Makeup assignment

Santoz Asia Limited at Pune (India) is a Sweden-based manufacturing

organization with a fully integrated production and marketing base. To expand its base in
Indian market it entered into a joint venture with Chirag Tube Co. Ltd. (CTCL), a
company run by Chirag family. CTCL was set up in 1972 as Indias first manufacturer of
stainless steel welded tubes at Vatva, near Ahmedabad. Subsequently, the company grew
with the addition of several product lines such as, hypodermic tubes, instrumentation
tubes, seamless tubes, fabricated tubes, etc. The new company was formed in 1996 and
was named Santoz Chirag Ltd. (SCHL). SCHL was a 51:49 joint-venture between Santoz
and Chirag. This company undertook a major investment program to upgrade its facilities
and to increase its capacity to total of 7000 tons per year. However, for strategic reasons
and to concentrate exclusively on the production of cold finished tubes, the Chirag exited
from this joint venture in 2001. Hence, Santoz took over the controls completely and in
conjunction with the acquisition, the company changed its name to Santoz Steel Asia Pvt.
Ltd. and the plant was integrated into Santoz's global production network. In the process,
it went ahead with major downsizing also, resulting in the exit of almost 50 percent of its
manpower including shop-floor workers and staff.

The organization increased its production from 2100 tons in the year 2001 to 5434
tons in the year 2004. On the face of it, this appears to be a huge turnover. But the
sustainability of this statistical growth was questionable. Santoz was grappling with
human issues like stress, tension, uncertainty and lack of trust of employees over the
management. There was a clear-cut divide between the management and the shop-floor
workers. An environment of mistrust, job-insecurity, stress and uncertainty was
prevailing in the organization from top to bottom. The shop-floor workers were still
associating themselves more with their old employers- Chirags. On the other hand,
management was showing its firmness to encourage the entry of more contract workers in
the organization as compared to the unionized labor. The reason for such unrest was lying
in the cultural incongruence of the two merged organizations.

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 After acquiring the Chirag group, Santoz appointed a new leader to this plant. He
was given the task of recovering the losses of the unit in 18 months; otherwise the unit
was on the brink of closure.

Based on the class discussions, which leadership style/s do you think should suit the
most in such a situation? Why? What initial steps the leader should take to cope up
with the situation?

Your response should not exceed 2 pages in length. The title of the file should be in the
format Makeup assignment_<Your Name>. You are required to send the soft copy of
the assignment before March 18, 2014.