Mr. Vasudev is a general Manager of Cool Products, a company dealing in production and distribution of packed condiments in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The Co. was established in the year 2000 and has been performing well. Over the past five years the Co. has introduced excellent production processes, quality control, established its own distribution network, and has been able to achieve good consumer response for the products they manufacture and distribute. The company is a market leader in the state of M.P. seeing the success of the business, the management has decided to expand the same in the state of Rajastan. They have identified Kota as the place for establishing production unit. The head of the unit will hold the rank of GM. The post is tenable by marketing or production manager since the job involves skill of productivity and marketing. The management has invited you to select a person to head Kota unit. The management have handed over to you profiles of two managers. Mr. Varun is production manager, and Mr Avinash is the marketing manager. Both are working with Cool Products since its inception. You as a consultant, required to select one of them. You do not have personal knowledge about them and have to take the decision based of their write-ups only. The write up of the managers are as under.

Mr. Varun Tyagi: Mr Varun is a mechanical engineer passed out from MACT Bhopal (now MANIT). He has about 10 years of service in food preservation industry. Prior to this appointment he was working with 'Pare Masala' a famous condiment manufacturer of Pune. Varun is hard working, sincere, honest and a dependable engineer. He is foresighted, technically sound and can work independently under stress and strain. He had been able to handle employee grievances in the present organization successfully to the satisfaction of employees and management has been critical about the decision he had taken on their behalf. He enjoys good rapport in the Industry and has been consultant to couple of industries in the state of MP and Maharashtra. He is straight forward and goes by the rule of law when in difficulty. He has a pleasant personality and workers fall back on him when in difficulty. Varsha-his wife is a nursing graduate and works in one of the private nursing homes. Families of employees, very frequently consult her and she therefore enjoys personal influence over the families of 'Cool Products'. Mr Varun has been able to complete his targets of production every year and has been contributory factor for the growth of the Co.

Mr. Avinash: Mr. Avinash Kale belongs to Nagpur and comes from farmer's family. His father was a poor man and taught his only son with a great difficulty. Avinash has done MBA from IMS Indore in the year 1996. His performance in academics has been excellent. He stood first in IMS among the marketing boys that year. Mr Avinash is very calculative and thinks ten times before taking any decision. He evaluates the pros and cons of the issue at hand before proceeding further. He is very professional and keeps his sales team on the tender hooks and ensures monthly sales at any costs. He is hard task master as it relates to his job and can bend either way if situation so demands. He is very obedient and keeps the tag of management move, their daily schedule and any important event that is likely to take place. People in Cool Products say that Avinash knows everything in the organization before it is formally announced. He is considered to be a management man. He implements instructions of the management in letter and spirit. He maintains distance from workers and is not interested beyond the task he is supposed to do. But the task he does well and therefore he is liked by higher ups. He is a smooth sailor, a diehard salesman, visionary, opportunist, a soft spoken executive who never hurts anyone in his dealings, a tight rope walker. He has good communication skills. He has been recently married to a lady who is employed as Assistant Sale Tax Officer in Bhopal. She belongs to state provincial services cadre. She also has a bright career as she is a topper in her batch.

(Case prepared by Prof. V.G. Kondalkar, HOD, VNS Institute of Management, Bhopal (M.P.)

Questions

1. In the light of various theories you have studied, what type of leadership style Mr. Varun Possesses?

2. What type of leadership style does Mr. Avinash possess?

3. Giving reasons which candidate would you pick for the position of GM of Cool Products, Mr Avinash or Mr Varun?