Ignou Question Bank (470)
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Ms-26 dec 2010
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-26 Dec-2010
MS-26 : ORGANISATIONAL DYNAMICS
All solutions of solved papers available in ms-26 book
Ms-26 dec 2011
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-26 Dec-2011
MS-26 : ORGANISATIONAL DYNAMICS
1. Briefly discuss the tenets of strategic alliances and the need for it. Explain how these alliances could be made to work ?
2. Explain the importance of cohesiveness in groups and briefly describe the role of motivational approach to alienation.
3. Why is decentralisation important in organisations ? Briefly discuss the dimensions of power sharing.
4. Explain the process of organisational learning and its mechanisms.
5. Write short notes on any three of the following.
(a) Boss
(b) Transformational leadership
(c) Cross-cultural Dynamics
(d) Types of power
(e) Business Ethics.
6. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end :
On Tuesday morning at 6:30 a.m., two young auto workers, disgruntled over failing to
get their supervisor fired, scaled the 10-foot fence of a power control area, shut off the power and closed down a Transpower Corporation assembly line. They simply took matters into their own hands when the union's grievance procedure did not work fast enough to satisfy them. For 13 hours thereafter, Subhash and Satish carried on their protest in the six-by-seven foot facility known as the power cage, as fellow workers shouted encouragement.
This dramatic protest ended in victory with the delivery to the power cage of a signed
statement from the plant manager, officially reporting that the supervisor had been fired and that there would be no reprisal against the protesters. Subhash and Satish were carried from the plant on the shoulders of their fellow workers. They were back in the plant working as spot welders the next day, but the fired supervisor, Grover, was out of his job, although he hoped to get another job with the company. Grover, who has four children and who was fired for "personnel violations," claimed the action was unjust. In explaining the events that led to the power cage protest and his subsequent firing, Grover said that production on the assembly line had been chronically below quota before he was named supervisor. At the time Grover was made supervisor, the plant manager had plainly told him that his job was to improve the production rate, and production had, in fact, improved markedly in the short time that he was supervisor. Grover said his firing would set a damaging precedent. "The company's action creates a
situation where the operations of the plant are subject to the whims of any employee with a grudge," he said. This possibility was emphasized by the comment of a union leader who said there were other conditions in the plant that needed improving-such as the cafeteria food and relief from the more than 100-degree heat in the metal shop. Moreover, the leader said, there was at least one other supervisor who should be fired. His manner implied that the successful power cage protest would facilitate attaining these ends, too. The union leader's final comment was that two men on an unauthorized wildcat strike had clearly accomplished the same thing as a full blown strike. While commenting to a news reporter about the power cage strike, the two auto workers reportedly said, "We knew we were going to win. When you cut the power, you've got the power. Every minute we were in there was costing the company money, and we weren't going to leave. It showed the power of the workers to control the company,"
The protest at the Transpower plant cost the company the production of 900 to 950 automotive units valued at Rs. 8,000 each and one reliable supervisor, according to newspaper accounts.
As the plant manager began to prepare a report on the power cage protest for his superior,
the division Vice-President, he reviewed the events of the day, the decisions he had made, and the implications for the future. He wondered if the situation might not have been dealt with more effectively.
Questions :
1. Did Subhash and Satish actually have as much power as they claimed to have ?
2. What other alternatives did the company have ? How good were thes'e alternatives ?
3. What will be the long-term consequences of the company's decision ? What did the company gain or lose by this incident ?
Ms-25 june 2007
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-25 June-2007
MS-25 : MANAGING CHANGE IN ORGANISATIONS
1.Describe key roles involved in bringing change in an organisation. Discuss leveraging systems strategy in changing organisations, with few examples.
2. Describe different models of change, which focus on the individuals and teams, with few examples.
3, Explain evaluation research and action research for evaluation of organisational change. What role does data analysis and feedback play in evaluation ? Discuss.
4. Describe the key competencies required for a change agent. Discuss the process involved in leading a change, with an example.
5. Write short notes on any three of the following :
(i) Work redesign of planned organisational change
(ii) Aspects to be consid ered for closing cultural gaps
(iii) Mergers and acquisitions
(iv) Structural interventions"
(v) Group approaches to change
6. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end :
Three Star Polyplastics Manufacturing Co. Ltd., was founded in 1978 by Mr. Bishan Singh after retirement from his military service. In 1995, it was still family
owned, had no union and was conservatively and paternalistically managed. The company adapted to changes slowly, but it remained a profitable enterprise.
In 1982, the company sent five of its first line supervisors to a human relations training program, but the liberal ideas with which the supervisors were indoctrinated made a negative impression on the company's top management. As a result, all supervisory training was conducted in-house after that. In lg, labour problems and conflicts between the supervisors and the human resource department led the management to enroll the company's 15 supervisors in a S-day executive development program organised by a management consultancy firm. This change of policy was initiated by the new H.R.D. Manager, Mr. S.P. Jain. To avoid having too many supervisors away from the factory at once, three were sent to each monthly program.
Mr. Deepak, a young supervisor who had a production engineering background, returned from the executive development program excited about what he had learnt, especially about delegation of authority, giving employees the opportunity to assume the maximum possible responsibility and establishing channels of open communication with employees. After the Friday afternoon session, Mr. Deepak discussed some of these ideas with his immediate superior, Mr. Naresh Kumar. Both seemed genuinely pleased to learn that Mr. Deepak felt he had benefitted from the management developrnent program.
When Mr. Deepak returned to work on Monday morning, he discovered that several quality control problems had to be dealt with, a report was due, and several employees needed to talk with him about work schedule problems. It was Friday afternoon before he realised that he had not yet been able to take any of the ideas about which he had become so enthusiastic. By this time, the frustrations of the week had taken the edge off his enthusiasm, and he became preoccupied with the
pleasant thought of a relaxed weekend with his family. He felt that Monday morning would be a good time to begin the new ideas.
Questions
(a) What is the probability that the "outstanding" training program will change the behaviour of the concerned supervisors ?
(b) What factors in this organisation function as a deterrent to change ?
(c) What, if any, OD interventions do you recommend in this situation ?
(d) What steps do you recommend to stimulate lasting changes in supervisory behaviour ?
Ms-25 june 2008
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-25 June-2008
MS-25 : MANAGING CHANGE IN ORGANISATIONS
1. Critically evaluate the group based approaches to change.
2. How does restructuring of an organization facilitate managing change ? Give suitable illustrations.
3. Define and briefly describe various approaches to organisational diagnosis
4. Discuss the kny roles in organisational change. Explain how the internal change agents help consultants in bringing about change.
5- write short notes on any three of the following :
(a) Role Efficacy
(b) Observation Method
(c) Process Consultation
(d) Transformational Change
(e) Managing transition
6. Read the two cases below and answer the questions given at the end of each case.
A. Mr. Krishna Rao's Confusion
Mr. Krishna Rao was utterly baffled. He took over office four months ago and has since initiated several changes all of which are good. His main intentions in making the changes were that the office should look more professional and the employees should be facilitated to become productive without making them work too hard.
The office now indeed looks more spacious with the new layout, and in fact, his colleagues from the other departments who pass by, comment on how nice and professional the office looked ! Mr. Rao had put the secretaries' desks close to their bosses' cabins so that they did not have to walk up and down all the time. Previously, they were huddled together in the secretaries' pool, and whenever they had to take dictation which was several times a day they had to walk quite a bit.
He also purchased new calculating machines for the department which are quick, efficient, and accurate, so that the assistants now do their caiculations without making mistakes. In fact, he had just placed an order for a high-speed computer which would take away the boredom and monotony of all the laborious human calculations and would be a boon to all. Actually, once the computer is installed, the managers will not have to be dependent on the lower leve! staff. Whatever statistics or information the managers need, the computer will generate the data in no time at all. And the computer manufacturer was going to off,er f.ree programming sessions for all those who wanted to attend them. Manuals will also be made available to all the staff. It was the best of all possible worlds for the entire department and Mr. Rao could not understand why the staff were not more enthusiastic and some actually seemed rather unhappy.
Questions :
(a) Discuss why the changes did not produce the desired results in this situation.
(b) Suggest interventions to facilitate' the change process.
Ms-25 june 2009
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-25 June-2009
MS-25 : MANAGING CHANGE IN ORGANISATIONS
Ms-25 questions paper solutions is provided by mehta solutions
Ms-25 june 2010
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-25 June-2010
MS-25 : MANAGING CHANGE IN ORGANISATIONS
1. What is Total Quality Management (TQM) ? How TQM contributes in bringing change in organisations ? Explain with an example.
2. Describe the Process of Transformation bringing changes in organisations ?
3. Describe different methods of collecting data for evaluation and explain action research approach for evaluation.
4. Discuss how to leverage structure and systems for Managing Organisational Changes.
5. Write short notes on any three of the following :
a) Managing transition
b) Team building intervention
c) Turn around Management
d) Cultural change as a strategy
(e) Types of Resistance
Ms-25 june 2011
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-25 June-2011
MS-25 : MANAGING CHANGE IN ORGANISATIONS
1. Describe the Key roles involved in bringing change in an organisation. Discuss Leveraging Systems Strategy in changing organisations, with few examples.
2. Describe the reasons for Mergers and Acquisitions. Explain the strategies which could be used in lieu of Mergers and Acquisitions. Cite examples
3. Explain Evaluation Research and Action Research for evaluation of organisational change. What role does data analysis and feedback play in evaluation ? Give suitable illustration.
4. Describe Intervention. Discuss some of the structural interventions and their applicability in organisational context.
5. Write short notes on ally three of the following :
(a) Process based change
(b) Transactional Analysis
(c) Behaviour Modelling
(d) 7s model
(e) Force Field Analysis
Ms-25 dec 2007
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-25 Dec-2007
MS-25 : MANAGING CHANGE IN ORGANISATIONS
1. What are the prime factors of Organizational Change ? Briefly discuss the "Rational.and Natural-system" models of Organizational Analysis related to change.
2.What is Turn-around Management ? Briefly discuss various kinds of Turn-around Management and steps involved in it, with suitable examples
3. What is Organizational Diagnosis ? Briefly discuss the framework and key features of the Open-System Analysis model.
4. Identify the skills required by a manager in managing change. Discuss how can a manager scan the surrounding business environment and monitor external drivers of change. Explain with examples.
5. Write short notes on any three of the following :
(a) Business Process Re-engineering
(b) Self-managed teams
(c) Weisbord's Six Box Model
(d) Amoeba shaped organisation
(e) Behaviour modeling
6. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end :
Tushar had been hearing the rumour doing the rounds since the past ten days. However, as per his nature, he had ignored it and concentrated on doing his job even better. But today, Tushar had seen his name along with other names recommended and officially told to start attending the three month's computer course to gain knowledge on the usage of computers to textile industry.
Tushar, after completing a polytechnic (diploma) in Textile engineering had joined the J.P. Mills as a junior assistant in the design development department, some twenty years ago. At the time of joining, the textile industry was booming. J.P. Mills was also doing well in terms of volume and profitability during the boom period.
However, with the opening of the economy and the entry of many multinational readymade brands, a visible change was seen in the customers' buying behaviour. The past seven to eight years has seen a shift in the customers' mindset towards purchase of ready-to-use wear. This was unlike the earlier trend, when people preferred to purchase a well-known textile company's cloth material (in this market J.P. Mills was doing very well and had almost 27% market share), and get their clothes stitched by any well-known tailor. So as to keep market requirement, the J.P. Mills
Director, Nithin Kapasi, decided with an MNC, Sandy Wear Store, into a joint venture with J.P. Mills base in India. in pace with the new Owner and Managing
to enter into a tie-up which wanted to enter to get a manufacturing It was in this connection that the rumours started circulating about the new management planning to remove the existing employees of J.P. Mills by introducing programmes for them under the guise of upgrading their knowledge in computers. When the rumours started initially, many executives and employees had put in their papers. But many others, like Tushar, continued to put in their hours, but one could always sense their uneasiness. Hence, seeing his name on the notice board, made Tushar uneasy and he was expecting the worst, when he received a call from Nancy, the P.A. to the Personnel Manager, Viresh, asking him to meet the latter after the lunch break.
Tushar, when he met Viresh, was pleasantly surprised to hear that in the new organisational set-up, he would be required to do a lot of the work on the computer (packages). This would eventually result in a lot of cost saving for the company, because the available new computer packages in the market will help in reducing the time (spent) between receipt of order, selection of the various designs (optimised selection can be done with the help of the new software packages) and execution of the orders in time. Viresh ended the talk by saying that the new management expected all this responsibility to be entrusted to Tushar and hence his name had been put up on the list of those required to attend various computer courses.
Questions :
(a) What factors had caused resistance to change among J.P. Mills employees ?
(b) Do you agree with the strategy adopted by Viresh in communicating about the changes to Tushar ?
(c) Could you suggest any other way of handling the above situation ? Whv ?
Ms-25 dec 2008
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-25 Dec-2008
MS-25 : MANAGING CHANGE IN ORGANISATIONS
1. In the present day environment describe the role and competencies for a leader in managing organisational change.
2. Describe structural interventions and the reasons for using them with suitable examples.
3. What are the objectives of Mergers and Acquisitions ? Briefly describe alternatives to Mergers and Acquisitions .
4. Identifyvarious factors responsible for change and brtefly discuss economic revolutions which have contributed to change.
5. Write short notes on any three of the following :
(a) 7-SModel
(b) Closing Cultural GaPs
(c) Down sizing
(d) rso 9000
(e) Force field analysis
6.Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end :
Margadarsi Savings Association Margadarsi Savings Association is one of the oldest financial institutions in its region. It is located in a trade area of approximately 25 lakhs population and has total deposits approaching Rs. 50 crores. The association's management has always attempted to develop and maintain a progressive institution. An outstanding feature of the association is that it seldom loses an employee to another financial institution. Checks made periodically with other institutions always indicate that its salary scale is one of the highest in the area. The association also has what the management considers to be a good program of fringe benefits, including hospitalization and life insurance, a retirement plan, paid vacations, sick leave, and lunchroom concessions. The entire cost of these benefits is borne by the association.
The association runs its operations on a decentralized basis. . The top management has always maintained that decentralization is the best method of developing qualified managers and, in view of the organization's rapid growth during the last few years, the best way of solving the important problem of executive development.
The book-keeping function has likewise been decentralized; each branch keeps its own books, and the auditor of the association periodically inspects them. One day the auditor and the controller of the association decided that the current book-keeping system needed to be revised. They had been giving attention to this area because the examiners had trouble finding records. It had been suggested that the method of book-keeping between the home office and the four branches could be improved.
With the above facts in mind, the two men held a conference with the officers of the association in an attempt to point out to them the action that needed to be taken.
After hearing the arguments posed by the auditor and the controller, the officers still felt the action was unnecessary. They said that the project would be too time-consuming and costly.
Two weeks later, however, the executive vice president of the association talked to the controller and admitted to him that the idea of revising the system was sound and that he and the rest of ihe officers were authorizing him to take control and to initiate the project
The controller started on the task of centralizing the book-keeping operations. For the first week he didn't know where to begin. He discovered that operational controls had been allowed to run down so long that now his problem appeared to be almost insurmountable.
When the executive vice president asked the controller about his progress, he was given a negative answer. The vice president was disturbed with this reaction and was determined to settle the problem once and for all. He called an executive meeting that included the controller and the auditor. At the meeting, the possibility of centralizing some of the operations of the branches in order to afford better administrative control was discussed. Someone suggested the possibility of buying some National Cash Register posting machines to help solve some of the operating difficulties.
After a lengthy discussion it was decided that these machines were the key to the elimination of many of the association's reporting problems. The controller admitted that they would make it easier to control operations, and the assistant vice president felt that their acquisition would add greatly to the customer service capacities of the association.
Three new machines were installed the following month. After closing hours each teller was instructed in the proper techniques of operating them. The management felt that they had made a sound investment, and their only worry was over the ability of the tellers to learn how to operate the new equipment. Most of the tellers were older women and seemed to be slow and reticent to learn the new process. One month after the practice machines had been placed in the association, these shortcomings became so acute that immediate action had to be taken. The management realized that the morale of the teller staff was depressed and that the smoothness of operations at the home office had been completely disrupted. The personnel manager suggested that some type of formal training program should be developed and that the management should explain to the members of the workforce their personal roles in the anticipated progress of the association.
The personnel manager has not found a method of eliminating the discontent, nor has he been able to give an adequate reason for it to the rest of the officers. Finally one officer stated in a committee meeting that he felt the workforce had been "over human-relationed". He suggested that in many instances negative leadership was far
superior to positive leadership. He stated in forceful language that he would inform those tellers who were complaining and failingto learn the process either to learn it quickly or be fired.
Another officer felt that since some of them were employees who had been with the association for many years and whose work had always been satisfactory, some alternative must be found.
Questions :
a) Identify core issues requiring change ?
b) Why did the introduction of the new machines create problems ?
c) What triggered the resistance to change ?
d) How might this change have been better managed ?
Ms-25 dec 2009
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-25 Dec-2009
MS-25 : MANAGING CHANGE IN ORGANISATIONS
1. Can organisational change be brought about by changing organisational roles ? Can modified organisational roles increase individual's involvement and organisational effectiveness ? Explain with the help of various determinants of Role Efficacy.
2.What is Planned Change ? Briefly describe the interdependence between Organisation
Development, Action Research, and the intervention model. Explain with example.
3. Define group based approaches to change. Enumerate various group based approaches to change and discuss with examples Sensitivity Training and Team Building with suitable examples.
4.Describe Organisational Diagnosis. Briefly discuss the framework and key features of Open System Analysis model.
5. Write short notes an any three of the following :
a) Managing Resistance
b) Weisboard's Six Box Model
c) Need for indegenous management in
d) Developing Countries
e) Managing Transition
(f) Behaviour Modeling
6. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end.
XYZ Educational Trust, Bangalore, established XYZ Electronics Centre, in 1986, with assistance from a foreign donor. Electronics Centre was set up to train youngsters in electronics. Along with the Centre, a production shop to manufacture PCBs and a laboratory to develop projects on a commercial basis were also set up. The donor preferred XYZ Trust because of its excellent track record as a training institution in India. The Centre was fully funded by the donor. Ghosh, a B.Tech. from IIT, Madras, was designated as General Manager of the Centre. He was earlier Maintenance Manager in Tool Room Division run by the Trust. Ghosh developed excellent rapport with the donor.
Often, the Trust used to divert funds from the Centre to tide over cash flow problems. The donor expected to hand over the Centre to the Trust for running on a self-sufficiency basis from April, 1995. It was also contemplating on a further phase of cooperation. The donor even had plans to strengthen the Trust by providing funds and other inputs for which purpose a group of consultants was sent to study and recommend.
Findings of the consultants were not palatable to the Trust, nor was it in a mood to
implement the recommendations. In the meanwhile, the Trust decided to reorganise its
activities — retaining Centre under its fold and transferring production shop and laboratory to a newly floated limited company. These developments irritated the donor and his relationship with the Trust got soured. Trust also felt that Ghosh was more tilting towards the donor and was trying to bring in to the Centre a culture which was alien to the Trust. After splitting the activities, the Trust introduced certain changes in the Centre. One such change was to direct the Centre to report to Sethi, the Executive Director (Training) of the Trust, reversing the earlier practice of reporting to the MD.
Ghosh had joined the Trust six months after Sethi. He became GM, Electronics Centre much ahead of Sethi. However, Sethi overtook Ghosh and became Executive Director in 1994. Ghosh remained as GM of the Centre. Now Ghosh was required to report to Sethi. When Ghosh had gone abroad, organisational changes were effected. After returning from abroad, Ghosh learnt about the change, rushed to the MD and expressed his utter displeasure. He was persuaded by the MD to accept the change in the interest of
the organisation.
Sethi being an experienced administrator and knowing Ghosh's displeasure, kept distances in the management of the Centre. His intention was to wait till Ghosh reconciled and accepted the reality. Ghosh was deliberately avoiding Sethi and was not even answering phone calls.
Within a month's time, Ghosh put in his papers. The MD was very much annoyed by Ghosh's behaviour and also based on the lingering suspicion he had on Ghosh's loyalty to the Trust, he immediately relieved him without even waiting for the notice period.
Questions :
a) What prompted the 'changes' at XYZ Electronics Centre ?
b) What would have been your strategy to implement change at the Trust ?
(c) Suppose you are the new incumbent unit head at XYZ Electronics Centre, how would you restore morale and build trust of the employees ? Draw up a short term and long term O.D. Plan.
(d) Bring out the effect of credibility, loyalty and communication in XYZ Electronics Centre having reached its present status.
More...
Ms-25 dec 2010
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-25 Dec-2010
MS-25 : MANAGING CHANGE IN ORGANISATIONS
1. What is Total Quality Management (TQM) ? How TQM contributes in bringing change in organisations ? Explain with an example.
2. Describe the Process of Transformation bringing changes in organisations ?
3. Describe different methods of collecting data for evaluation and explain action research approach for evaluation.
4. Discuss how to leverage structure and systems for Managing Organisational Changes.
5. Write short notes on any three of the following :
a) Managing transition
b) Team building intervention
c) Turn around Management
d) Cultural change as a strategy
(e) Types of Resistance
6. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end :
Synergy Formulations (India) Limited was a public limited company and had been in
business of pharmaceuticals and drugs since 1988. The company set up its manufacturing plant at Ghaziabad near Delhi in 1988 having separate units for producing tablets, capsules and oral liquids. Under its expansion programs an ultra modern state of the art plant was commissioned at Meerut in U.P. The company had its corporate office at Lucknow and registered office at Delhi. Synergy Formulations was a premium pharmaceutical company which had a nation-wide distribution network. The company's
annual turnover in 1995 was Rs. 10 crores. In the last three years, Synergy had been able to increase its turnover from Rs. 10 crores to Rs. 35 crores. Till 1998 the company was organized into two groups; the generic and OTC (over the counter) grouped together and the ethical division which functioned independently. In 1998, the company decided to restructure its marketing organization into three separate and independent divisions in view of its phenomenal growth.
Synergy Formulation Limited in late 1997 reviewed its existing marketing organization
structure with the intention of bifurcating the OTC and generic division. The issue was debated at corporate level. While the field staff and majority of managers at corporate level were of the opinion that the present arrangements were adequate and other strategies could be used to ensure better performance, the MD and one to two percent of
the senior executives at corporate level were vehemently propagating the reorganization of marketing division. They felt that this would lead to better control of field staff, optimum utilization of marketing resources and the independent groups would function more effectively which in turn would improve the performance of the different divisions.
In spite of the prevailing divergent views the MD's decision was implemented and the marketing organization was reorganized into three divisions : generic products, the unbranded products which were sold in bulk to hospitals, bulk buyers and nursing homes; ethical products, the medicines which were sold to users on the prescription of doctors and OTC products, those branded products which could be sold without any doctor's prescription. Post Restructuring As a result of the restructuring exercise all the sales staff of generic divisions were shifted to OTC division. New zonal and regional managers were hired for generic division. The company decided to discontinue field staff in generic
division as it was felt that generic products were predominantly sold by the distribution channel and the role of field staff was limited, hence their absence would not affect the sales adversely. The company now maintained separate accounts for the different divisions to avoid conflicts. Soon after the reorganization of the marketing department
the corporate office noticed there were frequent clashes and disputes between the generic and OTC divisions. The causes for the conflicts could be ascribed to the following reasons :
• The distribution channel (Annexure 1) was common for all the three divisions due to which it was experienced that the OTC and generic were competing with each other for
orders from channel members who had limited monetary resources. The purchase from one division offer lead to a cut in purchase from the other division. It appeared that the divisions were growing at the cost of each other at distributors level. This fluctuating sales affected the incentives received by sales staff which was based on the volume of sales generated by an individual.
• The company as a policy matter did not supply products to distributors who had outstanding payments to the company, be it on the account of generic division or the OTC division. There was discontentment in the OTC division as they often found that supplies were not being made on orders received by them due to the outstanding of the generic division. This supply policy affected the performance of the OTC division and in turn, their incentives.
• When the field staff of generic divisions was transferred to OTC division, the marketing overheads of the generic division were reduced and to encash on this, the company decided to reduce the prices of the generic products. The generic division became extremely price competitive in the market. Inspite of the reduced prices generic division did not show a considerable positive rise as was expected. This fall in the performance of generic division was observed in the first quarterly review since the restructuring of the organization. The corporate executives of marketing felt concerned. The review showed that OTC division was flourishing and was in a position to double its sales in this period, but the generic division continued to show decline in sales. The generic division was
the largest contributor of the sales turnover of the company (Annexure II on page 8). Though the profit contribution of the generic division was less than OTC but the company could not afford loss of sales in the generic division any more. On discussion with the distributors it was realized that the absence of intermediaries between the distributors and their bulk customers was leading to loss of goodwill and customers. The channel members were of the opinion that the transfer of field staff had been counter-productive to the marketing effort and in the long-term interest of the company, field staff was an essential element of the supply chain though they were able to generate only 30% of the total sales in the generic division. They recommended the recruitment of field staff in generic division and that the status co-ante or achieved. The organization hired new junior field staff for the generic division in October, 1998. The recruitment of field staff led to the increase in the marketing overhead. Since the organisation used cost plus pricing, it was forced to increase its MRP. This increase in price affected the sales of generic product adversely as generic are extremely price sensitive. Synergy Formulation was now caught in a vicious circle. It neither could reduce prices nor discontinue the field staff in generic division.
Questions :
a) Identify the case issues in this case.
b) What in your opinion were the problems faced by Synergy generic division after its bifurcation from the OTC division ?
c) How do you propose to reduce the conflict between the two divisions.
d) Do you think restructuring the marketing organization was a wise decision ? Justify your answer.
Ms-25 dec 2011
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-25 Dec-2011
MS-25 : MANAGING CHANGE IN ORGANISATIONS
1. Explain the rationale for using interventions in bringing change in an organisation. Describe any two types of interventions and their merits and demerits.
2. Discuss the impact of Cross-Cultural experiences on culture of the organisation. Explain how closing cultural gaps could be minimised in multicultural content.
3. What is Turnaround Management ? Describe various steps to be followed in turn around management and explain how turnaround management can take place in an organisational set up.
4. Discuss how a leader can initiate change process and can play the role of change agent as well cite relevant examples.
5. Write short notes on any three of -the following :
(a) Managing Transition
(b) Evaluation of organisational change
(c) Purpose of Merger and acquisition
(d) Process consultation
(e) WeisBord's Six Box Model
6. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end :
1991 ushered in a new era for Sea side, the mail order retailing agent. The billion rupees company was growing faster than ever before and was no longer the small, homegrown catalogue store. Located in South Kolkata, its five thousand employees reflected the local culture, as did its management practices and the philosophy of its founder and Chairman, Shantanu Das: "Take care of your people, take care of your customers, and the rest will take care of itself." In 1991, Mr. Das decided that the company needed to apply modern management principles to keep up with its growth in size and complexity.
The first step was to recruit a new executive vice-president from competitor Mountain View, Subodh Marwah, to lead the changes. Mr. Marwah quickly made numerous changes to modernise the management systems and processes, including team based management, numerous training programmes for trainees at all levels, a new multirater evaluation system in which managers were rated by peers and subordinates as well as their supervisors, and the use of numerous consultants to provide advice.
The company revised its old mission to provide excellent products and services and to turn every customer into a friend. In addition, the company created one new international venture and one new business each year, resulting in solid businesses in UK, Japan and Germany. Mr. Marwah was elevated to chief executive officer in 1993 and, continuing the modernisation, hired seven new vice-presidents, including Ankit Verma as new vice-president of human resource to oversee all of the changes in the employee arena. The first two years, the changes seemed to be working as the company added 100 million rupees in revenue and posted record profits. All was not as rosy as the profit picture seemed to show, however, In spite of the many programmes aimed at employee welfare, training, and team building, many employees complained of the constant pressure of having to meet production and sales quotas. The new employee
performance evaluation system resulted in numerical ratings, which seemed to depersonalize relationships. No matter how many pieces she monogrammed per day, one employee felt that her work was never appreciated. Other employees complained of too many meetings necessitated by the reorganisation and the cross functional teams. One team of catalogue artists, buyers, and copywriters needed numerous meetings each
week to coordinate their activities. A quality assurance manager complained that his work week had increased from forty hours to fifty-five hours and that the meetings were taking time away from doing his real job. Many employees complained that they did not need to go to training programmes to learn how to take care of customers and communicate when they had been doing that all along. The doubts grew until late 1994, when the board, led by Mr.Das decided that the new management was moving the company too far too fast and straying too far from the basic philosophies that made the company successful. On December 2, 1994, Mr. Das and the Vice-Chairman Nikhil Rao
asked for Mr. Marwah's resignation and fired Mr.Verma, citing the need to return to basics, and lack of confidence in the new direction of the company. Mr.Das then chose thirty four years old Vikash. Sen as chief executive offiCer to guide the return to basics. Mr. Sen, an eleven-year veteran of Sea Side (his entire working career), immediately started the about-face by dismantling most of the teams, reorganising the others, and returning to the basics of the top quality classic clothes and excellent customer service. Three other executives left the company shortly after Mr. Sen's appointment.
Shortly after his takeover, however, paper prices doubled, postal rates increased, and clothing demands dropped sharply. Third-quarter profits dropped by 60 per cent. As the year ended, overall profits were down to rupees 30.6 million on barely Rs. 1 billion in sales and Mr. Sen had to cancel one mailing to save money. Rather than cutting quality and laying off people, Mr. Sen spent even more on increasing quality and employee benefits, such as adoption assistance and mental health referrals. His philosophy was that
customers still demand quality products and that employees who feel squeezed by the company will not provide good customer service. Early results were positive, with first-quarter profits three times those of the year before. Critics of Mr. Sen's return to basics argue that the modernisation attempts were necessary to position the company for global competition and faster reaction to competition in several of its catalogue lines. Its return to growth occurred primarily in acquisition and new speciality catalogue lines and not in the main catalogue for which it was so famous. Mr. Sen has put further acquisition and global expansion on hold as he concentrates on the core businesses. Employees say that they have fewer meetings and more time to do their work.
QUESTIONS
(a) How would you characterise the two sets of changes made at Sea Side ? Which set of change is really modernisation ?
(b) How did the change processes differ from each other ?
(c) How do you think employees will view future attempts to change Sea Side ?
Ms-24 june 2007
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-24 june 2007
MS-24 : EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS
1. Briefly discuss the levels and forms of WPM in India. Discuss the implementation of WPM in industry.
2. Describe registration and recognition of Trade Unions. Briefly discuss the methods of verification of union membership and state the advantages and disadvantages of these methods.
3. Discuss the various approaches to industrial relations and their.relevance.
4. Describe the concept and process of collective bargaining. Describe the emerging trends of collective bargaining, with few examples.
5. Write short notes on any threeof the following :
(a) Conflict vs. Cooperation
(b) Misconduct
(c) Lay-off
(d) Red Hot Stove Rule
(e) Structure of employers' organisations in India
6. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end.
ADJUSTMENT PROBLEM
Twenty female employees of a large company were grouped together daily in an area measuring forty feet by forty feet to perform semi-skilled assembly work. Though the layout was far from ideal, it was accepted as "livable" at least as temporary quarters until construction of the new manufacturing facility was compl eted, and these women enjoyed their work. Their pleasure came rnostly from the fact that they could talk fleely about any subject that came to mind and still be able to do their jobs. They worked elbow to elbow and rarely failed to assemble their daily quota. When the new manufacturing facility finally opened, the women were assigned to an 'area several times larger than their former quarters. The new plant was equipped with superior lighting, water fountains, windows and piped-in music. On the surface, these work conditions appeared ideal, no employee sat less than six feet away from any other. Management, however, became perplexed over the performance of this group of women after a few weeks in the new facility. Absenteeism increased, production lagged, complaints and grievances were numerous, and two of the women quit their jobs.
In a closed door confer ence with the Production Supervisor, the Plant Engineer and the Manufacturing Manager, the Personnel Director voiced his opinion about the unforeseen problems in the assembly department. In his opinion the women missed the personal contact with each other, missed the continuous conversation and other
accustomed forms of social interaction and basically were resisting the change to the new location. The Personnel Director recommended that the Plant Engineer should do
something about redesigning the layout to bring the women closer together even if it meant spending several thousand rupees to do it.
Questions :
(a) Analyse the problem in this case.
(b) If you were the Personnel Director how would you have dealt with the grievance of the workers ?
(c) If the employees were men, would the same situation have arisen ? Why or why not ?
Ms-24 june 2008
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-24 june 2008
MS-24 : EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS
l. Outline the objectives of industrial relations. Briefly explain Dunlop's approach to industrial relations.
2. Briefly discuss the structure of Indian trade unions .
3. Briefly explain the evolution of managerial unions in India. Describe the factors influencing the formation of managerial unions in India.
4. Briefly explain the major perspectives that are dominating the industrial relations scenario since 1991
5- write short notes on any three of the following :
(a) Functions of employers' organisations
(b) Degrees and forms of participative management
(c) Collective Bargaining
(d) Importance of Integrity and Trust in employment relations
(e) Grievance redressal mechanisms
6. Read the following case and answer the questions given at the end.
In one state, the Chief Minister was invited to the annual conference of a union where union elections were also scheduled. The Chief Minister inaugurated the conference and observed as follows : "i propose that you elect Mr. XYZ as your president and the president in turn elect his team. " Before the members could understand the significance of what the Chief Minister had said there was a big round of applause from the audience presumably orchestrated by supporters of the Chief Minister's nominee for president ship of the union. Before anyone could say anything, quite a few queued up and began to garland Mr. XYZ. Mr. XYZ then rose and announced the names of his nomin ees. The elections concluded. Those who were elected were happy about the smooth and cordial manner in which the elections had been held. Referring to two cases in the recent past in neighbouring factories, they said, irr one the rival unions spent a lot of money in elections. From where had the money come. Would the ones who had spent so much money not want to recover it in one form or another ? Another elected person was talking about how management manipulated the elections to have a 'company'
union. Some of the people who had aspired to contest rvere dismayed but could not do much because of the atmosphere in which the whole thing had happened.
Questions
(a) Comment on the case and the divergent viewpoints/perceptions of those who won the elections without contesting and those who wanted to contest but could not.
(b) Discuss the problem of trade union democracy.
(c) What suggestions do you have to make trade unions truly for the members, of the members, and by the members ?
(d) What role, if any, should management have in the manner in which unions are administered ? Is there a justification for managements to intervene in the
internal matters of unions on the grounds that the internal dynamics of unions affect the functioning of the company wherein the unions operate.
