor
The manager of Gulshan branch was working with Bangla Craft for last ten years.
Initially he had joined as an Assistant Floor-in-Charge. Due to his commitment to
work, determination, technical ability and efficiency he got promoted quickly. On the
other hand, Noor had a rude personality that might annoy managers and employees.
Moreover he was bit of an introvert. Employees did not like him as much as Ibrahim
though he was very reliable to the management. He always had offers from different
organisations; so far he did not pay any attention to those offers.

Tareq Rahman
Tareq Rahman had joined Bangla Craft as a Branch Manager atUttara branch directly
from another handicraft house in 1999. There was no doubt about his efficiency as a
manger but he was bit reluctant to assume increased responsibility. Moreover he was
methodical, steady, reactive rather than proactive and comfortable in following
instruction. Mr. Rahman was excellent in conflict management. He was not ambitious
but was a genuine deliverer.

Mamnun Rashid
Before appointing as a Branch Manager at Elephant Road branch he was an Assistant
Sales Manager of Dhanmondi branch. He was just opposite of Rahman i.e.
enthusiastic, energetic and to some extent aggressive. He was also the youngest
among the four managers. Rashid's other excellent quality was that he was a perfect
team man. He had a talent for working with people. On the other hand, he was
emotional with a hunger for instant result. His impatience and emotional nature made
him comparatively unreliable to the management as though he was a high performer
in achieving target sales. If management failed to show him the clear path of his
career progression he would eventually leave.

As an alternative Saffer might hire a person as General Manager from outside the
business. In this connection he was considering Mehboob Sobhan, General Manager
of one of the famous departmental chain stores. Sobhan would have to be paid Tk.
25,000 more than that of Ibrahim's current monthly salary. Satter and Farhat were in a
quandary over promoting inside or hiring from outside. The decision was vital at this
slage because the business was going to open its foreign operations in London and
New York by the year 2003.

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 Exhibit -1
Bangla Craft Ltd.
Head Office Organogram

Exhibit -2
Bangla Craft Ltd.
Branch Organogram

Asst. Sales
Manager

Asst. Store-in-
Charge (l) .

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Possible questions:
l. Who would you promote as General Manager in Bangla Craft? Justiff your
answer.
2. Identiff the root causes and implications of the dilemma in the promoting as
General Manager in Bagla Craft.
3. Develop a Career Progression system for organisations like Bangla Craft taking
into account the external environment of the business.

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