CASE STUDY
Aravali Hospital was built two years ago, and currently has a workforce of 215 people. The hospital is small, but because it is new, it is extremely efficient. The board has voted to increase its capacity from 60 to 180 beds. By this time next year, the hospital will over three times as large as now, in terms of both beds and personnel. The administrator, Maya Joshi, feels that the major problem with this proposed increase is that hospital will lose its efficiency. “I want to hire people who are just like our current team of personnel— hardworking, dedicated talented, and able to interact well with patients. If we triple the number of employees, I do not see how it will be possible to maintain our quality of patient care. We are going to lose our family atmosphere. We will be inundated with mediocrity, and we will end up being like every other institution in the local area—large and uncaring.” The chairman of the board is also concerned about the effect of hiring such a large number of employees. However, he believes that Joshi is overreacting. “It cannot be that hard to find people who are like our current staff. There must be a lot of people out there who are just as good. What you need to do is develop a plan of action that will allow you to carefully screen those who will fit into your current organizational culture, and those who will not. It is not going to be as difficult as you believe. Trust me. Everything will work out just fine”. As a result of the chairman’s comments, Joshi had decided that the most effective way of dealing with the situation is to develop a plan of action. She intends to meet with her administrative group and determine the best way of screening incoming candidates, and then helping those who are hired to become socialized in terms of the hospital’s culture. Joshi has called a meeting for day after tomorrow. At that time, she intends to discuss her ideas, get suggestions from her people, and then formulate a plan of action.
Answer the following question.
Q1. What can Joshi and her staff do to select the type of entry-level candidates they want? Joshi had decided that the most effective way of dealing with the situation is to develop a plan of action. She intends to meet with her administrative group and determine the best way of screening incoming candidates, and then helping those who are hired to become socialized in terms of the hospital’s culture
Q2. How can Joshi ensure that those who are hired come to accept the core cultural values of the hospital? What steps would you recommend?
CASE STUDY
A large dry cleaning operation had a central production facility that was fed by 7 regional drop-off/ Pickup locations. The busy seasons (i.e., spring and fall) resulted in considerable customer dissatisfaction and loss of business as product turnaround went from 4 and 5 days to 8 and 9 days. This project involved the use of Job Analysis techniques to improve individual productivity, eliminate bottlenecks in the flow of material, assign to specific people, and increase throughput. We worked in small groups with employees and managers to brainstorm problems and methods for meeting customer expectations as we needed employees to fully buy-in to the implementation. Along with cross training, quality checks at each station rather than at the final station, and proper maintenance techniques that eliminated breakdowns on machines, we were able to implement a production program that guaranteed a 5day turnaround time throughout the year or the cleaning was free. Most items were returned to the feeder stores in 3 days and the company was considering an additional advertising program for selected times of the year as a result of this new competitive advantage. We also created a series of flash reports for alerting managers to problems in the workflow.
Answer the following question.
Q1. Give an overview of the case.
Q2. Discuss how the flow of materials/ throughput was improved
CASE STUDY
Cliff Morton, a recent college graduate, was hired by the Capital Casualty Company as a trainee in the safety engineering department. After completing a six-month training program, his function would be to conduct inspections of prospective policyholders’ places of business to determine whether or not safety practices and equipment were in use and to make appropriate recommendations to the Capital underwriters about the extent of the risk involved. Morton progressed through the program effectively and was now in the last stage. He was being introduced to the territory he would take over by an experienced safety engineer who was being transferred to a larger territory. Each engineer worked out of his home, appearing at the office only on Mondays for a departmental discussion meeting. The requests for inspections were mailed to the experienced engineer’s home, and rush inspections were telephoned to him. Each engineer planned his own daily itinerary of inspections, completing the reports at home and mailing them in to the office each day. Cliff Morton found that by carefully planning his daily route in the territory, he could easily make 16 to 18 inspections and complete the reports in a normal work day. During his first week alone in the territory, he averaged 16 inspections a days. The following Monday, at the departmental discussion meeting the engineer who had introduced him to the territory called him aside and admonished him for turning in so many inspections each. “You’ll ruin it for us; we only turn in 8 or 10 each day. If you want to do 16 or 18 a day, go ahead, but only turn in 8 and then take a day off. No one will know”. Cliff didn’t know what to say or do. He was ambitious, but he also knew he had to get along with his fellow employees.
Answer the following question.
Q1. How should Cliff Morton handle this situation?
Q2. . Is peer pressure to slow down something that management can control? Explain.
Q3. . How can such a situation arise?
Q4. Can a new employee be effective if he resists group pressure? Justify your answer.
CASE STUDY
Mr. Sudhanshu, Sales Head of Max Corp has inducted young sales men with MBAs, It has paid off well as sales of all regions are steadily increasing. The new Sales guys are happy as they are getting good commission. However a few old sales staff who have been working with the Company for 25 years are not keeping pace and lagging behind. Their age is around 55 years. They have been loyal with company. It is creating a rift amongst the sales team as new vs old. Mr. Sudhanshu is in a dilemma how to resolve this. He is well aware of the contributions done by his old loyal sales men. He would like to motivate them but don’t know how these people on the verge of retirement will respond.
Answer the following question.
Q1. As an expert manager, design a motivation plan for sales staff.
Q2. Should Mr. Sudhanshu offer a VRS to the old salesmen? What retirement benefits you will suggest?