MB0038

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Subject: MB0038 Management Process & Organizational Behavior
Assignment No: Set 1
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Q.1 Write a note on the managerial roles and skills.

Answer:

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 sub-divided 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. Inter`personal 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 sub-headings:

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: Katz (1974) has identified three essential management skills: technical,
human, and 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.

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

ANSWER:

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.

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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 behaviours in
order to get positive reinforces, they also engage in behaviours 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 is 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 behaviour

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 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 behaviour

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 behaviour has been strongly

reinforced. Thus, the punishment should immediately follow the undesirable

behaviour.

c) The punishment should focus on the behaviour and not on the person.

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

to weaken behaviour by attaching no consequences (either positive or negative) to it. It is
equivalent to ignoring the behaviour. The rationale for using extinction is that a behaviour
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 behaviour, especially when such
behaviours were previously rewarded. This means that if rewards were removed from
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behaviours that were previously reinforced, then such behaviours 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 behaviour.

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.

Answer:

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

The MBTI classifies human beings into four opposite pairs (dichotomies), base on their
psychological opposites. These four opposite pairs result into 16 possible combinations. In
MBTI, Individuals are classified as (McCrae and Costa, 1989) :

a. Extroverted or introverted (E or I).

b. Sensing or intuitive (S or N).

c. Thinking or feeling (T or F).

d. Perceiving or judging (P or J).

• These classifications are then combined into sixteen personality types. For example:

a. INTJs are visionaries. They usually have original minds and great drive for their own
ideas and purposes. They are characterized as skeptical, critical, independent, determined,
and often stubborn.

b. ESTJs are organizers. They are realistic, logical, analytical, decisive, and have a natural
head for business or mechanics. They like to organize and run activities.

c. The ENTP type is a conceptualizer. He or she is innovative, individualistic, versatile, and

attracted to entrepreneurial ideas. This person tends to be resourceful in solving challenging
problems but may neglect routine assignments.

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Q.4 What are the factors influencing perception?

Answer:

Factors Influencing Perception

Perception is our sensory experience of the world around us and involves both the
recognition of environmental stimuli and actions 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. Perception not only creates our experience of the world
around us; it allows us to act within our environment.

A number of factors operate to shape and sometimes distort perception. These factors can
reside:

i) In the perceiver.

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, suppose 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 will
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 others. When in a negative mood, we tend to evaluate others unfavourably.

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 subordinate’s efforts to do an outstanding job as a threat to his or her

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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 others 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. If you are preoccupied with a personal problem, you may find it hard to be
attentive in class.

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. Others tend to focus more on central traits, or personality
dispositions. 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 Zalkind and
Timothy W Costello on some specific characteristics of the perceiver reveal

• Knowing oneself makes it easier to see others accurately.

• One’s own characteristics affect the characteristics one is likely to see in others.

• People who accept themselves are more likely to be able to see favourable aspects of other
people.

• Accuracy in perceiving others is not a single skill.

These four characteristics greatly influence how a person perceives others in the
environmental situation.

Characteristics of the Target: Characteristics in the target that is being observed can affect
what is perceived. Physical appearance plays 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. Motion, sound, size and other attributes of a target shape the

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way we see it.The perceiver will notice the target’s physical features like height, weight,
estimated age, race and gender. Perceivers tend to notice physical appearance characteristics
that contrast with the norm, that are intense, or that are new or unusual. Physical
attractiveness often colours our entire impression of another person. Interviewers rate
attractive candidates more favourably and attractive candidates are awarded higher starting
salaries.

Verbal communication from targets also affects our perception of them. We listen to the
topics they speak about, their voice tone, and their accent and make judgements based on
this input. Non-verbal communication conveys a great deal of information about the target.
The perceiver deciphers eye contact, facial expressions, body movements, and posture all in
an attempt to form an impression of the target .As a result of physical or time proximity, we
often put together objects or events that are unrelated.

For example, employees in a particular department are seen as a group. If two employees of
a department suddenly resign, we tend to assume their departures were related when in fact,
they might be totally unrelated. People, objects or events that are similar to each other also
tend to be grouped together. The greater the similarity, the greater the probability we will
tend to perceive them as a group.

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. E.g.
meeting a manager in his or her office affects your impression in a certain way that may
contrast with the impression you would have formed, had you met the manager in a
restaurant. The strength of the situational cues also affects social perception. Some
situations provide strong cues as to appropriate behaviour. In these situations, we assume
that ±ie individual’s behaviour can be accounted for by the situation, and that it may not
reflect the individual’s disposition. This is the discounting principle in social perception.
For example, you may encounter an automobile salesperson who has a warm and
personable manner, asks you about your work and hobbies, and seems genuinely interested
in your taste in cars. Can you assume that this behaviour reflects the salesperson’s
personality? You probably cannot, because of the influence of the situation. This person is
trying to sell you a car, and in this particular situation, he probably treats all customers in
this manner.

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

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that you are Ms. Ramani, the HR consultant. What suggestions you will give to Mr.
Solanki, for creating an environment that increases job satisfaction.

Answer:

Measuring Job Satisfaction: Job satisfaction is the sense of fulfillment and pride felt by
people who enjoy their work and do it well. For an organization, satisfied work force
ensures commitment to high quality performance and increased productivity Job
satisfaction helps organizations to reduce complaints and grievances, absenteeism, turnover,
and termination. Job satisfaction is also linked to a healthier work force and has been found
to be a good indicator of longevity. And although only little correlation has been found
between job satisfaction and productivity, it has also been found that satisfying or
delighting employees is a prerequisite to satisfying or delighting customers, thus protecting
the "bottom line (Brown, 1996).

The most important factors conductive to job satisfaction are:

i) Mentally Challenging Work: Employees tend to prefer jobs that give them opportunities
to use their skills and abilities and offer a variety of tasks, freedom and feedback on how
well they are doing. Under conditions of moderate challenge, most employees will
experience pleasure and satisfaction.

ii) Personality-Job Fit: People with personality types congruent with their chosen vocations
should find they have the right talents and abilities to meet the demands of their jobs; and
because of this success, they have a greater probability of achieving high satisfaction from
their work. It is important, therefore to fit personality factors with job profiles.

iii) Equitable Rewards: Employees want pay systems and promotion policies that they
perceive as being just, unambiguous, and in line with their expectations. When pay is seen
as fair based on job demands, individual skill level, and industry pay standards, satisfaction
is likely to result. Similarly, employees seek fair promotion policies and practices.
Promotions provide opportunities for personal growth, more responsibilities and increased
social status. Individuals who perceive that promotion decisions are made in a fair and just
manner are likely to experience job satisfaction.

iv) Supportive working conditions: Employees prefer physical conditions that are
comfortable and facilitate doing a good job. Temperature, light, noise and other
environmental factors should not be extreme and provide personal comfort. Further,
employees prefer working relatively close to home, in clean and relatively modern facilities
and with adequate tools and equipment.

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v) Supportive Colleagues: Employees have need for social interaction. Therefore, having
friendly and supportive co-workers and understanding supervisor’s leads to increased job
satisfaction. Most employees want their immediate supervisor to be understanding and
friendly, those who offer praise for good performance, listen to employees’ opinions and
show a personal interest in them.

vi) Whistle blowing: Whistle-blowers are employees who inform authorities of

wrongdoings of their companies or co-workers. Whistle blowing is important because
committed organizational members sometimes engage in unethical behaviour in an intense
desire

to succeed. Organizations can manage whistle blowing by communicating the conditions

that are appropriate for the disclosure of wrongdoing. Clearly delineating wrongful
behaviour and the appropriate ways to respond are important organizational actions.

vii) Social Responsibility: Corporate social responsibility is the obligation of an

organization to behave in ethical ways in the social environment in which it operates.
Socially responsible actions are expected of organizations. Current concerns include
protecting the environment, promoting worker safety, supporting social issues, investing in
the community, etc. Managers must encourage both individual ethical behaviour and
organizational social responsibility.

Job enrichment: It is a deliberate upgrading of responsibility, scope, and challenge in the

work itself. Job enrichment usually includes increased responsibility, recognition, and
opportunities for growth, learning, and achievement. Large companies that have used job-
enrichment programs to increase employee motivation and job satisfaction include, AT&T,
IBM, and General Motors (Daft, 1997).

Workers’ role in job satisfaction: A worker should also take some responsibility for his or
her job satisfaction. Everett (1995) proposed the following questions which employees ask
themselves in regard to job satisfaction at the workplace:

1. When have I come closest to expressing my full potential in a work situation?

2. What did it look like?

3. What aspects of the workplace were most supportive?

4. What aspects of the work itself were most satisfying?

5. What did I learn from that experience that could be applied to the present situation?

The following suggestions can help a worker find personal job satisfaction:
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1. Seek opportunities to demonstrate skills and talents.

2. Develop communication skills.

3. Acquire job related skills and try to implement them.

4. Demonstrate creativity and initiative.

5. Improve team building and leadership skill.

6. Learn to de-stress.

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.

What all aspects does it takes care of according to the Maslow’s Need Hierarchy ?

Answer:

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 instinctoid,
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.

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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

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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." 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:

1. We should teach people to be authentic, to be aware of their inner selves and to hear their
inner-feeling voices.

2. We should teach people to transcend their cultural conditioning and become world
citizens.

3. We should help people discover their vocation in life, their calling, fate or destiny. This is
especially focused on finding the right career and the right mate.

4. We should teach people that life is precious, that there is joy to be experienced in life,
and if people are open to seeing the good and joyous in all kinds of situations, it makes life
worth living.

5. We must accept the person as he or she is and help the person learn their inner nature.
From real knowledge of aptitudes and limitations we can know what to build upon, what
potentials are really there.

6. We must see that the person's basic needs are satisfied. This includes safety,
belongingness, and esteem needs.

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7. We should refreshen consciousness, teaching the person to appreciate beauty and the
other good things in nature and in living.

8. We should teach people that controls are good, and complete abandon is bad. It takes
control to improve the quality of life in all areas.

9. We should teach people to transcend the trifling problems and grapple with the serious
problems in life. These include the problems of injustice, of pain, suffering, and death.

10. We must teach people to be good choosers. They must be given practice in making good
choices.

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