IB Business Management HL 2.3 Leadership and management Question Bank

Six months has passed and Medimatters is now ready to launch IBAT. Medimatters will recruit new staff to set up a customer services department. Ahmed has spent some time thinking about the people he would need to recruit. The staff would need to possess IT skills and an understanding of medical issues.

The manufacturer Falit found in India has produced the first batch of 1000 IBAT lenses. Unfortunately, the IBAT lenses were delivered later than expected and some were faulty. As a result, the group is considering whether to make or buy the IBAT lenses. Ahmed has suggested setting up a manufacturing facility using lean production. His calculations are as follows:
- Price paid to manufacturer in India per IBAT lens: $ 50.
- Current number of IBAT lenses purchased per month: 1000.
- Variable cost of making IBAT lenses: $25 (per lens).
- Additional fixed cost of making IBAT lenses per month: $ 20000.

Ahmed considered his role as leader.
- He has consulted widely on a draft business plan and has discussed and agreed the mission and vision statements because he wants to involve everyone.
- The group are all very enthusiastic about IBAT, although some are anxious about the risks involved and have asked for more guidance.
- He spends a lot of time keeping everyone informed of project developments in addition to coordinating all of their efforts.
- Emma has many ideas about expanding into new markets, however, Didi does not agree and has argued with Emma.
- He is prepared to make urgent decisions himself. For example, without consultation he decided that Medimatters should become a private limited company.

3. Chan Manufacturing (CM)
20 years ago, Chi Chan set up Chan Manufacturing (CM) to produce electrical components on a just-in-time (JIT) basis for car manufacturers.
High quality and quick delivery have increased CM's market share and profit. CM's manual-skilled employees are loyal, productive, motivated and feel secure in their jobs. Employees admire Chi as a leader. Labour turnover at CM is low. Chi is paternalistic. He believes in a top-down approach to management. He cares for the financial welfare of his employees. Employees are paid a basic wage and receive additional financial rewards for working overtime. Proud of CM, employees regularly work harder than expected so that CM always meets client demand, which changes often. Chi and union representatives successfully negotiate pay and work conditions through collective bargaining.
Mei, Chi's daughter, joined CM as Chief Operations Manager. She relies on new business theory to guide her management decisions. Many current workers are approaching retirement age. She wants to restructure CM and use job enlargement, job enrichment and empowerment. Individual employment contracts are to be determined annually based on individual performance appraisal. Some employees do not like the proposal and speed of the change and are becoming demotivated. For the first time, they are considering industrial action (industrial/employee relations methods).
Mei insists that these changes are required, but wants to avoid conflict. She is considering approaches to conflict resolution.

4. Les Amis PLC (LA)
Les Amis PLC ( L A ) is a public limited company that sells casual clothes for men. Its target market is high-income professionals who value a personalized sales service. LA has developed brand awareness and operates 42 shops around the country. It owns 10 of these shops and leases the remaining 32 . LA employs 950 people, who receive a higher wage than the industry average. LA also pays commission to sales staff working in the shops. LA's organizational culture values the wellbeing and needs of its employees. Labour turnover is very low.
Recently, L A launched an online shop. Since then, online sales have increased considerably, while sales in LA's physical shops have fallen. Shareholders want LA to close all its physical shops and sell online only. However, many of the employees will be made redundant if the physical shops are closed.
LA's current chief executive officer (CEO), Marie Brossard, has a democratic leadership style, and she regularly meets with employees and encourages feedback. LA's managers and employee representatives have never had a conflict. Marie plans to discuss the shareholders' desire to close LA's physical shops with all the shop managers.
Customer returns of clothing orders at L A have increased substantially. Most returns are from online customers unfamiliar with LA's clothing sizes. Marie has consulted the e-commerce department on how to reduce the increasing cost of returns, and they have suggested investing in expensive software that will enable online customers to find their correct clothing size.

4. The Warriors
The Warriors are a soccer* club who perform well but have not won any trophies. Recently, The Warriors have had above average turnover of managers, increasing time spent on recruitment. Player turnover has also been higher than that of other clubs.
Dave Atkinson, owner and former player, is an autocratic leader who denies blame for the high manager and player turnover. He publicly criticizes players. However, fans adore Dave. He was a successful player, supports the fans and is committed to corporate social responsibility (CSR). He has:
- reduced ticket prices to the lowest in the league
- provided free, healthy snacks for junior supporters
- donated 20 % of The Warriors' profits to local schools to encourage young people to play sport.
After a recent poor performance, Dave demanded that all players donate 50 % of their pay for that match to good causes. Two new players used social media to complain. In response, Dave threatened to cancel their contracts. The other players refused to turn up for training to show solidarity. Dave then locked the players out of the stadium.
This controversy comes at a critical time for The Warriors. With a dynamic new manager, they have their first chance to win an important final and with it significant financial gain, which is needed to support corporate social responsibility (CSR) and upgrade spectator facilities. On social media, the fans have asked Dave not to enforce the lock-out.
Dave wants to resolve the conflict and privately regrets the lock-out. He is angry with the team but wants to increase The Warriors' corporate social responsibility (CSR). Without wishing to appear as a weak leader, he asked another popular former player for advice.
\footnotetext{
* soccer: football
}