UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS

FACULTY OF LAW AND MANAGEMENT

SECOND SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS

MAY 2016

PROGRAMME BSC (HONS) MARKETING MANAGEMENT / BSC (HONS) HUMAN

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT / BSC (HONS) MANAGEMENT (MINOR :
ENTREPRENEURSHIP) /BSC (HONS) INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
MANAGEMENT) / BSC (HONS) ACCOUNTING (MINOR : MANAGEMENT) /
DIP / BSC (HONS) OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY
- LEVEL I

MODULE NAME PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MANAGEMENT

DATE Wednesday MODULE CODE MGT 1067Y(1)

04 May 2016

TIME 09:30 – 12:30 DURATION 3 Hours

Hours

NO. OF NO. OF QUESTIONS

7 4
QUESTIONS SET TO BE ATTEMPTED

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

There are 2 Sections in this paper : Section A and Section B.

Section A is COMPULSORY. Answer all questions from Section A.

Section B consists of SIX questions. Answer ANY THREE (3) questions from
Section B.
 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MANAGEMENT – MGT 1067Y(1)

SECTION A – COMPULSORY

Question 1 - 40 marks

Buddy’s Snack Company

Buddy’s Snack Company, a family-owned business in the Rocky Mountains,

specialising in home-made potato chips, was founded in 1951 by Buddy Forest who
served his customers from his pickup truck. Buddy passed on the business to his son
Buddy Jr. in 1980. The latter is now grooming his son, Mark, to assume leadership.
Today, Buddy’s is a $36 million snack food company facing serious competition from
Frito-Lay and other players in the chips business.

In fact, Mark, a fresh MBA (Marketing) from a local university, integrated the company
as a salesperson six months ago and was promoted as sales manager after having
served as salesman for a short period of four months. Buddy Jr. believed that Mark
would implement some new strategies to turn the company around.

Mark introduced a new performance management system for the sales department.
Salespersons who would not reach agreed targets would be required to attend
mandatory coaching sessions conducted by their respective supervisors. These coaching
sessions aimed at raising the motivation level of the underperforming salespersons with
a view to boosting sales. The cases hereunder throw light on the reaction of three
salespersons who had to follow the mandatory coaching sessions due to low sales
figures over the previous quarter.

LYNDA LEWIS

Lynda, a hardworking team player taking pride in her work ethics, has dedicated much
of her own time going through training materials and videos as well as accompanying
top salespersons during their calls to learn selling techniques. She does not hesitate to
ask for advice and spares no effort to learn the “tricks of the trade”. She always gives
much more than required time to the company. However, she has not been able to meet
targets over the past three months due to the effects of the recent economic downturn.
In all her wisdom, Lynda believes that it was an unlucky quarter for the company and
hopes that the situation will improve before the next performance review in three
months.

She is not happy with the new policy introduced by Mark making it compulsory for her
to attend the coaching sessions on Saturdays as it is the first time over the past three
years that she has not achieved her sales quota. Although Lynda is willing to do
whatever it takes to be successful, she is concerned that the coaching sessions will be
held on a Saturday. “Doesn’t Mark realise that I have to raise three boys by myself and
that the weekend is an important time for my family?” grumbled Lynda. However, she
will somehow review her personal schedule and attend the sessions.

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 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MANAGEMENT – MGT 1067Y(1)

Lynda is now very much concerned about whether her efforts are seen in the right
perspective. After all, she exceeded the sales quota over the previous quarters, yet she
did not receive recognition for these efforts. The entire experience has left Lynda
demotivated and raising questions about her future with the company.

MICHAEL BENJAMIN

Michael is happy with his job at Buddy’s Snack Company, although he really doesn’t
like sales work that much. Michael accepted this position because he felt that he
wouldn’t have to work too hard and would have a lot of free time during the day.
Michael was sent for coaching mainly because his customer satisfaction rating was low;
in fact, it was the lowest in the company. Michael tends to give canned presentations
and does not listen closely to customers’ needs. Consequently, he makes numerous
errors in new sales orders, which delay shipments and cause loss of business and
goodwill for Buddy’s Snack Company. Michael doesn’t really care because most of his
customers do not spend much money, and he doesn’t think it is worth his while.

In fact, following the recent change in the commission structure of the company,
whereby, instead of selling to the warehouse stores and possibly earning a high
commission, Michael is now forced to sell to lower-volume convenience stores. In other
words, he has to sell twice as much to earn the same amount of money. Michael does
not think that this change in commission structure is fair, and he feels that the coaching
sessions will be a waste of time. He believes that the other members of the sales team
are getting all of the good leads and that is why they are so successful. Michael doesn’t
socialize with others in the office. He attributes the success of others and their
promotions to who they know in the company and not to their hard work. He feels that
no matter how much effort he puts into the job, he will never be adequately rewarded.

KYLE SHERBO

Over three of the past five years Kyle was the number one salesperson in the division
and had hopes of being promoted to the position of sales manager. When Mark Forest
joined the company, Kyle worked closely with Buddy Jr. to help the former learn all
facets of the business. Kyle thought that this close relationship with Buddy Jr. would
ensure his upcoming promotion to the coveted position of sales manager. He was,
however, devastated to learn that Mark was given the promotion that should have gone
to him.

During the past quarter there was a noticeable change is Kyle’s work habits. It became
common for Kyle to be late for appointments or miss them entirely, as well as not
returning phone calls or following up on leads. His sales performance declined
dramatically, which resulted in a drastic loss of income.

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 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MANAGEMENT – MGT 1067Y(1)

Although Kyle was dedicated and fiercely loyal to Buddy Jr. and the company for many
years, he is now looking for other employment opportunities. Buddy’s snack is located
in a rural community, which leaves Kyle with limited job opportunities. However,
when he was offered a position as sales manager with a competing company in a larger
town, Kyle’s wife refused to leave the area because of her strong family ties. Kyle is
bitter and resentful of his current situation, on top of having to face a mandatory
coaching session that will be conducted by Mark.

Question 1

(a) Use at least one theory of motivation to explain the level of motivation of the
three employees namely, Lynda, Michael and Kyle. [25 marks]

(b) Recommend the managerial skills required by the management team of Buddy
Snack to ensure the success of the company. Explain your recommendations
clearly. [15 marks]

SECTION B – Answer ANY THREE questions

Question 2

Discuss the importance of planning in ensuring the effectiveness and efficiency of an

organization. Support your answer using relevant examples. [20 marks]

Question 3

Write short notes on the following :

(a) Functional areas of the organisation. [5 marks]

(b) Emotional Intelligence. [5 marks]
(c) Bureaucratic Management. [5 marks]
(d) Steps in the decision making process. [5 marks]

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 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MANAGEMENT – MGT 1067Y(1)

Question 4

(a) Differentiate between functional and dysfunctional conflict, using suitable

examples to illustrate your answer. [10 marks]

(b) Discuss the relevance of understanding employees’ attitudes, perceptions and

personality for a manager.

[10 marks]
Question 5

Explain in detail the importance of

(a) Ethics at the workplace. [10 marks]

(b) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for sustainable business. [10 marks]

Question 6

Describe the different stages in the development of a group, explaining the key aspects
to be considered by a manager. [20 marks]

Question 7

(a) Describe the different sources of power in organisations. [5 marks]

(b) Using relevant examples, distinguish between Transactional and

Transformational leadership in ensuring effectiveness in today’s organisations.
[15 marks]

- END OF QUESTION PAPER -

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