MODULE NAME: MODULE CODE:

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 1 BUMA 131

Please note the 1 of the following case studies will appear the BUMA 131 examination. The
case studies have been provided to give the students a “reading advantage”.

Case study – African Insurance

African Insurance is a very successful firm that specialises in medical and car insurance. They have
thirty employees and are looking at expanding in the future. The company has developed a
strategic goal which is ‘to open a new branch in three different towns in the Eastern Cape.’

The top manager and owner of the company, Sizwe Ngobane, is very dedicated to his job. He has
a vision of expanding to a major and influential organisation. He worked in the industry for 10
years before opening his own business in Port Elizabeth. He believes that his employees are the
key to his businesses success and therefore rewards them accordingly when they perform and
reach their set targets. If the employees work hard he will reward them with status and pay.

Due to his experience and understanding of the industry, Sizwe likes to be in control of the
business and makes all the decisions within the organisation. The employees find this rather
demotivating.

Within the organisation there is an operations department, marketing department, finance

department and human resources department. These are all overseen by Sizwe. The operations
department has 12 salesmen working under the manager. When the business expands, Sizwe will
look at employing more staff to cope with the increasing demand.
Sizwe, due to his controlling nature, would like to add a better control system into the business so
that he can better monitor the activities of all his staff. At the moment, Sizwe sets the budgets for
all the departments in the organisation. This does tend to frustrate his managers and he has quite
a high staff turnover.

Case study – INK Marketers

INK Marketers is a marketing firm that develops marketing campaigns for companies. The
company is situated in the Pretoria region but services company’s all over the country. They have
recently acquired a large contract from a well-known corporation. The team has set goals for this
contract, one of which being to have established the advertising theme and have it approved
within the next ten days.

The company is owned and managed by Ariane Barlow. She has a Masters in Marketing and
Communication. She is a very dynamic individual that leads with passion and intent. She has a
clear vision for the company which she has expressed within the company. He has also posted the
vision on the wall inside the work space. The employees love her vision for the company and are
working hard to help her achieve it.

She believes in team work, therefore all members within the organisation are a part of a team.
Ariane meets with the team leaders and department heads twice a week to discuss the project
and decisions that need to be made. She trusts her leaders and encourages their opinions and
input. As the company is growing, so she is demanding more from the leaders. She has to release
more responsibility to them as well as more tasks. She rewards the teams when they perform
exceptionally well as a form of motivation. The employees admire Ariane’s insight and knowledge
of the marketing industry.

The marketing company has four teams at the moment. These teams have a member from each
of the different departments within the organisation, including finance. This gives each team a
balanced viewpoint and insight into the project that they are working on. So far the structure has
been very effective within the organisation although there are some issues that need to be sorted
out. Each of the department heads oversee five subordinates.

INK Marketing is a very successful company that is making inroads in the marketing industry. They
are establishing themselves as the brand of choice and the company to work for.
 Case study – Bedrock Hotel

The Bedrock Hotel is situated in a very beautiful mountain area and is an exceptionally popular
destination for local guests as well as international tourists. They are busy all year round and have
a consistent stream of guests. They offer beautiful mountain hikes and swims in the rivers and
rock pools in summer and skiing in the winter.

The employees at the Hotel all specialise within their specific departments, there is not much
overlapping in the job that each person performs. The employees also do not have much control
over the work that they do, they have no decision-making power, it all rests with the general
manager and a little with the department heads. This has caused demotivation and in some
cases, high absenteeism. The department heads are regularly instructed by the general manager.
Shuman Grootboom is the part owner and general manager of the Hotel. He has a team of
department managers that assist him, Ben Harper- food and beverage, Xoliswa Nchunu –
housekeeping, Melissa Pine – front of house, Cheryl Darne – Marketing and Alan Zungu – finance
and human resources. There are five employees working in housekeeping which Xoliswa
oversees.

Shuman Grootboom is a very motivated and driven leader. He knows the goals that have been set
for the hotel and works hard to direct everyone towards the achievement of the goals. Shuman
knows that if the hotel does not achieve its goals, he is needs to answer to the board. Shuman
has reward systems in place to motivate the staff to achieve the set goals. He has a broad
knowledge of the industry as he studied Hospitality and has worked in the industry for twenty-
three years.
 Case study - Power2U

Power2U is a company that has been established selling alternative energy such as solar panels,
wind generators and their main function is finding solutions to reduce energy consumption within
corporations. The private company is owned and run by the CEO, Karel Anders. He has an
engineering degree and a wealth of knowledge on alternative energy.

Karel currently has 30 employees working for him. Karel motivates his workforce through words
of encouragement and noticing the hard work they do. The employees all have a range of tasks
that they perform. The employees work together in teams and each team has the authority to
make decisions to complete their specific projects. The teams consist of one member from each
department within the organisation. He runs a tight ship but at the same time values the opinions
and ideas of his employees. He regularly has team meetings where they all put their heads
together to come up with new ideas. He works closely with Natasha Ngobane, the human
resources manager, to find ways to constantly motivate the employees to rise to the next level.
The employees have a great respect and loyalty for Karel Anders as he takes the time to get to
know each person so that he can use their strengths within the business.

Recently Karel has had a few employees absent from work on a regular basis. Upon investigation,
it was found that two were very ill and one had a family member needing extra care. Karel has
also had issues with one of his suppliers delivering late.

Karel set a target to have six projects completed by the end of the month, however, when the end
of the month came they had only completed four of the six projects. Two of the projects were far
behind schedule. This is a large deviation from the set target and has concerned Karel Anders.
 Case study – ITU manufacturing

Ntsika Nduna is the general manager of a small manufacturing facility that makes steel
components for hardware shops and other manufacturers. He has a degree in engineering and
has recently qualified at UNISA with a management degree. He has been in management for
fifteen years. The facility employs fifteen staff members as many of the tasks are mechanised.
Ntsika has one other manager in the facility that oversees the purchasing, finance and marketing
and a supervisor that manages the staff. The supervisor oversees twelve employees on the
factory floor and he reports directly back to Ntsika.

The employees have been grumbling to the supervisor as their jobs are very boring and they do
one thing over and over again. The supervisor has been talking to Ntsika about implementing
some sort of system to add variety to the employee’s jobs but Ntsika has warned that any more
grumblings among the staff will lead to disciplinary hearings. Ntsika believes that if you do not
like the job, then you can leave.

Ntsika likes to make all the decisions within the facility. He does sometimes consult the other
manager almost to confirm the decision he has already made. The employees respect that Ntsika
is very organised and prepared but they are unmotivated and feel that they are not heard within
the organisation.