CASE
STUDIES
Case 1
● In June 2012, Zeta Furniture Company, a leading furniture store in the Philippines,
hired a salesman who looked perfect for the job opening, based on the application
form which he filled out and submitted to the company's human resources
department. After working in the company for a few months, the man raped a female
customer in her home, when he went there to follow up her phone order for a bed.
● Mang Donalds Fast Food Restaurants cook had a nervous breakdown, in November
2013. Without provocation, he stabbed and seriously wounds two of his kitchen
helpers. The restaurants administrator and workers\employees were all shocked why
they were informed about this unfortunate happening; they never suspected that this
man who quietly went about doing his daily chores had a history of mental illness.
In 2010 a female teacher in an elementary school in Pasay City, in her
peak of anger, slapped the face of one of her students when she caught
him cheating during a written examination.
Questions:
1. What do these different situations tell us regarding specific
managerial functions?
2. If you are employer, what are the steps you would take in order to
avoid these negative situations?
CASE 2
• Attorney Lorna Corona was the general manager of their family –
owned publishing company. Subordinates described her as an ideal
boss who knew the ‘ins and outs’ of their business, who focused on
long –term concerns of their company, emphasizing, maintenance of
stability, development, progress, and overall efficiency and
effectiveness. She, too, exhibited emotional intelligence that enabled
her maintain positive impersonal relationships with everyone, in both
the internal and external environments of their organization. Since
everyone was happy and satisfied , their company succeeded in
achieving their goals .in 1999,Lorna had a give up her position
because of severe injuries she suffered after a vehicular accident. Her
parents gave the task of managing their company to her younger
brother, Gerald, who was her assistant general manager before the
said vehicular accident.
• Despite being knowledgeable in managing their publishing company,
Gerald did not show emotional intelligence. He often had conflicts
with other managers and subordinates; lacked good public relations
with customers and other companies’ managers; and could not calm
himself quickly when angry and under pressure during problematic
situations. This circumstances caused dissatisfaction among the
employees of their company, hence, affecting their efficiency and
productivity. Other stakeholders, too, were negatively affected. In
2009, their company had to close shop.
QUESTIONS:
[Link] your tendencies do you have emotional intelligence? Explain
your answer.
[Link] a company owner, what will you do if you were the one confronted
with the abovementioned situation?
CASE 3
• Marciano Aquino works for a pharmaceutical company manufacturing
generic medicines which sell at lower cost compared to branded
[Link] his eagerness to sell their low cost drugs to increase
company revenues, he used social media to spread negative rumors
and gossip regarding the manufacturer of the branded equivalents of
their generic products, this became viral on the internet after a few
weeks.
• As a co-employee, Christopher became aware of what Marciano
was doing and reported this to their supervisors, who in turn,
reported Marciano’s unethical way of competing with their rival
company to their department head for sales. For fear of being sued
for unethical competition by their rival company, the department
head called Marciano, a tenured employee, and without asking for
any explanation asked him to write a voluntary resignation letter
immediately, explaining orally that this was the order of their
company owner because of his irresponsible behavior.
• Marciano who felt bad about his unexpected order from his superior,
decided to write a voluntary resignation and submitted this to the
department head the next day. He felt that the said company superior
did not see his good intentions and that it was not worth it to
continue serving them.
• After a month, he realized that he acted in anger and he should not
have followed the department head’s order; and upon the advise of
some his friends, he decided to file a complaint for illegal dismissal
and termination without due process with the National Labor
Relations Commission(NLRC
Questions
• 1. Was the department head right in asking Marciano to resign
immediately? Explain your answer.
• [Link] your opinion will the complaint/case Marciano field at the NLRC
against the pharmaceutical company prosper? Explain your answer.
CASE 4
• Mr. Conrad Rafferty, an American, was assigned by a multinational company to act as a general manager
of their branch office in the Philippines. Being used to the Americans way of managing, he emphasized
that ‘’TIME IS GOLD’’ and, therefore, everyone must be able to do their task efficiently and must be
punctual in reporting their office, which is open from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm, and in attending company
meetings/activities.
Some Filipino cultural orientations are ningas cogon, mañana habit, and the so˗called Filipino time. In
ningas cogon, leaders, or workers show a lot of enthusiasm at the start of a project, however this interest
dies down after sometime and the project is neglected. The mañana habit pertains to procrastination or
putting off for tomorrow what can be done today. Meanwhile, Filipino time refers to the habit of
accepting 15 to 30 minutes of tardiness, as a common practice in appointments, meetings or reporting for
work. All these go against Mr. Rafferty’s ‘’time is gold’’ policy.
Conflict due to cultural differences resulted. There was a fast turnover of Filipino managers and workers
because of Mr. Rafferty’s inability to ‘us to the abovementioned cultural orientations; the Filipinos too,
could not understand why Mr. Rafferty was almost always angry. They interpreted his behavior as a form
of racial discrimination and this general feelings against their American boss negatively affected their
work performance, productivity and ultimately, their company’s income generation.
To remedy the situations, Mr. Rafferty was transferred to another country, after three years of trying to
manage their Philippine branch.
QUESTIONS:
1. Define ‘’culture shock’’. Did Mr. Rafferty experience this? Explain your
answer.
2. Will you apply the same solution to the abovementioned problem?
Explain your answer.
CASE 5
[Link] Viceral was a middle –level manager in a rent –a car business . He did not believe in empowering his
subordinates ,so ,most of the time , he was very busy and had no time to socialize with others and bond with his
family members. Although financially stable, he and his family member were not happy. In the workplace ,he was
alienated from others.
Willingness to delegate work to others and to allow them to decide on their own,on certain matters ,are essential in
empowering subordinates. Failure to believe in empowering others is now considered negative in the new workplace
and has many adverse effects on the individuals and, ultimately, on members of the family and and on co workers and
superiors.
On noticing that something was lacking in his life , Edward consulated an industrial psychologist ,who gave him a set
questions to answers . The main objectives of the psychologist were for Edward to know himself better and to ,ake
him realize that through delegation , he could have ,ore quality time with others in his workplace and with his family.
Among the question asked were,’Do you prefer to do things by yourself because most of the time people are too
inexperienced to do things’ ‘Do you think that mistakes by others are too costly, so you do not assign much work to
them ‘ ‘ Do you often feel that you get quicker action by doing a job by yourself ‘ ‘ Do you trust others’ ,ore
consulation followed for several weeks.
A few months later, Edward became a happier person because of his new mindset. Trusting others and willingness
to delegate and impower others enabled him to spend more time with his family and others, which in turn, made
them all happier – both at work and in life .Edward’s coworkers also became happy upon being empowered and
trusted, members of his family felt that they were important to Edward and this made them happy too.
QUESTIONS
[Link] the relationship between empowerment in the workplace
and happiness or satisfaction among concerned individuals.
2. Give your personal comment on the following statement ‘ some
things simply should not be delegated to others’ Explain your answer.
CASE 6
The minimum wage, legally speaking, is a just wage. It is set by the government to
protect employees/workers in the low income bracket from exploitation by
employers.
In a certain cigarette manufacturing company in Bulacan, Carlos and his coworkers
agreed to a wage that was way below the minimum wage, all because there were no
other job opportunities or means of livelihood available to them: it was not just a
wage because after spending their earnings on food, they were left with no means to
enjoy life.
Carlos and his coworkers sign a daily record certifying that they receive the
required minimum wage and the overtime pay after ten hours of work. So, besides
the violation of the minimum wage and the overtime pay policies, there was also
violation in the number of hours of work that they were required to render.
Although there was a workers’ union in their company, the union leaders, instead
of protecting the workers, connived with management in their illegal practices.
One day, Carlos, who could no longer bear the unfair treatment they received,
shot to death the son of the company owner, who acted as its chief executive officer.
Carlos was caught and sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment.
Questions
1. Define the minimum wage, Why should the minimum wage law be
respected by all employers?
[Link] Carlos fighting for justice and fairness when he shot their chief
executive officer to death? Explain your answer.s
CASE 7
• Daniel Ramiscal and Clodualdo Perez were good friends. They were hired
together in 2001 by a big candy factory in Batangas as salesman. Daniel, who had
a better educational background, became the company’s marketing department
manager after two years while Clodualdo continued as a salesman.
• Clodualdo envied Daniel because of the better opportunities and appointments
given to him by the company administrators. Quietly, Clodualdo enrolled in
evening classes so that he would be able to finish his college education and
hopefully be appointed as a department manager like Daniel.
• After two years Clodualdo succeeded in getting a college diploma, but since
there was no vacancy in any of the supervisory or managerial positions,he still
remained as a salesman. Promotion to a higher ranking position became an
obsession for him and this affected his work performance. He was not happy
anymore because he felt that he was not being given the recognition that was
due to him. He kept comparing himself to Daniel, who, by 2011, was already the
company’s vice president or administration.
Questions
[Link] you we’re in Clodualdo’s position, what will you do? Explain your
answer
[Link] in our opinion could be the possible reasons why the company
management failed to give Clodualdo the recognition which he felt was
due to him? Explain your answer
CASE 8
• Hotel prima is a four star hotel employing 700 people. Peter, Lawrence and Alex
are the major owners/ top level managers, and it follows that they control the
company. For several years, their hotel made big profits, so they were inspired to
introduce a schame that allowed their employees to buy stocks of their company
with increased in value after 5 years, and would continue to increase as the year
when by. Their employees, because of satisfaction for the way the three handled
the hotels finances, treated the company as their own and did their best in doing
their respective [Link] the hotel was doing well and the three major
owners/top-level managers practiced corporate social responsibility through the
abovementioned scheme, the company was not law-abiding;this was because it
did not pay the correct taxes to the [Link] company heads ordered
their accountants to practice the so-called double accounting [Link] this
practice they were able to save million of pesos which they used to increase their
capital and give additional benefits to their [Link],Lawrence,and Alex
had shared the belief that the government was not using taxpayers’ money
properly,so the three agreed that their company should not some of its taxes.
QUESTION
1. In your opinion do you consider the top three level managers of
hotel prima as ideal managers? Explain your answer.
2. Are you aware of the saying “the end does not justify the means?
What does it mean? Explain your answer.
CASE 9
• Michelle Go began employment with luxor tours company when she was hired as probationary employee as
tourist guide in 2005. Her application form showed that she was a BS tourism graduate of the University of
Singapore and had no previous experience in tour guiding.
• Michelle’s performance as tourism was satisfactory, but she had difficulty building positive relationships
with supervisors, peers,or subordinates. “Michelle is weird” was a comment given by a peer when asked if
she was getting along well with her.
• On the fifth month of her probationary employment, a written performance evaluation was done and the
result was poor; “lack of focus”, “tactless remarks”. And “chronic tardiness” were comments that appeared
in many evaluation sheets. At the end of the fifth month of her employment, Michelle was given a “thank
you letter” by the Luxor management, terminating her probationary employment.
• Three years later, Luxor tours acquired a smaller tour agency. Luxor HR manager Lynn Sotto, while
preparing for the merger, saw Michelle’s name in the employee’s list of the said tour agency. Upon checking,
she verified that, indeed, it was Michelle Go whose service they terminated a few years ago. She held a
middle-management position and her personal files, when a reviewed, showed some questionable antries
like the following: that she was a BS tourism graduate of Tokyo University; that from 2001 to 2004 she
managed a tour agency in Tokyo; her employment with Luxor was not mentioned at all.
• Lynn had a dilemma: should she report the false claims in Michelle’s files to the owner/general manager of
Luxor Tours?
QUESTIONS
1. If you were in Lynn’s position, will you report what you found out
about Michelle to Luxor’s management? Explain your answer
2. As the owner/general manager of Luxor Tours, how will you handle
this case if the information was reported to you? Explain your
answer.
CASE 10
• Ricardo Cortez and Josie Hernandez were partners in a footwear factory in Marikina.
They had 200 workers in the 1900s, who helped them manufacture different designs of
shoes, slippers, etc. which they displayed and sold by the thousands in their store at the
Cubao Expo. They were considered very successful at that time.
• Their footwear business slowed down when low-priced Chinese shoe imports became
popular in the Philippine market. Ricardo and Josie often quarreled about money matters
and management styles. Ricardo had more entrepreneurial characteristics:
creative/innovative, flexible, updated on new trends, and was willing to take risks. Josie
belonged to the “old school” od businessman that who could not understand Ricardo’s
propositions regarding the rehabilitation of their business of their business: getting
business loans, introducing unique footwear designs, opening “ tiangge ” stalls, online
selling, etc. She was contented with the small profits they were making.
• Since their business is a partnership, Ricardo cannot carry out his plans without Josie’s
consent. Josie’s pessimism, for him, is unacceptable and he foresees the closure of their
business in a few more years if Josie will go on with her way of thinking.
Questions
• [Link] you are in Ricardo’s place, what will you do to solve their business
problem? Explain your answer
• 2. In the future, what legal form of business would you like to set up?
Explain your answers
