The Right way to be an Effective Leader

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Caselet 1

Mumbai-based Arkay Supplies Ltd. (Arkay) manufactured office equipment. The CEO of the company, Robert Franco (Franco), believed in employee empowerment and participation. He entrusted his immediate managers with a lot of responsibility. The head of procurement division, Rajiv Gulati (Gulati), enjoyed full autonomy. Gulati could finalize purchase deals amounting to Rs 90 crore without consulting Franco. The marketing manager, N. Shivamani, could design and launch an expensive promotional campaign and then make it known to Franco. Franco did not reprimand the manager if the campaign failed to generate the desired response among customers...

Caselet 2

Zet Manufacturers (Zet) manufactured iron and steel rods used for construction. The general manager, K. Giridhar Prasad (Prasad), was unhappy with his management team. The managers were not able to fulfill the responsibilities given to them properly. Prasad hired a renowned HR consultant in the city, Sudheer Sharma (Sharma) to counsel and conduct development programs for the managers.

Sharma visited the firm and held one-to-one meetings with the managers. These meetings revealed something interesting - the actual reason for the poor performance of the managers was Prasad himself. The managers did not like Prasad's style of management. Prasad was always keen on self-promotion in his meetings with superiors and subordinates...

Please note:

This case study was compiled from published sources, and is intended to be used as a basis for class discussion. It is not intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. Nor is it a primary information source.