Monday, February 28, 2011

Organizational Behaviour (Old Pattern) - 2

Organizational Behaviour (Old Pattern) - 2

Q9. What is perception? Discuss factors influencing perception.
Kolasa defines perception as the “selection and organization of material, which stems from the outside environment at one time or the other to provide the meaningful entity we experience”.
Factors that are in the situation are called “external attention factors” and those within the individual are called “internal set factors”.

EXTERNAL ATTENTION FACTORS

Intensity
It implies that more intense the stimulus audio or visual, the more is the likelihood it will be perceived.

Size
Any odd size attracts attention. A great tall man attracts attention at the same time small size man also attracts attention. Although the increase in attention may not be directly proportional to the increase in size.

Contrast
Which stand out against the background or which, are not the people expect will receive attention. Any change in accustomed atmosphere attracts the attention.

Repetition
Repeated external stimulus attracts more attention than the one that occurs at one time alone.

Motion
It implies that individual attracts to changing objects in their vision that to static objects. Because of this advertisers involve signs, which include moving objects in their campaigns.

Novelty and familiarity
New thing in familiar place or familiar thing in new place tends to attract attention. Job rotation is an example of this principle.

INTERNAL SET FACTORS

Habit
A Hindu will bow and do Namaskar when he sees a temple on his way. Likely soldier will throw himself on ground when he hears sudden burst of car tyre.

Motivation and Interest
Motivation increases individual sensitivity to the satisfaction of his needs in view of his past experience with them.

Learning
Learning plays a crucial role in primitive organization. It can play the single biggest role in developing perpetual set.

Organizational role or the specialization
The modern organization value specialization. Consequently the specialty of a person that casts hum in a particular organizational role predisposes him to select certain stimuli and to disregard others.

Q10: Leadership is practiced by leadership style, elaborate.
Answer : Leadership is practiced by leader ship style, which is total pattern of the leader actions in relation to followers in represents there philosophy, skills, and attitude.
Negative leadership gets acceptable performance in many situations, but it has high human cost. Negative leader are dominating and superior with people. To get work done to get work done, they hold there personal such penalties as loss of job, reprimand in the presence of the others. They display authority in the false belief that it frightens everyone into productivity. Even the most competitive leader will have to fall back upon the negative relation. Perfection can never been achieve but the historical trends is that manager need more an more positive leadership skills in order to rated satisfactory.
The way leader uses power establishes the type of style. Each style has its benefits and limitations. Leader behavior is the mixture of all three styles over period of time but once styles tends to be dominating one.

Following are the three styles

Autocratic leadership style: -
Autocratic leaders centralize powers and decision making in them. They structure the complete work situation for their employees, the employees are supposed to do what they are told. The leaders take full authority and assume full responsibility.
Some advantages of autocratic leadership style are that it provides strong motivation and rewards for the leader. Disadvantages of autocratic leadership style are that most people dislike it. Frustration, dissatisfaction, fear and conflict develop easily in autocratic situation.

2.Participative Leadership Style: -
Participative Leadership Style is the expression of leaders trust in the ability of its subordinates. The leader believes that his people are desirous of contributing to the organizational efforts as well as they have requisite capacities. Participative style is supposed to be better style of managing people, however it is not without its own drawbacks. Participative leaders are decentralizing authority and the leader and group are acting as one unit. Hence, this style is useless when leader is dealing with an emergency.

3.Free Rein Leadership Style: -
On the quantinum of leadership style, free rein style is the extreme. Free rein leaders avoid power and responsibility. They depend largely on the group to establish its own goals and work out its own problems. A free rein leader is the one who abdicates all his decision-making and responsibilities.

Q11. As a Manager, what steps would you take to reduce the stress on your employees?
Answer : Stress is the “wear and tear” our bodies experience as we adjust to our continually changing environment; it has physical and emotional effects on us and can create positive or negative feelings. As a positive influence, stress can help compel us to action; it can result in a new awareness and an exciting new perspective. As a negative influence, it can result in feelings of distrust, rejection, anger, and depression.
Organizational Strategies for managing employee stress are:-
Create supportive organizational climate.
Convince employees that their contributions are significant.
Rotate employees out of potentially stressful positions and do not allow them to overwork.
Organize training programs to help employees cope with stress provide employee counseling.

The following steps will outline the steps that the manager should take to reduce the stress on my employees.
Step 1. Be yourself! It is important that you do not try to act like your predecessor. You will have your own style of management and it may be that the previous manager had a particular style that you were not comfortable with. You will have an idea of what the best management style is for any given situation but this will only come with time, perhaps through training and coaching. The best thing you can do is to look at yourself and decide what you want out of the management role and what you need to do in order to build your capabilities in that role.
Step 2. Go steadily and steadfastly to begin with. Although there is always pressure on a manager to take up where the last manager left off, don’t go rushing into things. Do not be the “new broom that sweeps clean” all previous procedures away. Ensure that you reassure your team that it will be “business as usual” at least until you get the opportunity to speak to each team member about what their fears and hopes are as regards you being their manager.
Step 3. Talk to people, listen and gather information. It is vital that you talk to each member of your team. Sit down with them and “contract” with them. How do the two of you want to work together? What are their expectations of you as their manager? What are their hopes, fears and aspirations? What are their motivators and de-motivators? It is important that this is a two way process and you should be asking them the same questions so as there is mutual understanding. Also ask them what they think needs to be done to make the team or department more effective – seek their input right at the start.
Although it is important to talk to the team, it is also vital to talk and contract with those senior managers who will have a “stake” in your actions. They must be comfortable and if you “contract” with them as you would with your own team then you will have greater understanding of them as they will have of you.
Step 4. Ensure you get coaching and mentoring from your own boss. Once you have established a working relationship with your own manager then ensure that within this “contract” he or she builds in time to coach and mentor you through, particularly the early day. As a new manager you should know exactly what is expected of you in terms of both your business objectives and your development objectives. You should have a development plan that highlights your strengths and development areas in respect to your new role and with the support of your manager you should start to implement that plan immediately. Your manager should have the coaching skills to ensure that you maintain your progress and deliver against your plan.
Step 5. Be Available and Visible. Make sure you are available and visible. It is very easy to be “available” over the phone or through e-mail but you cannot beat a good “face to face” very so often. It is vital to your team’s development and progress that you make time to sit down with them and have regular face-to-face chats. As a manager you will be their coach and mentor and as such you should make time to coach them through their business objectives and challenges. Don’t hide behind “important meetings” as many managers are apt to do.
Step 6. Avoid Favorites and ensure Consistency and Fairness. You have to ensure that you do not let your personal preferences get in the way of you effectively managing that team and the individuals within the team. Avoid favoritism at all costs and ensure you treat everyone equally, fairly and consistently. The minute you take sides the team starts to disintegrate.
Step 7. Keep communication high and as open as possible. It is important that you keep communication levels high, letting your people know what is happening whenever possible. Avoid being secretive where possible as people naturally jump to conclusions, usually the wrong ones! Make sure you praise when you see something good done. Praise is the most powerful form of feedback and unfortunately managers do not use enough of it! Consider starting a newsletter and although you instigate it and perhaps write the first couple of editions, let the team take over and start to delegate the tasks involved to the team.
Step 8. Encourage the team to work together. The outputs of a well-disciplined and effective team will always be greater than the individual outputs of the team members and to this end you have to encourage the team to work effectively together. You have also to get them to understand that you are learning the management game and that you will need their support as well. If you can get the unit working cohesively together they will support you through your early management days.
Step 9. Take time out to relax and reflect. In the attempts to get the job done, many new managers do not take time out to relax, wind down and then reflect on their progress. They go thrashing about from task to task never stopping to ask for feedback. This can be dangerous to their health and also to the well being of the team as a whole. Make sure you take a break occasionally. Your coach and mentor will ensure that this happens

Q13. Define “Work”. What are basic concepts involved in the work performance?
Answer :
Work in essence, is the use of person’s physiological and mental processes in attainment of some goals. The goal may be managerial decision the sell of insurance policy, the irrection of stone wall or the production of the steel ingot. This definition of work in broad and it is some time criticizes b’coz of its generality the distinction based primarily upon motivation rather than any fundamental differences between performance determinants. The basic principals describing and explaining both work and play are the same.
Work curve is the representation of productivity against time spent at work s, since the work curve differs from individual to individual and for the same individual from time to time, we study the representative work curve. The work curve shows that initially from the beginning of the of the shift the people start warming up about consequently there is a continues rise in the output.
Every manger is interested in avoiding this decrement in the output.
There two main reason for this decrement to occur: -
Fatigue:
It can be defined as the tiredness of the body as result of continues physical activity, it can avoid by introduction of authorized rest pauses. One reason for the advantage of the authorized over unauthorized rest periods is probably placement of the rest interval during the work period.



Elimination of the boredom:
Intelligence has positive direct correlation to boredom .An intelligent person is susceptible to boredom. Boredom can be avoided by employing people who are slightly less than in intelligence than the avg. intelligence
Following other factor that are useful to make surrounding more acceptable and in order to increase the productivity and decrease boredom.
Noise
Music
Illumination
Color
Atmospheric effects
These need to be paid proper attention to avoid the fall in productivity

Q14. Write Short Notes on
Attitudes & Values
Value is defined as a “concept of the desirable, an internalized criterion or standard of evaluation a person possesses.” Such concepts and standards are relatively few and determine our guide an individual’s evaluations of the many objects encountered in everyday life.
Values are tinged with moral flavour, involving an individual’s judgment of what is right, good or desirable. Thus values-
Provide standards of competence and morality.
Are fewer in number than attitudes.
Transcend specific objects, situations or persons.
Are relatively permanent & resistant to change.
Are most central to the core of a person.

There are differences between values & attitudes. Attitudes essentially represent predisposition to respond. Values focus on the judgment of what ought to be. This judgment can represent the specific manifestation of a determining tendency below the surface of the behaviour. Attitudes represent several beliefs focused on a specific object or situation. Value, on the other hand, represents a single belief that transcendentally guides actions and judgments across objects and situations. Finally, a value stands in relation to some social or cultural standards or norms while attitudes are mostly personal experiences.
There are similarities between values & attitudes. Both are powerful instruments influencing cognitive process and behaviour of people. Both are learned and acquired from the same source – experiences with people and objects. Values & attitudes are relatively permanent and resistant to change. Finally, values and attitudes influence each, other and are, more often than not, used interchangeable.

The Id & Ego
It is the original and the most basic system of human personality. At the base of the Freudian theory lies the id that is primitive, instinctual and governed by the principles of greed and pleasure. Id represents a storehouse of all instincts, containing in its dark depths all wishes, and desires that unconsciously direct and determines our behaviour. Id is largely childish, irrational, never satisfied, demanding and destructive of others. But id is the foundation upon which all other parts of personality are erected. Like a newly born baby id has no perception of reality. It is primitive, immortal, insistent and rash. Id is the reservoir of the “psychic energy” which Freud calls “Libido”. According to Freud id is totally oriented towards increasing pleasure and avoiding pain, and it strives for immediate satisfaction of desires.
One notable characteristic of id is that it cannot tolerate uncomfortable levels of tension within it and seeks to release the tension as soon as it develops. The methods for dealing with tension id are primary process & reflex actions. The former attempts to discharge a tension by forming a mental image of desirable means of releasing the tension. But this kind of tension release is temporary & mental, and would not satisfy the real need. For instance, if a person is hungry the id deals with situation by creating a mental image of desirable & good food that is palatable. The later method (reflex action) of tension release is reflected in the behaviour of individuals such as blinking of eyes, raising eyebrows, rubbing the cheeks etc. Id, in fact, is capable of resolving the tension in reality. Id basically represents an individual’s natural urges & feelings.

As an individual learns to separate the unreality from reality in childhood, the ego develops. The ego is reality-oriented part of thinking; it is largely practical and works in an executive capacity. Ego is rational & logical, and in essence

Organizational Behaviour (Old Pattern) - 1
Q1. Why should every manager study the discipline of OB?
Answer :
Organizations are the grand strategies created to bring order to a concerted effort for the achievement of certain objectives and goals. Since, an individual cannot achieve these objectives or a small group of individuals, there are in the notion of the organization the concepts of division of labour, hierarchy of authority etc.
Since an individual cannot achieve these objectives of the organization, it is necessary that many people be harnessed in the pursuit of an organization.
This is taken care by the manager of an organization. This is achieved by creating a structure. The people in a structure work with the help of technology .In order that this relationship bears fruits, every organization contains a blue print of human behaviour at work. The organization rules, regulations, and procedures are complicated enough. Added to this are technology and structure. Together these
Three facets make understanding of the human behaviour at work complex.
Furthermore, of all the inputs of an organization the people are the most important
Of all. This human behaviour if handled properly by the manager, two plus two can be five. Or else it can be three. It is therefore important for the manager not only to understand human behaviour properly but also to harness that understanding for the good of the organization. It is a fact that no manager can be much more efficient than the sum of the efficiencies of the people working with him. It therefore becomes necessary for him to study human behaviour within the context of an organization,
Having understood it to try predicting the human behaviour and having predicted it to try to control it. The responsibility to do this fell squarely on the shoulders of every manager. In order for the manager to be effective he should understand the behavioral angularities of the employees. In a nutshell to be efficient and to be a effective manager cannot be contended with having the knowledge of his area of work only. It is expected of the manager that he hit the bull’s eye in the first attempt itself. Therefore, every manager irrespective of his specialty the functional area should study the discipline of Organizational behaviour.

Q3. a) Why it is easy to motivate employees?
Answer :
Given this assumption of human behaviour, it is very easy to motivate employees. Whenever certain behaviour is to be encouraged give rewards; whenever certain behaviour is to be discouraged give punishment. This is the theory of “reward & punishment”. Unfortunately this takes a simplistic view of human behaviour. Human is not always motivated either by reward or by punishment or both. Adherence to ‘reward & punishment’ or ‘carrot and the stick’ as it is some times called, dose not cause continuance of desired and sustained behaviour over a longer time.

3.b) Explain “Primary” & “Secondary” motive with few examples of each.
Answer :
Primary Motives are the ones that are unlearned and are physiologically based. Defined this way the most commonly recognized primary motives include hunger, thrust, sleep avoidance of pain, sex etc.
General Motives are the ones that are unlearned but not physiologically based. Primary needs seek to reduce the tension or stimulation. Although not all the psychologists agree the motives such as curiosity, manipulative activity and affection etc. fall in this category.
Secondary Motives develop as a human society develops economically and becomes more complex. The examples of secondary motives are needs for power, need for affiliation, need for achievement, need for security and need for status etc.

3.c) What is coping behaviour?
Answer :
In our discussion of the characteristics of motives we had said that motives are ubiquitous. If that is so the questions arises as to how a human satisfies his motive. The concept of coping behaviour says the human changes his behaviour until he gets what he wants. The behaviour continues on the way leading to need satisfaction.
However human life is not bed of roses. Many a times situations arise in such a way that human being does not understand as to what he should do; or many times his self image is likely to be criticized by the world; or the need fulfillment gets continually blocked. When this occurs a phenomenon known as intra personal conflict arise. Intra personal conflicts are three. They are
Role conflict
Goal conflict
Frustration

Q5. What are interpersonal conflicts? Define and discuss some of the common defense mechanism with illustration.
Answer :
Intra personal conflicts are three. They are
Role conflict
Goal conflict
Frustration
Role conflict arises when a person is performing two different roles having contrary or contradictory expectations at same time. A worker who is also a worker-director is sandwiched between different expectations. On other hand he is a worker and on other hand he is a director in the board of directors. As a director he may have to concur with the decision, which may not be, from his point of view, in the interest of workers as such .If he performs his role as a worker he fails in his role as a director. Conversely if he performs his role as a worker he fails in his role as a director.

Goal conflicts:
There are types of goal conflicts. They are:
Approach – approach
Avoidance – avoidance
Approach –avoidance

Approach – Approach arises when there exist two equally positive but mutually exclusive situations. Both are equally attractive but person can choose only one of them. A person receiving two equally good job offers gets into this kind of conflicts. In life somehow or the other a person makes a choice and settles down with. This kind of conflict is not known to create tensions and stress for a long time.
Avoidance – Avoidance conflict arises when there exist two equally negative situations one of which has to be accepted. For a prisoner continuing in the jail is negative but at the same time if he jail breaks there is a likelihood of his getting caught and increase in the punishment. He detests both but he has to choose either. This conflict also is not known to create stress for a long time. Somehow or the other person makes a choice and settles down with it.
Approach – Avoidance conflict is known to create stress in the mind of a person for a long time. This type of conflict arises when a positive situation is coupled with a negative one, if a person wants positive, he must choose negative too. A person wanting a promotion but not the transfer that comes in its wake faces this kind of conflict.
Frustration occurs when need fulfillment is continually blocked or when one’s self image is in jeopardy. Defense mechanisms are the behaviours occurring to deal with frustration. Before we go to discuss various defense mechanisms the following points to be noted:
We are discussing only some of the defense mechanisms we come across commonly at the work life.
Defense mechanisms are unconscious behaviours. These behaviours are not deliberate behaviours. They just occur.
It is only for the sake of simplicity that they discussed separately. In life there could be a mixture of different defense mechanisms in one behaviour.
In life there is no prioritizing when it comes to defense mechanisms for dealing with frustration.
These defense mechanisms serve an important function of keeping the human personality integrated.
Defense Mechanisms –
Rationalization is giving pseudo justification to explain one’s failures. The common examples are sour grapes or a bad workman quarreling with his tools.
Regression is sliding back in terms of one’s chronological age. Certain patterns of behaviours are learnt during the childhood that are subsequently, in the adult age, replaced by the behaviours acceptable by the society. At an unguarded moment, in the adulthood, in the flush of emotions, however these childhood behaviours take charge of the personality of the person. A superior getting angry with his subordinate and throwing files at him or a person throwing a pen because of the ink not flowing, are the examples of this defense mechanism.
Aggression is also known as emotional transference. This is giving vent to the pent up feelings by an offensive behaviour towards a third object or a person unconnected with a source of frustration. The offensive behaviour is, almost always, against the third object or the person that can not retaliate. A superior scolding his subordinate because of something happening at home is the example of this defense mechanism.
Fantasy is building castles in the air with a view to escaping from the problem situation. Fantasy is temporarily removing oneself, mentally, from the problem situation and losing oneself in the imaginary world where things happen at his best. As long as a person is his imaginary castle he is happy but some time or the other he ahs to come down to mother earth. When he comes out of imaginary world the problem starts pinching him again. The increased frequency of fantasizing is a signal that one had better seek some help from a psychiatrist.
Resignation, flight or withdrawal is a complete surrender to the problem situation. This is accepting a situation and ceasing any effort to deal with the problem.

Q6. “Human needs that spark off on activity can be arranged in hierarchy of prepotency and probability of occurrence”. – Discuss.
Answer :
Physiological Needs:
The fulfillment of physiological needs such as thirst, hunger, sex, etc. and takes precedence over all others needs. Unlike other needs these needs have tendency of recurrence. One may postpone the fulfillment of these needs and adapt his need satisfying to suit the culture and the situation.
Safety Needs:
Once physiological needs are met these needs become important. Unlike physiological needs it looks into future. As need for food, clothing, etc. are satisfied today but what about tomorrow. Till the man is earning he can satisfy his physiological needs but what will happen when he gets old. He must have reasonable safety at that time. Pension plans, gratuity, PF, etc go basically to ensure security for the man in his old age.
Social and belongingness needs:
Man is a social being and has a need to belong and be accepted by various groups. When social needs become dominant, a person will strive for meaningful relationships. Some relationship assures that one is part of society. This needs manifests itself in three forms (1) the need for status (2) the need for power and (3) the need for recognition.
Self-actualization needs:
These needs means “what a man can be should be”. A self- actualized person has a cause, an ideology to fight for the goal set for him. He concentrated on the feedback, which is task oriented and is not taken in by the personal criticism or praise.
Criticism:
In a normal human being all the needs are not always satisfied entirely. There remains an unsatisfied corner of every need in spite of which the person seeks fulfillment of the higher need.

Q8. What do you understand by Personality? Discuss in a nutshell some theories of personality.
Answer : Personality means, “What an individual only appears to be not what he really is”. Personality factors are extremely important in organizational settings. Wrong kind of personality proves disastrous and causes undesirable tensions and worries in organizations. Personality characteristics tend to produce different emotional reactions to stress. Some people tolerate severely stressful situations, tensions and anxieties.

Some theories of personality

Sheldon’s Physiognomy Theory
Sheldon presented a link between anatomic and psychological traits and characteristics of an individual with his behavior. He identifies three body types: Emorphic, Mesomorphic and Ectomorphic

Carl Jung’s Extrovert-Introvert Theory
Extroverts are optimistic, outgoing, gregarious and sociable. They are basically objective, a reality oriented individual who is much more doer than thinker.
Introverts are quite, retiring, enjoying solitude, etc. These two types show extreme situations.
Few people are completely introvert or extrovert. But the mixture of these two determines the kind of overall personality on an individual.

Trait theories
It view personality from the standpoint of understanding traits. These theories included Allport, Cattell and Sheldon.
Allport emphasizes on uniqueness of personality.
Cattell developed factor concepts such as tender-mindedness, somatic anxiety, dominance etc.
Sheldon extending physical structuring that consists of endomorphs, mesomorphs and ectomorphs.

Self Theory
Carl Rogers has developed this theory that places emphasis on the individual as an initiating, creating, influential determinant of behavior within the environmental framework.

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