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International Human Resource Management
Case
study (20 Marks)
Kaniksha
Ispat is an established medium size company manufacturing steel strips. The
company has employed over 800 workers. The products of the company have
established a good reputation and company was doing very well for last 15
years. The market is slowly changing its nature. The competition is growing and
the recessionary trends are now clearly visible. The company is not visualizing
a bright, growing market and most of the products, as per present marketing
conditions are overpriced. In an effort to save the organization, the company
president Mr. Vasant invited all the employees for a joint meeting. At the
meeting he tried to explain what problems company is presently facing and what
the means to save the company are. The employees after understanding the
graveness of the situation, agreed to have a10% cut, effective from the next
month in their salaries immediate increase in salary is not possible. Mr.
Vasant was highly impressed at the cooperative and positive approach of the
employees. The company also tried to maintain a strict austerity measures in
order to cut costs. Three months later, the company installed many new devices
to improve quality and cut costs. Anagram Finance and Leasing came foreword to
offer a hand of help to improve its financial position. The loan agreement
amounted to Rs. 1 crore. First installment was received by the company Rs. 30
lacs and reconstructive work started at a rapid speed. The techno economic
survey was made by the expert of Anagram Finance and they submitted a report
that, future cut in administrative cost by reducing 200 employees is the
essential step that Kaniksha should take immediately. If this is not acceptable
to the company then the next installment should not be released. Since the
fixed assets of the company had been used by the company to support the loan
agreement, it had a little scope for denial. Mr. Vasant decided to invite union
leader and discuss the issue
Answer the following question.
Q1.
What is the fundamental management problem
Q2.
List out alternative courses of action
Q3.
Identify the position of both Mr. Vasant and Union Leader
Case
study (20 Marks)
Amit, a
Chief Manager of Sparkleading departmental stores at Nagpur, has attended a
seminar on Japanese Management System. He was highly impressed by the
innovative and democratic approach of the system. He decided to go for Japanese
System by introducing initially a few measures in the stores. Mr. Rajesh is his
close rival, who feels that he has the right to be the chief of these stores,
for his qualities and understanding of the departmental stores. Mr. Rajesh
often puts spokes in the wheel in order to bring Mr. Amit in troubles. He has
won confidence of a small section of sales representative, who at his insistence
often play games to trouble Mr. Amit and malign his image or foil his plans.
Mr. Amit decided to introduce a suggestion box scheme. He thought that the
suggestion so received will be helpful to improvise the functioning of the
department. As well as to involve the workers in decision-making process. A
meeting of all sales personnel and assistant managers was called on for this
purpose. Mr. Rajesh along with others also attended the meeting. He listened to
the idea of Mr. Amit properly and decided to foil it. Mr. Amit explained the
concept of suggestion box, and said that anyone can put the suggestion, he need
not mention his name, if he mentions his name and offers a useful suggestion, a
reward of Rs. 50 will be given. Mr. Amit felt that the scheme will work and he
will fetch a goodwill as well as good
participation. A week after launching of the scheme, the box was opened. It was
having nearly 70 suggestions. A scrutiny was made by Mr. Amit and to his
surprise; he received a bolt from the blue. 36 suggestions were to scrap the
scheme and in 22 cases very naughty ideas were offered. This frustrated Mr.
Amit and he decided to abandon the suggestion box scheme. A feedback from the workers
was taken. He found that no worker was much impressed with the idea. The scheme
was scrapped and Mr. Amit continued with existing ideas….
Answer the following question.
Q1.
Analyze the incidence
Q2.
Identify the issues, problems involved in this scheme
Q3.
List out the facts
Q4.
List the critical problems demanding immediate attention
Q5. Was
Mr. Amit right in scrapping the scheme?
Case
study (20 Marks)
A Food
specialty is presently headed by Nandan Vinayak. The company is doing business
very well and its profits are on continuous rise. The company has maintained a
steady profitability, sales and performance track record. The employees are
mostly less paid and less educated. Most of them are semiskilled and coming
from nearby rural areas. Mr. Nandan is quite happy with the existing situation.
He has recently launched an expansion program ha fetched him grand success. The
new products of the company are highly appreciated. In discussion with his
closest colleagues he decided to institute a program of employees rewarding
employees with silver potteries. The types of silver wears were to vary from
employees to employees depending on his tenure of service and cadre in which he
has served. Mr. Nandan felt that he would receive a grand reception on this
announcement. The announcement was made on 12th October in order to offer
Diwali Gifts to the employees. Instead, after he cheerfully presented his plan,
he faced a silent group of weary workers staring back at him in near disbelief.
Most of them were nervous and unhappy. They thought that this is not what they
expected for the tremendous labour put in as a reward. Mr. Nandan was puzzled
at the pathetic response of the workers.
Answer the following question.
Q1.
Analyze the case
Q2. Was
the incentive scheme wrong in any way?
Winning
with Bureaucracy at McDonald’s (20 Marks)
McDonalds
Corporation, the fastfood hamburger giant, has experienced immense success
around the world. The secret to its growth and profits is based on product
consistency and uniformity. The product and the service is the same the world
over. This tight consistency is achieved through bureaucratic control. Rules
and regulations are the byword at McDonald’s. Every task is done in the same
way in every store. To enforce the standardisation of operations, McDonald’s has
a welldefined organisational hierarchy. Field service managers and inspectors
visit each store regularly to assure compliance with standard operation
procedures. Each store has a welldefined division of labour. Analysts have
broken down every job into its smallest steps and have then automated the
entire process to further assure that individual workers won’t get creative
about what fixings should go on a Big Mac. Assistant managers are assigned to
cover each shift and crew leaders are responsible for certain time periods,
such as breakfast or lunch. Each employee knows exactly what to do. Trainers
are assigned to teach each new worker precisely how to perform their asigned
tasks. Trainees soon learn that, at McDonald’s, standards are more important to
the maintenance of operational effectiveness. Management at McDonald’s has
created effective mechanisms for work coordination, such as a detailed
organisation structure and provisions for standardised services by corporate
staff members in such areas as advertising, public relations, and operations.
Area field consultants visit each store on a regular basis to be certain that
every franchise conforms to all of McDonald’s rules and regulations. Since
McDonald’s operates in a relatively stable environment, employing basic
technology that has remained quite constant for the past fifteen years, the
bureaucratic, mechanistic node of operation is ideal. At McDonald’s, the
adherence to the bureaucratic process is not seen as a negative concept, but a
posh one that spells continued consumer satisfaction and continued business
success. Proof that bureaucracy works for McDonald’s is found in 1993 yearend financial
numbers: (1) revenues were up over the preceding year by 6 per cent to $7.3
billion; (2) net profit was up 13.7 per cent to $1.0 billion; and (3) total
return on equity rose to 21 per cent.
Answer the following question.
Q1.
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the various forms of
departmentalization?
Q2.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of a bureaucratic organization?
Q3. How
does downsizing make firms more competitive in the global arena?
Q4.
Compare and contrast bureaucratic control with clan control. Which is better?
Q5.
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of budgeting?
Q6. How
can a manager make control systems more effective?
Assignment Solutions, Case study Answer sheets
Project Report and Thesis - Contact
ARAVIND – 09901366442 – 09902787224
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