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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 learning outcomes of this case study are to understand the business-to-business (B2B) consumer outlook on mental health care in emerging markets; analyse the challenges faced in creating a need for mental health care in Indian workplaces; explore the business attractiveness of the B2B model and understand the business potential of the B2B segment at heyy,; and contemplate different innovative strategies that could change consumer mindset on mental health care in emerging markets.

Ankit, the founder and CEO of heyy, was facing a conundrum. “heyy,” was built on normalizing mental well-being at workplaces. His mental health-care app heyy, had crossed 50,000 subscribers within a few months of launch. The mobile app was designed to spread mental health awareness and provide various levels of mental well-being interventions. Business-to-consumer and B2B customer segmentation had been targeted by this start-up. The B2B space consisted of employees working with partner organizations. The adoption rates of employees using the features of heyy, declined after the initial app download. The employees had yet to fully become acclimatized to the features of heyy,. Exploring the business potential and investigating the business attractiveness of the B2B segment were the focus of the present study. Ankit contemplated various strategies he could adopt to increase user adoption of “heyy,” services by employees in his partner organizations. The case study strives to address the question – “What are the risks faced by organizations when entering the mental health-care industry in emerging markets like India, where mental health care is still not openly discussed?”

This case study is designed to be taught as part of the “entrepreneurship development” and “strategic management” courses for undergraduates, postgraduates and students of executive programmes in management. Students need to be aware of basic strategic management concepts such as BCG matrix, SWOT analysis and business canvas before working on this case study, so they could dissect the case from multiple perspectives to get a comprehensive outlook on the case.

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CSS 11: Strategy.

ThoughtWorks, a medium-size IT systems integrator, was growing quickly but identified "lack of clear positioning around which to build a brand" as the biggest impediment to continued growth. The company had identified features that it believed differentiated it from its competitors and was considering alternative segments to target. Asks readers to choose a target and develop a positioning statement for that target as well as identify the assumptions underlying the recommended positioning strategy and suggest how market research could help establish the validity of those assumptions.

This case illustrates the rationale for adopting employee ownership, and difficulties in implementing employee empowerment beyond investment. In the beginning it focuses on why Jerry Pritchett, one of the co-founders of Pritchett Controls, decided to convert it to an employee-owned company. In the body of the case, it details the efforts of the company to operate under its new ownership structure in an increasingly competitive environment. Although Pritchett established employee owners, only selected High Performance Work Systems (HPWS) practices have been implemented. The issue that reader must grapple with is whether other HPWS practices should be adopted or not.

Primary data were collected by interviewing eight managers including the current and former CEO at two of the firm’s three locations. Secondary data were used to supplement industry and competitive information.

Human resources courses, especially those that focus on strategic human resource management, organizational development, and how high performance organizations can be built, would be most appropriate for this case.

The primary theoretical foundations for this submission are shared entrepreneurship and HPWS. Knowledge of leadership, employee ownership, human resources, corporate governance, organizational culture and strategy would also be helpful in analyzing this case.

This case is suitable for courses in entrepreneurship and growing enterprises and management communication. It follows the step by step process of growing a business built on a strong culture that fosters high employee engagement and loyalty. The result for Leaders was low employee turnover, long-term relationships based on communication and trust, and being a finalist on the Wall Street Journal's 2008 Top Small Workplaces list.

The learning outcomes are as follows: understanding issues involved in the employee motivation, particularly those engaged in social change and development in emerging economies; develop insights into how to motivate team members by drawing on relevant theories of motivation; and orient students towards the application of these theories in the organization.

Resource cell for juvenile justice (RCJJ) was initiated as a field action project at the centre for criminology and justice, Tata Institute of Social Sciences with the objective of working on issues of children with a special focus on juveniles in conflict with law (JCL). RCJJ aimed at highlighting the socio-legal issues of juvenile children who were in conflict of law providing aid to these children and their families, and working towards their eventual social reintegration. RCJJ also trained stakeholders in the juvenile justice system and facilitated rehabilitation and social integration of JCLs as directed by the juvenile justice boards (JJBs). RCJJ had teams at six places within India. These teams worked with various government institutions, parents and JCLs to eventually effect change in the conditions of JCLs. The social workers engaged by RCJJ had a challenging task of facilitating social integration of the children, in coordination with the police, JJBs, families and lawyers. They had to actively manage help desks at the judicial observation homes where JCLs were housed. The social workers were under great stress because of antagonism from lawyers and police. The JJBs were prejudiced against them for being “outside watchdogs”. This resulted in high demotivation and attrition among employees. Jyoti Mhatre, project manager, interviewed past and present field workers to gauge the extent and reasons for demotivation. This intervention highlighted the positive and negative aspects of the organizational culture and the stress points that were causing demotivation. The situation was alarming and Jyoti had to develop an action plan to improve the motivation of the social workers to bring down the attrition.

Courses in human resource management, organizational behaviour and general management as part of masters-level programmes in business administration and management, and executive development programmes on employee motivation for middle/senior management.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human resource management.

Organizational behavior.

Upper-level undergraduate courses, introductory MBA courses.

This case study unveils the story of Al Qatef Holding, a Gulf-based real estate company that was created on the vision of one ambitious businessman. The case begins in 1999 when Faisal Al Qatef decided to pursue his dream of establishing a full-fledged corporation to serve the mounting real estate needs in the Gulf region. Faisal started his company by launching a number of residential and commercial property developments in his home country, Kuwait. During its early years of operation, Al Qatef Holding witnessed an impressive success and an increasing appetite for growth. A couple of years down the road, the founder made the strategic decision to open a new branch in Doha to seize the opportunity that the Qatari real estate market presented at that time. Yet, along with the rapid expansion came the company’s incapacity to deliver on its promises, generating many customer complaints and a damaged reputation owing to poor construction quality and significant delays in project delivery. The case describes the multiple challenges experienced by Al Qatef Holding throughout its evolution and portrays the external and internal dynamics that led to its initial success and subsequent decline.

Assess the internal dynamics and challenges that are associated with the management of small firms; discuss how leadership styles and characteristics affect the organizational climate and employee performance; demonstrate understanding of how corporate culture drives human behavior in the workplace; perform an analysis of firm structure to estimate its impact on individual and organizational outcomes; apply different techniques for enhancing employee motivation in organizations; and evaluate the effectiveness of managerial decisions and provide recommendations for securing corporate survival.

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CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

To write this case, several research methods were used. Most importantly, field interviews were conducted with employees at Banati foundation. The interviews were held with three different employees at different points in time, including the marketing manager, the executive manager and the head teacher working with the girls at the foundation. These interviews helped provide details regarding the foundation’s culture which is hard to get from secondary sources. In addition to this, one of the researchers was a volunteer at the foundation for 6 months before starting this research and so had strong background knowledge on the workings of the entity. Finally, secondary sources were used to provide accurate historical information and numerical statistics. These sources included the foundation’s website and annual reports as well as newspaper interviews with the Banati’s Chairperson.

This case poses the marketing dilemma faced by Banati Foundation, a non-profit organization (NPO) based in Egypt. Banati has offered child protection services to girls at risk since its establishment in 2009. In particular, the case focuses on the foundation’s strategy and operations in 2020. Since its inception, the foundation has been led by the main founder, Dr Hanna Abulghar. Under her leadership, the foundation flourished and won several international awards. The foundation became a home, a school and a support system to the girls who were once homeless. Yet even though Banati succeeded in improving the lives of many girls at risk, the foundation still sought ways to sustain its funds and to empower the girls to thrive after they left the foundation. As the key person responsible for setting the foundation’s direction and strategy, Dr Hanna faced marketing challenges that include overcoming social stigma, diversifying the donor base and increasing fundraising.

This case is suitable for undergraduate and Master’s students who already have an understanding of the basic marketing principles such as the marketing mix (4Ps)/market segmentation and have taken an introductory marketing course previously. Furthermore, the case presents an opportunity to apply marketing concepts such as segmentation, targeting, positioning and promotion within the context of social and NPO marketing. It is ideal for students studying social marketing, NPO marketing strategy, cause marketing, fundraising techniques and social inclusion.

Entrepreneurship.

Postgraduate Management Diploma Masters of Business Administration.

Sakhumzi Restaurant on Vilakazi Street, in Soweto’s Orlando West, had grown exponentially since it opened in October 2001. Vilakazi Street was named after a South African Zulu poet, novelist and educator, Benedict Wallet Vilakazi, who was the first black South African to obtain a PhD in 1946. The street was famous for housing two Nobel Peace Prize laureates – Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu – as well as for being the site of the shooting of Hector Pieterson during the Soweto Uprising. There were two museums in the vicinity that attracted thousands of tourists every year – Mandela House and the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum. The founder of Sakhumzi Restaurant, Sakhumzi Maqubela, had no experience of the hospitality industry but, nevertheless, had a “deep appreciation” of customer satisfaction, which he had learnt through his previous job in the banking sector. During the start-up phase of the restaurant, Maqubela immersed himself in books on business, focusing on leadership and communication. From such humble beginnings, the restaurant had become a thriving magnet for the tourist and local markets – tourists enjoyed sampling traditional Soweto fare, and for locals, Sakhumzi offered a culinary “home away from home”. Dressed smartly, Maqubela could be seen every day at his restaurant, mingling with patrons and greeting tour operators warmly. But what worried Maqubela was how to keep growing. Should he open another Sakhumzi? Would it work away from the tourist hub of Vilakazi Street? Or were there other options that he needed to explore?

The outcomes are as follows: evaluate the entrepreneurial mindset and how entrepreneurial opportunities are recognised, assess the individual-opportunity fit of an opportunity that is being pursued, navigate the entrepreneurial process, identify sources of entrepreneurial finance, identify and overcome resistance and obstacles to start-ups and growing the venture, rigorously analyse the potential of a new business opportunity/venture and assess the relevance of the practice of entrepreneurship to firms and society.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.