CASE STUDIES

CHAPTER 2- PRINCIPLES OF
MANAGEMENT
CASE STUDY 1
Hritik is desirous of setting up a small factory to manufacture different kinds of eco-friendly
packaging materials. He proposes to adapt to logical approach to his business rather than hit and
trial method as he knows that this can result in tremendous saving of human energy as well as
wastage of time and materials. He plans to adopt paternalistic style of management in practice in
order to avoid any kind of class-conflict that may emerge between him and the workers.
Moreover, he plans to seek the opinion of his workers before taking any important decisions and
also offers incentives to them for providing valuable suggestions for the business. In context of
the above case:

Identify and explain the various principle of scientific management that Hritik plans to apply in
his business.
ANSWER
The various principles of scientific management that Hritik plans to apply in his business are
described below:
1. Science, not Rule of Thumb
2. Harmony, Not Discord
3. Cooperation, Not Individualism
CASE STUDY 2
Sarika has been appointed as the chief organizer of a weeklong cultural event. Being a staunch
follower of scientific management, she decides to execute her work by putting into practice the
various techniques of scientific management. On the basis of several observations, she is able to
determine that the standard time taken by the security officer at the gate to check the credentials
of each visitor is 30 seconds. So she decides to employ two persons on this job for every function
along with the other necessary support staff. She considers the fact that every day, the functions
will take place in three shifts of four hours each, therefore it is important to give breaks to the
support staff even in a single shift to take her/his lunch etc. Moreover, on introspection, she
determines that the best way to distribute refreshment boxes to the visitors will be to hand it over
to them at the exit gate as it would help to save time and eliminate any kind of confusion. In the
context of the above case:

Identify and explain the various techniques of work study which have been put into practice by
Sarika.
ANSWER
The various techniques of work study which have been put into practice by Sarika are outlined
below:
1. Time Study
2. Fatigue Study
3. Method Study
CASE STUDY 3
In a school, principal makes sure that every instruction, order or information given by him must
be passed to vice-principal, then Head of the department and then to teachers and students must
be informed by respective teachers only. He never allows teachers to directly communicate with
him.
1. State the principle of Henry Fayol followed by the school principal.
2. In case of emergency which concept of the principle can be used by teacher to pass urgent
message directly to principal?
ANSWER
1. Scalar Chain
2. Gang-plank
CASE STUDY 4
Radhika opens a jewelry showroom in Jaipur after completing a course in jewelry designing. She
has employed eleven persons in her showroom. For greater productivity, she divides the work
into small tasks and each employee is trained to perform his/her specialized job. The sales
persons are allowed to close a deal with a buyer by giving a maximum of 10% discount, whereas
the decision to give any further discount rests with Radhika as the final authority. In the earlier
days of starting of the business, five of her employees were asked to put in extra hours of work.
In return she had promised to give them a special incentive within a year. Therefore, after six
months when the business was doing well, she awarded a cash bonus to each of these employees
to honour her commitment. However, when it comes to setting the conflicts among her
employees, she tends to be more biased towards her female employees.
In context of the above case:
a. Identify and explain the various principles of management that are being applied by Radhika
by quoting lines from the paragraph.
b. 2. Identify and explain the principle of management which is being violated by Radhika by
quoting lines from the paragraph.
ANSWER
a. The various principles of management that are being applied by Radhika are listed below:
1. Principle of Division of work- “For greater productivity, she divides the work into small
tasks and each employee is trained to perform his/her specialized job.”
2. Principle of Authority and Responsibility- “The sales persons are allowed to close a deal
with a buyer by giving a maximum of 10% discount, whereas the decision to give any further
discount rests with Radhika as the final authority.”
3. Principle of Discipline- “Therefore, after six months when the business was doing well, she
awarded an each bonus to each of these employees to honour her commitment.”

b. The principle of management which is being violated by Radhika is Equity.

CASE STUDY 5
Mr. Kapoor, Finance manager of ABC Ltd. applied for leave to attend a family function in
Amritsar. The director of the company requested him to cancel his leave as there is an important
meeting schedule on that date. Mr. Kapoor immediately agreed and cancelled his trip as he
thought attending meeting is more important for company’s benefit.
1. Which principle of Fayol is applied by Mr. Kapoor?
2. Explain that principle.
ANSWER
1. Principle of subordination of individual interest to general interest.
2. According to this principle, the interest of organization must supersede the interest of
individuals or employees.
CASE STUDY 6
Harshita , a sales manager has to negotiate a deal with a buyer. She finds that if she can offer
credit period of 60 days she is likely to clinch the deal which is supposed to fetch the company a
net margin of Rs. 1,00,000 . Now the company gives power to the manager to offer a credit
period of 40 days due to which she could not get the deal.
Identify the principle of management violated above.
ANSWER
Authority and responsibility is being violated.
CASE STUDY 7
In Tanya Ltd, there is discord among all the employees due which objectives are not realized and
there is no coordination among employees. There is no mutual trust and belongingness among
employees. So managers have to apply penalties on employees which further increases the
inefficiency.
What do you think is wrong with above organization?
Give your answer in respect to Principle of Fayol.
ANSWER
Espirit De Corps is violated.
CASE STUDY 8
Bhatkaav Enterprises is facing huge losses. The owner of the company is an MBA pass out.
Even then many things in the organisation are happening which are indicative of lack of
proper management in the company. First of all there is no specific sharing of work and any
time any employee is asked to do anything. This has lead to wastage of efforts. Further due to
negligence in proper work sharing there has been no specialisation development in the nature of the jobs done by the
employees.
There are no clear and fair agreements between the workers and the management. This has led to a lot of frustration
in the workers. Management has quite often been found to be ignorant of not fulfilling promises done by it. There are
also no strict rules and regulations binding on the conduct of the workers. The departmental heads who are the middle
level managers in the company and hold key positions always favour their relatives. They quite often don’t turn up
for job on time. They
are always looking for special relaxations from the top management. This has led to feeling
of resentment among the employees who are also demanding special favours and threatening
strike in the coming days.

Identify the three principles of Fayol violated in the above case.

ANSWER
• In the first paragraph of the case the principle of Fayol which is violated is ‘Division of Work’.
• In the second paragraph of the case the principle of Fayol which is violated is ‘Discipline’.
• In the third paragraph of the case the principle of Fayol which is violated is ‘Subordination of
individual interests to general interests’
CASE STUDY 9
Ramesh is the owner of a printing press. The size of his organisation has increased during the
recent past. There are many employees who work in his organisation. The organisation is
considered good and has earned a lot of reputation in the market. However when it comes to
making key decisions in the organisation related to many things he never considers the opinions
of his subordinates. Even though the size of the organisation has increased yet he tries to take all
the key decisions on his own.
Which principle of Fayol has been violated by him?
ANSWER
The principle of Fayol which has been violated here is ‘Centralisation and
Decentralisation’.
This principle explains the need of balance between Centralisation and
Decentralisation.
He is making all the decisions on his own and he is not giving any decision
making authority to his subordinates so he is not following this principle.
CASE STUDY 10
Aditi who is heading the campus recruitment program of the firm that she is working in, gets an
immediate order from the marketing head of the organisation. Mr. Rupesh asks her to hire only
those candidates who have two years experience in the field of marketing and offer them a higher
package. Moments later when she is about to enter the campus she gets another call from the HR
head who asks her to hire candidates with zero experience. He gives her the logic that such
candidates would be expecting lower packages in comparison to the candidates having
experience in the industry.
Which principle of Fayol stands violated here?
ANSWER
The principle of Fayol which is violated here is ‘Unity of command’.
BONUS CASE STUDY
In the staff meeting the principal of the school raised objection that teachers start the teaching
after 5 to 10 minutes in third floor classes. He warned them as students are complaining about
this. The teachers explained the principal that when we climb steps from ground to third floor. We
get some tiredness and need 5 to 10 minutes rest before starting the lecture. The principal planned
to install lift in school so that teachers do not waste their energy on wasteful activity of climbing
steps.
1. State the techniques of scientific management used by principal.
2. State any other technique of scientific management.
ANSWER
1. Fatigue Study and Motion Study
2. a. Differential Piece Wage System
b. Standardization and Simplification
c. Functional Foremanship
THANK YOU FOR YOUR
P A R T I C I P AT I O N !