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CASE : PREMIER SOAPCO.
R.K. Nair, formerly a Regional Manager of Premier Soap Co., was promoted as General Manager (Sales) more than a year ago. Rajesh Puri, Nair`s immediate superior, had told him that his primary task would be to bring up all four national sales regions to a set sales quota so as to take early advantage of the emerging regional market trends. But Nair anticipated problems with one Regional Sales Manager, Mahesh Anand. Although he liked the man personally, he felt that Anand exerted excessive control over operations in his region, and that the result was a lack of initiative on the part of district sales managers reporting to Anand and the salesmen themselves.
As Regional Manager, Nair had often pointed out to Anand that if a Regional Manager insists on approving all key decisions by his District Managers, and countermanding decisions made without his consent, his sub-ordinates would be inclined to protect themselves by taking no risks and deferring even minor decisions ; the result would be a less flexible response to market pressures and a reduced share of the market. However, Anand had not taken Nair`s advice seriously. Anand believed in making sure that every subordinate knew that he was under his control. "I have learned the hard way," Anand would say, "that if you do not make sure that every salesperson was doing the job right, some of them won`t do their job right."
Soon after his promotion, Nair resolved to put his bias aside and give Anand a fair chance. During his visit to Anand`s region, however, Nair was distressed to find that many of his fears seemed to have come true. Salesmen were reluctant to make decisions that might have improved the market position of the company`s products without the approval of their district manager, who in turn was often reluctant to grant that approval without checking with Anand. The result was a conservative and mostly uniform approach to an increasingly volatile and segmented market. Thus, Anand`s region was falling behind the others in meeting the new sales targets. Nonetheless, Nair clung to his resolves. He felt that differences in exercise of authority were to some degree a matter of taste, and it would be unfair that all his managers operate the same way. He was also aware of the informal grapevine between the four Regional Managers, and he feared that if he made an issue of the matter which was essentially a philosophical difference between him and one of his sub-ordinates, others might hear of it and lose their respect for him.
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Question
1. Analyse Nair`s and Anand`s attitude towards exercise of authority.
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2. Was Puri right in not giving Nair specific instructions for dealing with Anand ?
Why or why not ?
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3. What should Nair do now ? Give plausible reasons for your answer.
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