MB0038 – Management Process and Organization Behavior 2010

Q.1 Write a note on the managerial roles and skills?

Ans. Managerial Roles

To meet the many demands of performing their functions, managers assume multiple roles. A role is an
organized set of behaviors. Henry Mintzberg (1973) has identified ten Sub roles common to the work of all
managers. The ten roles are divided into three groups: interpersonal, informational, and decisional.

According to Mintzberg (1973), managerial roles are as follows:

1. Informational roles
2. Decisional roles
3. Interpersonal roles

1. Informational roles: This involves the role of assimilating and disseminating information as and when
required. Following are the main sub-roles, which managers often perform:

a. Monitor-collecting information from organizations, both from inside and outside of the organization.
b. Disseminator-communicating information to organizational members
c. Spokesperson-representing the organization to outsiders

2. Decisional roles: It involves decision making. Again, this role can be subdivided in to the following:

a. Entrepreneur-initiating new ideas to improve organizational performance

b. Disturbance handlers-taking corrective action to cope with adverse situation
c. Resource allocators-allocating human, physical, and monetary resources
d. Negotiator - negotiating with trade unions, or any other stakeholders

3. Interpersonal roles : This role involves activities with people working in the organization. This is
supportive role for informational and decisional roles. Interpersonal roles can be categorized under three
subheadings:

a. Figurehead-Ceremonial and symbolic role

b. Leadership-leading organization in terms of recruiting, motivating etc.
c. Liaison-liasoning with external bodies and public relations activities.

Management Skills

A manager's job is varied and complex. Managers need certain skills to perform the duties and activities
associated with being a manager. What type of skills does a manager need? Robert L. Katz (1974) found that
managers needed three essential management skills

i. Technical
ii. Human
iii. Conceptual

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Technical skills: The ability is to apply specialized knowledge or expertise. All jobs require some
specialized expertise, and many people develop their technical skills on the job. Vocational and on the job
training programs can be used to develop this type of skill.

Human Skill : This is the ability to work with, understand and motivate other people (both individually and
a group). This requires sensitivity towards others issues and concerns. People, who are proficient in
technical skill, but not with interpersonal skills, may face difficulty to manage their subordinates. To acquire
the Human Skill, it is pertinent to recognize the feelings and sentiments of others, ability to motivate others
even in adverse situation, and communicate own feelings to others in a positive and inspiring way.

Conceptual Skill : This is an ability to critically analyze, diagnose a situation and forward a feasible
solution. It requires creative thinking, generating options and choosing the best available option. A mark of a
good leader is to be able to provide consistent motivation to his team encouraging them to attain excellence
and quality in their performance. A good leader is always looking for ways to improve production and
standards. Here are six management skills you can develop as a leader in working to create a quality
effective team.

This is an important aspect that often gets neglected due the demands on a leader's time and schedule.
Observation and regular visits to the work environment are a priority and should be scheduled into the
calendar. Observing employees at work, the procedures, interaction and work flow is foundational to
implementing adjustments to improve results. To have credibility, a leader needs to be seen and be known to
be up to date with what is happening in the work place.

1. Monitor Employee Performance

Employee performance needs to be monitored in mutually accepted ways. Policies and procedures need to
be clear. Conferencing should be on a regular basis and not just when there is a problem. Assessments and
evaluations should not be merely all formality or viewed a necessary paperwork to be done and filed away.
Individual and group conferencing should be undertaken not only to monitor performance, but with the
expectation of on going professional development and support. There should be frequent encouragement and
clear criteria for on going goals both for the group and individual.

2. Implementation of Professional Development Programs

A good leader evaluates weaknesses and provides training and development strategies to strengthen the
weaker skills in the team.

3. Demonstrates Working Knowledge and Expertise

Good leadership comes from a place of strong knowledge and experience of the production and process
leading to results. If a leader does not possess all the expertise and knowledge personally, then regular
consultations with experts involved in the departments should be held. This is important in order to
maintain an accurate and informed overall picture.

4. Good Decision Making

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Good leadership is characterized by the ability to make good decisions. A leader considers all the different
factors before making a decision. Clear firm decisions, combined with the willingness and flexibility to
adapt and adjust decisions when necessary, create confidence in the leadership.

5. Ability to Conduct and Evaluate Research

Ongoing review and research is vital in order to keep on the cutting edge in business. While managing the
present to ensure ongoing excellence in product and performance, a good leader is also able to look towards
the future. Conducting and evaluating research is an important way of planning and being prepared for the
future.

Excellent leadership is always pro active rather than reactive. By developing these six managerial skills
builds a solid foundation for success.

Q.2 Discuss the methods of shaping behavior in detail.

Ans. Shaping Behavior

When a systematic attempt is made to change individuals’ behaviour by directing their learning in graduated
steps, it is called shaping behavior. There are four methods of Shaping Behavior. They are as follows:

1. Positive reinforcement – This is the process of getting something pleasant as a consequence of a desired
behavior, to strengthen the same behavior. For example, one get a commission, if he/she achieves sales
target.
For example,

i) Bonuses paid at the end of a successful business year are an example of positive reinforcement.
ii) Employees will work hard for a raise or a promotion.
iii) Salesmen will increase their efforts to get rewards and bonuses.
iv) Students will study to get good grades, and
v) In these examples, the rises, promotions, awards, bonuses, good grades, are positive reinforces.

2. Negative reinforcement – This is the process of having a reward taken away as a consequence of a
undesired behavior. For example, scholarship is withdrawn from the student who has not done well on the
examination. Just as people engage in behaviors in order to get positive reinforces, they also engage in
behaviors to avoid or escape unpleasant conditions. Terminating an unpleasant stimulus in order to
strengthen or increase the probability of a response is called negative reinforcement.

3. Punishment- This causing an unpleasant condition in an attempt to eliminate an undesirable behavior.

This is the process of getting a punishment as a consequence of a behavior. According to B. F. Skinner,
punishment is still the most common technique of behavior control in today’s life. When a child misbehaves,
he is spanked. If a person does not behave as the society or law wants him to do, he is punished by arrest and
jail.
Example: Loss of pay for coming late to office. Punishment can be accomplished either by adding an
unpleasant stimulus or removing a pleasant stimulus. The added unpleasant stimulus might take the form of
criticism, a scolding, a disapproving look, a fine, or a prison sentence. The removal of a pleasant stimulus

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might consist of withholding affection and attention, suspending a driver’s license, or taking away a
privilege such as watching television.

Accordingly, in situations where punishment is desirable as a means of behavior modification, certain

guidelines would make it more effective thus minimizing its dysfunctional consequences.

a) Praise in public; punish in private.

b) Apply punishment before the undesirable behavior has been strongly reinforced. Thus, the
punishment should immediately follow the undesirable behavior.
c) The punishment should focus on the behavior and not on the person.

4. Extinction – An alternative to punishing undesirable behavior is extension – the attempt to weaken

behavior by attaching no consequences (either positive or negative) to it. It is equivalent to ignoring the
behavior. The rationale for using extinction is that a behavior not followed by any consequence is weakened.
However, some patience and time may be needed for it to be effective.

This type of reinforcement is applied to reduce undesirable behavior, especially when such behaviors were
previously rewarded. This means that if rewards were removed from behaviors that were previously
reinforced, then such behaviors would become less frequent and eventually die out. For example, if a student
in the class is highly mischievous and disturbs the class, he is probably asking for attention. If .the attention
is given to him, he will continue to exhibit that behavior.

Both positive and negative reinforcement result in learning. They strengthen a response and increase the
probability of repetition. Both punishment and extinction weaken behavior and tend to decrease its
subsequent frequency

Q.3 Explain the classification of personality types given by Myers -Briggs.

Ans. There are a lot of different ways of thinking about and looking at personality types. The goal of
defining personality types is to be able to efficiently describe patterns that every person falls into that make
that person similar to some people but different from most people. Personality classifications are based on
measuring different variables that the authors believe are important ways in which different people are
different from each other.

Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers, first published their "Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator (MBTI)" in 1962. They based it on four different variables that they felt help distinguish different
kinds of people, and that can vary independently from each other. These were based on ideas originally
presented by the psychiatrist Carl Jung. Each variable is described as a choice between two opposite traits
(also known as a dichotomy):

Attitude: Extrovert or Introvert? [Is the person more outgoing or more reserved?]
Function: Sensing or Intuitive? [Does the person make judgments more based on experience of the world or
more based on intuition?]

Function: Thinking or Feeling? [Does the person use rational thinking or emotional feelings most to make
decisions?]

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Lifestyle: Judgment or Perception? [Does the person tend to make decisions about whether things are good
or bad, or does the person have more of a "live-and-let-live" attitude?]

Each one of these variables on the MBTI yields an answer on one side or the other. Because there are four
variables each with two possible values, the total number of possible personality types on the MBTI is
2x2x2x2, or 16.

The MBTI, which is self-administered, asks several questions of individual, each of which is designed to
shed light on one of these four dichotomies. At the end, the responses determine whether you fall on one
side or the other of each of the four dichotomies. The result is that every person who takes the MBTI is
given one of the 16 personality types, usually represented by letters from the variables, e.g. ENTP, ISFJ,
ESTJ, ISTJ.

The theory is that these four domains combine to create different types of people, and that each of the 16
categories is different from the others. Someone who is "ENTP" would be described as a person who is
outgoing, relies on intuition and uses rational thought, but is not quick to judgment. The theory goes on to
make conjectures about what this kind of person is likely to be good at, what that person's vulnerabilities are
more likely to be, and what other personality types the person is more or less likely to get along with.

Because of these interpretations, many like to use this quick assessment to make people to think about
themselves and how they relate to the world, frequently when a group of people is about to work closely
together or spend time together, like in a company or on a committee. Some psychotherapists also use the
MBTI to help clients understand themselves better and think more objectively about why and how things are
difficult or what might be a pitfall in the future.

There are many common criticisms of this assessment. Common ones include:

1. It forces people's description into categories, and doesn't allow for people to be, for example,
halfway between any of the dichotomies. Therefore, people who score weakly toward one side or the
other of one of the personality variables are given the same personality interpretation as people who
strongly manifest that trait.

2. There is not much scientific evidence that these four traits vary independently of each other; it may
be that being strongly on one side of any one of these affects how you score on the others.

3. The assessment asks people about how they think about themselves, which may or may not accurately
reflect how they actually are.

Q.4 What are the factors influencing perception?

Ans. Perception is our sensory experience of the world around us and involves both the recognition of
environmental stimuli and action in response to these stimuli. Through the perceptual process, we gain
information about properties and elements of the environment that are critical to our survival.
A number of factors operate to shape and sometimes distort perception These factors can reside:

i) In the perceiver

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ii) In the Object or target being perceived or

iii) In the context of the situation in which the perception is made.

1. Characteristics of the Perceiver: Several characteristics of the perceiver can affect perception. When
an individual looks at a target and attempts to interpret what he or she stands for, that interpretation is
heavily influenced by personal characteristics of the individual perceiver. The major characteristics of
the perceiver influencing perception are:

a) Attitudes: The perceiver’s attitudes affect perception. For example, Mr. X is interviewing candidates
for a very important position in his organization - a position that requires negotiating contracts with
suppliers, most of whom are male. Mr. X may feel that women are not capable of holding their own
in tough negotiations. This attitude with doubtless affect his perceptions of the female candidates he
interviews.

b) Moods: Moods can have a strong influence on the way we perceive someone. We think differently
when we are happy than we do when we are depressed. In addition, we remember information that is
consistent with our mood state better than information that is inconsistent with our mood state. When
in a positive mood, we form more positive impressions of other. When in a negative mood, we tend
to evaluate others unfavorably.

c) Motives: Unsatisfied needs or motives stimulate individuals and may exert a strong influence on
their perceptions. For example, in an organizational context, a boss who is insecure perceives a sub
ordinate's efforts to do an outstanding job as a threat to his or her own position. Personal insecurity
can be translated into the perception that others are out to "get my job", regardless of the intention of
the subordinates.

d) Self - Concept: Another factor that can affect social perception is the perceivers self-concept. An
individual with a positive self-concept tends to notice positive attributes in another person. In
contrast, a negative self-concept can lead a perceiver to pick out negative traits in another person.
Greater understanding of self allows us to have more accurate perceptions of others.

e) Interest: The focus of our attention appears to be influenced by our interests. Because our individual
interests differ considerably, what one person notices in a situation can differ from what other
perceive. For example, the supervisor who has just been reprimanded by his boss for coming late is
more likely to notice his colleagues coming late tomorrow than he did last week.

f) Cognitive structure: Cognitive structure, an individual's pattern of thinking, also affects perception.
Some people have a tendency to perceive physical traits, such as height, weight, and appearance,
more readily. Cognitive complexity allows a person to perceive multiple characteristics of another
person rather than attending to just a few traits.

g) Expectations: Finally, expectations can distort your perceptions in that you will see what you expect
to see. The research findings of the study conducted by Sheldon S Zalking and Timothy W Costello
on some specific characteristics of the perceiver reveal

i. Knowing oneself makes it easier to see others accurately.

ii. One's own characteristics affect the characteristics one is likely to see in other.

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iii. People who accept themselves are more likely to be able to see favorable aspects of other
people.
iv. Accuracy in perceiving others is not a single skill.

These four characteristics greatly influence how a person perceives other than he environmental situation.

2. Characteristics of the Target: Characteristics in the target that is being observed can affect what is
perceived. Physical appearance pals a big role in our perception of others. Extremely attractive or
unattractive individuals are more likely to be noticed in a group than ordinary looking individuals.
Motions, sound, size and other attributes of a target shape the way we see it. Verbal Communication
from targets also affects our perception of them. Nonverbal communication conveys a great deal of
information about the target. The perceiver deciphers eye contact, facial expressions, body movements,
and posture all in a attempt to form an impression of the target.

3. Characteristics of the Situation: The situation in which the interaction between the perceiver and the
target takes place, has an influence on the perceiver's impression of the target. The strength of the
situational cues also affects social perception. Some situations provide strong cues as to appropriate
behaviour. In this situation, we assume that + i.e individual's behaviours can be accounted for by the
situation, and that it may not reflect the individual's disposition.

Q.5 Mr. Solanki is the VP- HR of a leading Financial services company. He is having a meeting with
Ms. Ramani leading HR consultant. Mr. Solanki is concerned about creating an environment that
helps in increasing the job satisfaction amongst employees. Assume that you are Ms. Ramani, the HR
consultant. What suggestions you will give to Mr. Solanki, for creating an environment that increases
job satisfaction.

Ans. Job satisfaction can be influenced by a variety of factors, e.g. the quality of one's relationship with their
supervisor, the quality of the physical environment in which they work, degree of fulfillment in their work,
etc.. Numerous research results show that there are many factors affecting the job satisfaction. There are
particular demographic traits (age, education level, tenure, position, marital status, years in service, and
hours worked per week) of employees that significantly affect their job satisfaction.
Satisfying factors motivate workers while dissatisfying ones prevent. Motivating factors are achievement,
recognition, the job conducted, responsibility, promotion and the factors related to the job itself for personal
development. Motivating factors in the working environment result in the job satisfaction of the person
while protective ones dissatisfy him.
Maslow connects the creation of the existence of people's sense of satisfaction with the maintenance of the
classified needs. These are: physiological needs (eating, drinking, resting, etc.), security needs (pension,
health insurance, etc.), the need to love (good relations with the environment, friendship, fellowship, to love
and to be loved), need to self-esteem (self- confidence, recognition, adoration, to be given importance,
status, etc.) need of self-actualization (maximization of the latent[potential] power and capacity,
development of abilities, etc.)
Insufficient education, inability to select qualified workers for the job, lack of communications, lack of job
definitions, all affect job satisfaction negatively. It has been asserted that participating in the management,
having the decision making power, independence on the job and the unit where the individual works, have
positive impact upon the job satisfaction. The job itself (the work conducted), and achievement and
recognition at work result in satisfaction while the management policy, relations with the managers and

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colleagues result in dissatisfaction. Factors related to the job itself such as using talents, creativity,
responsibility, recognition have influence on the job satisfaction.
Age is one of the factors affecting job satisfaction. Studies conducted in five different countries prove that
the elder workers are more satisfied. Kose has also found a meaningful relation between the age and job
satisfaction.
There is a strong connection between feeling secure and saying one is satisfied with a job. People who state
their job is secure have a much larger probability of reporting themselves happy with their work.
Similarly, by some researchers, sex is also found to have an influence on job satisfaction. Besides, Wahba
has found out that male librarians give more importance to personal development and free decision making
in their jobs than the female librarians, and the female librarians are more dissatisfied than the male
librarians.
Job satisfaction and devotion to the job, affected each other reciprocally, and they have great impact upon
performance. The most significant of the factors affecting performance are economical, technical, socio-
political, cultural and demographical ones.
However, most efforts to improve performance seem to center on improving the conditions surrounding the
work. These are worthwhile efforts, but they usually result only in short-term improvements in attitudes and
productivity, and the situation often returns quickly to normal.
There is no strong acceptance among researchers, consultants, etc., that increased job satisfaction produces
improve job performance -- in fact, improved job satisfaction can sometimes decrease job performance. For
example, you could let workers sometime sit around all day and do nothing. That may make them more
satisfied with their "work" in the short run, but their performance certainly doesn't improve. The individual's
willingness to get a result, his/her endeavor and expectation of maintaining the result will push him/her to
show the highest performance.
Job satisfaction varies a lot. (Researches suggests, the higher the prestige of the job, the greater the job
satisfaction). But, many workers are satisfied in even the least prestigious jobs. They simply like what they
do. Most workers like their work if they have little supervision. The least satisfied workers are those in
service occupations and managers that work for others. Ethnic and religious orientation is associated to work
attitudes, and job satisfaction is related to education. The difference between the results that the individual
desire and those s/he maintained will affect his/her satisfaction. There is a consistent relationship between
the professional status and the job satisfaction. High levels of job satisfaction are observed in those
professions which are deemed of good standing in the society.
The workers usually compare their working conditions with the conditions of the society, under the variable
of social conditions. If the social conditions are worse than the individual's working conditions, then this
will result in satisfaction of the individual, as the workers deem themselves relatively in good position.
No meaningful relationship between the job satisfaction and age, professional experience, education level,
level of wage, sex and professional group was found. On the contrary, professional experience has been
claimed to increase job satisfaction.

Q.6 Given below is the HR policy glimpse of the “VARK-LEARNING” a learning and training
solutions company
1. It offers cash rewards for staff members
2. It promotes the culture of employee referral and encourages people to refer people they know may
be their friends, ex. Colleagues batch mates, relatives.
3. What all needs do it takes care off according to maslow’s need hierarchy
4. It recognizes good performances and give fancy titles and jackets to the people who perform well
and also felicitates them in the Annual Day of the company.
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What all aspects does it takes care of according to the Maslow’s Need Hierarchy?

Ans. Maslow is a humanistic psychologist. Humanists do not believe that human beings are pushed and
pulled by mechanical forces, either of stimuli and reinforcements (behaviorism) or of unconscious
instinctual impulses (psychoanalysis). Humanists focus upon potentials. They believe that humans
strive for an upper level of capabilities. Humans seek the frontiers of creativity, the highest reaches
of consciousness and wisdom. This has been labeled "fully functioning person", "healthy
personality", or as Maslow calls this level, "self-actualizing person." Maslow has set up a hierarchic
theory of needs. All of his basic needs are instinctual, equivalent of instincts in animals. Humans
start with a very weak disposition that is then fashioned fully as the person grows. If the environment
is right, people will grow straight and beautiful, actualizing the potentials they have inherited. If the
environment is not "right" (and mostly it is not) they will not grow tall and straight and beautiful.
Maslow has set up a hierarchy of five levels of basic needs. Beyond these needs, higher levels of
needs exist. These include needs for understanding, esthetic appreciation and purely spiritual needs.
In the levels of the five basic needs, the person does not feel the second need until the demands of
the first have been satisfied, nor the third until the second has been satisfied, and so on. Maslow's
basic needs are as follows:

Physiological Needs

These are biological needs. They consist of needs for oxygen, food, water, and a relatively constant
body temperature. They are the strongest needs because if a person were deprived of all needs, the
physiological ones would come first in the person's search for satisfaction.

Safety Needs

When all physiological needs are satisfied and are no longer controlling thoughts and behaviors,
the needs for security can become active. Adults have little awareness of their security needs
except in times of emergency or periods of disorganization in the social structure (such as
widespread rioting). Children often display the signs of insecurity and the need to be safe.

Needs of Love, Affection and Belongingness

When the needs for safety and for physiological well-being are satisfied, the next class of needs for
love, affection and belongingness can emerge. Maslow states that people seek to overcome feelings
of loneliness and alienation. This involves both giving and receiving love, affection and the sense
of belonging.

Needs for Esteem

When the first three classes of needs are satisfied, the needs for esteem can become dominant. These
involve needs for both self-esteem and for the esteem a person gets from others. Humans have a need
for a stable, firmly based, high level of self-respect, and respect from others. When these needs are
satisfied, the person feels self-confident and valuable as a person in the world. When these needs are
frustrated, the person feels inferior, weak, helpless and worthless.

Needs for Self-Actualization

When all of the foregoing needs are satisfied, then and only then are the needs for self-actualization
activated. Maslow describes self-actualization as a person's need to be and do that which the
person was "born to do." "A musician must make music, an artist must paint, and a poet must write."
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These needs make themselves felt in signs of restlessness. The person feels on edge, tense, lacking
something, in short, restless. If a person is hungry, unsafe, not loved or accepted, or lacking self-
esteem, it is very easy to know what the person is restless about. It is not always clear what a person
wants when there is a need for self-actualization. The hierarchic theory is often represented as a
pyramid, with the larger, lower levels representing the lower needs, and the upper point
representing the need for self-actualization. Maslow believes that the only reason that people would
not move well in direction of self-actualization is because of hindrances placed in their way by
society. He states that education is one of these hindrances. He recommends ways education can
switch from its usual person-stunting tactics to person-growing approaches. Maslow states that
educators should respond to the potential an individual has for growing into a self-actualizing
person of his/her own kind. Ten points that educators should address are listed:

Questioning performance, Reviewing/clarify objective, Changing/confirming roles, Opening risky issues,

Assertiveness, Listening, Testing new ground, Identifying strengths and weaknesses. Performing: Groups
reach a conclusion and implement the solution to their issue. Indicators include:
Creativity, Initiative, Flexibility, Open relationships, Pride, Concern for people, Learning, Confidence, High
morale, Success, etc.

Adjourning: As the group project ends, the group disbands in the adjournment phase. This phase was added
when Tuckman and Jensen's updated their original review of the literature in 1977. Each of the four stages in
the Forming-storming-norming-performing-adjourning model proposed by Tuckman involves two aspects:
interpersonal relationships and task behaviors. Such a distinction is similar to Bales' (1950) equilibrium
model which states that a group continuously divides its attention between instrumental (task-related) needs
and expressive

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