Conflict management

Navya Products Ltd. A Mumbai based company manufacturing agro products, was established by Ajay Sinha (Sinha) in 1994. By 2000, the company and its brands were popular throughout India. Sinha believes that it was the hard work and commitment of his management team and employees that led to the success of the company. In order to keep his employees motivated, Sinha offered awards on an annual basis for best manager, best employee, best PR executive and the most productive department. He also gave awards to encourage quality initiatives in the organization. The marketing manager of the company, Ravinder Shah (Shah) won the best PR executive award every year. He maintained a very good relationship with the companys customers. Shah ensured that once the company obtained a contract from a customer for supply of products, the customer continued to source all his requirements from Navya. Shah had joined the company as a marketing trainee when it was established, and none of his clients had ever shifted loyalty to other companies. In 2001, Navya diversified into FMCG and pharma products, and acquired many companies in these industries. The company which started with 30 employees rapidly grew to have a work force of more than 3000 people. The company was restructured to facilitate its growth and achieve better coordination among employees. There was an increase in the level of hierarchy. Many people who reported directly to Sinha did not do so any more. They had to report to a senior manager, who, in turn, reported to Sinha. With the restructuring of the company, a new person, Arvind Kapoor (Kapoor), was appointed to head the marketing division. Kapoor had earlier worked as marketing manager for a multinational corporation. Previously, Shah reported directly to Sinha, but after the restructuring, he had to report to Kapoor. Sinha gradually expanded the company and established new units in various places across the country and the company soon had branches throughout India. Sinha also had plans to set up offices of the company overseas. He made a beginning by exporting agro products to the US and various countries in the Middle East and Europe. He also began searching for strategic partners to venture into international business and held talks with a European company in this regard. These discussions were also attended by Kapoor, and the heads of the production and finance

divisions, Sunil Devgun and Rajani Mehta. Prior to the restructuring, Shah and some other colleagues were always invited to attend such strategic discussions. In fact, they believed that they had played a crucial role in the various discussions that led to the recent acquisitions by the company. Now, seeing their role in the company diminishing, Shah and his affected colleagues began to feel neglected and ignored by the company. In 2002, for the first time, Sinha observed that Navya was beginning to lose customers to its competitors. Most of them were customers brought by Shah. He also heard that the reason for the customers shifting their loyalty to other companies was the aggressive manner in which Shah had behaved with them. It also came to light that in the last few months, Shah had not made visits to client organizations to inquire about the requirements. Kapoor also complained to Sinha that Shah was not cooperative and was highly aggressive. There were reports that during management meetings, Kapoor and Shah always held opposing views and had argued loudly. Sinha also heard from some sources that Shah was planning to resign from the company. Questions for discussion: 1. How do think the conflict between Arvind Kapoor and Ravinder Shah can be resolved? 2. Is it wise for the company to lose Ravinder Shah? Requirements: Presentation : 3 mins

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