CASE 1 Group Members Ujjwal,Parishma,Krishna Das,Kushbender The modern spring company makes springs according to the manufacturers specifications.

s. It makes leaf springs , tension springs and bumper springs. Most of the springs are supplied to manufacturers of cars, trucks and buses. The company has been experiencing misunderstandings in its line and staff relationships in recent months. The chairman cum managing director of the company, is searching for suitable approach to line staff understanding and coordination. Unlike many concerns where the line does not make any use of staff help and advice, and the staff find its expedient to assume line authority, the line officers at Modern Spring Company appear to be subtle victims of informal staff authority. It is quite common for line officials to accept staff ideas and advise strictly on the basis of assumed technical competence. For example , the director of R&D , completed his PhD degree last year and acceptance of his ideas by line personnel is approaching 100 percent. Many of the staff men report directly to the managing director. The line managers in many cases interpreted the advice and counsel of these staff men as command through status. For example, the personnel manager had no difficulty last year in convincing the plant manager that the training of all employees should be a part of the personnel function. Most of the staff personnel are college trained, personable and good salesmen. It has become increasingly evident to the top management that command through personal qualities is operative between line and staff. For example, the publicity and public relations manager has been in particular instances to act for and in the name of line management. However it appears that unauthorized authority gravitates to this department and is used by the manager for personal advantage.

The staff personnel at Modern Spring Company have not found it necessary to spread the best ideas before the top management. The MD is a firm believer in the staff function. Line management has on occasion interpreted this as command through sanction. For example, the sales manager has in recent years of the companys vigorous growth been dealing more and more with the managing directors staff assistant in matters of special projects, developing plans and suggesting policies rather than with the managing director himself. 1. As per the understanding of the course identify the underlying factors and relate it to the study material. 2. How would you describe the staff way of thinking in an organization? 3. Analyze informal staff authority as it is used in the company. Is this implied authority good or bad? 4. Suggest to the MD coordination? a suitable approach to line-staff understanding and

CASE 2 Group Members Samson, Bala Prasad,Lalita,Swanil Vikas Pvt Ltd, an engineering firm with 50 years of success behind it has become a household name in India for its quality products. Although it started its business in a modest way , it became a dominant supplier of spares and equipments of critical nature needed by the transport and engineering industries in a short span of 10 years. With growing complexity of management , the top management , time and again discussed the need for reorganizing the entire business on functional lines and finally introduced decentralized administration. Mr Vasudeva , an MBA from Harvard with a mechanical engineering background, was incharge of the mechanical engineering section. Given his good performance he was soon promoted to the position of CEO of his division. This was in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of new product lines, especially in the area of compressor cum vacuum pumps. In fact, the firm earned a god name in the export market and also bagged an export award. Mr Vasudeva was known for his honesty, integrity, brilliance, leadership and decisiveness. For the last six months he spent long hours redesigning the export model-T, compressor cum vacuum pump set. In his discussions with the foreign collaborators, he as convinced that with a little more effort, the company could successfully redesign the model, thus saving production costs and improving efficiency by 16 to 20 percent. He depended entirely on Mr Hanuman , a foreman of exceptional ability and tenacity. Moreover Mr Hanuman was good in human relation and commanded respect of his subordinates. Since the fabrication of the new model was in its infancy ,everyone concerned felt it undesirable to let others know what was happening on the floor. Moreover secrecy was the style of operation, and therefore it was clear to both the foreman and the people working under him that this matter would not be brought to the notice of Mr Keshav, the new works manager, and a recent induction into the company. They were one with their

new job and always delighted in any words of appreciation from their chief Mr Vasudeva. Mr Keshav, was a young and energetic with flair of mechanical engineering products. He had no knowledge of management , but had attended some courses on materials management and productivity control. He always laid stress on proper supervisory activities, knew his job well and always expected others to perform their duties as scheduled. He could never tolerate indiscipline. One evening before going home , Mr Keshav went to the shop floor where he found six mechanists , and helpers engaged in fabricating a spare part of the pump set as per the order of Mr Vasudeva.Mr Kesav was happy to see people working under him so involved in their work. However his enthusiasm vanished like morning mist when he saw that, what they were engaged in was not a part of their normal work routine.Damn it. What the devil are you up to? he asked in annoyance. The workers were perplexed; they did not know what to say. However Mr Hanuman soon appeared on the scene and explained the on going project and benefit its success would get. The works manager got very angry with Hanuman and reprimanded him severely. Mr Hanuman felt confused and hurt. As though this was not enough he received a show cause notice from the works manager demanding an explanation in less than 24 hrs.This was adding insult to injury. He has no alternatives but to report to the chief, but to his chagrin, he found that Mr Vasudeva had already left on foreign tour and was expected back a month later. Mr Hanuman felt that he was approaching a dead end, harassed , he went from pillar to post, no help or advice was forthcoming. Upset and hurt he went to the General Manager and handed in his resignation. Mr Hanuman was known for his honesty , simplicity and hard work. Only by the dint of hard work, had he developed his skills and risen to the position of foreman from the level

of an ordinary helper in a span of 10 years. Everyone knew the role he played in developing a new prototype. His one weakness was that he was very sensitive and would never compromise on issues relating to honor and dignity. News about the resignation spread like wildfire . Everyone was shocked and taken aback by this situation. 1. As per the understanding of the course identify the underlying factors and relate it to the study material. 2. Was it well advised to keep Mr Keshav in the dark about the ongoing project? 3. Did Mr Keshav act hastily in reprimanding Mr Hanuman and what could be possible repercussions of this incident on the other employees as well as the organization? 4. What action should be taken now.

CASE 3 Group Members Mannu,Martin,Jamsheed,Suresh. Ms Shina, was incharge of administration branch of a big firm. There were a large number of women typists. They were all efficient in their job and finished the entire work assigned to them for that day before leaving. There was no overtime requirement for typing in this section. One day the MD of the firm sent for the manager of the administration department, Mr Mohan, and informed him that,persons in his department have started taking liberty in regard to punctuality in the office. He said that on a particular day, when he was coming to office in the morning at 9:40am , he found two typists / stenos coming late and that , it was not the first time he had seen this. He wanted that his supervisors should be made wise in this respect. Mr Mohan listened to the instruction of the MD and promised to ensure punctuality. Mr Mohan called Ms Shina and told her about the incident of the two late comers and the MDs observations. He also stated that punctuality should be observed at all costs. Ms Shina replied that she was aware of the situation and did not feel the necessity of taking any action. She said that the steno/typist were very hardworking and did not mind sitting late in the office for an hour or so is there was additional pressure of work. She also pleaded that probably because of personal reasons, one or two typists, maybe late 10 to 15 minutes, sometimes, and this should not be taken cognizance of in the interest of good working. Mr Mohan , however insisted that she should act according to the instructions of the MD. Ms Shina got perplexed. She went back to her section and communicated the entire story to the typists and told them that the MD wanted them to the office on time and that he against any relaxation in this matter. She also told them that action will be taken against the latecomers.

The typists did not relish this. Sarla and Rama discussed this matter during lunch as they were the typists who came late that day. They felt that they had not been given proper treatment. Sarla said that it is very strange that things have been taken too far. I have now decided that if I am asked to sit late, I wont. Just after 2 days , the private secretary to the MD, sent some urgent typing work to Ms Rama at 5 pm. Two typists would require to type the entire material. The managing director was to see the chairman in the evening with these important papers.

Ms. Shina assigned the work to Sarla and Rama but both of them refused it as it would take complete one hour whereas they could stay in office at most for 15 minutes. Both the typists did not fail to remark that, if the office wanted them to sit late why such a hue and cry was made when someone was late for a few minutes. It became a problem for Ms. Shina to get the papers typed. She was afraid that the other typists would also give the same reply. So she went back to the private secretary and asker her to share the work though the private secretary had some other work of priority 1. As per the understanding of the course identify the underlying factors and relate it to the study material. 2.What do you think about the behavior of Sarla, Shina and Rama? 3.What do you feel of the Managing Directors attitude and how you can improve the situation? 4.Has the communication failed somewhere? And if so where and how? 5.How would you react to such a situation?