OB Course Assignments (PGDPMX)

All assignments should be in MS- Word document (A-4 size page, Times New
Roman, 12 font size).

File name should follow this format:

Name_Assign1 Name_Assign2

Examples: SatishPandey_Assign1 SatishPandey_Assign2

Submit all the assignments as attachment with the e-mail sent to the programme office
before the deadline.

Assignment 1: Case Analysis

Read the following cases in your textbook “Understanding Organizational

Behaviour” –Udai Pareek (4th Edition) and write a comprehensive case analysis on
each of these cases. You have full freedom to apply any theory or model to
interpret behaviour patterns of people, groups and organizations in the cases. Don’t
restrict yourself only to the chapter under which that case is presented in the text
book. There is no prescribed structure of your analysis note. Your grade in this
assignment will depend on strong theoretical framework designed by you by
integrating different theories/models around these cases. Each case analysis may be
3-4 pages. You have to submit this assignment before October 10, 2017 to the
programme office.

Case 1: Crisis at Marcopolo Tyres (pp.94-96).

Case 2: Bringing Passion to Planet Coffee Cafe (pp.184-185).

Case 3: Success of Project Team at Miracle IT Solutions (pp.362-263).

Case 4: The Ignorant Farmers (pp.679-680).

Case 5- WorldCom Inc. (Reading material)

Assignment 2: Submission Deadline: October 10, 2017

Guidelines for writing OB Learning Note

The objective of OB Learning Note is to assess your overall learning of Organizational Behavior
as outcome of classroom interaction. However, this classroom learning cannot be seen as isolated
component and it depends upon your extra reading, discussions with your peers and your access
to other sources of learning. In OB classroom, different learning tools/methods (lectures, case
discussions, simulation exercise, movies etc.) were used by the professor to make learning as
much as meaningful to students. In your learning note, you have to assess and justify your
meaningful learning from different sources/tools/methods and present your own theoretical
framework of OB within 4-6 pages. You are not expected to copy theories from your
textbook/reading material. Copying of theories, concepts and definitions from the textbook or
reading material will lead to earning of poor grades only.

(A) 10 Key Learning Statements: In this section, describe your learning in 10 key
statements followed by a brief argument supporting that particular statement.
(B) Learning from Various Activities: In this section, describe how did you learn from
different activities conducted in the classroom? For example, you can explain how a
particular scene from a specific movie, you have found very relevant to understand a very
specific theory. Or, how do you find an exercise like Broken Squares relevant to learn
specific behavioral skills? If you have read some book, newspaper article or any other
published material which you find relevant to your learning of OB theories, you can also
mention about it in your learning note with relevant arguments.

Please note that the purpose of learning note is to reflect on one’s own learning through
various knowledge sources and analyze how effectively it can be transferred to other
courses in future.
 S. Learning tool/method Contribution to
No. my overall
learning (100% )
1 Lecture

2 Case Analysis

3 Movie Clips in the Classroom

4 Simulation Exercises (Broken

Squares)
5 Psychometric Assessment &
Self-Analysis
6 Home assignments, other
sources of knowledge (internet,
newspapers, literature, real life
observations)

Contribution to my overall learning- You have to allocate proportion of your overall learning
to different components (e.g. Lecture- 15%, Case Analysis- 20%, Movie clips- 20%, Movie
project- 30%, simulation exercises-15%.,..., you may assign any number but the total should
add to 100%). Use whole numbers to give your ratings. Do not use decimals in your
percentages.

This table should be followed by a paragraph on justification of your percentage ratings of

different learning methods. Why do you consider a specific method better for your learning over
others?
Your grading on learning note will depend upon your critical evaluation of your own learning.
Try to be objective in your own assessment as much as possible.

Submission Deadline for all assignments: October 10, 2017

Assignment 1: Case Analysis
Case 1: Crisis at Marcopolo Tyres

The company viz. Marcopolo Tyres located in Madhya Pradesh is a manufacturing

firm which has four plants in different locations and its head office is in Bhopal.
The company has crisis i.e for the last three years, it has been incurring losses. To
add fuel to the fire, two strong worker unions and factory workers have made it
difficult for the company to carry out its normal business. There were 73 strikes in
the last 3 years, almost 2 strikes per month, when the country was going through a
period of high inflation, economic status or environment of the country was not
very good. Even the Government was not stable.

The above crisis made the Managing director, Mr. Swaminathan to worry and call a
meeting of the board of directors. During the meeting there were two opinions viz.
(a) half the members were of the opinion that business at the firm should close
down and (b) the other half was of opinion that such a step should not be taken
without giving the firm one more chance to succeed. Subsequently it was decided
to give the firm one more chance to function.

Consequent upon the meeting, it was decided to appoint a CEO to carry out the
functions of the company successfully. Accordingly, Mr. Sundram Iyer, IAS was
appointed. He joined the company with a lot of enthusiasm and ideas to bring a
positive change in the firm. Mr. Sundram from Tamil Nadu came from a feudal
family, where autocracy was the norm. He studied in Doon school and well versed
in humanities, science and technology, being open to reason rather than be guided
by traditions. He has work experience of 20 years in Bihar and this has helped him
to understand the complexities involved in interpersonal relationships since he had
to interact with people from diverse backgrounds.

Mr. Sundram observed unrest among workers, low motivation of employees and
poor balance sheet on joining Marcopolo. He also observed that the machineries
used in the firm were very old and 70 per cent of employees were in their late
forties, working in the firm for the last 20 to 30 years and 30 per cent employees
were in late twenties hired from top management institutes. The machinery in use
at the firm was very old, production was very low in relation to the manpower, and
the few people who were close to the directors were dominating most matters.
Mr. Sundram’s first move was to discipline the workforce. Norms were prescribed
for completing work in time. Discipline action was taken on non-compliance. He
sets targets for managers and closely monitored their progress. He removed the
chairs kept in the CEO’s room meant for workers and officers who came to
negotiate with him, and refused to see anyone without an appointment. He also
decided to cut down costs and made a list of employees who had not performed
well in the last one year, and also calculated the money the company spent on
them. He formulated new leave policies and also developed the criteria on which
employee performance would be judged. He took all these decisions without
consulting anybody and implemented the new policies and insisted on compliance
of decisions. He also found out through his reliable sources that GM Production,
Mr. Sharma, was not performing well and that he was prone to attending personal
meetings and taking personal calls during work hours. Mr. Sundram called Mr.
Sharma and asked him to resign from his post since he was found not conforming
to the norms set in place, despite several reminders. This brought resentment
among old workers but young workers welcomed the move hoping to get better
opportunity.

Mr. Sundram installed direct phone line using which anybody from any department
could contact him. This telephone number was displayed at various locations
throughout the organisation. This gave him an overview of the organization right
from his office. Through this telephonic communication, he came to know that
Accountant is not releasing funds to the material supplier for want of bribe money.
He immediately sacked the Accountant. This action made other workers to work
properly and take their responsibility and started complying with the norms that
were laid out. He also organised meeting with young managers who gave him very
good ideas to improve performance of workers. He also made old employees as
ambassadors to prepare the people of the organisation for the changes there were
about to take place. He visited the factory colony and houses were in bad
condition, no creche facility working mothers. He assured the old employees that
all necessary facilities would be provided within one year, if they supported him in
increasing the production. He also assured the employees that 50 per cent amount
of surplus amount would be spent on worker’s welfare.

He shared his plans with the board of directors and asked permission to invest in
new technology to increase production. The boar ad was not interested to spend
money, as the company was in losses. He tried his best to convince the board that if
his plan failed, he would leave the company within one year. Subsequently, Mr.
Swaminathan, the Managing director decided to give him permission on the
condition that he signed a bond of Rs.50 lac, which he have to pay the company, if
he failed. Sundram signed the bond and started on his mission. This dedication of
Sundram was responsible for turning the workers positive and they regarded
Sundram with high respect and workers willingly put their best efforts to increase
productivity. It is noted here that the militant union leader who tried to call for
strike has failed and the productivity increased 50 per cent in a single year.
Sundram sent high performing managers for training and everyone in the
organisation worked hard to achieve their targets. Sundram had achieved high
productivity with rosy figures in the Balance Sheet.

Case Analysis
Thus Mr. Sundram, CEO abolished groupism, avoided strikes, removed corrupt
workers, created workers welfare fund, made good living conditions in workers
colony, and encouraged workers to perform towards higher productivity in
Marcopolo Tyres.
Case 2: Bringing Passion to Planet Coffee Cafe

India’s favourite coffee shop for the physically young and the young at heart was
initiated by Mr. Satish Patel in the name of Planet Coffee Café (PCC). PCC
initiated the concept of chain cafes in India. The first one was opened in 1993 on
Wilson Road in Bengaluru and continues to be one of the happening places in the
city and today it is totally in tune with its target audience. Its strong relationship
with customers is its USP and PCC has been the largest organized retain café chain
in the country today.

Mr. Satish Patel is a dynamic ambitious, young man, who, after graduating from
IIM Ahmedabad, jointed an IT firm with a very high salary. After completion of
three years of his job, he re resigned to start a small café, with two waiters and a
chef. Administrative jobs such as purchases, sitting on the cash counter, and
attending to the customers were taken care of by him. In view of expanding PCC to
other parts of India, he started looking for places and opened two in Hyderabad,
one in Chennai and one in Vizag, appointing managers for all the outlets, including
the three cafes in Bengaluru with its head office there. He was not content with
seven outlets and 90 employees. As he was planning to venture in others, he
received the distressing news that all the other outlets were losing money.

Saddened by the news, Mr. Satish Patel considered appointing a Vice-president for
the group. In the beginning of the year 2000, he recruited one Mr. Kapil Malhotra
as the Vice President, responsible for all the outlets and planned to open new ones
in different parts of India. Kapil paid a visit to all the outlets and presented a
detailed report to Satish. From the report, it has been observed that the company
has lost sight of its mission and that his intention was to re-focus the coffee giant
on the customer experience. Kapil’s report emphasized that the relationship, which
customers have with PCC employees, sets the company apart from other coffee
shops. According to him, the vision of PCC should not be about the coffee that
it serves, but about the founding of a company that treats people with dignity
and respect. Satish wanted PCC to be ultimate brand in each outlet and also
wanted that customers should come into a PCC outlet and see it as on oasis.

Kapil suggested that each outlet and each employee must be made responsible for
the outcome of the work they are responsible for, with full autonomy. He also
suggested that respect for employees will translate into better customer service
and will ultimately lead to better profits. Engaged employees generate higher
sales and customer loyalty.

There is a direct link between employee happiness and customer satisfaction and
between customer satisfaction and improved financial performance. PCC has been
spending a lot of money on incentives each year, with a view to boost the low
motivation of employees, which has been a real problem. According to Kapil,
engaged workforce with human connection is what really works for creating
fulfilment and long-lasting change. By making employee engagement was the first
priority in order to get customers, sales and profits.

Besides above, Kapil implemented following strategies to engage employees in

the company’s vision.

 Sending weekly e-mails to all staff members that described how PCC is
holding to the company’s vision to ‘champion the customer experience’ by
featuring nominated employees who reflected company’s core values.

 Quarterly feedback to every employee to help them learn how effective they
have been at work. Feedback came from supervisors, peers, subordinates,
and customers.

 Organising regular training programmes to enhance a variety of necessary

skills required by employees to perform their jobs effectively.

 Job rotation to different outlets.

 Job enrichment by giving employees higher level responsibilities.

 Holding employee-recognition programmes annually to give recognition to

the best 10 employees at a common function for all outlets.

a) All 10 would be awarded a certificate of recognition by the chairman.

b) Top five would be awarded a two-week family holiday with all

expenses borne by the company

c) Top best employees would be sent for a month-long training at

London Hotel Management School
The above measures initiated by Kapil brought major changes in PCC wit reduced
absenteeism, increased motivation improved productivity and profitability, better
customer satisfaction and higher employee engage met. On January 2014, PCC
declared over 1700 cafes spread across 250 cities/towns in India and over 3,50,000
guests walking into the care on a daily basis across the country and today, PCC
claims to be the single largest coffee joint for the youth of India.

Case Analysis

Thus Kapil Malhotra made it possible to make PCC the largest and most popular
coffee café by using a job rotation programme, various motivational measures,
holding employee-recognition programmes, organising regular training
programmes, Job enrichment by giving employees higher level responsibilities,
and Job rotation to different outlets.