Case Study - How an effective manager handles precarious situations

“Left or Right”
Rajinder Kumar was a production worker at Competent Motors Limited (CML), which made
components and accessories for the automotive industry. He had worked at CML for almost seven
years as a welder, along with fifteen other men in the plant. All had received training in welding both
on the job and through company-sponsored external programmes. They had friendly relations and got
along very well with one another. They played volleyball in the playground regularly before retiring to
the quarters allotted by the company. They ate together in the company canteen, cutting jokes on each
other and making fun of anyone who dared to peep into their privacy during lunch hour. Most of the
fellows had been there for quite some time, except for two men who had joined the ranks only two
months back. Rajinder was generally considered to be the leader of the group, so it was no surprise
that when the foreman of the department was transferred and his vacancy was announced. Rajinder
applied for the job and got it. There were only four other applicants for the job, two from mechanical
section and two from outside. When there was a formal announcement of the appointment on a Friday
afternoon, everyone in the group congratulated Rajinder. They literally carried him on their shoulders
and bought him snacks and celebrated the even enthusiastically. On Monday morning, Rajinder joined
duty as Foreman. It was company practice for all foremen to wear blue jacket and a white shirt. Each
man‘s coat had his name badge sewn onto the left side pocket. The company had given two pairs to
Rajinder. He was proud to wear the coat to work on Monday. People who saw him from a distance
went upto him and admired the new blue coat. There was a lot of kidding around calling Rajinder as
‗Hero‘, ‗Raja Babu‘ and officer‘ etc. One of the guys went back to his locker and returned with a long
brush and acted as though he were removing dust particles on the new coat. After about five minutes
of horseplay, all of the men went back to work. Rajinder went back to his office to get more familiar
with his new job and environment there. At noon, all the men broke for lunch and went to the canteen
to eat and enjoy fun as usual. Rajinder was busy when they left but followed after them a few minutes
later. He bought the food coupon, took the snacks and tea and turned to face the open canteen. Back
in the left side corner of the room was his old work group; on the right-hand side of the canteen sat all
the other foreman in the plant – all observed in their blue coats. At that point of time, silence
descended on the canteen. Suddenly both groups looked at Rajinder anxiously, waiting to see which
group he would eat with.

Questions:

1. Whom do you think Rajinder will eat with? Why?

2. If you were one of the other foremen, what could you do to make Rajinder‘s transition easier?

3. What would you have done if you were in Rajinder‘s shoes ? Why?
 Case Study - Managerial Skills
“Naughty Rule”
Dr. Reddy Instruments is a medium-sized company located in the Industrial Estate onthe outskirts of
Hyderabad. The company is basically involved with manufacturing surgical instruments and supplies
for medical professionals and hospitals. About a year ago, Madhuri aged 23, niece of the firm‘s founder,
Dr. Raja Reddy, was hired to replace Ranga Rao quality control Inspector, who had reached the age of
retirement. Madhuri had recently graduated from the Delhi College of Engineering where she had
majored in Industrial Engineering. Balraj Gupta, aged 52, is the production manager of the prosthesis
department, where artificial devices designed to replace missing parts of the human body are
manufactured. Gupta has worked for Dr. Reddy Instruments for 20 years having previously been a
production line supervisor and, prior to that, a worker on the production line. Gupta, being the eldest
in his family, has taken up the job quite early in life and completed his education mostly through
correspondence courses. From their first meeting, it looked as though Gupta and Madhuri could not
get along together. There seemed to be an underlying animosity between them, but it was never too
clear what the problem was. Venkat Kumar, age 44, is the plant manager of Dr. Reddy instruments. He
has occasionally observed disagreements between Madhuri and Gupta on the production line.
Absenteeism has risen in Gupta‘s department since Madhuri was hired as quality control inspector.
Venkat secretly decided to issue a circular calling for a meeting of all supervisory personnel in the
production and twelve quality control departments.

The circular was worked thus

Attention : All supervisors Production Quality Control Departments

A meeting is scheduled on Monday, Feb 20 at 10.40 a.m. in room 18. The purpose is to sort out
misunderstandings and differences that seem to exist between production and QC personnel.

Sd. Venkat Kumar

Plant Manager

Venkat started the meeting by explaining why he had called it and then asked Gupta for his opinion of
the problem. The conversation took the following shape :

Gupta : That Delhi girl you recruited is a ‗fault finding machine‘ in our department. Until she was hired,
we hardly even stopped production. And when we did, it was only because of a mechanical defect. But
Madhuri has been stopping everything if one‘ defective part comes down the line.

Madhuri : That‘s not true. You have fabricated the story well.

Gupta : Venkat, our quality has not undergone any change in recent times. It‘s still the same,
consistently good quality it was before she came but all she wants to do is to trouble us.

Madhuri : May I clarify my position at this stage ? Mr. Gupta, you have never relished my presence in
the company. I still remember some of the derisive remarks you used to make behind my back. I did
take note of them quite clearly ! Suresh (another quality control supervisor) : I agree with Madhuri
Venkat. I think that every one knows that the rules permit quality control to stop production if
rejections exceed three an hour. This is all Madhuri has been doing.
Gupta : Now listen to me. Madhuri starts counting the hour from the moment she gets the first reject.
Ranga Rao never really worried about absolute reject rule when he was here. She wants to paint my
department in black. Is not that true Riaz Ahmed?

Ahmed (another production supervisor) : It sure is Gupta. Every time Madhuri stops production, she is
virtually putting the company on fire. The production losses would affect out bonuses as well. How
long can we allow this nuisance to continue. Thirty minutes later Madhuri and Gupta were still lashing
out at each other. Venkat decided that ending the meeting might be appropriate under the
circumstances. He promised to clarify the issue, after discussion with management, sometime next
week.

Questions:

1. Should Venkat have called a meeting to sort out this problem? Why or why not?

2. What do you say about the rule calling for production to halt if there are more than three rejects in
an hour? Should it have been enforced? Explain.

3. What do you feel is the major problem in this case? The solution?