Case Study

Surjit Singh’s family has a large chicken farm outside of Chandigarh. The Family has been in business for 2 generations and employs about 15 persons. The business has been very successful over the years and has expanded to twice its size in the last 10 years. Surjit’s father has been running the business. He is strict disciplinarian who controls the workers with an iron hand. Even though he is quite considerate about the workers’ welfare, he is very strict about punctuality and productivity.

Surjit is an only son who is academically very bright. After completing his bachelor’s degree in commerce from Punjab University, Chandigarh, he applied for MBA studies at one of the prestigious institute of management (IIM) at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, about 700 Km from Chandigarh. He completed the degree in two years and got very good job offers from two multinational companies. Before accepting any of these jobs, he decided to consult his father.

His was very upset that Surjit had decided to accept a job elsewhere rather than the family business that was highly profitable. He expressed his concern to his son and told him that since he was the only son, it was important for him to join the family business, otherwise the business could not continue because he was tired of working so hard over the years and he was looking forward to his son joining him and sharing some of the burden and responsibilities. Furthermore, there were emotional reasons. Both parents explained that they were getting old and needed the emotional support of their son’s presence. Surjit agreed to work with his father in the family business. 

After the first week, the father called Surjit in his office and said, ‘Surjit I have been observing you for the last few days and I feel I must say something. It seems that you are just too nice to the workers and may be spoiling them. I know that they taught you about human relations at the institute but the book knowledge does not always work in actual business situations. Believe me, there is more to managing people than just being nice to them.’

Questions:

1. Analyze the case & discuss the core issue involve in it.

2. Comment on the father’s advice to his Son.