Allied Industries

Course & Term: EDHRM 2019-21, Term 1

Subject: Organizational Behaviour

Background of the case: The case is about Blue Cross a medical supplies subsidiary of Allied Industries. Allied
Industries acquired Blue Cross. Aditya Puri, CEO of Allied Industries appoints Ronnie Gonsalvez, as President
of Blue Cross and assigns him the task of increasing sales and profits of Blue Cross and get it in par with Allied
Industries standards.

Over the period of next 18 months Ronnie Gonsalvez makes several changes in the organization manages to
get both sales and profits in par with Allied Industries standards. Aditya Puri had appointed a Consultant to
review the performance of Ronnie Gosalvez, as per the consultant’s report while Blue Cross sales and profits
have increased substantially the organization has got into several issues related to culture and human
resource. There is a lot of attrition at senior level and people morale is very low. Overall culture in the
organization has turned out to be very toxic.

Central Characters: The 2 key individuals in the case are:

 Aditya Puri, CEO - Allied Industries
 Ronnie Gonsalvez, President – Blue Cross

What Went wrong in Leadership Styles:

Aditya Puri: Aditya Puri took over a company which is bene for long managed by an Dr. Ganguly who always
believed in a country club style of Leadership. As the CEO of Allied Industries Aditya Puri could have shown a
Transformational Leadership Style when he was taking over such a company rather, he just went ahead to
give a one-sided direction to a newly appointed executive. Following are some situations which could have
manged better:
 When he appointed Ronnie Gonsalvez as head of Blue Cross, he could have given him some time to sink
into the organization culture, allowed him to make his observations. Instead of that he started Ronnie
Gonsalvez’s journey by putting his own perception about Blue Cross.
 He could have performed a Charismatic leadership style by setting of a joint vision for the company
through a brainstorming discussion with newly appointed President and other key people of the
organization to create a road map for the future. In this way he would have ensured aligning his vision
with his followers needs and aspirations. Whereas he followed a Directive Leadership style with only
focus on increasing the sales and profits
 Aditya Puri could have followed an open two-way communication while setting the goal for Ronnie
Gonsalvez. Whereas he followed a one-way communication and wrote an impersonal memo to
communicate the goal.
 As a leader he could have taken a stock of things on a regular basis through regular meetings, review,
etc. which would have made him aware about the ground realities on a real time basis and would have
given a chance to do course correction if required. Whereas he followed a Management by Exception
leadership style where he is only intervening now when things have turned out bad as per the consultant
report.
 One of the key characteristics of an authentic leader is to accept the mistakes committed by him. Over
here Aditya Puri should ideally recognise the mistakes committed by him and look at correcting them.
Whereas he is not owning up the responsibility now and considers Ronnie Gonsalvez responsible for the
issues created in the organization

Ronnie Gonsalvez: It is very difficult to call Ronnie Gonsalvez a Leader in the given situation. Most of his
actions were as like a Manager. Following are some situations which could have manged better:
 Ronnie Gonsalvez was appointed to be a Transformational leader (combination of Charisma, Inspiring,
intellectual stimulation) who can take Blue Cross to next level whereas he only performed as a
transactional leader (Combination of Contingent reward and Management by exception) by focusing
only on sales & profit, carrying a pre conceived notion about its people, making changes without taking
everyone’s buy in, focusing only on system and process rather than people and working in heist only to
achieve short term goal than a long term organization building
 To be a great Leader one has to be a great follower first. Ronnie Gonsalvez could have performed a better
follower in some of the situations. As a follower:
o When he was assigned the task of increasing sales and profits through a memo, he could have
ideally called for a meeting with Aditya Puri to understand his vision for Blue Cross rather than
just jump into action as directed. That’s what he also did to his followers he put his vison on them
without aligning it with their need and desires.
o He could have run Aditya Puri run through various strategic decisions he was taking rather
deciding and implementing everything on his own. As a Leader he also did the same thing when
several important decisions that he took regarding organization’s structure, employee rewards
and incentives, management information systems, allocation of resources was all his unilateral
decision, he never bothered to discuss with his team before implementing.
 He could have carried himself a Leader than exhibiting behaviours as a Manager:
o He focused on running the organization through control whereas a Leader normally focuses on
inspiring trust in the organization. He could have taken few initiatives to create trust within
employees of Blue Cross
o His entire focus was on achieving top line and bottom line which is characteristics of a Manager
rather he could have focused on the larger organization which includes people, culture, etc.
 o He went on to build systems and structures like every manager will do whereas a Leader he
could have focused on developing people
 His leadership style was more of Autocratic style which only focused on producing result whereas he
could have shown Shared leadership style which would have focused both on Productivity and High
Morale
 He behaved more as a Slave Driver than as a Team Manager

Way forward (Corrective actions to be taken):

Both Aditya Puri and Ronnie Gonsalvez can focus on exhibiting following behaviours and approaches which
will establish them as Charismatic & Transformational leaders):

 Vision: Both the Leaders can focus on articulating a vision that will be in alignment with values and needs
of their followers. This they can achieve only by discussing with their respective followers and creating a
shared vision rather than just asking them to work towards what their vision is.
 Inspirational Communication: Both leaders can focus on communicating their message in an
inspirational manner rather than following a derogatory and harsh communication style.
 Image Building: This will be more relevant to Ronnie Gonsalvez, he can focus on creating an image for
himself which his followers can connect to. Followers look for leaders who are competent, credible and
trustworthy
 Shared Leadership: Both leaders can focus on building high morale (by taking old timers into confidence,
by valuing their tenure/contribution to the organization, working on their strengths) along with high
productivity
 Enabling: They can help their followers (psychologically and materialistic to perform in case of
challenging goals
 Individual consideration: Every individual is different, and they have their own strengths. True potential
of every individual can be achieved when they give personal attention, treat every individual separately.
Coach and advise them as required. Promote this culture across organization

Closure:
Aditya Puri during his discussion must acknowledge the efforts put by Ronnie Gonsalvez to increase the Sales
and Profits but he also should explain him that his measures are short term and if he wants to be a charismatic
leader then he has to be look at a long term prospective and build trust within his people.

He also must accept his mistake of not being able to give right direction, failing to build a shared vision,
improper communication and lack of regular review. This will help him to project himself as a charismatic
leader infront of Ronnie Gonsalvez.