Page 184 - DCOM102_DMGT101_PRINCIPLES_AND_PRACTICES_OF_MANAGEMENT

Principles and Practices of Management

Notes 6. Co-ordination through liaison men: For external co-ordination it is a very important and
a popular device nowadays. Mostly, large organisation employs liaison officers to maintain
relations with government and other agencies.
7. Voluntary co-ordination: Co-ordination by self-co-ordination was proposed by A. Brown
and Sinon. Co-ordination should not be imposed from the above. Ideal co-ordination is
the voluntary co-ordination. This can be secured by installing dominant objectives among
people, developing, generally accepted customs, encouraging informal contacts, providing
for inter-personal and inter-departmental contacts and using committees for informal
exchange of ideas and views.

Task Give some instances and situations that demanded voluntary coordination
on your part.

Case Study Wendt India: Strategy Marries Organisational
Structure

endt India is a joint venture, and a publicly held, listed Company started in
1983 by Wendt Germany. In 1991, Wendt India went into a strategic collaboration
Wwith the US $2 billion Murugappa Group. Wendt India is a manufacturer of
different types of high tech cutting and grinding tools with the latest technology. When it
comes to grinding applications, Wendt is recognized as the foremost technology solution
provider in the industry. It operates from the state of the art production facility in Hosur,
its sole manufacturing unit in India. However, the company has marketing offices in
Bangalore, Baroda, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Faridabad, Hosur,
Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune and Nasik.
Organizational Structure: An Overview
Wendt India's framework is a hybrid structure with the departments organised along
functional lines at the top management level. But the manufacturing department is further
classified on the basis of product lines. There are a total of 14 product lines, each involving
a separate process. Each product has a product manager and a production manager whose
functions are detailed later.

Similarly, the marketing department is organised based on the geographical segments.
The entire landscape is carved into seven different zones, each headed by a regional head
and assisted by territory heads and the sales-force. Such an elaborate arrangement allows
Wendt to cater to specific industries located in these regions.
The administrative functions in the organisation have been clubbed under the direct
control of the CFO. This structure provides relatively shorter lines of communication.
This improves the interaction among the different administrative departments and in
turn increases the coordination amongst these departments.
Production Process
How is it that Wendt manages to produce customized products with only a 7-day lead
time? Although the products supplied to clients are differentiated, 90% of the production
processes are similar across product lines. This helps Wendt in two ways. Firstly, these
Contd...

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