M.Com Previous Year Solved Papers: Organisational Behaviour' 2009 (August - Incomplete)

2009 (August)

Paper: 102

Full Marks: 80

Time: 3 hours

1. (a) In what respect the system approach to organisation is superior to the traditional approach.  16

Ans: The systems approach focuses on understanding the organisation as an open system that transforms inputs into outputs. The systems approach began to have a strong impact on management thought in the 1960s as a way of thinking about managing techniques that would allow managers to relate different specialties and parts of the company to one another, as well as to external environmental factors. The systems approach focuses on the organisation as a whole, its interaction with the environment, and its need to achieve equilibrium.

In simple words, a system may be defined as a set a interrelated and interdependent parts forming an organized unit or entity. These parts are known as sub-systems which interact with each other and are subject to change. They are interrelated as well as interdependent. Hence, changes in any sub-system lead to changes in others. Any working organisation may be said to have three sub-systems as follows:

System approach is superior to Traditional Method

A common drawback of the classical, behavioural and quantitative schools is that they weigh down one characteristic of the organisation at the expense of others. While the classical approach emphasizes the ‘task’ and ‘structure’, the behavioural approach emphasizes ‘people’ and the quantitative approach emphasizes ‘mathematical' decision making’.

The whole system faces functional inability in the absence of proper knowledge of the respective parts. Every part bears a relation of interdependence to every other part. In other words, rather than individually dealing with the various parts of one organisation, the systems approach aims to give enables the manager to perceive the organisation as a whole.

The employees of the research and development, manufacturing or the marketing division of a company, should perceive the company en bloc since the activities of either part of the company influence the activities of other parts.

If the business has managed to grow beyond the start-up stage, it will certainly demand new things you may not provide. Hence, there will surely come a time, when you distance yourself from the chain of command, put a management team in command and, as per requirements bring in external consultants for assisting in development of the systems approach, necessary for ensuring the company is in good shape in the long run.

People need order, structure and predictability; they need to know their agenda for the day when they come to the office each day. Business should be predictable and organised. A business eventually attains a state when it has sufficient funds to sustain itself and, when it attains that state, it drifts from that critical stage of its inception with all the problem-solving challenges and initiates development of a whole new set of needs - management, stability and structure.

In other words, it is delegation. However, delegating authority is not devoid of complications: it is very complicated to alter the way you run business your business – going from one-person rule to professional management.

The first challenge may well be to find someone else to manage the transition to professional management for you. This does not signify you have to seek out a new CEO, but a new management system. If your strengths do not lie in convening or facilitating meetings - for instance, presiding over a staff-meeting with 10 people discussing how things should be done - then it would be advisable to appoint someone else to lead the process like a manager type, or a consultant type who specialize in such transitions. In the end, if you are an entrepreneur, a long-range plan is a week; for a manager, a short-range plan is a year.

Another challenge you could face over this transition is to redefine your role in the business. Identify your strengths and work on them. If you are good at sales be the face of the business to the key customers. If it is product development, be ready to be involved in identifying market opportunities and analysing customer base for its needs. Perhaps there is an export market that needs some investigation? Get on a plane and speak to the key people.

If you aim to hand over 100 % of your authority to the management team, monitor this turning point. In some businesses, the decision-making can shift from 100 % to zero i.e. wherein you do not have to make any decisions at all. This does necessitate a certain approach such as: 'As long as the managers stay within the budget and meet the financial goals, why should I care how they do it?'

Feedback is an important mechanism that enables a system to adapt and fine-tune according to the changing conditions of its environment and to control its operations. The operations of the system should be initiated and feedback must be given to the appropriate people so that their work can be assessed and if required corrected.

FEATURES OF SYSTEMS APPROACH

1. An organisation comprises of many sub-systems.

2. All the sub-systems are interred- related.

3. The sub-parts should be studied in their inter-relationships rather than in isolation.

4. The organisation provides a demarcating line that separates it from other systems. It determines the internal and external parts.

5. The organisation is responsive to environmental effect. It is vulnerable is the changes in environment.

6. An organsation is a system consisting of many interrelated and interdependent parts or sub-systems. These elements are then arranged in an orderly fashion.

7. As a system, an organisation draws inputs (energy. Information, materials, etc) from its environment. It transforms these inputs and returns the output into the environment in the form of goods and services.

8. Every system is a part of a super system.

9. Organisation is an open system and it interacts with its environment. It is also a dynamic system as the equilibrium in it is always changing.

10. Management is expected to regulate and adjust the system to secure better performance.

11. Management is multidisciplinary as it draws and integrates knowledge from various disciplines.

Systems theory has made the following advantages as compared to traditional theories:

1. It provides a manager a way of thinking about the job he has to managed and finds an opportunity to him for looking it the organization as a whole and for achieving overall effectiveness.

2. It provides main focus to organizational efforts towards a direction which people should move.

3. It draws attention of managers to an important factor and that is the environment in which an organization works. The interaction with the environment is dynamic.

4. It includes within it focus both micro and macro aspects of the organizations. Hence it serves a multi-level and multi-dimensional approach.

5. It implies that the modern manager should have analytical orientation should be expert in motivating to achieve goals and open mandate to receive and respect new ideas, i.e. creativity and innovation.

6. It also implies that management education must seek to develop the ability to work with and motivate others.

7. The feed back mechanism provides and opportunity to rearrange organizations part according to the change in the environment.

The system theories have been criticized on the following grounds.

1. Systems theory is not a complete explanation of the whole organizational system. It does not explain how the sub-system of the specific organization is uniquely related in a given environment.

2. The conceptional framework for understanding organization provided by system theory is too abstract.

3. It does not really offer any new thing. Managers do understand interrelationship between different parts and the influence of environment on organization and it sub-systems.

Or

(b) Outline Taylors Scientific Management and examine its relevance to management in the present day business.  16

Ans: F.W. Taylor is one of the founders (the other two are Max Weber and Henry Fayol) of classical thought/classical theory of management. He suggested scientific approach to management also called scientific management theory. Frederick Winslow Taylor well-known as the founder of scientific management was the first to recognize and emphasis the need for adopting a scientific approach to the task of managing an enterprise. He tried to diagnose the causes of low efficiency in industry and came to the conclusion that much of waste and inefficiency is due to the lack of order and system in the methods of management. He found that the management was usually ignorant of the amount of work that could be done by a worker in a day as also the best method of doing the job. As a result, it remained largely at the mercy of the workers who deliberately shirked work. He therefore, suggested that those responsible for management should adopt a scientific approach in their work, and make use of "scientific method" for achieving higher efficiency. The scientific method consists essentially of:

a)      Observation

b)      Measurement

c)       Experimentation and

d)      Inference.

He advocated a thorough planning of the job by the management and emphasized the necessity of perfect understanding and co-operation between the management and the workers both for the enlargement of profits and the use of scientific investigation and knowledge in industrial work. He summed up his approach in these words:

a)      Science, not rule of thumb

b)      Harmony, not discord

c)       Co-operation, not individualism

d)      Maximum output, in place of restricted output

e)      The development of each man to his greatest efficiency and prosperity.

Concept of Scientific Management

Scientific Management may be defined as the scientific study and analysis of work, scientific selection and training of employees, standardization and scientific rate setting. It is an art of knowing exactly what a manager wants his workers to do and seeing it that they do it in the best and cheapest way.

According to F.W.Taylor who is regarded as the father of scientific management, “Scientific Management is the art of knowing exactly what you want your men to do and seeing that they do it in the cheapest way”.

Scientific management has the following main objectives:

a)      With the use of standardized tools, methods, equipments, and development of workers increasing the rate of production.

b)      Reducing the cost of production by using the different cost control techniques.

c)       Improvement in the quality of product through quality control and inspections.

d)      To place the right person at the right place.

e)      Providing the wages to the workers according to their efficiency.

Characteristics of Scientific Management

a)      Predetermined objectives: The objective of every job is predetermined and in order to achieve that objective physical and human resources are applied.

b)      Predetermined plans: In order to achieve the predetermined goal of every job, effective plans for the most appropriate use of the available resources are prepared. Planning in this case is goal oriented.

c)       Scientific analysis of plans: The utility, effectiveness and suitability of plans is tested and ascertained before it is put in practical operation.

d)      Set of rules: In order to implement the plans a set of rules are made.

e)      Work studies: Standardization of time, motion, fatigue and work is done after careful time, motion, work & fatigue studies, so that maximum output could be achieved at minimum sacrifice.

Relevance principles of scientific management:

a)      Replacing rule of thumb with science: According to this principle, scientific investigation should be applied in the scientific management, which will replace the rule of thumb. Taylor had made study of every job and fixed the method and timing for performing the job so that the worker should know that what, when, and how is required to perform the job. This principle is the starting point of scientific. This principle is concerned with selecting the best way of performing a job through the application of scientific analysis and not by intuition or hit and trial methods.

b)      Harmony in group action: This principle states that there should be cooperation between the management and the workers. In order to achieve the best possible results from the business operations, it is essential that there should be harmonious relations between the management and the workers.

c)       Division of responsibility between workers and management: According to this principle there should proportionate division of the responsibility between the managers and the workers, clearly defined, and predetermined.

d)      Maximum Output: Scientific Management aims for the continuous production and productivity. According to this principle management and the workers should try to increase the production at the minimum cost.

e)      Selection, training, and development of the workers in the scientific manner: According to this principle the right men is placed on the right job. The jobs are determined first for which the workers are required and then the qualifications required for the job are determined. On the basis of these standards the employees are selected.

2. (a) What do you mean by Delegation of authority? As a manager, how will you determine what authority and to what extent it should be delegated?  16

Ans: Delegation of Authority: When the work of an office manager increases so much that he cannot cope with it, he may divide the work among his subordinates. During, the course of division he expects that each subordinate will do the job as he himself would have done. This process of dividing the work among the subordinates is called delegation. The process of division of work whereby the subordinates are entrusted with a part of the work is called delegation. Delegation is termed as the ability to get results through others.

According to Koontz and O'Donnel "the cement that binds the organisation together is called delegation." According to Brech delegation means the passing on to others of a share in the essential elements of management process.

When the business grows beyond the capacity of a manager, he has to delegate because his authority is limited. The success in delegation lies in his ability to cope with others. According to Alien one man's job grows beyond Ms capacity, his success lies in his ability to multiply himself through other people.

Delegation involves three important aspects like assigning duties by the executives, granting of authority and creation of obligation or accountability.

Basic Principles of Delegation: The followings are some of the important principles of delegation of authority:

(a) Authority should commensurate with responsibility- It is not correct to say that authority should be equal to responsibility. Authority is the power to carryout an assignment and responsibility is the obligation to accomplish them. It is logical to say that authority needed to do a job should correspond to the responsibility. Though equalisation of authority and responsibility is not possible, authority should be co-extensive or commensurate with responsibility.

(b) Responsibility cannot be delegated— When authority is delegated to a subordinate by an executive, the executive does not pass on the responsibility for it. He is still accountable for it to his immediate superior. As the responsibility to the superior is absolute, it is also termed as the principles of absolute responsibility.

(c) Dual subordination should be avoided— There is a saying that a man can-not serve two masters in the same way. Every subordinate in the organization must know who delegates authority to him and to whom the matters beyond his authority will be referred. The executive should ensure that authority passes through the formal chain of command and the line supervisors are not bypassed.

The most important step in the organization of office work is to assign definite duties and responsibility to each executive. This should be accompanied by delegation of authority. Authority flows downward as it implies the right to acquire action of others. Responsibility flows upward because a person is accountable to another in the higher rank.

7 important Principles of Delegation formulated by Koontz and O'Donnell: Koontz and O'Donnell give the following principles as guides to delegation of authority.

1. Principle of Delegation by Results Expected: Authority is delegated to achieve the enterprise objectives. 'Delegation by results expected implies that goals have been set and plans made, that these are communicated and understood, and that jobs have been set up to fit in with them'.

2. Principle of Functional Definition: The functions undertaken by managers are clearly explained. 'The more a position or a department has clear definitions of results expected, activities to be undertaken, organisation, authority delegated, and authority and informational relationships with other positions, the more adequately individuals responsible can contribute toward accomplishing enterprise objectives'.

3. Scalar Principles: This refers to the chain of authority relationships from superior to subordinate throughout the organisation. 'As the scalar principle indicates, this clearer thin line is from the top of the bottom of the organisation structure, the better delegation and orderly decision making are facilitated'.

4. Authority Level Principles: Each manager can take his own decision within his authority and only matters not within his authority must be referred to his superior.

5. Principle of Unity of Command: This means that a subordinate is answerable to only one boss. 'The more completely an individual has a relationship to a single superior, the less the problem of conflict in instructions and the greater the feeling of personal responsibility for results'.

6. Principle of Absoluteness of Responsibility: The responsibility of the subordinate to his superior for the assigned responsibility is absolute.

7. Principle of Parity of Authority and Stability: This principle states that authority should correspond to the responsibility. 'The responsibility for action cannot be greater than that implied by a authority delegated, nor can it be less'.

Or

(b) Discuss the need for “Departmentation”. What are the key considerations for choosing a basis for Departmentation?  16

Ans: Departmentation: The process of dividing activities into units and subunits is referred to as departmentation. The term departmentation is used in a generic sense n is not only confined to the creation of such units as are called departments, but it includes divisions, sections and jobs also.

Dividing up work calls or identification of total activities and classification of such activities into units and subunits. There are three bases for primary grouping of activities at the second level of the organisation just below the top level. Units at the second level are commonly called departments when business functions are adopted as the pattern of grouping activities. Such units go by the name of divisions when either products manufactured or territories are adopted as the means of classifying activities.

There are, however, two approaches to departmentation- top down and bottom-up approaches. In the top-down approach, activities are divided step by step downward form the chief executive's job to the operating jobs. In the bottom-up approach, the division of activities is carried on in a reverse order. Starting form operating jobs, there arise sections form combining some correlated jobs, departments from combining some sections and finally the chief executive position form putting departments together. While the top-down approach gives emphasis on co-ordination and managerial action, the bottom-up approach gives emphasis on co-ordination and managerial action, the bottom-up approach focuses attention on employee performance. Although the top-down approach is easy for understanding the departmentation process, both the approaches are utilized in actual practice

Bases or Methods of departmentation

Departmentation provides motivation by developing feeling of autonomy to the extent possible. There are several bases of departmentation. The more commonly used bases are function, produt, territory, process, customer, time etc. Some of these bases are internal-operation – oriented like function, process, time while others like product, territory and customer are output-oriented.

a.       Functional Departmentation: The grouping of common or homogeneous activities to form an organisation unit is known as functional departmentation. Functional departmentation is the most widely used basis for organising activities and is present almost in every large organisation at some level.

Functional departmentation is most commonly used because it offers certain advantages which include advantages of specialization, ensuring performance of activities necessary for the achievement of organisational objectives, elimination of un-necessary activities, easier control over functions, easier way for pinpointing training need of the managers and maintaining the relative importance of functions in the organisation.

b.      Product wise departmentation: Product departmentation involves the grouping together of all activities necessary to manufacture a product or product line. Product departmentation is preferred for product expansion and diversification when manufacturing and marketing characteristics of each product are of primary concern. Product departmentation offers several advantages places attention to product lines, reduces problems of coordination for different products, provides opportunities for further diversification and expansion of organisation and provides product specialization necessary for managers specially when each product is different from other.

c.       Territory – wise Departmentation: Territorial or geographical departmentation is specially useful to large-sized organisations having activities which are physically  or geographically spread such as banking, insurance, transportation etc., Territorial departmentation provides certain efficiency in operation. Local factors such as customers, culture, styles, preferences etc., always affect organisational functioning.

d.      Production processes – wise departmentation: In  process departmentation, processes involved in production or various types of equipments used are taken as basis for departmentation. When the production activities involve the use of several distinctive processes, these can be used as the base for grouping of activities. Such activities may be textiles, oil production etc., The process are set in such a way that a series of operations is feasible making operations economic. It provides advantages of specialization required at each level of total processes, maintenance of plant can be done in better way, and manpower can be utilized effectively.

e.      Customer – wise departmentation: Customer based departmentation is  basically market – oriented in which departments are created around the markets served or around marketing channels. The basic idea of this departmentation is to provide services to clearly identified groups of customers. Each group of customers has different purchase behavior, payment schedule, demand pattern etc., Therefore they can be attracted to the organisation’s business by satisfying them by providing services, payment schedule demand pattern etc.

Choice of bases for departmentation Or DETERMINANTS OF DEPARTMENTATION

The selection of bases for departmentation involves a consideration of the relative advantages of each base for the organisation. Ideally speaking, a suitable basis of departmentation is one which facilitates the performance of organisational functions efficiently and effectively so that its objective are achieved.

1)      Specialization: While assigning activities into departments, care must be taken to ensure that the benefits of specialization are achieved.

2)      Control: One of the primary aims of departmentation is to facilitate control. Departments should be so created as to fix clear responsibilities so as to enable effective control.

3)      Coordination: Coordination involves that all the related activities are performed in a way that their performance is synchronized so that each activity contributes to others.

4)      Economy: A balance should be maintained between the cost of creating a department and its contribution. The existence of a department is desirable only when it contributes more than its cost.

5)      Focus on Result: Those activities which contribute to the achievement to these results should be given proper attention.

6)      Human Considerations: Departments should be created on the basis of availability of personnel, their aspirations and value systems, informal work groups and attitudes of people towards various forms of organisation structure.

7)      Emphasis on Local Conditions: while assigning activities proper emphasis should be given to local conditions at the places concerned, viz. the personality of the individuals who may be given the responsibilities, the nature of informal relationship among the people, the attitude of the people, etc.

8)      Economy: Another important factor to be considered while creating separate departments is the expense involved and economy in its operations.

9)      Key Activities: there are certain activities which are very crucial. Such activities should be placed in separate divisions.

3. (a) Define organisational behaviour. Why should organisations give importance in understanding human behavior?  6+10=16

Ans: Meaning of Organisational Behaviour

Organisational behaviour is concerned with people's thoughts, feelings, emotions and actions in setting up a work. Understanding an individual behaviour is in itself a challenge, but understanding group behaviour in an organisational environment is a monumental managerial task.

As Nadler and Tushman put it, "Understanding one individual's behaviour is challenging in and of itself; understanding a group that is made up of different individuals and comprehending the many relationships among those individuals is even more complex. Ultimately, the organisation's work gets done through people, individually or collectively, on their, own or in collaboration with technology. Therefore, the management of organisational behaviour is central to the management task—a task that involves the capacity to "understand" the behaviour patterns of individuals, groups and organisations, to ''predict'" what behavioural responses will be elicited by various managerial actions and finally to use this understanding and these predictions to achieve "control".

Organisational behaviour can then be defined as: "The study of human behaviour in organisational settings, the interface between human behaviour and the organisational context, and the organisation itself."

The above definition has three parts—the individual behaviour, the organisation and the (interface between the two. Each individual brings to an organisation a unique set of beliefs, values, attitudes and other personal characteristics and these characteristics of all individuals must interact with each other in order to create organisational settings. The organisational behaviour is specifically concerned with work-related behaviour, which takes place in organisations.

In addition to understanding; the on-going behavioural processes involved, in 'their own jobs, managers must understand the basic human element of their work. Organisational behaviour offers three major ways of understanding this context; people as organisations, people as resources and people as people.

Above all, organisations are people; and without people there would be no organisations. Thus, if managers are to understand the organisations in which they work, they must first understand the people who make up the organisations.

As resources, people are one of the organisation's most valuable assets. People create the organisation, guide and direct its course, and vitalise and revitalise it. People make the decisions, solve the problems, and answer the questions. As managers increasingly recognise the value of potential contributions by their employees, it will become more and more important for managers and employees to grasp the complexities of organisational behaviour.

Finally, there is people as people - an argument derived from the simple notion of humanistic management. People spend a large part of their lives in_; organisational settings, mostly as employees. They have a right to expect something in return beyond wages and benefits. They have a right to expect satisfaction and to learn new skills. An understanding of organisational behaviour can help the manager better appreciate the variety of individual needs and' expectations.

Organisational behaviour is concerned with the characteristics and behaviours of employees in isolation; the characteristics and processes that are part of the organisation itself; 'and the characteristics and behaviours directly resulting from people with their individual needs and motivations working within the structure of the organisation. One cannot understand an individual’s behaviour completely without learning something about that individual's organisation. Similarly, he cannot understand how the organisation operates without; studying the people who-make it up. Thus, the organisation influences and is influenced by individuals.

Importance of Organisational Behaviour in any organisation

Organisational behaviour offers several ideas to management as to how human factor should be properly emphasised to achieve organisational objectives. Barnard has observed that an organisation is a conscious interaction of two or more people. This suggests that since an organisation is the interaction of persons, they should be given adequate importance in managing the organisation. Organisational behaviour provides opportunity to management to analyse human behaviour and prescribe means for shaping it to a particular direction.

Understanding Human Behaviour Organisational behaviour provides under­standing the human behaviour in all directions in which the human beings interact. Thus, organisational behaviour can be understood at the individual level, interpersonal level, group level and inter-group level.

Organisational behaviour helps to analyse 'why' and 'how' an individual behaves in a particular way. Human behaviour is a complex phenomenon and is affected by a large number of factors including the psychological, social and cultural implications. Organisational behaviour integrates these factors to provide* simplicity in understanding the human behaviour.

1)      Interpersonal Level: Human behaviour can be understood at the level of interpersonal interaction. Organisational behaviour provides • means for understanding the interpersonal relationships in an organisation. Analysis of reciprocal relationships, role analysis and transactional analysis are some of the common methods, which provide such understanding.

2)      Group Level: Though people interpret anything at their individual level, they are often modified by group pressures, which then become a force in shaping human behaviour, Thus, individuals should be studied in groups also.. Research in group dynamics has contributed vitally to organisational behaviour and shows how a group behaves in its norms, cohesion, goals, procedures, communication pattern and leadership. These research results are advancing managerial knowledge of understanding group behaviour, which is very important for organisational morale and productivity.

3)      Inter-group Level: The organisation is made up of many groups that develop complex relationships to build their process and substance. Understanding the effect of group relationships is important for managers in today's organisation. Inter-group relationship may be in the form of co-operation or competition. The co-operative relationships help the organisation in achieving its objectives. Organisational behaviour provides means to understand and achieve co-operative group relationships through interaction, rotation of members among groups, avoidance of win-lose situation and focussing on total group objectives.

4)      Controlling and Directing Behaviour: After understanding the mechanism of human behaviour, managers are required to control and direct the behaviour so that it conforms to the standards required for achieving the organisational objectives. Thus, managers are required to control and direct the behaviour at all levels of individual interaction. Therefore, organisational behaviour helps managers in controlling and directing in different areas such as use of power and sanction, leadership, communication and building organisational climate favourable for better interaction.

5)      Use of Power and Sanction: The behaviours can be controlled and directed by the use of power and sanction, which are formally defined by the organisation. Power is referred to as the capacity of an individual to take certain action and may be utilised in many ways. Organisational behaviour explains how various means of power and sanction can ,be utilised so that both organisational and individual objectives are achieved simultaneously.

6)      Leadership: Organisational behaviour brings new insights and understanding to the practice and theory of leadership. It identifies various leadership styles available to a manager and analyses which style is more appropriate in a given situation. Thus, managers can adopt styles keeping in view the various dimensions of organisations, individuals and situations.

7)      Communication: Communication helps people to come in contact with each other. To achieve organisational objectives, the communication must be effective. The communication process and its work in inter-personal dynamics have been evaluated by organisational behaviour.

8)      Organisational Climate: Organisational climate refers to the total organisational situations affecting human behaviour. Organisational climate takes a system perspective that affect human behaviour. Besides improving the satisfactory working conditions and adequate compensation, organisational climate includes creation of an atmosphere of effective supervision; the opportunity for the realisation of personal goals, congenial relations with others at the work place and a sense of accomplishment.

9)      Organisational Adaptation: Organisations, as dynamic entities are characterised by pervasive changes. Organisations have to adapt themselves to the environmental changes by making suitable, internal arrangements such as convincing employees who normally have the tendency of resisting any changes.

Or

(b)Discuss citing example, why perception is the key factor in management.  16

Ans: Perception: Perception is an important mediating cognitive process. Through this complex process, people make interpretations of the stimulus or situation they are faced with. Both selectivity and organization go 'into perceptual, interpretations. Externally, selectivity is affected by intensity, size, contrast, repetition, motion and novelty and familiarity. Internally, perceptual selectivity is influenced by the individual's motivation, learning and personality. After the selective process filters the stimulus situation, the incoming information is organized into a meaningful whole.

Individual differences and uniqueness are largely the result of the cognitive processes. Although there arc a number of cognitive processes, it is generally recognized that the perceptual process is a very important one. It is a process that takes place between the situation and the behaviour and is most relevant to the study of organizational behaviour. For example, the observation that a department head and a subordinate may react quite differently to the same top management directive can be better understood and explained by the perceptual process.

In the process of perception, people receive many different kinds of information through all five senses, assimilate them and then interpret them. Different people perceive the same information differently.

Perception plays a key role in determining individual behaviour in organizations. Organizations send messages in a variety of forms to their members regarding what they are expected to do and not to do. In spite of organizations sending clear messages, those messages are subject to distortion in the process of being perceived by organizational members. Hence, managers need to have a general understanding of the basic perceptual process.

Basic Perceptual Process

Perception is influenced by characteristics of the object being perceived, by the characteristics of the person and by the situational processes.

a)      Characteristics   of the   object   include   contrast, intensity, movement, repetition and novelty.  

b)      Characteristics of the person include attitude, self-concept and personality.

The details of a particular situation affect the way a person perceives an object; the same person may perceive the same object very differently in different situations. The processes through which a person's perceptions are altered by the situation include selection, organization, attribution, projection, stereotyping process, and the halo effect process. Among these, selective perception and stereotyping are particularly relevant to organizations.

a) Selective Perception: Selective perception is the process of screening out information that we are uncomfortable with or that contradicts our beliefs. For example, a manager has a very positive attitude about a particular worker and one day he notices that the worker seems to be goofing up. Selective perception may make the manager to quickly disregard what he observed. For example, a manager who has formed a very negative attitude about a particular worker and he happens to observe a high performance from the same worker. In this case influenced by the selective perception process he too will disregard it. In one sense, selective perception is beneficial because it allows us to disregard minor bits of information. But if selective perception causes managers to ignore important information, it can become quite detrimental.

b) Stereotyping: Stereotyping is the process of categorizing or labeling people on the basis of a single attribute. Perceptions based on stereotypes about people's sex exist more or less in all work places. Typically, these perceptions lead to the belief that an individual's sex determines which tasks he or she will be able to perform. For example, if a woman is sitting behind the table in the office, she will be very often, perceived as a clerk and not an executive at first. But it would induce holding an exactly opposite assumption about a man. Stereotyping consists of three steps: identifying categories of people (like women, politician), associating certain characteristics with those categories (like passivity, dishonesty respectively) and then assuming that any one who fits a certain category must have those characteristics. For example, if dishonesty is associated with politicians, we are likely to assume that all politicians are dishonest.

4. (a) Distinguish between “Management” and “Leadership” in the management of an organisation.  8+8=16

Leadership vs Management

“Leadership and managership are two synonymous terms” is an incorrect statement. Leadership doesn’t require any managerial position to act as a leader. On the other hand, a manager can be a true manager only if he has got the traits of leader in him. By virtue of his position, manager has to provide leadership to his group.

Leadership is the ability to build up confidence and deal among people and to create an urge in them to be led. To be a successful leader, a manager must possess the qualities of foresight, drive, initiative, self-confidence and personal integrity. Different situations may demand different types of leadership.

Leadership means influencing the behaviour of the people at work towards realizing the specified goals. It is the ability to use non-coercive (no force) influence on the motivation, activities and goals (MAG) of others in order to achieve the objectives of the organisation.

Management may be defined as a process including various activities like planning, organising , directing, controlling  co-ordination etc in order to make optimum use of men machinery, materials and money by way of preparing plans, policies and purposes, for achieving organisational goals under healthy internal environment. Management is the coordination of all resources through the process of planning, organising, directing, staffing and controlling in order to attain stated objectives effectively and efficiently.  Effectively means doing the right task, completing activities and achieving goals and efficiently means to attain objectives with least amount of resources at a minimum cost. This process starts at the top and continues in more or less degree at every level of the organisation.

Leaders and Managers can be compared on the following basis:

Basis	Manager	Leader
Origin	A person becomes a manager by virtue of his position.	A person becomes a leader on basis of his personal qualities.
Formal Rights	Manager has got formal rights in an organization because of his status.	Rights are not available to a leader.
Followers	The subordinates are the followers of managers.	The group of employees whom the leaders leads are his followers.
Functions	A manager performs all five functions of management.	Leader influences people to work willingly for group objectives.
Necessity	A manager is very essential to a concern.	A leader is required to create cordial relation between person working in and for organization.
Stability	It is more stable.	Leadership is temporary.
Mutual Relationship	All managers are leaders.	All leaders are not managers.
Accountability	Manager is accountable for self and subordinates behaviour and performance.	Leaders have no well defined accountability.
Concern	A manager’s concern is organizational goals.	A leader’s concern is group goals and member’s satisfaction.
Followers	People follow manager by virtue of job description.	People follow them on voluntary basis.
Role continuation	A manager can continue in office till he performs his duties satisfactorily in congruence with organizational goals.	A leader can maintain his position only through day to day wishes of followers.
Sanctions	Manager has command over allocation and distribution of sanctions.	A leader has command over different sanctions and related task records. These sanctions are essentially of informal nature.

Or

(b) There is no universally consistent motivational device. Justify in your own words.  16

5. (a) Describe the process of interpersonal communication. Distinguish between formal and informal communication.  8+8=16

Ans: Process of Communication

The process of communication is the inter relationship between several independent components. It consists of a chain of related actions and reaction which together result in exchange of information. In order to understand the process of communication, it is necessary to describe each of these components. A model of communication process is as follows:

1.       Sender: The sender is the first component of the process of c communication. The sender may be a speaker, a writer or any other person. He is the one who has a message and wants it to share it for some purpose.

2.       Ideation: Ideation is the preliminary step in communication where sender creates an idea to communicate. This idea is the content and basis of the message to be communicated. Several ideas may generate in the sender’s mind. The sender must identify, analyze and arrange the ideas sequentially before transmitting them to the receiver.

3.       Message: Message is the heart of communication. It is what the sender wants to convey to the receiver. It may be verbal i.e. written or spoken or non verbal i.e. body language, space language, etc.

4.       Encoding: To encode is to put an idea into words. In this step the communicator organizes his ideas into a series of symbols or words which will be communicated to the intended receiver. Thus the ideas are converted into words or symbols. The words and the symbols should be selected carefully, it should be understandable and most of all it should be suitable for transmission and reception.

5.       Transmission: Next in the process of communication is transmission of the message as encoded messages are transmitted through various media and channels of communication connects the sender and the receiver. The channel and media should be selected keeping in mind the requirement of the receiver, the communication to be effective and efficient the channel should be appropriate.

6.       Receiver: Receiver is the person or group for whom the message is meant. He may be a listener, a reader or a viewer. Any neglect on the part of the receiver may make the communication ineffective. Receiver is thus the ultimate destination of the message. It the message does not reach the receiver the communication is said to be incomplete.

7.       Decoding: Decoding means translation of symbols encoded by the sender into ideas for understanding. Understanding the message by receiver is the key to the decoding process. The message should be accurately reproduced in the receiver’s mind. If the receiver is unable to understand the message correctly the communication is ineffective.

8.       Behaviour of the receiver: It refers to the response by the receiver of the communication received from the sender. He may like to ignore the message or to store the information received or to perform the task assigned by the sender. Thus communication is complete as soon as the receiver responses.

9.       Feedback: Feedback indicates the result of communication. It is the key element in the communication and is the only way of judging the effectiveness of communication. It enables the sender to know whether his message has been properly interpreted or not. Systematic use of feedback helps to improve future message. Feedback, like the message could be oral, written or non verbal. It has to be collected from the receiver.

Difference between Formal and Informal Communication Channel

Basis	Formal Communication	Informal Communication
01. Rules	In Formal communication, Organizational rules are strictly followed.	It does not generally follow the rules of organization
02. Recognition	Such communication requires official’s recognition.	In informal communication, It does not require any official’s recognition.
03. Flexibility	It is inflexible in nature as it cannot be changed when desired.	Being flexible, It can be changed easily.
04. Secrecy	Such Communication is not free and open to all. So, Secrecy is maintained here.	It is free and open to all, So it is very difficult to maintain secrecy here. i.e. Grapevine communication which spread informally.
05. Time & Cost	It follows various rules of organization. So, It requires much time and cost.	Informal communication does not bother for the formalities of organization and therefore it requires less time and cost.
06. Record Keeping	This type of communication involves written procedure, So record can be kept in formal communication.	Permanent record is impossible here because almost nothing is written here.
07. Errors or Mistakes	Very careful attention is given here in encoding the message and sending the message through formal way. Due to this seriousness, there is less chance of placing mistakes or errors.	It is personal in nature and therefore less attention is involved which can cause many errors or mistakes.
08. Compulsion	It is bound to follow the formal rules of communication.	There is no pressure here to follow any rules.
09. Necessity	Formal communication is necessary to achieve organizational goal.	Informal communication is necessary to improve personal relation.
10. Delegation or Authority	Authority can be delegated through formal communication.	Authority cannot be delegated through such communication.

Or

(b) Describe the characteristics of organizational development. Explain the steps involved in the organization’s Development process.  6+10=16

Ans: Organisational Development Process

OD interventions refer to various activities which consultant and client organization perform for improving organizational functioning by enabling organization members to better manage their team and organization cultures. French and Well have defined OD interventions as "sets of structured activities in which selected organizational units (target groups or individuals) engage with a task or a sequence of tasks where the task goals are related directly or indirectly to organizational improvement. Interventions constitute the action thrust of organization development; they make things happen and are what is happening.”

Intervention Techniques

a)      Sensitivity Training

b)      Process Consultation

c)       Team Development

d)      Grid Organization Development

a)         Sensitivity Training: Sensitivity training is a small-group interaction under stress in an unstructured encounter group, which requires people to become sensitive to one another's feelings in order to develop reasonable group activity. In sensitivity training, the actual technique employed is T-group. T-group has several characteristic features:

a)      The T-group is generally small, from ten to twenty members

b)      The group begins its activity with no formal agenda

c)       The primary role of trainer is to call attention of members from time to time lo the ongoing process within the group

d)      The procedure lends to develop introspection and self-examination, with emotional levels of involvement and behavior.

e)      The objectives of such training are increased openness with others, more concern for others, increased tolerance for individual differences, less ethnic prejudice, understanding of a group process, enhanced listening skills and increased trust and support.

b) Process Consultation: Process Consultation (P-C) represents a method of intervening in an ongoing system. The basic content of P-C is that the consultant works with individuals and groups to help them learn about human and social processes and learn to solve problems that stem from process events. P-C consists of many interventions and activities which affect the various organizational processes such as. communication, roles and functions of group members, group problem-solving and decision-making, group norms, authority and leadership and inter-group cooperation and conflicts.

c) Team Development: The underlying aim of team development is to increase trust among team members because people work better together when there is open and honest sharing about the problems and difficulties that they have with one another. As such, at the initial level, the attempt should be to develop such an environment where such trust can be developed among the team members

d) Grid Organization Development: Grid organization development, developed by Blake and Mounton, is a comprehensive and systematic OD Program. The Program aims at individuals, groups and the organization as a whole. It utilizes a considerable number of instruments, enabling individuals and groups to assess their own strength and weaknesses. It also focuses on skills, knowledge and processes necessary for effectiveness at the individual, group and inter-group and total organization levels.

In addition to these people focused interventions, there may be other types of interventions too. e.g. structural and job interventions such as job enlargement, job enrichment, management by objectives, rules, procedures and authority structure.

OD offers some very attractive methodologies and philosophies to practicing managers and academicians. William Halal is right when he says "OD in future includes any method for modifying the behavior in the organization, hereby, encompassing the entire spectrum of applied behavioral science". There also have been experiences of failure in OD but these are being recorded and collected to be reviewed. In general, OD shows a promising future, since there are no rigid sets of procedures in OD work and different strategies have to be evolved for different types of organizations.