Pastpapers

1. LNIVERSITY OF COI,OMBO,SRI LANKA
FACIjLTY OF MANAGBMENTAND FINANCE
Postgraduate Mid-careerDevelopment
& Unit
Masterof Business
Administration(semesterI First-half) -
Examination March,2010
MBA 530- Management
Process Practice
&
Three (03)Hours
Four (04)Questions all, including
Answer in No.
euestion 0l
r consistsof 05 questions 04 printedDases
on
PART _ ONE
l. Read followingcase
the andanswer questions
the givenat the entl.
Casestudy: LeamaFinancialServices
LeamaFinancial Serviceswas established 1975as a fully ownr:dlocal operation an
in of
internationalfinancialservicesprovider.
They penetrated to the local marketwith catering
in
to the top end of the market,maintaining exclusive
an level of serviceand benefits the
to
identifiedsegments the market.They had a tall and expensive
in rnanagement structureto
servicethe small segment the identifiedcustomers,
of includingbig conglomerates and
corporate customers.
In the early1990s company
the changed directions opening doorsto all segments
its by its of
the localmarket.This wasa cultural
shift in thecompany; company onetime who did not
a at
go to customers slowly begging approach segments the market.
was to all of This gavethem
a hugerestructuringneeded internally copeup with the increasing
to changes demand.
in The
old structureneeded changes empower
to officersand give them additionalresponsibilities.
The rapidgrowthalso requiredrapid changes the company
and had to makedrasticchanges
within a short time frame, mainly in openingbranches the regional level and in
in
recruitment.
The shift was successful establishing
in point of sales recruiting
to new staff;however
the
management was usedto a laid backmanagement
who stylenow requiredmoreaggression

2. and dynamism. tn 1996 there was a huge fraud resulting in over 50 miltion. The officer in
chargeof customeradvanceshad stagedfake advancewithdrawalsover a period of time ancl
he has been successful in carrying out this fraudulent act whilst maintaining a close
relationshipwith the management.
Ernestwas an executivemost managersliked and trusted,
hencethe management was comfortablewith Ernestand didn't quite stick to the company's
control procedurewith him. The CEO of the company always spoke to Ernest wheneverhe
needed any customer related advance matters directly. Furthermore, mgst of the top
management was very huppy with him and reliedmostly on him. Some of them even usedto
be socialised with him afteroffice hoursand play golf with him too. However upon exposing
himself fbr fraud. Ernestwas immediatelysuspended and an investigationwas carriedout,
through a court order they also ceasedsome of his property incluclinga brand new Jeep
he
had purchased recently. The management was personallyheld responsible not having the
for
control aspects in place and the CFO and the CEO was personally responsible
to the
authorities headquarters.
at
Most of the senior managers were not industryspecialists recruitedmostly on their social
but
backgrounds and relationships.They createda good portraitof the company in the societybut
when it came to the actual work itself and control aspects they could have done better.Some
of the management staff was well-known for delegatingauthority blindly and not accepting
the responsibility, hence many junior level employeeslost their jobs and some left in
frustration.
The customers were still holding on to the companydue to the pastexperiencebut
not fbr long since the market is highly competitiveand they offbr rnany services
Leama is
incapable offering.
of
Johnwas a clark who joined the companyin 199g.He made his wa)/ to the management
with
hard work and dedication and was first promoted in 2003 to the management
and
subsequently 2005 as a senior manager.
in Now he is a divisional manager.Since he is a
ranker with experiencehe too is not happy with some of the managementpractices
in the
companybut becomesthe minority in terms of the management and those above him. He has
tried his level best to implement many controlsand policies that will attractmore customers
but unfortunately today those are confined mostly only to his division. Even though most of
the management committee membersare highly qualified they seem not to understand and
live in the reality. Most of the people in management have not cornpletecollege education,
but studiedin foreign universities halfway through,and completedtlaefirst degreein Arts and
some who also had the opportunity to complete their Masters in various fields soon
after
completing first Degree.
the
John is actually making arrangements leavein the next 3 month,
to since does seelight
he not
in this companyany more, other than the frustrationand the staff burnoutsthat will resultin
the bottom line. Moreover, John is one who is loved by the staff and eventhe
management
knows his capacities. [n the recent past he had had some ma.jorarguments with the
management support of his staff; these incidentshave strengthened opinionabout
in his the
currentmanagement further.

3. At this juncture, the headquarters had realizedthe lapsesin the,recent changesand the
too
controls and contemplatingto send one of their colleagues put the operationsright. This
to
might result in the currentCEO loosingthe position.In fact the headquarters had identifieda
replacement and he is a highly qualified individualwith proventrack recordsboth in his local
from areputed universityin the USA in 1998
home office and internationally. graduated
He
and just completedhis MBA form a popularFuropean businessschool.He is also known to
have put right the Vietnam operationswhich also had similar charar;teristics. light of the
In
abovehe has becomethe sutablecandidate.
Briefly explainthe key management
issuesL,eama
Financialservicesface
today.
(08 Marks)
ll. With the expansion,
LeamaFinancial seems havelost someof the
Services to
control aspects. so, what can you propose introducea bettermanaged
If to
organisation.
( 12Marks)
il1. If you arethe new CEO of LeamaFinancial statewhat and how you
Services,
wouldchange the company
in under current
the situation how.
and
(20 Marks)
(Total: 40 marks)
2. F .W. Taylor'sphilosophy encapsulatedhis statement,o'[n the past the man has
is in
beenfirst. In the futurethe systemmustbe first" Partsof this philosophyare to date
seen someSri Lankan
in Companies.
i. Brieflydescribe fbllowing:
the
a. Horv the contemporary local companiescan get the benefits from scientific
management approach.
(06 Marks)
b. Whatarethe draw backs the scientific
of managementapproach?
(06 Marks)
ii. Brieflyexplain alternate
an approach
whichaddressed drawbacks the scientific
the of
management approachintroduced F. W. Taylor.
by
(08 Marks)
(Total: 20 marks)

4. 3 . Researchconductedby Stanford University indicatestha.t "the one factor that
a valuethemostis people how theyaretreated".
increasescompany's and
i. Describethe importance paying attentionto values (culture) for business
of
performanceand how culture and performanceshould be balanced.Provide
examples diagrams
or (where your
necessary) strengthen a.nswer.
to
(08 Marks)
i. Describethe conceptof cultural leadership.
Supportthe argumentthat cultural
leadershipcan bring peopletogetherto achieveorganizational
objectivesbetter.
Providean example support
to your argument
further.
( 12 Marks)
(Total: 20 marks)
4 . i. "No topic is probablymoreimportant organizational
to success leadership.
than In
thatcontext visionary provide
leaders revolutionary
changes".
givenabove
a. Justifythe statement with the useof an example.
(06 Marks)
b. Distinguish leadership management providing
between and by qualities
respective
of eachother.
(06 Marks)
i i. Differentiate
between leadership transformational
charismatic and leadership.
(08 Marks)
(Total: 20 marks)
5. Oneof the primaryobjectives managers to decide
of is wherethe organization
should
be in futureand how to get there.
planning be beneficial a dynamic
i. Explainhow organizational can in environment.
(08 Marks)
ii. Modernmanagement practice morefocused
is structures
towards organisational
flat
to a tall andexpensivestructure the past.
in Elaborate abovestatement
the by
providing from the localcontext.
examples
( l2 Marks)
(Total: 20 marks)