Assignment for Trimester II

DETAILS AND GUIDELINES FOR THE STUDENTS

1. This is a group assignment carrying 20 marks

2. The last date for submission of the assignment is December 15, 2009. The date
has to be strictly followed and there is no scope of extension.
3. The report is to be submitted to the concerned instructors by 5 pm on the last date.
Late submissions will not be accepted.
What the Students have to do

• There are five scenarios given below and each scenario is followed by five
alternative courses of action. Based on your understanding of inter-personal
issues, group dynamics, politics and conflict management, you have to choose and
analyse the alternative courses of action. The main focus/criteria of analysis are
mentioned just before the alternatives in each scenario
• Each scenario has to be analysed and the total analyses has to be presented in
form of a report.
• The report should not be of more than 10-12 pages using Times New Roman font
twith 12 size font and single spacing.
• Additionally, each group has to create a Process Note on its dynamics and submit
it alongwith the Report. The Process note should capture the norms, group
working, roles played and dynamics observed in the group for the completion of
this assignment. The length for the Note is not being suggested.
• Each group will be evaluated on the basis of the Report as well as the Process
Note

Scenarios for Analysis

Scenario #1
You are heading the regional marketing operations of a major FMCG company with a sales force of around
100 working under you, which includes the sales executives, senior sales executives and sales managers for
various territories in the region. As the head of marketing, you are responsible for all the operations,
including the training and development of your executives. As the head, you have seen a major need for
bringing all the managers to the same level of communication and interaction skills. There is also a lack of
good coordination and team spirit, leading to conflicts and lack of collective effort. In the better
interest of the company as well as your team, you think of holding an outbound training for at least one
week where you, along with external resource persons would try to build the interpersonal and team skills.
Since these decisions are taken by the HR Department at the HQ, you accordingly send the plan to you’re
the head of marketing for the organisation, who duly approves and forwards the same to the HR
Department at the HQ.
However the head of HR calls you to inform that since the employee development budget is meant for
specific areas for the executives, you will not be able to hold an outbound on interpersonal skills. However,
you can use the available budget allocated for trainings meant for marketing with due approval of the
head of marketing. The budget includes identified management development programmes of various
prestigious institutions where your executives could be sent. However, it is made clear that only people
above the rank of sales executives and those who have spent at least three years in the organisation
could be nominated for it. In effect there is no provision for such development programme for young
sales force. Additionally, the company on its own takes such initiatives at the corporate level and hence the
employees can be nominated for the internal programmes. The HR head points out that your duty ends
at the level of appraisal and hence you should not interfere with the development aspects.
You are disappointed. You know that the elementary level of programmes of the company cannot serve the
purpose of the training you have envisioned. Secondly, the generalized programmes cannot take care of the
special needs of your group. The company is open to more trainings and encourages employees to go for
development based on appraisal but no one is ready to listen to these issues in the HR department. Despite
the availability of the resources, you cannot have access without the consent of the HR department.
In the given scenario, which of the following action would you choose and why? Also explain why
the other courses of action would not work.

Conflicts seen in the case

1) Direct conflict between departments :- The marketing department sees the sales
force of around 100 employees showing signs of a lack of good co-ordination and
team spirit . Due to this the marketing department thinks team building exercises
in an outbound training exercise would be beneficial for the employees but the
HR department has strict guidelines regarding personal development and does not
consider team building an effective
Alternative Courses of Action

-You follow the direction by the HR Department and depute the team members to
suitable available trainings provided it makes special arrangement for all the executives
to come together for the training
-You lobby with the head of marketing and try to put pressure on the HR Department to
realise the importance of this training given the fact that the importance of marketing
department is much higher than some rules frames by HR
-You withdraw and focus on other things
-You work with the HR Department to see possibilities of finding a common ground
and accordingly arranging for a training suited to your needs.
-You accept the contention of the HR department but at the same time demand that it
makes sure that the trainings are organised soon despite the existing calendar of events

Scenario #2

In an auto company where you are the works manager at a major plant, you are faced
with the challenge of recruiting 100 more people-much beyond the need of the plant since
the government of the state has promised creation of the jobs for the local people around
the area. The implications are very many for your own work. Since the company is based
on cutting edge technology and processes of constant improvement in quality, you are not
sure if you will find the suitable candidates in such large numbers in the given area.
Secondly, there already is pressure on your team for improving productivity and reducing
costs. Such a major influx of workers would definitely impact on your performance.
However given the absence of many industries in the region, you know that the pressure
will be on your plant. You want to argue about the long term problems in such hiring and
the possible pressure to appease politicians as well. However, the company is covertly
suggesting that you need to take this initiative. You understand the pressures on the
higher management, especially the GM of the plant but are also apprehensive about the
possible impact of this step.
In the given scenario, which of the following action would you choose and why? Also
explain why is the most suited to you.

Alternative Courses of Action

-Approach your friends in the local press and show how the incumbent government is
falling prey to the tactics of a local leader and is incapable of the taking good action for
employment generation.
-Go ahead and recruit 100 people
-Agree to the proposal but make sure that the company asks you only for 50 new workers
on the shop floor and the rest are recruited in other departments/areas.
-Suggest the GM to hold a meeting with the senior bureaucrats in the labour/industry
ministries of the state government where you suggest support for training and
development of youth and employment generation activities though your CSR
department at the HQ
-Put the initiative on the GM and ask him to keep you out of this affair

Scenario #3

There is a deadline of one week for you to complete the work on a product survey for a
major client of the advertising agency where you manage major accounts related to
pharmaceutical companies. Since the draft report is to be shared with the client on three
weeks, it is necessary that all the preliminary findings are sent to the higher management
at the agency and presented to them for discussion in one week. While the pace of the
work is otherwise fine, there are problems with one of the most meticulous and hard
working members of your team, who has not been able to prepare the sales projections,
which is delaying the work of other members as well. While you know that this person
will deliver, the delays are making you concerned.
You know that the deadline is sacrosanct and you have to make the team members
accordingly. However you know that this particular creative team member is a typical
maverick and does not stick to any standard format of work. The rest of the team is also
restive and cannot cope with work if comes close to the deadline. With many members
being dependent on the completion of sales forecast to further or complement their part of
the report, everyone fears the flak they may draw from the higher management in case the
reports are not submitted and duly presented in time.
As a leader you have to manage this situation. What would be your preferred course of
action form the following choices? Substantiate based on your experience.

Alternative Courses of Action

-You directly mention this to the leaders and express your inability to deal with the
deadline
-You request the concerned team member to work faster and in turn you promise that you
will help him develop the report with the support of others when he was supposed to
work on it alone
-You confront him and warn him that if he cannot work as per the deadline, you will not
just withdraw him from the project but also make sure that the management comes to
know of his callous attitude
-You discuss the problems regarding the project by calling the whole team and make sure
that all the members express how they feel about the situation, including the team
member against whom you and others have grudges.
-You accept the fact that he is not going to work and start to work on your own

Scenario #4

Alternative Courses of Action

Working in a branch of a commercial bank as manager of personal banking, you need to
share the support staff and other resources with other important managers and operatives.
Dealing with the customers, you have to ensure that they are given due respect and
importance. It includes offering them water and tea-the dispensers for which are located
away from the main operational area. Also, at times, you need to obtain photocopies for
which the machine is located far from your cubicle. You also require the support of peon
and to make sure that the right documents are procured and processed while the customer
is with you. However, the branch has only two support staff, both of whom are involved
in the routine operations that include moving the papers and files, giving receipts of the
pay-in slips and helping the other managers and operatives in other work. Time and again
you find that you are left to fend for yourself and there is no one to support you in your
work. With the peons involved in routine work, helping the customers approaching for
personal loans is perhaps the last priority. You end up doing most of the work that could
be done by the support of the peons. At times, when you try to assert your need for help
from peons, the rest of the staff refuses to agree since the work is far more urgent for
them. The whole situation sends a wrong signal to the customers who feel that they are
not being given due importance and with the running around that you have to do, they
feel that even adequate attention is not given to them.

Based on your own analysis, rank the following course of action to deal with the issue as
per their suitability in the given context. Also give the rationale for your choice.

-You ask the branch manager to either allot you an exclusive peon or let someone else
take the position of manager personal banking, since it is impacting on your image, which
is of a successful manager who has generated a lot of individual level business for the
branch.
-You give up the position on your own and ask for reassignment.
-You offer special tips to the peon to make him work for you.
-You suggest the revamping of the flow of business in a way that peons do not have to do
much running around.
-You prefer the status quo since you know there is not possible solution

Scenario #5

Alternative Courses of Action

With the pressure of cost cutting and efficiency coming on everyone, your textile export
house has decided to cut on stationary cost. As in-charge of the designing function, you
find the new conditions too restrictive for your team. With there bring restrictions to use
paper and print-outs for anything other than the final design, you find it hard to think and
develop the ideas or improve on the existing ones. However, the administration is quite
firm that your team also has to abide by the same rules in order to promote equity in
implementation. You argue that your department works on concepts and sketches which
cannot be done directly on the computer. Moreover, it is difficult to develop prototypes
based on just final print-outs since the tailors you deal with are not tech savvy. None of
these arguments is paid heed to and there is a serious limitation in your own ability to
work now.

To deal with the scenario, how would you rank the following suggestions (1 being the
best and 5 being the least suited) ? Explain with reasons.

Alternative Courses of Action

-You call for a special meeting of all departments where you intend to share the special
demands of your work and get people’s views on the same.
-You ask the department to stop observing the design guidelines so that the management
realises that this activity cannot be done in the absence of hard copies
-You continue to work though you feel it is suffering.
-You ask for permission to use more paper but are ready to concurrently reduce
expenditure in other overheads.
-You accept the decree and accordingly change the process of work which leads to much
adjustments and adaptations to be managed.