A S FOOD COMPANY LTD.

PRESENTED BY: AsthaSaloni

AkankshaHimanshuMayank Sagar

Organisational Behaviour

CASE FACTS• A S Food Company was founded in 1935.

• Manufactures grocery and other food products

• Vast enterprise having offices and branches in almost all the important cities of India

• Annual sales – 50 to 60 lakhs a year₹• Head office and Factory located in Calcutta

• 5 Zonal sales offices

• 25 District sales offices

EXISTING ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE Head office

North Zone East Zone West Zone Central Zone South Zone

Each District Sales Office has one District Sales Manager

5 District Sales Offices

5 District Sales Offices

5 District Sales Offices

5 District Sales Offices

5 District Sales Offices

ORGANISATIONAL HIERARCHY

ZONAL MANAGER

PERSONAL MANAGER

ACCOUNTS MANAGER

SALES MANAGER

OFFICE MANAGER

On matters related to sales the zonal manager receives advice from the Sales Manager

DISTRICT SALES MANAGER

3 PRODUCT MANAGERS

5 SALES SUPERVISORS Salesmen

• Travel with the Sales Supervisors of various Districts

• Advice the District Sales Manager and the Sales Supervisors regarding steps to be taken for promoting sales in the districts

• Tasks of Product Managers• Study the market for company’s product • Study the competitive position of company’s product • Study the dealer and consumer reaction • Sales trends • Monthly reporting on the sales activities of the company to the Sales Manager

PRODUCT MANAGER – DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS

• Select, train and supervise his sales supervisors

• Make a study of the nature of consumer demand, changing market condition, existing stock and formulate sales campaign, promotional methods

• Fix the sales target

• Formulate the credit policies to be followed

• Develop better team work among the sales supervisors and salesmen

• Customer satisfaction

• Undertake other functions and duties which are assigned to him by the zonal manager

DISTRICT SALES MANAGER - DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS

• Conflict between District Sales Manager and Product Manager

• Perceived loss of control over the sales supervisors because of too much interference from the Product Managers

• Structural issues• District Manager (Mr. Shankar) communicating with the Zonal

Sales Manager (Mr. Rajan)

• Very wide span of control to Zonal Manager

• Lack of proper root cause analysis by the Zonal Sales Manager

• Decline in the sales in that particular district

ISSUES IN THE CASE

QUESTION

• Identify the reasons for the conflict which has arisen between the product managers and the field sales staff? Give suggestions how they can be overcome.

REASONS FOR CONFLICTConflict:

A process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected something that the first party cares about.

• Task ConflictConflicts over content and goals of the work. There was friction because of the task of advising the DSM and the Sales Supervisors carried out by Product Managers

• Relationship ConflictConflict based on interpersonal relationships leading to disagreements and incompatibility. This could have existed between the PMs and the DSM.

• Process ConflictConflict over how work gets done. Maybe the PMs were interfering with the work of Sales supervisors.

• Role ConflictConflict over the roles and responsibility taken over by Product manager and Sales Manager

POSSIBLE ROOT CAUSE OF THE CONFLICT

PRODUCT MANAGERS

• Dilution Of Authority

• Lack Interpersonal Skills

• Easy Access To Top Management

SALES SUPERVISORS

• Resistance To New Plans And Ideas

• Lack Of Support From Top Management

• Problem Of Reporting To Too Many Bosses

• Supply Of Inadequate Information

THE CONFLICT PROCESS

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES• The various techniques of conflict management that should have been used by the Sales Manager are:

Conflict Resolution Technique

Methodology

Problem Solving via open discussion

Fact to Face meeting of the Product Managers and the District Sales Manager

Subordinate Goals The Sales Manager could have formulated goals that could not have achieved without cooperation from PMs and the DSM

Smoothing Playing down differences while emphasizing common interests between the conflicting parties

Authoritative Command The Sales Manager could have used his formal authority to resolve the conflict and then communicate its desires to both the PMs and the DSM

Altering the Human Variable Using behavioural change techniques such as human relations training to alter attitudes and behaviours that caused the conflict

Altering the Structural Variables

Changing the formal organisational structure and interaction pattern. The report on the market trends could have been sent by PMs to the Zonal Sales Manager who then passes it to all the DSMs in his zone.

THIRD PARTY ARBITRATION• The Sales Manager could have used Third Party Arbitration in order to resolve the conflict between the

PMs and the DSM. The arbitrator needs to carefully selected (someone who is respected by both the parties and whose judgements are considered just by both the parties)

• The object of arbitration is to obtain a fair resolution of disputes by an impartial third party without unnecessary expense or delay.

The following are the advantages of Third party arbitration:

• Choice of Decision Maker – Conflicting parties choose a person as arbitrator mutually agreeing on the abilities of the person.

• Privacy – Arbitration hearings are confidential, private meetings. Final decisions are not published, nor are they directly accessible. This is particularly useful to the employer who does not want his ‘dirty laundry’ being aired.

• Convenience – Hearings are arranged at times and places to suit the parties, arbitrators and witnesses.

• Flexibility – The procedures can be segmented, streamlined or simplified, according to the circumstances.

• Cost Effective

OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS

• Mr. Rajan should first know the root cause before giving instructions

• Product manager should think from the company’s prospective

• Weekly Reporting by Sales Supervisor to District Sales Manager

• Fortnightly reporting by District Manager to Zonal Manager

• Monthly meeting of DSM, SM and Zonal Manager.

• Monthly evaluation rather than quarterly evaluation

• Line authority : • Zonal manager to Sales Manager and district sales manager • District Sales Manager to Supervisor and sales people

• Staff authority:• Product manager to line managers relationship should be like that of Sales

Manager and District Sales Manager

• Functional authority: • Advisory relation directed towards the goals of the organization

• Better Span of Control• No person should have more than one boss• “If a person receives instructions from multiple sources, it may lead to chaos”

OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS -BETTER DEFINING OF ORGANISATIONAL AUTHORITY

Thank You