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MS-11   Dec, 2011

MS-11 : STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

1. Distinguish between

(a) Strategy v/s Policies

(b) Strategy v/s Tactics and explain giving examples.

2.   How does the value chain framework work as a guide to any firm's strengths and weaknesses? Give examples in support of your answer.

3. (a) Discuss the cost of differentiation under following leads :

(i) Training.

(ii) Promotion of a product.

(iii) Hiring skilled workforce.

(iv) I mproving quality of the product.

(b) Discuss the Advantages and Disadvantages of Differentiation.

4. ' An organization can "go international" by crossing domestic borders as it employs various growth stratagies'. Keeping the statement in mind explain various ways through which a firm can expand internationally. Give examples in support of your answer.

5. What are the different methods of control ? Discuss them in brief giving examples.

6. Read The following case and answer the questions given at the end.

Abhinav Kumar never failed to enjoy his company's establishment-day jamboree. That was one time in the year when his company, Total Industries, really splurged on its employees. Assistant managers and about 122 of them-would be flown into Mumbai from all the branch offices, and lodged in hotels for 2 days.

The get-together cost the company Rs. 50 lakhs, but Kumar knew it was a small price to pay for the credibility it generated. After all, Total was no longer the textile peddling, one-man outfit his grandfather had founded back in 1927. Rather, it was a Rs. 6,000 crores plus conglomerate with interest in consumer electronics, switchgears, batteries, soaps and oils.

Being a largely family managed company, Total is likely to be perceived as a benevolent

employer. Today, watching is employees come together. like a big family, Kumar felt proud about his grand-father and father. He turned his gaze to where his father was sitting, 2 tables away to his right, chatting animatedly with Srikant Suresh, President (Consumer Durables Division). In another 5 minutes, Kumar Senior would be up on the dais, making his annual address to the empolyees. Kumar knew what his father would be talking about. They had discussed it over dinner last night. Ratika Sahai, the young President (Batteries), took the microphone as soon as the evening's last item, a dance recital, came to an end. "Thank you Rachana for your wonderful performance. Ladies and Gentlemen, before we wrap up this evening. I would like to invite our Chairman to the dais for his customary address". Amidst loud applause, Deepak made his way to the dais.

"I hope all of you had a good time over the last 2 days. Although this is only our fourth get-together in as many years, I feel a tremendous sense of belonging. I hope you feel the same because, as a company, we will prosper only when all of us contribute our

best".

Total Vision 2010'

To become a market-leader in each of the four business segments by ensuring total

quality, customer satisfaction, and continuous innovation.

"As I see it, " Deepak continued," the challenges before us are many. We need to become a more efficient company. We need to become more cost-competitive. Our products need to be of better quality, and we need to become more customer-friendly. The business environment today is vastly different from what it was when I joined Total. Unless we regularly re-vitalise the organization, change our mindsets, and revisit our basics, we cannot be competitive. What kind of company should Total be in another decade?"

For about half a minute nobody replied. Then, Manoj Kohli, the President of the switchgears division, stood up to answer the question. "Probably the largest company in the country", he said.

"Certainly the largest company, Manoj, but also the market-leader in all the segments we choose to be in", Deepak elaborated. "Do all of you feel that way ?" he threw the question at the audience.

"Yes," pat came the chorus.

"Let's keep that in mind when we return to our jobs tomorrow morning, and work towards making it happen. Once again, thank you all for being here, and I hope it was worth your while," Deepak said concluding his address. Kumar met up with his father near the exit, "Sir can you give me a ride back home," he asked. Kumar always "Sir-ed" his father in front of other executives.

"What happened to your car ?"

" I have it but I want to talk to you".

Deepak gave him a quizzical look but did not say anything. After saying good bye to his departing colleagues, Abhinav joined his father who was already seated in the car.

"So, what do think dad? Did it go off well ?"

"Of course, it did. Do you have any doubts?"

"Not about the party but something did strike me as odd."

"What ?" Deepak asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Remember when you asked what kind of a company Total should be in another 10 years?"

"Yes, What about it ?"

Didn't it strike you as odd that there was a long silence before Manoj replied ?

"I think they were hesitant. It's not everyday that I ask them a question like that."

"They were hesitant, dad, but not because they were shy. Don't you realize they don't know what we want Total to be ?rThey do not know what our vision for Total is."

"Bah ...don't give me your management jargon. I don't care if they don't know of our

"vision". We have done perfectly well over the last 73 years without your 'vision' thing," Deepak scoffed.

"Those days, our executives just took orders from you and grandpa. But, today we are asking them to act like profit-centres: Don't you think having a common vision which

everybody knows about will help ?"

"Do you think Total got to where it is today without a vision ?"

"No. But the vision is locked up inside the heads of people like you, me, and our top executives. We have not discussed its contours and documented a formal statement".

"I don't know' Abhi, I would still trust my gut feel than go by some fancy vision

statement. It looks good hanging from your office wall".

"No, dad," Abhinav persisted. "It's just like you and I having our breakfast or dinner

talks. Only, this time it will be communicated to all the employees in the company".

"I don't feel comfortable about your management mumbo-jumbo. But we will do it

anyway".

The car pulled into the drive-way of their sprawling mansion.

"Thanks, dad. Eventually, you'll see that it works."

"I hope so, Good night, son". Next morning, Abhinav asked his four presidents-Srikant

Suresh of Durables, Manoj Kohli of Switchgears, Guneen Roy of soaps and oils, and

Ratika Sahai of Batteries-to join him in the conference room. Without much ado, he

got to the point as soon as the meeting began.

"Tell me something frankly. Do you think Total has a vision where it wants to go?"

His audience of 4 was momentarily taken aback by the question. They looked at each

other, before Guneen replied : "Of course, aren't all of us committed to making Total

the best company in the industry?"

There are two things involved here, Guneen. One, only you and I seem to know where

Total is headed. And two, even we see the final goal differently. We have been so

caught up with our day-to-day operations that we haven't articulated the big picture".

"You are right, "Kohli said.

"But how do you develop a vision, for a company that is as diversified as ours ?"

Questioned Ratika. "Should we find a common thread that runs across all our businesses and build the vision around it, or develop separate vision statement for each of them?"

"I think the unit-specific vision would make sense provided we were to spin off our divisions into separate companies, "Guneen said... "Given our current position, we should identify the unique set of skills that straddles the 4 divisions".

"In fact, I do see some common characteristics," said Kumar "One, our businesses are volume-driven. Two, the sales are largely dealer-led. Three, our products cater to the mass market, and they are sold on the economy plank. So, what is the core proposition

that binds them all ? Obviously, it is value-for-money. So, should our vision be built

around this proposition ?"

It's my sense that we should," Kohli said "Look at our market shares. In refrigerators, we have 1/5 th of the market; it's 23 percent in switchgears, and 17 percent in CTVs.

Our market share in batteries is modest because it's a relatively new business for us. Of course, soaps and oils is a legacy business, which Guneen is trying hard to turn around".

I feel that connected to the issue of vision is also the question of strategy," Ratika noted.

"It must make a fit with the vision."

"I think this is what we should do", Kumar opined. "As a first step, do an in-house vision poll to find out what our people feel about it. We'll work on the strategy thereafter."

It took Total about 2 months to finish the in-house poll. The results were revealing.

There was a stark absence of vision awareness below the middle-management level. In fact, the clerical cadre was not even sure that Total had a vision.

"This is scary, dad," Kumar had told his father the evening the poll results came in.

"But do you think all our employees are capable of understanding the complexities of the business ?" his father had asked.

"May be not, but they'll appreciate transparency. And if we keep our vision simple-not simplistic, though I don't see why they won't buy it".

"I have my reservations, Abhi. Can we develop a meaningful, shareable vision for all our businesses ? How should the vision be put across, and how should we manage the mechanics of developing this vision without trivialising what we have toiled to build over the years, or scaring our employees away with too high a vision ?"

QUESTIONS :

(a) What should be the basis of the vision statement of Total Industries: Value for money or anything else ? Explain clearly.

(b) How can Total Industries develop a meaningful shareable vision for all its businesses ?

(c) Is it possible for Total Industries to develop the vision statement through active employee involvement and participation ? If yes, outline the steps in a sequential way.

(d) What are the dangers of building a vision statement through a bottom-up process ?

MS-10   june, 2007

MS-10 : ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE

1.Distinguish between the Functional and Product organisation and Une & Staff organisation. List out their merits and demerits with examples.

2. Describe the skills required for becoming a successful change agent and briefly discuss the role of a change agent.

3. Briefly describe the erherging trends in work organization and discuss how they affect the quality of work life of employees, with suitable examples.

4. Describe the meaning and purpose of job design and various approaches to job design and their relevance.

5. Write short notes on any threeof the following :

(i) Inverted pyramid structure

(ii) Intervidru as a diagnostic tool

(iii) Organisation vs. institution

(iv) T-Group training

v)Mechanistic vs. Organic organization

6. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end :

If lean and mean could be personified, Percy Barnevik would walk through thr door a thin bearded swede Barnevik is Europe's leading hatchet man. He is also the creator of what is fast becoming the most successful cross-border merger since Royal Dutch Petroleum linked up with Britain's Shell in 1907.

In four years, Barnevik, 51, has welded ASEA, a Swedish engineering group, to Brown Boveri, a Swiss competitor, bolted on 7 more companies in Europe and the [J.S., and created ABB, a global electrical equipment giant that is bigger than Westinghouse and can go head to head with GE. It is a world leader in high-i peed trains, robotics, and environmental control.

To make this monster dance, Barnevik cut more than one in five jobs, closed dozens of factories, and decimated headquarters staffs around Europe and the [J.S. Whole businesses were shifted from one country to another. He created a corps of just

25 global managers to lead 21,000 employees. IBM has talked with Bamevik and his team. about how to pare down its own overstaffed bureaucracy. Du Pont recently put Barnevik on its board. Says a senior executive at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries :

"They're as aggressive as we are, I mean this as a compliment. They are sort of super-Japanese." ABB isn't Japanese, nor is it Swiss or Swedish. It is multinational without a national identity, though its mailing address is in Zurich. The company's 13 top managers hold frequent meetings in different countries. Since they share no common first language, they speak only English, a foreign tongue to all but one. Like their boss, senior ABB managers are short on sentiment and long on commitment. An oil portrait of a l9th-century founder of Brown Boveri hangs in ABB's headquarters, but few are sure what his name is. (lt's Charles Brown.) Ask for a fax number, though, and you're likely to get two, office and home.

To Barnevik, today's competitive market economy is a "cruel world". Not making it any kinder, he has launched a personal war on what he sees as excess capacity

- 2% to 3% in the electrical equipment industry in Europe alone. Educated in Sweden and the U.S. (he studied Business Administration and Computer Science at

Stanford in the mid-1960s), Barnevik thinks European industry must be restructured massively to become competitive in world markets. He foresees billions of dollars of mergers and acquisitions in the next three to five years. Europe's best strategy against the Americans and Japanese, he national markets. believes; is to break free of, protected

Before the merger, Brown Boveri had 4 people in Baden, Switzerland. ASEA had as nrqny as 2, in Vasteros, Sweden. The combined company now employs just 15 in a modest six-storey building across from a train station in west Zurich. Where did everybody go ? Many were fired. The rest were sent to subsidiaries or off ered jobs in new companies set up to assume rnany headquarters functions. (ABB Marketing Services, for exarnple, creates. and mns and campaigns for ABB, but

. also takes on a few other clients. And Bamevik expects it to make money.) It's not just cost cutting Barnevik is after, though that is obviously irnportant. Says he : "ldeally you should have a minimum of staff to disturb the operating people and prevent them from doing their more importdnt jobs. "

Bamevik's master matrix gives all employees a country manager and a business sector manager. The country managers run traditional, national companies with local boards of directors, including eminent outsiders. ABB has about 2 such managers, most of them citizens of the country in which they work. Of more exalted rank are 65 global managers who are organized into eight segments : transportation, process automation and' engineering, environmental devices, financial services electrical equipment (mainly motors and robots), and three electric power businesses : generation, transmission, and distribution. Barnevik is well aware that the once popular management by matrix is in disfavour in the U.S. business schools and has been abandoned by most multinational companies. But he says he uses a loose

Decentralized version of it the two bosses are not always equal that is particularly suited to an organization composed of many nationalities

The matrix system makes it easier for managers like Gerhard Schulmeyer, a German who heads ABB's U.S. businesses as well as the automation segment, to make use of technology from other countries. Because of the matrix, Schulmeyer has a better idea of what is available where. He says that the techniques developed by ABB in

Switzerland that he uses to serviee U.S. steam turbines are more reliable and efficient than those of General Electric and Westinghouse, his main American competitors. Schulmeyer also relied on European technology to convert a Midland, Michigon, nuclear reactor into a natural gas-fired plant, ... ABB executives say the value of the company's matrix system extends beyond the swapping of technology and products. For example, the power transformer business segment consists of 31 factories in 16 countries. Barnevik wants each of these businesses to be run locally with intense global coordination. So every month the business segment headquarters in Mannheim, Germany, tells all the factories how all the others are

doing according to dozens of measurements. If one factory is lagging, solutions to common problems can be discussed and worked out across borders.

Questions

(a) How is ABB achieving integration and coordination of its global operations ?

(b) Which of the four basic departmentalization formats Explain.

(c) Has Barnevik created an effective balance between centralization and decentralization ?

(d) How does ABB apparently avoid unity-of-command problems with its matrix structure

MS-10   june, 2008

MS-10 : ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE

l. Describe Organisational Design. By focussing on efficiency, highlight some of the factors affecting organizational design.

2. Compare the vertical and project organisation structures and their relevance in the present-day context. Illustrate with suitable examples.

3. Identify the emerging issues related to quality of working life. What is the relevance of QWL in the modern context, with suitable illustrations ?

4   Discuss resistance to change with reference to individuai and organisation. How would you overcome it ? Cite an example from organisational context.

5. Write short notes on any three of the following :

(a) Questionnaire as a diagnostic tool

(b) Business Process Reengineering

(c) Task force

(d) Architectural Ergonomics

(e) Role of CEO in Institution Building

6. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end :

The middle managers of a large firm were told by the corporate human resources office that a group of consultants would be calling on them later in the week.

The purpose of the consultants' visit would be to analyze cross-functional relations throughout the firm. The consultants had been very effective in using an OD intervention called team building. Their particular approach used six steps. When their approach was explained to the managers, a great deal of tension was relieved. They had initially thought that team building was a lot of hocus-pocus, like sensitivity training, where people attack each other and let out their aggressions by

heaping abuse on those they dislike. By the same token, these managers generally felt that perhaps the consultants were not needed. One of them put it this way : "Now that we understand what is involved in team building, we can go ahead and conduct the sessions ourselves. All we have to do is to choose a manager who is liked by everyone and put him or her in the role of the change agent/consultant. After all, you really don't need a high priced consultant to do this team-building stuff. You just hgve to have a good feel for human nature." The other managers generally agreed. How ever, the corporate human resources director turned down their suggestion. He hired the OD consultants to do the team building.

Questions :

(a) Bring out the main features of this case.

(b) What is a team building approach to organization development ? Do you think the managers had an accurate view of this OD technique ?

(c) Do you think that the managers had an accurate view of the role of external consultants ?

(d) What will be your plan of action in the situation

MS-10   june, 2009

MS-10 : ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE

1. Describe the importance of organizational diagnosis and different perspectives which could be used for analysing organisations and their purpose.

2. Discuss the various approaches in understanding organisation.

3. Explain the factors for an effective job design. Describe any two approaches to job design and their merits and demerits.

4. Discuss various steps involved in phases of planned change and their relevance

J. Write short notes on any three of the following :

(a) Skills of a change agent.

(b) Matrix organisations.

(c) Stages in organisation Development.

(d) Task force.

(e) MacDonaldisation.

6. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end.

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 calculations 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 dependant on the lower level 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 offer free 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 acfually seemed rather unhappy.

Questions :

(a) Identify the problems in this case.

(b) what kind of changes were prescribed by Mr.Rao and why ?

(c) Discuss why the changes did not produce the desired results in this situation.

(d) If you were Mr.Rao, how you would have handled the situation ?