1.

Case Study
Amazon, the largest online retail company in the United States, was founded
by Jeff Bezos in 1995.The name Amazon was chosen in reference to the
Amazon River, one of the largest rivers n the world. The company started as
an online bookstore, but later added CDs, D iDV s, software, Electronics,
apparels, toys, food, and a variety of other products. Besides operating in the
United States, the company also has websites in Austria, Canada, China,
France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Over the years,
Amazon made many acquisitions such as Bookpages. co.uk an online book
company, BookSurge a print-on-demand firm, Shophop a retailer of de-signer
clothing and women's accessories, and Zappos an online retailer for shoes and
apparel. Amazon also has rather interesting partnerships with other
companies such as Target, Timex, Lacoste, and many others. One well-known
product is Kindle which is a wireless e-book reader but does much more than
reading books. It allows for downloading newspapers and magazines, blogs
and other media. There are several Kindle products available, ranging from
the mainline to the large-screen DX line. The DX is especially suitable for
reading textbooks or magazines. Kindle books can be downloaded on a
computer. In 2011 Amazon sold more Kindle books than printed books.31
Using the "Kindle for PC" program allows for purchases using a personal
computer or even an iPhone or iPod Touch. Many of Amazon's sales are
derived from third-party sellers, called "Amazon Associates" and third party
sellers. The offices, called fulfillment centers, are located throughout North
America, Europe, and Asia. They are often near airports which enhances
speedy delivery. Amazon has its critics and complaints ranging from patent
infringement, price discrimination, anti-union efforts, and libel, to the
publication of questionable books. One current issue pertains to the collection
of U.S. sales taxes on the sales of its products. The tax is collected in only a few
states in the United States. Brick-and-mortar stores, on the other hand, have to
collect sales taxes and they consider the Amazon.com advantage as being anti-
competitive.
Late in 2011, Amazon unveiled the Kindle Fire tablet computer which some
consider a com-petition to the iPad. The Kindle's price of $199 is substantially
lower that the iPad 2 which starts at $499. In 2012 the Kindle Fire HE with
three video options (Netflix, Hutu Plus, and Amazon Instant Video) was
introduced. The new Kindle has a built-in microphone, a front-facing camera,
and a high-definition LCD screen. It still sells for only $199 in the U.S.
Therefore, the Kindle Fire tablet may be appealing to those consumers looking
for a less expensive alternative to the iPad 2 or the iPad 3 (known as the New
iPad). Magazine publishers welcome the Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD as
alternatives to the iPad. Amazon has the advantage over Apple that it not only
sells music, videos, books but it also sells toys, clothes, appliances, and many
other items — an advantage for Amazon. Amazon is a success story in
innovation. The company that had a humble beginning in 1995 has grown to
become the biggest online retailer in the United States.
Questions:
a. Why was Amazon successful?
b. Would you buy an item on Amazon.com? Why or Why not?
c. Do you prefer reading a book, including a textbook, on the Kindle or do you
prefer the printed form?

3
2.case study

Marbonite is a fast growing manufacturing company. Mr.DilipKhanna is the

supervisor of a warehouse where unskilled workers are working. A few months back,
the management has decided to install mechanized material handling equipment to
reduce costs. Before installing the new equipment Mr.Khanna made a lot of errors to
introduce the change by involving all the workers in it, since the workers lacked
training and knowledge about productivity and cost reduction effects of this
equipment. Ultimately, the new material handling equipment was installed with active
cooperation of the workers.
A few months afterwards, the company decided to install a sophisticated fixture in the
electronic assembly department among the group of Technical workers. Considering
Mr.Khanna’s success in the previous change, this job was also signed to him.
Mr.Khanna did not expect any opposition about the proposed changed since the group
consisted of educated employees, who were in a better position to understand the
company problems and utility of the new fixture. Accordingly, he did not make much
efforts before introducing the new equipment as he had done in the previous situation.
The result was beyond everybody’s imagination. The group resisted tooth and nail the
introduction of the new system was until it was given up. The mistake proved very
costly to Mr.Khanna and he lost his job.

Questions:
a. Analyse the case.
b. What, in your opinion, Mr.Khanna could have done to avoid resistance by
technical group to the proposed change?

c. How do you explain the behavior of two groups in accepting or rejecting the
change contemplated by the management?
3.case study
22. ROUTINE WORK AND TARDINESS

Harish (who works for Sigma Ltd.), and Kavitha, (who works for Omega Ltd.), are
employed as production managers. Last night, both of them attended a staff
development meeting organized by a Production Management Institute (a professional
body), of which they are members. During the tea-break, Harish and Kavitha discussed
the various leadership styles that they were following in their respective organizations.
Harish told Kavitha that he had a friendly personality and was optimistic that he will
get on well with the workers in the factory. He went on to say that a total of fifty
workers are employed, with 40 of them having been employed with the business for
over 20 years. The others, mostly unskilled, tend to be younger workers who stay for a
year or so and then move on, since Harish thinks that they are harder to motivate.
Harish is aware that new Health & Safety regulations are due to be implemented and
this will require discipline in the workforce. He is thinking of adopting a more
autocratic leadership style.
Kavitha told Harish that she was newly appointed to the role, and was relatively
inexperienced. She pointed out that she manages a team of forty workers, grouped into
project teams with highly skilled and experienced staff in each team. Kavitha
mentioned that her predecessor was unpopular with the workforce since he adopted an
autocratic style of leadership. At one stage, the Labour Relations Agency was asked to
mediate in a dispute regarding management/employee relations. In view of this, she
had been thinking of adopting a democratic leadership style.

Questions:
a) Discuss whether or not Harish and Kavitha should adopt their proposed new
leadership styles within their respective organizations.
b) With reference to each organization (Sigma Limited and Omega Limited),
discuss the role of management in motivation.
4. case study

Tony Stark had just finished his first week at Reece Enterprises and decided
to drive upstate to a small lakefront lodge for some fishing and relaxation.
Tony had worked for the previous ten years for the O’Grady Company, but
O’Grady had been through some hard times of late and had recently shut
down several of its operating groups, including Tony’s, to cut costs.
Fortunately, Tony’s experience and recommendations had made finding
another position fairly easy. As he drove the interstate, he reflected on the
past ten years and the apparent situation at Reece.

At O’Grady, things had been great. Tony had been part of the team from day
one. The job had met his personal goals and expectations perfectly, and Tony
believed he had grown greatly as a person. His work was appreciated and
recognized; he had received three promotions and many more pay increases.

Tony had also liked the company itself. The firm was decentralized, allowing
its managers considerable autonomy and freedom. The corporate Culture
was easygoing. Communication was open. It seemed that everyone knew
what was going on at all times, and if you didn’t know about something, it
was easy to find out.

The people had been another plus. Tony and three other managers went to
lunch often and played golf every Saturday. They got along well both
personally and professionally and truly worked together as a team. Their
boss had been very supportive, giving them the help they needed but also
staying out of the way and letting them work.

When word about the shutdown came down, Tony was devastated. He was
sure that nothing could replace O’Grady. After the final closing was
announced, he spent only a few weeks looking around before he found a
comparable position at Reece Enterprises.

As Tony drove, he reflected that "comparable" probably was the wrong word.
Indeed, Reece and O’Grady were about as different as you could get. Top
managers at Reece apparently didn’t worry too much about who did a good
job and who didn’t. They seemed to promote and reward people based on
how long they had been there and how well they played the never-ending
political games.

Maybe this stemmed from the organization itself, Tony pondered. Reece was
a bigger organization than O’Grady and was structured much more
bureaucratically. It seemed that no one was allowed to make any sort of
decision without getting three signatures from higher up. Those signatures,
though, were hard to get. All the top managers usually were too busy to see
anyone, and interoffice memos apparently had very low priority.

Tony also had had some problems fitting in. His peers treated him with polite
indifference. He sensed that a couple of them resented that he, an outsider,
had been brought right in at their level after they had had to work themselves
up the ladder. On Tuesday he had asked two colleagues about playing golf.

They had politely declined, saying that they did not play often. But later in
the week, he had overheard them making arrangements to play that very
Saturday.

It was at that point that Tony had decided to go fishing. As he steered his car
off the interstate to get gas, he wondered if perhaps he had made a mistake in
accepting the Reece offer without finding out more about what he was
getting into.
Case Questions:
a. Identify several concepts and characteristics from the field of
organizational behavior that this case illustrates.

b. What advice can you give Tony? How would this advice be supported or
tempered by behavioral concepts and processes?

c. Is it possible to find an "ideal" place to work? Explain.

5.case study
The president of Simplex Mills sat at his desk in the hushed atmosphere, so typical of business
offices, after the close of working hours. He was thinking about Rehman, the manager in-charge
of purchasing, and his ability to work with George, the production manager, and Vipulabh, the
marketing and sales manager in the firm.

When the purchasing department was established two years ago, both George and Vipulabh
agreed with the need to centralise this function and place a specialist in charge. George was of
the view that this would free his supervisors from detailed ordering activities. Vipulabh opined
that the flow of materials into the firm was important enough to warrant a specialised
management assignment. Yet since the purchasing department began operating it has been
precisely these two managers who have had a number of confrontations with the new purchase
manager, and occasionally with one another, in regard to the way the purchasing function in
being carried out.

From George’s point of view, instead of simplifying his job as production manager by taking
care of purchasing for him, the purchasing department has developed a formal set of
procedures that has resulted in as much time commitment on his part as he had previously
spent in placing his orders directly with vendors. Further, he is specially irritated by the fact that
his need for particular items or particular specification is constantly being questioned by the
purchasing department. When the department was established, George assumed that the
purchasing manager was there to fill his needs, not to question them.

As Vipulabh sees it, the purchasing function is an integral part of marketing function, and the
two therefore need to be jointly managed as a unified process. Purchasing function cannot be
separated from a firm’s overall marketing strategy. However, Rehman has attempted to carry
out the purchasing function without regard for this obvious relationship between his
responsibilities and those of Vipulabh, thus making a unified marketing strategy impossible.
In his previous position, Rehman had worked in the purchasing department of a firm
considerably larger than Simplex. Before being hired, he was interviewed by all the top
managers, including George and Vipulabh, but it was the president himself who negotiated the
details of the job offer. As Rehman sees it, he was hired as a professional to do a professional
job. Both George and Vipulabh have been distracting him from this goal by presuming that he is
somehow subordinate to them, which he believes is not the case. The people in the production
department, who use the purchasing function most, have complained about the detail that he
requires on their requisitions. But he has documented proof that materials are now being
purchased much more economically than they were under the former decentralised system. He
finds Vipulabh’s interests more difficult to understand, since he sees no particular relationship
between his responsibilities for efficient procurement, and Vipulabh’s responsibilities to market
the firm’s products.

The president has been aware of the continuing conflict among three managers for some time,
but on the theory that a little rivalry is healthy and stimulating, he has felt that it was nothing to
be unduly concerned about. But now that much of his time is being taken up by much of what
he considers to be petty bickering, the time has come to take some positive action.

Questions:
1. Is George’s view of the situation realistic?
2. How do you evaluate Vipulabh’s position?
3. How might this conflict be associated with factors in the formal organisation?
4. What should the president of Simplex Mills do now?
6.case study
Bharat Engineering Works Limited is a major industrial machineries besides other engineering
products. It has enjoyed market preference for its machineries because of limited competition
in the field. Usually there have been more orders than what the company could supply.
However, the scenario changed quickly because of the entry of two new competitors in the
field with foreign technological collaboration. For the first time, the company faced problem in
marketing its products with usual profit margin. Sensing the likely problem, the chief executive
appointed Mr Arvind Kumar as general manager to direct the operations of industrial
machinery division. Mr Kumar had similar assignment abroad before coming back to India.

Mr Kumar had a discussion with the chief executive about the nature of the problem being
faced by the company so that he could fix up his priority. The chief executive advised him to
consult various heads of department to have first hand information. However, he emphasised
that the company lacked an integrated planning system while members of the Board of
Directors insisted on introducing this in several meetings both formally and informally.

After joining as General Manager, Mr Kumar got briefings from the heads of all departments.
He asked all heads to identify major problems and issues concerning them. The marketing
manager indicated that in order to achieve higher sales, he needed more sales support. Sales
people had no central organisation to provide sales support nor was there a generous budget
for demonstration teams which could be sent to customers to win business.

The production manager complained about the old machines and equipments used in
manufacturing. Therefore, cost of production was high but without corresponding quality.
While competitors had better equipments and machinery, Bharat Engineering had neither
replaced its age-old plant nor reconditioned it. Therefore to reduced the cost, it was essential
to automate production lines by installing new equipment.
Director of research and development did not have specific problem and therefore, did not
indicate for any change. However, a principal scientist in R&D indicated on one day that the
director of R&D, though very nice in his approach, did not emphasize on short-term research
projects, which could easily increase production efficiency by at least 20 per cent within a very
short period without any major capital outlay.

Questions
(a) Discuss the nature and characteristics of the problems in this case.
(b) What steps should be taken by Mr Kumar to overcome these problems?
7. case study
BILL FORD USES NEW MANAGEMENT TO TRANSFORM OLD COMPANY:
Bill Ford Jr. heard the bad news after lunch on a sleety February afternoon in 1999. There had
been an explosion at Ford Motors Rouge plant, the historic complex of smokestacks and towers
in dear born, Michigan, that Ford could see again at the skyline from his office. Nobody knew
how many people had been hurt. At that moment, Bill Ford, the brand-new chairman of ford
motors, had a distinctly unchairman like pre action. He decided to leave his office for the scene
of the accident.
By the end of the day, Bill Ford had visited the plants triage center. He had been on TV in his
wind breaker saying, “This has to be worst day of my life,” Without an entourage, he visited
area hospitals late into the night consoling families of the injured and dying (6 men were killed).
And in that defining day, he made it perfectly clear that he did not intend to be a buttoned
down, 20th century executive.
Bill Ford Jr. 42 is a nice guy with a politician’s instinct. He is an unapologetic environmentalist.
He is a family man who would rather spend Saturday night’s eating pizza with his four children
than eating horsd’oeuvres with movers and Shakers. He prefers ice hockey to golf. He does not
do business on the golf course. He says what he thinks and does what he thinks he should.
He is that rare corporate executive who says boldly that his company will do best for its share
holders if it takes care of its employees, its community an d the environment, all of which he
says will enable Ford Motor to attack better talent, develop loyal customers, enhance its brand,
sell more cars and services, and over time, boost its share price. When Bill refers to Fords
workers as his “extended family”, even some of his union bosses believe that he is sincere.
Bill Ford Jr. is idealistic, but he is not stupid. He has spent two decades carefully earning and
consolidating his power, and though he is not CEO he holds lot of cards. He has the solid
backing of the Ford family, which controls 40% of the voting stock that gives him some
protection from Wall Street. He has strong support from the Board of Directors.
Finally, Bill Ford is pragmatic, having learnt a thing or two about politics and survival during his
time at the company. He encountered plenty of people along the way who did not want to see
a Ford family member returned to power. And he knew that Ford Motor historically had, as he
puts it
“More intrigue than czarist Russia”.
But the real question is whether he can create a new kind of leadership to arouse and right
embattled- old economic corporation. Their share holders and their managers have deserted in
droves. Their credibility, on mattes from genetic engineering to teen smoking to passenger
bumping, is about as bad as a used car sales men.
Bill Ford could have spent the last 20 years cashing dividend cheques and fishing in Patagonia.
Instead he set out to “Change the face of industry,” as he once wrote. His mission seems
fraught with more peril than developing the first – mass produced car. Will he be yet, another
family executive who can’t get along with the management? Will he lead Ford off course? Will
he turn out to be plain naïve? He knows it s a possibility. “That I am seen as a kind of irrelevant
dilettante is the worst case in my mind,” he says. Given his intelligence, his vision and his
commitment, Bill Ford could develop a business model as a revolutionary for the times as great
– grand father Henry’s was for his. But he could also become just another piece of old –
economy road kill.
Questions:
1. How does Bill Ford’s style fit with Frederick Taylor’s scientific management approach?
2. Do you think Bill Ford views Ford Motor Company as an open system? Why or why not?
3. Of the different approaches to Management study, which do you think most closely
resembles Bill Fords style? Why?