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Organisational Development, Organisational Behaviour, Leadership Change.

Master of Business Administration, postgraduate studies, middle or senior managers on open programmes.

The case focuses on the dilemma that Douglas Lines, Nedbank’s Divisional Executive for Strategic Business Unit, South Africa, faced when a new sense of urgency was required to cultivate a culture of collaboration in Nedbank to overcome their silo-mentality.

Examine the current and recommend the preferred culture of Nedbank to enable collaboration; critically analyse and evaluate the suitability of the current structure recommend restructuring; insight into how contextual leadership contributes to collaboration in organisations; present judgement of strategies in initiating and enhancing collaboration to overcome silo-mentality.

A DVD is available with link and password. Teaching Plan and slides are available. The four learning outcomes are posed as questions for groups to discuss and model answers are provided as well as linking them to relevant literature.

CSS 7: Management Science.

In this case we describe the gradual transformation of India's largest private sector steel manufacturer Tata Steel that enabled it to win the coveted Deming Prize for quality. The case discusses how the company is able to maintain a relentless focus on meeting the customers' needs, sustain a culture for excellence in quality, build processes that empower the workers in taking decisions related to their area of work freely, instill leadership skills at all levels, and embed continuous improvement as part of their organizational culture.

Brand strategy, marketing strategy, service marketing, hospitality management and international marketing strategy.

Post-graduate-level students; practitioners from the hospitality sector, brand management, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the arts and culture field may also benefit from the case.

Jumeirah Group is a luxury hospitality company that is implementing a global brand strategy after developing a strong-regional reputation. Jumeirah's strong cultural alignment to its Dubai heritage in the form of its hallmarks and communication tag line “Stay Different” is being translated into events, activities, sponsorship and more importantly in terms of service to create a symbolic and experiential brand strategy. For Alice Royton, the Director of Branding for Jumeirah Group, the dilemma was how to maintain the thrust forwards as a top luxury brand and keep brand synergy especially as Jumeirah was increasing its portfolio and the competitive arena heats up in the international market place.

Creation of stakeholder value, brand strategy looking at various brand levels, using arts and culture as part of CSR initiative; communication strategy, emotional touch points and moment of truth as part of interactive service strategy; CRM and loyalty.

Teaching notes.

AfrobitLink Ltd was an information technology (IT) firm with headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria. AfrobitLink started as a very small IT firm with less than two dozen staff. Within a few years of its founding, AfrobitLink established itself as a dependable organization known for delivering high-quality IT services. However, starting in 2004, AfrobitLink experienced rapid growth as it expanded to serve the telecommunications firms taking advantage of the deregulated market. This rapid expansion resulted in many challenges for AfrobitLink. The firm rapidly expanded into all 36 states in Nigeria, hiring a manager to oversee the company’s operations in each of the states. Poor hiring practices, inadequate training, excessive spans of control, low accountability, a subjective reward system, and other cultural issues, such as a relaxed attitude to time, resulted in low motivation, high employee turnover, poor customer service, and financial losses. By 2013, the firm was operating at a loss and its reputation was in shambles. Generally, the culture was toxic: employees did not identify with the firm or care about its goals, there were no performance standards, employees were not held accountable, self-interest and discrimination prevailed. The organization was in a downward spiral. Consultants were hired to help sort out the firm’s problems but these efforts yielded few results. Ken Wilson, the founder’s son, was hired in 2014 as VP of Administration to help get the firm back on track. As a change agent, Ken had to decide how to address the issues facing the firm and how to achieve profitable growth.

Primary sources included interviews with the company CEO, his wife, his son, and a volunteer staff member. Secondary sources included the company website. The names of the people and the firm in the case have been changed to provide anonymity.

This case is intended for use in graduate courses (although it can also be used in upper level undergraduate courses) in change management/organization development, organizational behavior, leadership, or international management. For graduate courses, students may focus on application or integration of several theories or concepts. For upper level undergraduate courses, students may focus on application of a single theory or concept. Below are suggested texts or readings for each type of student by subject.

Change management theories (e.g. Lewin’s force field analysis (Schein, 1996), Kotter’s eight-step change management process (Kotter, 2007), The change kaleidoscope approach (Balogun and Hailey, 2008)), social identity theory (Tajfel, 1981), attribution theory (Kelley, 1972), leadership theories (e.g. Hersey and Blanchard, 1969), intercultural/international management theories (e.g. Hofstede, 1980, 1991).

Business management, quality management, service quality and customer service in public sectors.

This case is most relevant to upper-level undergraduate business students taking quality management, strategy and service management courses. It is also relevant to practitioners working in similar positions. The case is based on primary and secondary data, and all materials mentioned were taken from real work environments.

In contemporary competitive markets, all entities face a growing challenge to retain customers by satisfying them. In this case study of Ajman Free Zone Authority (AFZA), which is a public entity which was started in 1988 with the aim of boosting industrial development in Ajman, it is seen that the entity (AFZA) recognized a competitive advantage by improving service quality. However, AFZA focused on implementing various service quality improvement initiatives for not only customers, but also for other stakeholders as well (e.g. employees, strategic partners, suppliers and society). AFZA sought to understand stakeholders' needs, which led to service excellence. The purpose of this case is to highlight how AFZA differentiated itself by using initiatives that focused on disparate stakeholders to achieve customer satisfaction. The concepts of service quality (SERVQUAL), total quality management (TQM) and continuous improvement offer insights into how to improve organizational performance. It highlights how AFZA used Stakeholder Theory to identify and then collaborate with stakeholders to attain best service quality outcomes. The case study is developed using both secondary and primary sources.

After reading and analysing this case study, the student will be able to identify stakeholders in a service-based entity; apply Deming's Cycle or SERVQUAL to suggest improvement programmes; describe relationships among all stakeholders; and describe initiatives that contribute to service excellence.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

After studying the case, the students will be able to: 1. understand the business and existing HR practices at Precision Engineering; 2. evaluate the factors affecting business that may require the company to formalise its HR practices; 3. create recruitment and selection-related solutions for HR 2.0 using appropriate models and theory to aid the company meet its business goals; 4. create training needs identification and evaluation practices for HR 2.0 using appropriate models and theory to aid the company meet its business goals; and 5. create performance planning and review-related solutions for HR 2.0 using appropriate models and theory to aid the company meet its business goals. The case helps students objectively assess HR practices related to three core verticals – recruitment and selection; training; and performance management systems. It also enables them to reassess these practices with the help of specific metrics and models.

Precision Engineering was a manufacturer of machined metal components in the Indian automotive components industry. It had been a family-run business since its inception in 1995. Precision was awarded the prestigious Automotive Component Manufacturers of India award in 2020 for excellence in HR. Ms Sakshi Kapoor, General Manager of Innovation, was ecstatic at the receipt of this award. She, however, was thoughtful about the informal human resource (HR) practices at the company. The top management had announced an aggressive growth plan and advised Ms Kapoor to leverage HR practices to facilitate these plans. Recruitment and selection, employee training and performance management systems needed to be formalised on a priority basis to strategically aid the future business agenda at Precision. Ms Kapoor faced the challenge of preparing the roadmap of HR 2.0 while preserving the employee-centric beliefs at Precision. The case initiates a discussion to achieve this goal by adopting suitable HR metrics and models.

It should be taught in the core course on Human Resource Management for first-year Masters in Business Administration (MBA) students. Alternatively, it could be used in elective courses such as Strategic Human Resource Management, Training and Development and Performance Management Systems for second-year MBA students.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

The case describes how a leader simultaneously addresses various aspects of business and people management to achieve a turnaround. The actions taken by the leader to get rid of the non-functional practices, nurture the existing practices, and create new strategies and processes to accomplish business growth are described. The leader reshapes the organisational culture in partnership with the human resource department. The case can be used to show the different leadership styles (transactional and transformational) and tactics for managing change-partnering with HR to revamp people practices, cherry-pick and develop the right talent, etc.

The first three years of operation of the West Kendall Baptist Hospital (WKBH) in Miami, Florida provided a “poster child” for efficient and cost effective healthcare delivery to the West Kendall community that it served. The hospital leadership and management team exemplified a quality-oriented staff that moved as a cohesive and dedicated organization. WKBH exceeded every budget prediction and showed a profit in year 3, well before expected. Then came the winds of regulatory change. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the attendant imposition of new reimbursement metrics, the picture at WKBH changed almost overnight. By the first quarter of 2016, WKBH started to lose money in excess of budget predictions despite its increased patient admissions, careful financial planning, expense reductions, quality service, and excellence in patient care delivery. A serious financial crisis was looming with little relief in sight. The hospital management team began to search for solutions.

The research methodology includes collecting quantitative data: original financial statements and financial data from WKBH, as well as qualitative data: interviews of hospital administrators and historical information.

Graduate capstone course in a finance course; masters in health administration; and/or the MBA program.

While it is clear that the ACA was designed with all good intentions, it has created substantial and perhaps, unanticipated financial burdens for caregivers. These issues are not only faced by WKBH. Most hospitals could relate to one or more of the four questions examined as part of this learning process. Graduate MBA students worked with the hospital to identify, define, focus, and resolve difficult quantitative and qualitative issues faced by the hospital as a result of major changes in the regulatory environment with the passage of the ACA. This case focuses upon the current reimbursement environment that has only recently emerged as a result of the implementation of the ACA.

The case was developed from both primary and secondary sources. The secondary data was sourced from annual reports, industry reports, company websites and news articles. Primary sources included visiting the Club Mahindra Resorts located at different places, interacting with staff and local people, visiting their corporate office to interact with the CEO. The case has also been tested in a classroom.

This case deals with challenges faced by a vacation ownership (VO) company, Mahindra Holidays Resorts India Ltd in articulating the organizational culture of its flagship brand “Club Mahindra.” Club Mahindra had emerged as the major VO company in India in the past two decades on the back of its core product – a 25-year membership plan. The company was growing its offerings to its customers in an environment of changing customer preferences.

This case provides the students an opportunity to learn the organizational culture model. The students are expected to use the information provided in the case and exhibits to support their analysis with the primary objective to extract lessons about organization culture to leverage it as a tool to enhance customer satisfaction. Other objectives include understanding the changing business environment and modeling employee behavior during a crisis. Furthermore, the students are expected to validate the model using the artifacts from the crisis management at the Club Mahindra Resorts at Madikeri and Ashtamudi to understand the dynamics of change and the role of culture in organizational success.

At the MBA level, the case can be used to teach the topic of Organization Culture in the core course, Organization Behavior in the first-year curriculum, which is at the macro-level, with “organization” as the unit of analysis. It can also be used to teach the same topic with a stronger application orientation in the One Year Executive Education Program for middle-to-senior managers or short-term Executive Education Modules designed for a similar cohort.

The learning outcome of this paper are as follows: enabling students to learn about business and marketing issues of the natural gas distribution industry. To expose students to organizational processes aimed at finding solutions to customer issues. To make them appreciate the aspects of service quality and SERVQUAL model. To make the students aware of the significance of market research for problem-solving. How to use market research findings to address the customer issues? Enabling the students to learn how cross-functional teams contribute to addressing marketing and customer issues. Students should appreciate how to study towards creating a customer-centric organization with an organization-wide commitment including that from the top leadership.

Abhay Shankar, Sr. Manager-Customer Service at Reliable Gas Company Limited a state government piped natural gas (PNG) distribution utility whose customer service department is concerned about the provision of best service to its PNG domestic customers. Domestic customers are low volume but largest in numbers and are considered to be a tough, demanding customer segment. A general opinion among the marketing team of the company is that they are trying their best to serve its customers and that their efforts are no less than their private sector counterpart global gas customer service efforts. Abhay is in dilemma on what to do to improve customer services?

Masters students.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS: 8 Marketing.