Case Studies Questions

1 Related to Business Etiquette.

Ms. Simron is an agent of Nepal Life Insurance Company (NLIC) from
Jawalakhel Branch. She enjoys her profession. However, fellow agents and
branch officials have noticed some of her habits including her dress code. Last
Saturday, Ms. Simron went to meet a high profiled person from Social Sector,
named Mr. Deepak Sharma with prior appointment wearing faded jeans, floral
top and casual sandal. That was a usual Saturday with all the office staff of Mr.
Sharma in attendance. When Ms. Simron entered his cabin through the office
staff who was seated in the hall. The Office staff made a notice of Ms. Simron’s
dress and was not impressed. Even though Ms. Simron has arrived to meet Mr.
Sharma with a prior appointment, his secretary was not convinced that she
represents a Life Insurance Company. However, Ms. Simron was given audience
with Mr. Sharma where she sat across the table and placed her bag on it. She
had greeted Mr. Sharma and sat only when she was told to do so. Ms. Simron
began her conversation by exchanging niceties and then enquiring with Mr.
Sharma about his age, qualification family details and annual income.
Continue…
In the middle of the conversation, Ms. Simron answered a
call on her cell phone by excusing herself. While Mr.
Sharma was responding to her queries, the agent checked
her mobile for Whatsapp and other messages in a casual
manner. Mr. Sharma got an important call from his
associate and had to leave for an urgent meeting. Hence, he
requested Ms. Simron to come again after an hour at 4 p.m.
After having light snacks in the neighboring restaurant,
Ms. Simron began to shop for groceries and clothes. She got
all of her normal duties done prior to the weekend. As she
was too busy shopping, she forgot to keep appointment and
went to see Mr. Sharma at around 4.30 p.m. She found that
Mr. Sharma had already left for the day. This left Ms.
Simron very frustrated and dejected.
Questions
1. Describe whether Ms. Simron maintained business
etiquette.
2. Describe what Ms. Simron did wrong and what she
could do to correct it.
3. Supply some suggestions to Ms. Simron putting
emphasis on business etiquette rules.
Case 2:
Mr. Thomas was promoted to CEO in one of the reputed Car Companies
three months back. He was excited enough on his promotion. As he was a
person having strong decision making capacity; he made a decision to
produce ultra-modern cars for new era to capture the larger percentage of
market, without consulting product development manager, diverse group of
assistant managers, and marketing experts. He held a brief meeting about
his plan but he did not invite all the stake holders and experts to discuss on
the potential products. He was simply sharing his happiness about his
promotion rather than his plan to launch new car in the market. When the
new car was launched in the market, it did not bring positive result as
expected by the CEO. The reputation of the company was simply
deteriorating. The employees of the company were not satisfied with the
CEO, though they did not dare to talk to him directly. Some senior managers
were demanding the resignation of CEO so as to maintain the reputation of
the company. As the new product was not so popular in the market, the
company had to bear the heavy loss, which finally led to the downfall of
share value of the company. Now, the CEO is repenting a lot for his mistake.
Questions

1. What did he have to do before taking big decision of

producing new car?
2. What was the root cause of demanding CEO’s
resignation by senior managers?
3. Why didn’t CEO’s happiness last long?
4. What sort of person was Mr. Thomas?
5. What are your suggestions to Mr. Thomas as an
expert of managerial communication?
Case 3
Mr. Smith Enigma is a CEO of one of the reputed companies in
Singapore. He hardly interacts with his employees, more particularly with
his subordinates. Most of the time he remains reserved with low level
managers. He also maintains distance with other minor staffs. However,
he is quite friendly with those staffs, who flatter him to get his favor. He
always supports, protects, and provides allowances to his flatterers while
he does not, to other employees. He is always indifferent to the request
and demand of other employees. Yesterday only; he received a
threatening call from an unidentified person who was using obscene
words for him. The other day, he came to know from one of his flatterers
that some of his staffs were back biting him in the break time. They were
also looking vacancy in the Internet and were not doing their duties
seriously. Most of them were busy with facebook. Mr. Enigma is now
shocked and serious. He cannot decide what to do.
Now, write an email to Mr. Smith reminding him his pitfalls (weaknesses)
and supply some suggestions as an expert of managerial communication.
Case 4

Ms. Linda is working as a CEO in a multinational company in Mumbai. She is

recently promoted to that position. As the company is thriving, she realizes that the
company needs at least 20 marketing officers to promote the products in new
branches. Without discussing with Marketing Manager and others employees
working under her, she decides to employ marketing officers. Next day, without
giving vacancy announcement, she appoints 20 marketing officers as per the advice of
one of her flatterers. Marketing Manger is not happy with the CEO. The other day,
she managed to send invitation cards for senior officers for the upcoming annual
party of the company while she simply managed to invite junior employees through
phone call. In the annual party, no junior employee came and Ms. Linda was noticing
that the party was boring as other staffs were passing their comments. Report was
also coming that new marketing officers were not performing their duties efficiently.
In the new branches, the products of the company were not receiving attention from
the part of the customers. Ms. Linda takes any decision fast without consulting other
stakeholders. Yesterday only, she announced certain privileges for senior employees
while nothing for subordinates. This morning, junior staffs were back-biting the CEO
and were not doing their duties properly. Some of the employees were thinking of
quitting the job while some were uploading their resume to another company. Ms.
Linda is regretting now on what she did.
Now, write an essay on Ms. Linda, highlighting on the importance of managerial
communication in an organization.
Case 5
Mr. Mukesh Khurana manages the customer relations department of a
public utility company. The department is responsible for replying to
customer requests for information and to customer complaints. There are
seven typists in the department who handle the correspondence to
customers dedicated by the staff. Mr. Khurana recently promoted Piya to
office supervisor. Piya had been a typist in the department for ten years. She
was considered the fastest and most accurate typist who had ever worked for
Mr. Khurana. Piya has the best attendance record in the department and Mr.
Khurana considered her his most dependable employee. She was very well
liked by the entire typist and they considered her to be a good personal
friend. As a supervisor, Piya does a good job handing out work assignments,
but she does little else to supervise the typists. She does not like to criticize
the typists and does not enforce office rules. No matter what a typists does
Piya will not take any disciplinary action. She makes no attempt to check
the work of the typists for compliance with quality standards or to see that
work is complete on time. In fact, she spends most of her time typing to
reduce the work load of other typists.
Continue…
The Human Resource Department has been receiving an
increasing number of complaints from various staff from different
departments about the poor quality of the typing and about the
slow turnaround time of the work. A number of the complaints
target towards Piya’s poor supervisory skills, complaints were also
received about the typists under Piya taking excessively long coffee
breaks and spending time on personal phone calls. The Human
Resource Department conveys the complaints to Mr. Khurana,
who has been asked to inquire and rectify the problem. When Mr.
Khurana talked to the typists, they told him that Piya frequently
invites them to her house for dinner or to play cards. It appears to
Mr. Khurana that the typists all like Piya as a friend, but they are
becoming concerned about her lack of supervisory skills. Mr.
Khuarana mentions to Piya that she should focus her effort on
improving the work of the typists. She replied, “These women are
my friends and I don’t feel right cracking down on them”.
 Questions:
1. Can an individual effectively manage a group and be a
close personal friend with group members?
2. What should Mr. Khurana do to ensure that the work
of the typists will improve?
3. Should Ms. Piya have been promoted to office
supervisor?
4. If you were Ms. Piya, what would you do? Would you
quit the supervisor’s job? Would you no longer be friends
with the typists?
Case 6
Social media’s popularity and influence is fast growing. Instead of
depending on the traditional media for information and updates,
people, especially teenagers are increasingly resorting to their favorite
sites through computers, tablets or smart phones to immediately get
latest news and status. Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube are allowing
them to enjoy instant first-hand experience of the thrill, excitement or
despair and richness of the event as a real spectacle taking place
before them.

On the very first day of opening ceremony in “London Olympics

-2012” about 10 million tweets were sent. The heavy transmission of
social media disrupted the GPS device of London that interfered with
the internet viewing of that day’s men’s cycling event. International
Olympic Committee (IOC) had to ask viewers to “take it easy” while
blogging at the game venue. It also laid down guidelines for social
media usage among athletes and fans, requesting them to post in “a
first person, diary-type format and like a journalist”.
Continue…
It is evident that social media is rapidly growing in its reach and
influence. It is changing the ways athletes, fans and the organizers
interact and communicate their experiences of the events without any
intermediaries instantly across the world. Their thrill of instant
connectivity through social media is certainly being enjoyed by the
athletes and their fans.
But social media is a double-edged weapon which cuts two-ways. It
gives global visibility and acclaim but it can also damage you world-
wide. Voula Papachriston, the Greek triple-jumper became the first
athlete in history to be banned from Olympics for posting a comment
that was considered as a racist comment against African immigrants.
Next to be thrown out was Swiss defender, Michel Morganella after he
posted a blog following a defeat against South Korea in football which
was thought to be “discriminating, insulting and violating the dignity
of the South Korean football team and the people”
Questions

1. What insights can you receive from the above case?

2. Would you agree that social media should be used
carefully because of its huge influence on people’s way
of thinking across the world? What care should be
taken while using it as a social platform?
3. In Nepal, political leaders, government officials,
public figures, media persons, people from
entertainment industries, etc. often become the
subjects of criticisms for their controversial comments
and posts in social media. Supply your suggestions to
them as to how to use social media wisely as an expert
of communication.
For answers

See page no 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, etc.