PRINCIPLES & PRACTICES OF MANAGEMENT101

CASE STUDY 1
GargeyeeIyengar, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India

This case provides an overview of the leadership challenges, such as inculcating

professionalism in the organization, making right strategies for growth and succession
planning in the firm, faced by the promoters of a medium scale agri business firm in
Hyderabad.
Green Bio Organics, an agribusiness venture, traced its origins to Green Bio Organics
(India) Pvt. Ltd. founded by three partners (Krishnan, Srinivas and Madhusudhan) in
1993 in Hyderabad. With equity contribution from public and loans from banks, the firm
became a public limited company in 1995. However, the company suffered huge losses in
1999.
A lot of challenges were faced by the promoters when one of its major clients, a US based
company, filed for bankruptcy in 1999. The firm witnessed a transition from pure
chemicals business to producing bio organic products during the bankruptcy phase (19992003).
The promoters, undeterred by the challenges, decided to redesign the chemical plant to
produce biological products. The promoters donned multiple roles as managers,
scientists, lab technicians and packers during the redesigning phase. They themselves had
to take up various redesigning assignments on account of inability to afford paying
professionals. The company emerged debt free in 2006 and made reasonable profit in
2007.
Questions for Discussion
What management strategy is Green Bio Organics going to adapt?
What kind of structural changes observed at top level management of Green Bio
Organics?
Is leadership plays the appropriate role which is morally assigned to them?
What kind of roles and responsibility is being played by leaders in business?
Considering you as owner of Green bio Organics, what step would you like to take
in such kind of situations?

CASE STUDY 2
The Marketing manager of AMK Enterprises, Roopali Deshmukh (Deshmukh) stepped
out of the conference hall in a pensive mood after an important meeting called by the
CEO. The meeting was attended by the heads of various departments in the company and
was convened to discuss the targets for the coming assessment year. Deshmukh had a
formidable sales target to achieve and wondered how she would be able to meet those
seemingly impossible goals.
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This fear was further aggravated by the fact that the productivity levels of employees in
the company had been falling. Deshmukh was under tremendous pressure from the
management to improve the performance of her team. She also had to deal with the
decreasing levels of employees morale in her 24-member team. As a first step,
Deshmukh informed her team members about a meeting that she planned to hold the next
day. She then drafted a plan of action that she intended to discuss with her team.
The next day, Deshmukh began the meeting by informing her team members about the
corporate meeting she had attended. She then said, We have a difficult task ahead for
this year, and your participation and involvement is essential to achieve the goals. She
then invited suggestions from her team members regarding the role to be played by each
of them. The meeting then progressed on to setting of individual targets for by each team
member as, it was felt that this would help in accomplishing the organizational goals.
Specific goals were, therefore, set and agreed upon by all the team members. The team
aimed to increase the organizational profits by 18% over the next six months. They
sketched out a plan of action to achieve the targets set for the team and decided that they
would meet once every two months to monitor their progress.
Two months later, the team met again and received their progress. Deshmukh also gave a
feedback on the performance of every member of the team. The team then collectively
identified the areas of improvement and decided upon the measures they would take to
overcome their deficiencies. This continued for the rest of the year. The final review
meeting was held just before the yearly corporate meeting attended by the top
management. The team was surprised to see that they had achieved their targets.
Thus, effective planning and control mechanisms helped the team achieve their short term
goals, and this in turn, helped in the achievement of the organizational objectives.
Besides, the employees were also motivated as the management gave adequate
recognition to their involvement and participation in achieving team goals. The target to
be achieved by the team was highly challenging. This further motivated the team
members as they had better opportunities to prove their problems solving skills. Thus, the
outstanding performance of the sales team helped the organization achieve in the long
term.
Questions for Discussions:

1. Roopali Deshmukh followed the practice of management by objectives (MBO) while

setting goals for team members. Discuss the various phases of the MBO process that
helped her team achieve its goals.
2. Explain briefly the process of MBO and the various advantages of implementing MBO
in organizations.

PRINCIPLES & PRACTICES OF MANAGEMENT101

Roopali Deshmukh followed the practice of management by objectives (MBO)
while setting goals for team members. Discuss the various phases of the MBO
process that helped her team achieve its goals.
Roopali Deshmukh implemented the MBO process as an intervention to improve
the productivity of her sales team. She successfully implemented the process by
following a sequence of effective planning, control and development. The
following are the various phases of the MBO process that led to its success:
The MBO program was initiated by the top management which set the overall
organizational goals and communicated them to the people down the hierarchy.
However, the management did not interfere much with the means of achieving the
objectives. In other words, it gave adequate autonomy to its employees to
implement the progress.
Deshmukh then drafted a plan of action to achieve the targets decided by the
management for the year. She invited employee participation in various aspects of
implementation of the program. She encouraged her team members to decide the
role each one would play in role to achieve the teams target. She sought their
suggestions to play in order to achieve the team targets that each individual would
achieve. These short term targets were in line with the teams long term goals and
objectives.
Deshmukh also set specific time frames specific time frames for the
accomplishments of the targets. Thus the goals were not only specific but also
time bound.
Deshmukh closely monitored the performance of all the team members without
actually interfering in their job. She also offered positive feedback to her
subordinates and this helped them overcome their shortcomings and perform
effectively.
Thus the MBO program implemented in the sales team proved to be beneficial to
both the employees and the management
Explain briefly the process of MBO and the various advantages of implementing
MBO in organizations.
Management by objectives is a goal-setting tool where goals are set by employees
in collaboration with the management. The aim of management by objectives is
the achievement of organizational goals. MBO involves setting up short-term
goals for employees in line with the long term objectives of the organization.
MBO is thus an effective tool for planning, control and development.
Most organizations use MBO as a control mechanism to ensure that there is no
deviation between employee performance and organizational objectives.
Organizations also use MBO as a performance measurement tool. Since MBO is a
bottom-up approach, the organization gains from the participation of employees
in the establishment and achievement of employee goals. Since individual goals
are set collaboratively by employees and employers and are closely linked to the
organizations mission and objectives, achievement of individual goals results in
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accomplishment of organizations objectives. Thus an effective MBO program
not only motivate

CASE STUDY 3

Focused on managing a reform at the intermediate level and

leadership action at the central level

Malanbator is a health area that has been known as a baseline district for five
years. A majority of its inhabitants are satisfied by the health services offered, including
the modest consultation fees, the availability of medication, the availability of
consultation and hospitalization rooms as well as of laboratories.
Despite meager resources in the Baksao region, and the lethargy of the medical
region, the district has changed significantly in eight years, particularly because of Dr.
Wally Dioms unfailing commitment and ability to develop a robust partnership with
SENCIMENT, a wealthy mining company that has widely contributed to the
development of fair access to essential drugs and the distribution of insecticide-treated
mosquito nets throughout the area, especially in the most remote rural parts where
extreme poverty is still predominant.
Dr. Diom retired one year ago, ending his career in this district, in the most
complete anonymity.
After a long time, he was replaced by Dr. Mbissine Fall, a very determined young
woman who began her career three years ago as a brilliant intern working in the field of
infectious diseases. Newlywed, she followed her husband, a civil engineer, and moved to
the Baksao region, managing to be transferred to Malanbator. She really began her duties
barely four months ago, seven months after Dr. Dioms departure.
Elected officials in Malanbator, in the framework of health development action
planning, attempted to coordinate their efforts with the medical district, although the
brand new special delegation for the Baksao region opposed, for the first time in a long
time, making donated funds available to the health center in the municipality of
Findouck, as stipulated in the minutes from the recent conference on harmonization that
was held in the Findouck district community.
Moreover, the joint biannual review, which was held six months after Dr. Dioms
departure, noted that Malanbators annual work plan, which remained an OP [Operational
Plan], did not sufficiently stipulate the expected results in terms of free medical
assistance for the indigent and free assistance for pregnant women in the most remote
rural areas, nor the responsibilities allotted to local authorities in this matter.
A recent study on the participation of local authorities and grassroots communities
in the Baksao region, sponsored by the Canadian Cooperation for the Support of
Decentralization, emphasizes the fact that elected officials, health committees and
management committees are not familiar with the approaches recommended by the
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Ministry of Health to comply with the new decennial national policy in support of health
development, specifically in the areas of planning, results-based management and the
budgeting exercise, the CDSMT (Medium-term Expenditure Framework).
While Dr. Diom was pleased, in his last year of service, with the will of the elected
officials in Malanbator to commit to taking charge of the transfer of skills, Dr. Fall
noticed very quickly the limited abilities of local authorities to manage these transferred
skills:
very little competency in the areas of health and development in the municipality
of Findouk and rural communities in the Raopesso dpartement;
uneven involvement of populations in health committees, with very few women
and rural youth;
use of funds made at the expense of the operation of health posts, particularly that
of the rural community of Raossaso, where are found the poorest households of
the district as well as young small farmers aspiring to emigrate to Europe via
Morocco and Lybia.
The insight provided by a small local association dedicated to citizen oversight, called
Forum Sant [Health Forum], made Dr. Fall realize that 5 million CFA francs had been
embezzled from the health center in Findouck, unjustified expenditures having occurred
after her predecessors departure.
The medical officer, senior member Ali Mor Fall, is well liked by users of the health
center. He is also a clerk for the municipality of Findouck and a full member of the
technical committee for ARD (Agence Rgionale de Dveloppement: Regional
Development Agency) in Baksao. He was in charge of ordering expenditures during the
interim period preceding Dr. Falls arrival.
Three months after she assumed her duties, she is still waiting for instructions from
the physician in charge of the medical region, which would enable her to take appropriate
coercive measures. Moreover, she became aware of a very advanced draft performance
contract begun by Dr. Diom before he left, binding the medical district, the SENCIMENT
company and the municipality of Findouck to the development of the health center in
Findouck into a large referral center for obstetric and prenatal care, a level 1 hospital , in
accordance with the recommendations made by the regional joint biannual review
concerning the importance of signing clear and specific partnership agreements to
support the implementation of health programs.
In addition, Dr. Moustapha Camara, company physician at SENCIMENT, has been
putting pressure on the health district to finalize the contract. This is because his company
has to present its social plan for sustainable development during the meeting of the CSR
(Corporate Social Responsibility) division at the CIMENT Globe Group in Madrid at the
end of the quarter.
Dr Fall remains worried after reading the inconclusive performance report on the
health center in Fintouck, published by the Belgian NGO Weldafrique. She questions her
districts ability to successfully implement such a performance contract within a year and
believes that doing so would be putting the cart before the ox.
Dr. Fall summarizes, for the umpteenth time, the reasons for her worry:
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1. The management committee in Findouck was never chaired by the mayor, who
most often delegated this responsibility to Ali Mor Fall, councilman and district
medical officer. The accounting books from the Findouck health center have not
been examined in two years. How can we establish a real dialogue on this thorny
question when consultation mechanisms dont seem to be efficient and there is no
real transparency regarding resource allocation?
2. The districts annual work plan falling within the regions annual plan for health
development was essentially designed by health officers and health committees.
Dr. Fall wonders whether the reason invoked, namely that the special delegation
was poorly informed and unskilled, is sufficient to explain the lack of involvement
from the elected officials. How can we mobilize the municipality around the
performance contract and form a sustainable and robust partnership?
3. The embezzlement of funds belonging to the health center in Findouck must be
resolved before the performance contract is finalized. How can we act quickly
while following proper administrative procedures?
4. A baseline for the Center, asked for by SENCIMENT, must be established
independently according to SENCIMENT, in order to develop adequate
performance trackers. How can these be identified without antagonizing the
agencies in charge at the central level?
5. Close to 50% of prenatal care is provided by traditional midwives in the Raopesso
dpartement, more than 60 % of deliveries are not attended by qualified staff and
maternal mortality in the rural communities of this dpartement is far above the
regional average. How can we justify maintaining this imbalance by erecting a
poorly managed referral center with resources well above those of the center in
Raopesso?

Dr. Fall turns to Dr. Ousmane Leye for supervision. This regional physician
encourages her to sign as soon as possible, in accordance with the guidelines from the last
joint annual review (RAC). Then she informally requests advice from the public health
directorate, by contacting Dr. Mamouna Dabo Sangare, whom she trusts entirely, as she
was a thoughtful mentor during her years as an intern. While waiting for Dr. Dabo
Sangares reaction to her email, Dr. Mbissine Fall relaxes by having her fortune told by a
neighbor.

Questions for Discussion:

You are Dr. Mamouna Dabo Sangare and you have to:
1. Analyze the situation using a tool adopted by the Ministry: The feedback loop
(see the attached material);
2. List some solutions to offer Dr Mbissine Fall in response to her five questions;

PRINCIPLES & PRACTICES OF MANAGEMENT101

3. Justify your decision on the performance contract (the municipality of Findouck
or the rural community of Raopesso) by developing arguments based on the most
recent national accounts;
4. Assess/evaluate the leadership present in the medical region of Baksao in order to
provide advice to further develop efficient leadership.