Presented By: Avantika Thapa- D 9

Ekta Jha- D 14
Ema Acharya- D 15 Shruti Mishra- D 40

Tamanna Sharma- D 48
Yukti Mittal- D 51

This form of leadership is defined as an approach that causes a well defined change in individuals and social systems. It creates valuable and positive change in the followers . Enhances the motivation, morale and performance of followers through a variety of mechanisms.

Protagonist: Shri B.K. (posted as Divisional Manager of Tanjore Division of LIC, South Zone); before him being transferred, during, and post.

Problems before Shri B.K. was transferred:

Actions implemented:

Low productivity of sales personnel Strong and militant trade union Inter- group rivalries in many branches Indifferent Development Officers

Implemented new software platform without the consent of the trade union. Individual memos issued Agents union source of funds cut DOs put on notice

Training provided to DOs, and Agents.

Campaign to boost morales

The Trade Union The Zonal Managers (Old and New) Marketing Manager

Shri B.K. tried to be a democratic leader upon seeing the situation at hand, but as the negotiations were not successful he went forward with a more authoritative approach. Even though this form of leadership derived him results in terms of business growth and profits, they were not long-lasting.

He was therefore not successful a transformational leader, and was not able to transform the people around him or the situation. As soon as he took leave the situation returned to its original state.

Whether the Division would have reached the number of policies target and if so how?

It is understood from the profile of Shri B.K., who is the SDM, that he would not bend under pressure. Despite having rheumatoid arthritis, he was willing to take up the challenges. For tactical reasons he stayed away from headquarters for 5 days, on official tour.

He started a whirlwind tour of the Division addressing a series of meetings each day.
He was present in every meeting in the zone, boosting the morale of his people, right from the Branch managers to all employees.

He talked of the huge market potential and how it was necessary to en-cash the opportunity.

He had assured the Trade Union members that no further actions shall take place if the work was allowed to flow.
His leadership helped in successful implementation of the new software. By October 2003 there was tangible difference in new business performance and the Division rose to 5th rank on premium growth among 12 Divisions of the Zone. By December 2003, there was good improvement and the Division reached 3rd rank in the Zone on new premium growth.

When the financial year closed, the Division achieved highest rank in new business premium growth in the Zone and 2nd highest in All India. In Unit Linked business, No. 3 rank in volume of premium All India and 2nd in the Zone. Total new business premium income touched Rs. 90 crores against a target of Rs. 88 crores.

In 2004-05, Division achieved splendid results as per the corporate objective of premium growth.

The Division was ranked 5th All India on premium growth, 2nd highest in the Zone. But, when Shri. B.K left, the system began disintegrating again. After returning from the illness, the position of the Division was but in the number of policies, the achievement was only 62% of the annual budget of 3,80,000 policies. For that year, the emphasis was on reaching a number of policies targets, as the Division and Zone were in a comfortable position to surpass the premium target.

Whether the strategies and actions of Shri. B.K., the SDM were correct and how the situation could have been handled differently?

Yes, The strategies and actions taken by him were correct as :

He spoke to colleagues as well as union on same and mentioned that the grievances would be heard and acted upon if necessary. BMs were told to concentrate on key result areas, especially new business and BMs were advised to create record against non-performing DOs. Development Officers were put on notice, that they have to perform their expected duties. Slowly the impact of the agitation started whittling down and open methods like dharna and demonstration, was completely stopped.

The Zonal Manager was happy with BK after the initial displeasure and openly acknowledged the transformation taking place in Tanjore Division. >> Hence, it could be said that his methods were correct.

Whether the role of the Zonal Manager was appropriate in this case and if so why? If not, what he should have actually done?

The old Zonal Manager:

Before 2005, the old Zonal Manager was scared of the drastic measures that BK was undertaking against the union but assuming that he did not have any other method up his sleeve to control the union, he went along with Shri B.K.s plan of action and asked him to complete the work that he had undertaken. When the new Zonal Manager was appointed he did not have much idea about the functioning of the south zone. And was surprised by the drastic measures that were being rolled out to the DOs. He had been used to malpractices and did not think that such measures would help. In our opinion the method that he used after Shri BK took a sick leave was not appropriate because he was not aware of the aggressive nature of the union and their twisted ways to get their way.

Easing the pressure on the DOs just made them more aggressive and gave them the independence to do what they had always been doing which is shown by the way the companys revenue fell down. The Zonal Manager should have continued with the method that Shri B.K. had been following because even though the zone was losing employees; the other employees would have realized that following a violent and aggressive method against the management would just cost them their jobs. The Zonal Manager could have had a peaceful discussion with the DOs regarding the situation and should have told them that the companys profit and reputation was at stake instead of favouring their methods. Assuming that only an iron can cut an iron; in this situation only a strong and aggressive upper hand could control the DOs since they were equally strong headed and refused to listen to any reasoning.

Why the Marketing Manager behaved in the way he did and how the SDM would have handled the situation to minimise the negative impact?

Marketing manager may have felt threatened/insecure as SDMs popularity was growing in Zonal office. SDM may not have taken MM into consultation or included him in business planning. He may have felt threatened by SDMs knowledge/expertise.

Methods that could be adopted by SDM:

Transformational Leader helps his followers to look at old problems in new ways. He could have conducted discussions/talks to understand the problem. Workshops , awareness programs to sensitize employees about the org goals, importance of working in teams to achieve those goals and help them see how these goals are aligned with their individual goals. Reward and Recognition program to reward high performers , special appreciation awards for team players.