Shashank ,CAST STUDY solution
Read the case below and answer the questions given at the end.
Shashank is looking forward to his promotion and why should not he expect it ? He is very hardworking, sincere and has been maintaining a good track record for the past four years. But his career $aph till now has not been a smooth one. A major bump in his career graph was in 1999 when he was transferred from New Bhopal to Ghaziabad in U.P. Shashank joined the sales and marketing division of LMN Ltd. in 1995. Shashank is a graduate from Arts stream, holding a diploma in Sales and marketing from one of the reputed Institutes in M.P. He hails from a village of Bhopal, belongs to a middle class family and henceforth knows the value of money. Shashank worked very hard in the Company and within first two and a half years he was promoted to the higher level. But this was not enough for Shashank as he wanted to achieve a core-marketing position. To fulfil his desire he was working hard day and night, leaving no stone unturned to achieve his sales target. He was maintaining good relationship with his suppliers, distributors and even customers. The result was that the top Management recognized his efforts; he was ranked as the best marketing executive, making Shashank feel more motivated. Everything was going on smoothly in Shashank's career, till the day when Suryakant joined LMN Ltd. as marketing manager. Entry of Suryakant in LMN Ltd. as Shashank's boss, was a jolt to Shashank's smooth career. Prior to joining LMN Ltd., Suryakant, a postgraduate in Business Management was working in a Marketing Firm as Senior Business Executive. He joined LMN because of more growth opporfunities as it was considered to be one of the top ten Marketing firms. Suryakant belonged to the same village as did Shashank. In fact Suryakant was Shashank's Father's Uncle's son, and the relations between Shashank's family and Suryakant's family had got embittered because of some property dispute going on between the two families. When Shashank came to know about Suryakant's joining LMN he felt that now Suryakant would have an axe to grind. But Shashank chose to think that personal and professional lives have a demarcationFor the first three months everything went on smoothly but after that Suryakant started intervening in the work of Shashank. He began to criticize every move of Shashank and when Shashdnk tried to justify it, Suryakant simply would try to prove his authority and decree by cornmenting : "You are a diploma holder and moreover subordinates are supposed to obey the orders." These things became demotivating factors for Shashank and his performance began to slide' Shashank felt depressed and crestfallen' He decided that he would discuss all these things with the top authority. He was sure that top management would give him a patient hearing and try to find out some solution- With all these thoughts in mind Shashank was going towards his General Managers office, when he was stopped by Suryakanf Shashankreplied "sorqr, Sir,I have to discuss some personal matter with GM' I will be back in a few minutes-" "Personal mattet?" Suryakant was alarmed, "Bul I don't have to discuss personal matter with you, Mr- Shashank, it is some thing related to a supplier- I think you should know that official matters are always of higher priority than peisonal matters," commented Suryakant. Shashank did not want to argue with him, so he said, "Fine sir' I am coming with you for the discussion." Both of them went to Suryakant's office. "Yes Sit, what is it ?" asked Shashank- "Yes,7tis regarding the cheque from Murali Traders- Have you deposited his cheque from them ?" enqureid Suryakant- "Sir I think you have got some wrong information, I have alr€ady deposited their cheque-" replied Shashank." You are questioning my authority, doubting my information. The supplier talked to me this morning, enquiring about his cheque ," said Suryakant loudly.,, Sir, sometimes it is the bank authorities who make the delay in transferring the cheque.,, clarified Shashank. "Don't give vague clarifications, you know it was a cheque for Rs. 20 lakhs and I know.." Before Suryakant could complete, Shashank replied in a higher tone,,Excuse me sir, now you are trying to doubt my sincerity. I am in this organization for the past 4 years I don,t need to prove my sincerity and honesty. How could you blame me like this, sometimes... it happens that Bank..." "Everybody in this organization knows you only on the basis of what you are pretending to be. They don,t know what type of person you are and the type of famity you belong to." said Suryakant sarcasticailf, "What do you mean to say ?" glowered Shashank, unable to keep cool. "Keep your voice low, Shashatrk,', yelled Suryakant, "Basically it is not your fault, it is in your blood, you belong to the family of land grabbers, deception runs in your nerves...,, Before he could have said anything more, Shashank lost his tempel and hit him with a hard table bell, on his forehead. Within no time Suryakant fell down unconscious, blood coming out of his forehead. That was the end of everything for Shashank. The matter got forwarded to the top authorities, Suryakant took advantage of this situation. Seeing ShashanKs past record, he was transferred from Madhya Pradesh to Uttar Pradesh. This episode resulted in total demotivation of Shashank. Many a time he tried to clarify his situation but no one would listen. Uttar Pradesh was altogether a new beginning for Shashank but he could not put in his efforts as was characteristic of him. He started taking his job casually. He was no longer interested in achieving sales targets. This resulted in negative feedback to H.O. Now he was reporting to Anand Saxena. Anand came to know about his past performance. He felt that Shashank needs remotivation. So he gradually increased responsibility on Shashank. "Responsibilities are given to only those persons who can shoulder them," said Anand, "I think you can very well shoulder them." "I will try my level best " replied Shashank. From that day Anand began to praise his every single action so the output was remarkable. Shashank again became a top performer in Anand's team. Shashank again felt motivated, but it took almost three years for Shashank to come out of the depression. His team members also cooperated. Finally he was there to taste the success again. It is the time of Performance Appraisal when Shashank is looking forward to being promoted. On the other side a conflict was going on within Mr- Anand's mind because if Shashank gets promotion there will be no body in Anand's team to achieve his sales targets. His performance will be also affected and if he doesn't forward Shashank's name Shashank will again be in depression which will adversety affect his career, even to the extent that he may quit LMN.
Questions
(i) Discuss the problem involved in the case-
(ii) According to the'Hierarchy Theory of Needs of Motivationl it which level do you find Shashank ? |ustify.
(iii)How would you have reacted towards Suryakant ?
(Iv)If you are in Anand's place what will be your decision ?
