IIMA/OB0233

Mohan Dixit
Mohan Dixit, Head, Sales and Marketing, India operations of EuroMotoCorp Private (Pvt.)
Limited (Ltd.), an automobile multinational headquartered at Munich, awoke with a restless
state of mind. ‘Oh God! It is already 6:00 am. I am late again!’ he exclaimed. It was going to
be a long day for Dixit. He had to deliver a key presentation in the afternoon that would be
followed by office meetings and an evening get-together. He also had to catch a flight at
10:30 pm to attend a week long executive education programme at Indian Institute of
Management (IIM) Ahmedabad. Dixit had set the alarm on his mobile phone for 5:00 am,
but had overslept. He was anxious.

Dixit’s background

Dixit, aged 42, was born and brought up in Lucknow. He graduated from Birla Institute of
Technology and Science, Pilani, Rajasthan with a specialisation in Mechanical Engineering.
After completing his degree, he moved to Bangalore and started his career as a management
trainee at General Motors. Dixit excelled at his engineering job and was handed an out-of-
turn promotion within the first two years of his joining the firm.

Dixit enrolled for various management courses during the weekends with IIM Lucknow,
Noida Campus. After working at General Motors for about 5 years, he received an offer
from EuroMotoCorp Pvt. Ltd., an automobile giant headquartered at Munich, Germany.
EuroMotoCorp specialised in designing and manufacturing gearless two-wheelers and cars.
Dixit’s internship experience at Munich during his engineering days and management
knowledge gave him the edge for the Senior Marketing Manager position at EuroMotoCorp.
Around the same time, he had married and settled in Noida. During his career span of about
11 years at EuroMotoCorp, he made steady progress and climbed the corporate ladder
becoming the Regional Marketing Head, Assistant Vice-President Marketing, Vice President
Marketing and now the Head, Sales and Marketing, India operations of EuroMotoCorp.

As the Head of Sales and Marketing, Dixit was responsible for devising the marketing
strategy to achieve the sales target set in consultation with Munich headquarters. This target
was inked after considering the market scenario, production planning and revenue
generation. He was also responsible for designing the overall marketing approach for India,
to effectively convey the right message about customer value and the organisation’s brand
image.

Dixit had an eleven-year-old daughter (named Priya) who was studying in the fifth grade.
He was not able to spend enough time with his wife Maya and daughter Priya. Hectic days
at the office (that included meetings with suppliers, distributors, and heads of engineering
and production departments) and frequent travelling kept him away from his family quite

Prepared by Professor Vishal Gupta and Priyanka Premapuri, Program Associate, Indian Institute of
Management, Ahmedabad.
Cases of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad are prepared as a basis for classroom
discussion. They are not designed to present illustrations of either correct or incorrect handling of
administrative problems.
The case, though based on real events, is fictionalized, and any resemblance to actual persons and
entities is coincidental.
© 2018 by the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
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regularly. His daughter attended coaching for tennis in evening (6:30 to 7:30 pm) at Noida
sports complex. Although he never expressed it, Dixit wanted to accompany her for the
tennis session and practise with her but he knew he would rarely get that opportunity.

Outside work, Dixit was passionate about automobiles, sports and found gardening to be
therapeutic. He loved to swim and play cricket. He often liked to be described as a
connoisseur of cars and his friends often sought his advice before purchasing one. He loved
to spend time (whenever he got some out of his busy daily schedule) at the shop floor,
interacting with design engineers and discussing the latest trends in car manufacturing.

His evenings were busy responding to emails and attending e-meetings with his superiors in
Munich. He wanted to play and workout regularly to shed the excess weight that he had
gained of late but his hectic and sporadic work schedule did not let him follow a routine.

Saturday Morning

With his heart racing and thoughts aplenty on his mind, Dixit hurriedly got out of bed, still
feeling sleepy and restless. He had tossed and turned till about 2:00 am thinking about his
presentation. The annual sales and market report had been released. There was a decrease in
the market share by 4% from the previous year whereas the market had grown. The top
management at Munich was highly concerned about the figures for the Indian market that
had been a cash cow for them. They decided to fly down immediately to have a detailed
discussion. ‘What an idiot I have been? Why did I involve my team in preparing the
marketing strategy?’ he thought to himself.

After showering and dressing quickly, he started working on his laptop. At 6:30 am, he
woke Maya and Priya. He walked around the house anxiously. He thought aloud the critical
points that he intended to present to the delegation. It seemed almost as if he was repeatedly
rehearsing his speech. ‘How will I get past this? What will the management think of me?’ he
thought anxiously. His heart started beating faster as he went through the graphs and the
figures. Dixit knew he had a major challenge defending the decrease in market share and
justifying the marketing strategy proposed by his team.

It was 7:30 am. Maya prepared breakfast. She called Dixit to the dining table. Dixit asked her
to serve the breakfast at his study table itself. They had the following conversation over
breakfast:

Maya: Can you please drop Priya today to her school? The school van driver just called to
say that the van has broken down.

Dixit: No, I cannot go today. I am leaving for office at 8:00. (started gulping down the
breakfast)

Maya: But today is Saturday. Can’t you drop her and then go to your office? It will not take
much time.

Dixit: It is absolutely impossible for me today.

Maya: (surprised with the speed at which Dixit was eating) How is the breakfast? Hope you
liked it.

Dixit: (engrossed on his laptop screen) Yes, it is good.

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Maya: (observing him) Do you even realise what you are eating for breakfast?

Dixit: (does not respond, just nods) Hmm… Yes!

Maya: You never pay attention to what I am saying.

Dixit: (gets angry) Why do you always complain?

Maya left the room. Dixit felt guilty. He did not have time to sit with Maya and talk about
the presentation to the management. He felt stressed for time.

Dixit got into his car and started for the office which was in Greater Noida, about 30
kilometers from home. If one started early, one could reach in about 30-40 minutes. Often on
days like these, he wondered why the company did not provide a driver. At such instances,
he would feel frustrated that he had to spend time driving before he could reach the office.

As he entered his office, he found that the file he had requested his subordinate, Suresh
Basu, was not kept on his desk. The previous day, he had asked Basu to prepare the
comparative analysis report of all the competitors and their marketing strategy on a priority
basis. The presentation was scheduled at 2:00 pm and it was already 8:45 am. Before that, he
also had to attend the lunch that was organised with the delegation and all the other Heads
of departments and few other functional managers.

He could not control his patience anymore. He called Basu to his office and the following
conversation ensued between them:

Basu: Good Morning Mr. Dixit.

Dixit: Good Morning, Suresh. I have not received the report yet!

Basu: I am still working on it. I wanted to talk to you about the same.

Dixit: Please don’t give me excuses. The presentation is at 2:00 pm and I need the report
before that. I had briefed you yesterday that I need it on priority basis.

Basu: I did not have the data required for the report. I had to get it from multiple
departments. They are all busy with the ongoing audit process. I received the
comprehensive data late last night. I was in office till 10:00 pm. There was some confusion
regarding the exact analysis parameters that you wanted to be included.

Dixit: You should have called me.

Basu: It was already 10:00 pm. That is what I wanted to talk to you this morning.

Dixit: Please send me whatever you have done right now!

Basu: OK, as you say! I am forwarding the files to you immediately.

Basu left the office abruptly. Dixit heard the door shut with a loud noise. ‘Lack of discipline
and sincerity of subordinates really frustrates me’, he told himself.
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Presentation and Get-together

During the presentation, Dixit tried his best to be calm and positive. The delegation listened
patiently to him. They asked some tough questions but at the same time they were
appreciative of his efforts and the innovative ideas that he had offered. They asked for data
and reports for the next round of discussions and decisions once Dixit was back from
Ahmedabad. Dixit heaved a sigh of relief.

The day was not yet over for him. He had three meetings and a get-together to attend in the
next two-and-half hours. ‘Meetings are a waste of time’, he often thought. It was mostly
about taking updates and listening to endless discussions over tea and snacks. He could not
avoid the meetings either as he did not want to be seen as an arrogant executive who
avoided meetings. He used to attend them all considering it as an inevitable part of his role
in the organisation.

The delegation was meeting the executives over a small get-together in the evening.
EuroMotoCorp had recently won a special award for the best design in the gearless two-
wheeler category at the Annual Automobile Awards. Vedant Gupta, Head R&D was
congratulated and appreciated by the delegation and all others around. Gupta seemed quite
happy. ‘My weekend has started on a very good note. I had an energising gym session in the
morning and would be going for a movie with my wife in the evening’ said Gupta. The
company had sponsored a lunch for Gupta and his team at the Country Club. Dixit too
congratulated Gupta but was silent throughout. At times like these, he wondered whether
he would have been better off staying in engineering.

Dixit returned to his office post the get-together. His pace was slow and his mood sombre.
He checked his diary for the list of pending matters that he needed to resolve before he was
out of office for one week over the training programme at IIMA. Thinking about the
programme, he was reminded about the pre-programme assignment that had to be
submitted before commencement of the programme. A one page description about him as a
person and as a manager had to be written confidentially by a colleague who worked closely
with him and knew him well. He hurriedly sent an email to his Executive Assistant, Archana
Sharma requesting her to do what was necessary. Sharma’s response is given in Exhibit 1.

He received an SMS alert from the airline for his flight at 10:30 pm. He was suddenly
reminded that he still had to complete the web check-in process. He logged in and looked
for a comfortable seat. ‘Oh God! Why do I forget these simple things? Now I will have to sit
in the middle seat’. He cursed himself for completely forgetting about the check-in. He had
to settle for a middle seat in the second last row. He had stopped asking the travel desk of
the company to address his web check-in after they had thrice wrongly checked his meal
and seat preferences.

As he was about to log off, he received an email notification on his desktop marked
important. It was a company-wide announcement from the CHRO at Munich Headquarters.
The company had appointed Dixit as the Chairperson of the Grievance Handling
Committee. The company had a process of appointing one of the senior management
employees every three years as Chairperson of the various Committees established for
employee welfare. Dixit felt helpless reading the mail. ‘Yet another committee and I cannot
say No’, he said to himself. Not only was it a kind of moral obligation that he had to fulfil
towards the organisation but he also felt it as a compulsion for gaining credits during the
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performance appraisal cycle for promotion. However, it also meant more responsibilities,
more meetings and more events to attend.

Travelling to Ahmedabad

The cab to the airport was booked for 8:30 pm. Dixit had just about two hours before the cab
arrived. He wished to spend some relaxed time with his wife and daughter over a cup of tea
before he left. He still had some shopping to do, reach home and pack his bags before it was
time to leave. Considering the hot weather of Ahmedabad, Dixit wanted to purchase some
linen business casuals for the programme. He had procrastinated the shopping for some
time as he had resolved to lose some weight and wear clothes a size smaller. He had failed
miserably to achieve this target. On the contrary, he had gained a couple of kilos. By the
time he reached home, his wife and daughter had already left for tennis practice. Dixit had
completely lost track of their schedule.

Dixit’s cab arrived at 8:20 pm. The driver kept calling Dixit continuously and this irritated
him. The driver asked Dixit to place his luggage by himself in the rear space. Dixit ignored
the driver’s behaviour but he stopped for a moment. He saw that the car was a hatchback
instead of the sedan that was booked. As he got into the car, the following conversation took
place between him and the driver.

Dixit: I had booked UberX.

Driver: How would I know, you should ask Uber!

Dixit: Leave it; please take the Delhi-Noida-Delhi Flyway.

Driver: You will have to pay the toll.

Dixit: Why should I pay the toll?

Driver: Then let me take from wherever I like.

Dixit: There would be lot of weekend traffic at this time.

Driver: So what?

Dixit: How can you talk to your customer like this?

Driver: I am not saying anything, you are interfering.

Dixit: I have a flight to catch and I need to reach on time.

Driver: What have I got to do with your flight?

Dixit: I will lodge a complaint against you.

Driver: Do it, I will also complain about your behaviour.

Dixit was even more frustrated. His face turned red. Feeling helpless, he grabbed his phone
from a pocket and began deleting unwanted images and messages. He was restless looking
at the traffic. He was not sure whether he would be able to make it on time. Although the
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driving was rash, Dixit did not say anything for a change. He just wanted to get out of the
cab as soon as possible.

He reached the airport just an hour before the expected time of departure. He had exactly 15
minutes to enter the airport, clear the security check and reach the gate before it closed 45
minutes prior to departure. Just when Dixit entered the airport, he got to hear the
announcement that the flight had been delayed by an hour. He almost shouted at the airline
staff at the check-in counter. ‘What nonsense, you should have atleast bothered to intimate
your passengers about the delay’, he said. ‘Sir, we understand but we are helpless. There is a
lot of traffic congestion. We are sorry Sir for the inconvenience caused’, the staff tried to
calm him.

Dixit took a seat and started drafting emails to Uber and Jet Airways impulsively. The alarm
notification in his mobile reminded him to go through the reading material provided for the
programme. ‘Stress and Our Inner Game’ read the title of the first article. ‘Focus on the
present moment and silence the thoughts in your mind’, conveyed the article. ‘My mind is
heavy. I surely cannot stop these thoughts’, murmured Dixit feeling lonely, depressed and
sick.
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Exhibit 1: Archana Sharma’s report

PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL

To: Programme Coordinator, Executive Education, IIM Ahmedabad

From: Archana Sharma, Executive Assistant to Mohan Dixit

Subject: Feedback report of Mohan Dixit

Mr. Mohan Dixit is an intense and earnest manager. He is very intelligent, dedicated and hard
working. He is highly focused on his work. His office is very organised but his mailbox is cluttered.
There are so many unread emails in his inbox.

He is an affectionate person who likes talking to people. He reaches the office early in the morning
and keeps the office door open for some time. He has got more responsibilities than he can actually
handle. He is not able to say ‘no’ and that has made him pressed for time. He does not delegate
which seems justified because nobody is as good as him and no one can match his standards. He is
accessible but has no time for all. He is the kind of person with whom you can share your experiences
and problems but of late, he has become so occupied and busy that he has no time to talk. He keeps
getting many phone calls during the day. He tries his best to keep calm but many times I have
observed that he gets irritated and upset very soon.

Even while discussing something with me or giving me instructions, he keeps checking his mobile
phone. Sometimes he starts working on something else even before I can finish my agenda and leave
his office. He assigns work abruptly and never says clearly the timeline for completion or the purpose.
His subordinates seem to be fed up of this behaviour. It creates unnecessary stress for him as well as
for his team members. There are times when he does not remember the details of an important
matter. I feel quite surprised when he appears absent-minded and forgetful. I think it is difficult for him
to remember everything since he has too much on his plate.

In the past, I have seen him get engrossed in his little square corner cubicle that he has reserved for
himself on the manufacturing shop floor. He would keep working while standing in the cubicle for five
hours, being completely unaware of his surroundings and surviving on just a small cup of coffee. Now-
a-days, that has become a rare occasion for him. I think he misses spending time in his cubicle doing
what he really loves and is passionate about.

I see him as a warm, understanding and helpful person but his work schedule does not allow him to
spend time on anything except work related matters. I always asked for his advice whenever I used to
get stuck on something, but no longer. He is involved in too many committees within the organisation.
My interaction with him starts and ends with the customary greeting as he is always in hurry to move
to the next task on hand.

He binges on snacks served during meetings and drinks 8 to 10 cups of coffee a day. Sometimes it
seems that he is compelled to do certain things which he would not have done had they been in his
control. He easily shares his mobile number with random people. I had tried to warn him to avoid
doing that. I have heard him getting angry at his wife while talking to her on phone. His work has
entered his personal life and he feels that he has issues at home because of him being so busy.