Mr. Nagrath CAST STUDY  solution

Read the case and answer the questions given at the end.

"Mr. Nagrath as you know, last month we conducted our first employee satisfaction survey on line and we received tremendous response from all over the organisation. I am going to make a formal presentation in the management committee meet. But before that, I would like to share the results of your division with you, as I'll be doing with each functional head separately" said Ragini. The V.P. (HR) to Jayesh Nagrath who had worked in Speedstar Tyres for 28 years and second in command to Mr. Anurag Bashin, the CEO. Nagrath raised his eyes briefly to look up at her (who had joined two years back in the company) and then went back to shuffling through the heap of papers on his desk, beckoning to her with casual wave to continue. Ragini ignoring his disinterest said that, "well your division seems to have the lowest employee satisfaction scores compared to other divisions." Nagrath shrugged, as if unaffected. "People will write anything in a survey. I dont take this seriously".. "I think we need to take at seriously, Mr. Nagrath as the survey is conducted by Gallup - world leaders in employee satisfaction research." said Ragini. "So what next" asked Nagrath casually ? Ragini said, "we have several issues on hand which need to be addressed". Nagrath retorted, "issues, what issues ?" "Most importantly, a large number of people have mentioned that they feel restricted in making decisions, and that they need more space to work independently". Nagrath was frowning now. He looked at her intently and said "what does that mean ?" Ragini hesitated a bit and said... "there seem to be leadership issues." "What do you know ? You have been here since two years. Do you mean to say that we are a bunch of fools sitting here, running this company ? All that we have been doing has been wrong ?" Ragini fumbled, "Mr. Nagrath, this is not what I said". That seems to fuel his anger even more. "Are you saying I am deaf ? That's exactly what you said. You want to say that we don't know how to manage our people.... and they are unclear about their roles ? Don't I understand what you really mean ? You are accusing me of being a bad leader ? What do you know about MS-26 4 leadership ? Do I have to learn the basics of leadership from the novices like you ?" Nagrath was almost shouting at her. "Will you let me explain ?" She ventured, as he paused to take a breath. He shook his head vehemently and said No...No...not at all ! I refuse to have any further discussions with you. I cannot believe Anurag hired you as the V.P. (HR). I would never have considered you as a manager in my team !" retorted Nagrath. That was it. He had crossed all limits of decency. "I cannot believe you just said that !" Ragini pushed back her chair and rose. Her voice was surprisingly calm, though she was trembling with anger. She said, "you are arrogant to the point of being rude and you may be used to stepping all over people and getting away with it, but I will not take this from you." "What ???" For a second Nagrath was taken aback. In his 28 years at Speedstar Tyres, no body had ever talked to him like that before. She stamped out of the room before he could react. She needed to cool down and helped herself with coffee from the vending machine. There was no more anger in her, only disappointment .... and depression. She had accomplished a lot over her short stint as VP (HR) in the 800 crore tyre manufacturing company. The company had recently completed a foreign collaboration and CEO, Anurag Bhasin was pushing for modernization and aggressive growth on all fronts. The only hitch in the way was Jayesh Nagrath, the senior Vice President in charge of operations and manufacturing. He would find flaws with every new initiative. Nagrath had been an autocratic boss, a style he had developed to perfection while dealing with trade unions during his formative years. He had no formal management education, but his armory of astute intuition and negotiation, skills made him a hero in labour relations. When he rose to become corporate head of operations and manufacturing at 54 years, it was too late to change. Perhaps his long years in the company and over dependance of Anurag on him, made him arrogant and the senior management team believed that he is not receptive to new ideas and change. They accepted his abrasive style as a rub - off of his powerful position and authority. But ever since Speedstar's joint venture with a French company, Nagrath's influence over Bhasin's decisions was getting diluted. But Bhasin never wanted to lose Nagrath as he was the hero of 1990s turnaround. Ragini over last two years learnt about how people functioned at Speedstar. She in her inimical style of working with people could sell her modern management ideas to everybody. Only Nagrath was not impressed with her. She thought that gradually she can change Nagrath too, but after today's incident, she did not want to try anymore. Gautam, the head of marketing greeted Ragini when she was musing on the incident with Nagrath. He too confided in Ragini, that all his global plans are resisted by Nagrath and he is insulted for giving new product plans. He was also contemplating to share his views with Anurag Bhasin, the CEO. Ragini also confided in Gautam about her altercations with Nagrath and sought views of Gautam about talking to Bhasin on the issue as Nagrath and Bhasin have good equations. Gautam observed that, "Equations don't make companies succeed, strategy and hard work does. Let us not make Nagrath types to stop us to change and develop. It is better to talk to Bhasin. Ragini reflected over what Gautam had just said. Was it a good idea to confide in Bhasin ? After all, it was not just the employee satisfaction survey. She would face resistance from Nagrath every step of the way, in everything she would initiate. Wouldn't she become vulnerable if she let Bhasin know she couldn't handle Nagrath ?

 Questions :

(a) Identify the conflicting issues that appear in the deliberations of the organizational members.

(b) What kind of culture the organization has ?

(c) What interventions do you suggest to resolves the issues ?