01688nam a22001457a 4500 533627 533627 260608b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d Gandhi, Puneet Agrawal, Narndra M. and Sanaria, Apurva 61091 Arjun as a first time leader at Netsol networ Bharat Journal of Case Studies 1(2), Dec, 2025: p.191-203 This case study follows the journey of Arjun Mishra, a newly promoted assistant manager at NetSol Networks, as he navigates his first leadership assignment. Tasked with training and leading a newly hired team of thirty fresh graduates, Arjun enthusiastically embraces a “friendly” management style in hopes of being a well-liked boss. The case describes how this approach, while fostering initial camaraderie, leads to unintended consequences – lapses in discipline, perceptions of favoritism, and a sudden wave of attrition in his team. As Arjun faces a crisis with one-third of his team quitting within weeks, he must reflect on what went wrong and how to regain trust and stability. The narrative is set against the backdrop of India’s booming networking industry and touches on themes of leadership styles, first-time manager challenges, and the balance between being approachable and being authoritative. The case ends with Arjun at a crossroads, preparing to explain the situation to his own boss and seeking a path forward-Reproduced https://www.printspublications.com/journal/bharat-journal-of-case-studies First time project manager, Knowledge workers, Leadership, style, Role models, Software industry, Work culture. 61092 Bharat Journal of Case Studies AR 0 0 ddc 0 0 408808 IIPA IIPA 2026-06-08 1(2), Dec, 2025: p.191-203 AR139104 2026-06-08 AR