MP & OB Zoheb

8/7/2019 MP & OB Zoheb

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MANAGEMENT PROCESSAND ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR-MB0022

MBA - 1 SEM ASSIGNMENT - SET - 1

1. Explain the managerial roles and managerial skills.

MANAGERIAL ROLES

Managers must wear many different hats in formulating and implementing taskactivities related to their positions. In an attempt to understand the diversity of hats

managers must wear, Henry Mintzberg (1973) examined managerial activities on

a daily basis. His study enabled him to identify ten different but, coordinated sets ofbehavior, or roles that managers assume. These ten roles can be separated into

three general groupings: interpersonal roles, informational roles, and decisional roles

Managerial activities Associated roles

Interpersonal roles - arising

from formal authority and statusand supporting the informationand decision activities.

figurehead

liaison

leader

Information processing roles

monitor

disseminator

spokesman

Decision roles: making

significant decisions

improver/changer

disturbance handler

resource allocator

negotiator

Interpersonal Roles

FigureheadSocial, inspirational, legal and ceremonial duties must be carried out. The manager is

a symbol and must be on-hand for people/agencies that will only deal with him/herbecause of status and authority.

The leader role

This is at the heart of the manager-subordinate relationship and managerial power

and pervasive where subordinates are involved even where perhaps the relationship

is not directly interpersonal. The manager

Defines the structures and environments within which sub-ordinates work and

are motivated.

Oversees and questions activities to keep them alert.

Selects, encourages, promotes and disciplines.

Tries to balance subordinate and organizational needs for efficient operations.

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Liaison:

This is the manager as an information and communication centre. It is vital to build

up favors. Networking skills to shape maintain internal and external contacts forinformation exchange are essential. These contacts give access to "databases"-

facts, requirements, probabilities.

Information Processing Roles

As 'monitor'

- the manager seeks/receives information from many sources to evaluate theorganizations performance, well-being and situation. Monitoring of internal

operations, external events, ideas, trends, analysis and pressures is vital.Information to detect changes, problems & opportunities and to construct decision-

making scenarios can be current/historic, tangible (hard) or soft, documented or

non-documented. This role is about building and using an intelligence system. Themanager must install and maintain this information system; by building contacts &

training staff to deliver "information".

As disseminator

- the manager brings external views into his/her organization and facilitates internalinformation flows between subordinates (factual or value-based).

The preferences of significant people are received and assimilated. The manager

interprets/disseminates information to subordinates e.g. policies, rules, regulations.Values are also disseminated via conversations laced with imperatives and

signs/icons about what is regarded as important or what 'we believe in'.

There is a dilemma of delegation. Only the manager has the data for many decisionsand often in the wrong form (verbal/memory vs. paper). Sharing is time-consumingand difficult. He/she and staff may be already overloaded. Communication consumes

time. The adage 'if you want to get things done, (it is best to do it yourself' comes tomind. Why might this be a driver of managerial behavior (reluctance or constraints

on the ability to delegate)?

As spokesman (P.R. capacity)- the manager informs and lobbies others (external to his/her own organizational

group). Key influencers and stakeholders are kept informed of performances, plans &policies. For outsiders, the manager is an expert in the field in which his/her

organization operates.

A senior manager is responsible for his/her organizations strategy-making system -generating and linking important decisions. He/she has the authority, information

and capacity for control and integration over important decisions.

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MBA - 1 SEM ASSIGNMENT - SET 1

Decision Roles

As initiator/changerhe/she designs and initiates much of the controlled change in the organization. Gaps

are identified, improvement programs defined. The manager initiates a series of

related decisions/activities to achieve actual improvement. Improvement projectsmay be involved at various levels. The manager can

Delegate all design responsibility selecting and even replace subordinates.

Empower subordinates with responsibility for the design of the improvement

program but e.g. define the parameters/limits and veto or give the go-aheadon options.

Supervise design directly.

Senior managers may have many projects at various development stages(emergent/dormant/nearly-ready) working on each periodically interspersed by

waiting periods for information feedback or progress etc. Projects roll-on and roll-off.

The disturbance handler- is a generalist role i.e. taking charge when the organization hits an iceberg

unexpectedly and where there is no clear programmed response. Disturbances may

arise from staff, resources, threats or because others make mistakes or innovationhas unexpected consequences. The role involves stepping in to calm matters,

evaluate, re-allocate, support - removing the thorn - buying time.

As resource allocator

- the manager oversees allocation of all resources (, staff, reputation). Thisinvolves:

scheduling own time

programming work

authorizing actions

With an eye to the diary (scheduling) the manager implicitly sets organizational

priorities. Time and access involve opportunity costs. What fails to reach him/her,fails to get support.

The managerial task is to ensure the basic work system is in place and to program

staff overloads - what to do, by whom, what processing structures will be used.

Authorizing major decisions before implementation is a control over resource

allocation. This enables coordinative interventions e.g. authorization within a policyor budgeting process in comparison to ad-hoc interventions. With limited time,

complex issues and staff proposals that cannot be dismissed lightly, the managermay decide on the proposer rather than proposal.

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To help evaluation processes, managers develop models and plans in their heads

(they construe the relationships and signifiers in the situation). Thesemodels/constructions encompass rules, imperatives, criteria and preferences to

evaluate proposals against. Loose, flexible and implicit plans are up-dated with newinformation.

The negotiator- takes charge over important negotiating activities with other organizations. The

spokesman, figurehead and resource allocator roles demand this.

MANAGERIAL SKILLS

Managers need certain skills to perform the duties and activities associated with

being a manager. Research by Robert L. Katz found that managers needed three

essential skills. These are technical, human and conceptual skills. Technical skillsinclude knowledge of and proficiency in a certain specialized field, such as

engineering, computers, financial and managerial accounting, or manufacturing.These are more important at lower levels of management since these managers are

dealing directly with employees doing the organization's work. Human skills involvethe ability to work well with other people both individually and in a group. Because

managers deal directly with people, this is crucial! Managers with good human skillsare able to get the best out of their people. They know how to communicate,

motivate, lead, and inspire enthusiasm and trust. These are equally important at alllevels of management. Finally conceptual skills are those managers must have to

think and conceptualize about abstract and complex situations. Using these skillsmanagers must be able to see the organization as a whole, understand the

relationship among various subunits, and visualize how the organization fits into itsbroader environment. These are most important at top level management.

A professional association of practicing managers, the American ManagementAssociation, has identified important skills for managers that encompass conceptual,

communication, effectiveness, and interpersonal aspects. These are briefly describedbelow:

Conceptual Skills: Ability to use information to solve business problems,identification of opportunities for innovation, recognizing problem areas and

implementing solutions, selecting critical information from masses of data,understanding the business uses of technology, understanding the organization's

business model.

Communication Skills: Ability to transform ideas into words and actions, credibility

among colleagues, peers, and subordinates, listening and asking questions,presentation skills and spoken format, presentation skills; written and graphic

formats

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Effectiveness Skills: Contributing to corporate mission/departmental objectives,customer focus, multitasking; working at multiple tasks at parallel, negotiating skills,



project management, reviewing operations and implementing improvements, settingand maintaining performance standards internally and externally, setting priorities

for attention and activity, time management.

Interpersonal Skills: Coaching and mentoring, diversity ; working with diverse

people and culture, networking within the organization, networking outside theorganization, working in teams; cooperation and commitment.

In today's demanding and dynamic workplace, employees who are invaluable to anorganization must be willing to constantly upgrade their skills and take on extra work

outside their own specific job areas. There is no doubt that skills will continue to be

an important way of describing what a manager does.

2. Describe the contemporary work cohort.

A cohort is a set of individual items (usually persons) that have in common the factthat they all experienced a given event during a given time interval. For example,

the "U.S. marriage cohort 19951999" consists of all persons who got married in theUnited States in the period from 1995 to 1999. In demography birth cohorts are of

particular importance and frequently are referred to simply as cohorts (e.g., "the1960 cohort" or "cohort 1960," indicating all persons born in 1960).

Robbins (2003) has proposed Contemporary Work Cohort, in which the unique

value of different cohorts is that the U.S. workforce has been segmented by the erathey entered the workforce. Individuals values differ, but tend to reflect the societal

values of the period in which they grew up. The cohorts and the respective valueshave been listed below:

A. VeteransWorkers who entered the workforce from the early 1940s through the

early 1960s.They exhibited the following value orientations:

They were influenced by the Great Depression and World War II1. Believed in hard work

2. Tended to be loyal to their employer3. Terminal values: Comfortable life and family security

B. BoomersEmployees who entered the workforce during the 1960s through themid1980s belonged to this category. Their value orientations were:

1. Influenced heavily by John F. Kennedy, the civil rights and feminist movements,the Beatles, the Vietnam War, and baby boom competition

2. Distrusted authority, but gave a high emphasis on achievement and materialsuccess

3. Organizations that employed them were vehicles for their careers4. Terminal values: sense of accomplishment and social recognition

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C. Xersbegan to enter the workforce from the mid1980s.They cherished the following values:



1. Shaped by globalization, two career parents, MTV, AIDS, and computers

2. Value flexibility, life options, and achievement of job satisfaction3. Family and relationships were important and enjoyed team oriented work

4. Money was important,but would trade off for increased leisure time Value,Ethics &5. Less willing to make personal sacrifices for employers than previous generations

6. Terminal values: true friendship, happiness, and pleasure

D. Nextersmost recent entrants into the workforce.1. Grew up in prosperous times, have high expectation, believe in themselves, and

confident in their ability to succeed

2. Neverending search for ideal job; see nothing wrong with job hopping

3. Seek financial success4. Enjoy team work, but are highly self reliant

5. Terminal values: freedom and comfortable life.

3. Elaborate the issues related to culture and emotion.

Emotion: An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide

variety offeelings, thoughts, and behavior. Emotions are subjective experiences, or

experienced from an individual point of view. Emotion is often associated with mood,temperament, personality, and disposition.

Culture: Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to

cultivate") is a term that has different meanings. For example, in 1952, AlfredKroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in

Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions.[2] However, the word "culture"is most commonly used in three basic senses:

excellence of taste in the fine arts and humanities, also known as high culture

an integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends

upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning

the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes aninstitution, organization or group.

Culture and emotion

Emotions are universal phenomena; however, they are affected by culture. Whilesome emotions are universal and are experienced in similar ways as a reaction to

similar events across all cultures, other emotions show considerable cultural

differences in their antecedent events, the way they are experienced, the reactionsthey provoke and the way they are perceived by the surrounding society.

The first accounts of emotion from a cultural perspective were ethnographic, and

described emotions as idiosyncratic. Researchers such as Margaret Mead, GregoryBateson and Jean Briggs described unique emotional phenomena and stressed

emotions as culturally determined.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feelinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoughthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behaviorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mood_(psychology)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperamenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_psychologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispositionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Kroeberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Kroeberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Kluckhohnhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture#cite_note-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine_arthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_culturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feelinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoughthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behaviorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mood_(psychology)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperamenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_psychologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispositionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Kroeberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Kroeberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Kluckhohnhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture#cite_note-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine_arthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_culture


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Universal Emotions:

The psychologist showed that despite some idiosyncratic differences, the basicemotions are predominantly biological and thus are universal, expressed and

perceived in similar way across all cultures. Those emotions are anger, fear, sadness,

happiness and disgust.Now there are 7 universal emotions to be found, anger, fear, sadness, disgust,

surprise, happiness, and contempt. There is evidence supporting both of these viewson emotions.

Theories that regard emotions as universal, on the other hand, tend to focus onindividual emotion elements such as facial expression.

Cultural specificity on Emotions.Theories that view emotions as culturally based tend to emphasize aspects related tothe social environment: antecedent situations, overt behavior, and culturally specific

ways of thinking and talking about emotions.Human beings are like a tabula rasa (clean tablet) on which society writes its script.

In other words, culture and traditions, normative patterns and value orientations areresponsible for not only our personality development, but also appropriate social and

emotional development. This makes us functional entities in society.

Each culture has a unique set of emotions and emotional responses; The emotionsshown in a particular culture reflects the norms values, practices, and language of

that culture.

Bases of cultural Emotions

Self construal: The way a person perceives her/himself in relation to the

surrounding human environment affects ones emotional world.

Subjective vs. objective emotions: The view of the self as independent in

individualistic cultures leads to the perception of emotions as a unique personalexperience.

Self and emotions: The construal of the self, affect the personal emotional

experienced. The need to enhance the self and its independence in individualisticcultures leads to prevalence of emotions that stress the uniqueness and separation

of the individual.

Social norms exist for various aspects of emotions.

General emotional norms: what emotions are considered to be good or bad?Which should be more prevalent?

Feeling rules: how should one feel when encountering certain event (does

being criticized lead to anger or embarrassment?)

Display rules: how should one act when experiencing certain emotion (doesanger manifest as aggression or withdrawal?)

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4. Discuss the assumption of Douglas McGregor (Theory X and Theory Y)

Theory X and Theory Y

Douglas McGregor argued that a managers view of the nature of human beings is

based on a certain grouping of assumptions and he or she tends to mould his or herbehavior toward employees according to these assumptions.

Theory X

In this theory management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoidwork, if they can. Workers need to be closely supervised and a comprehensive

system of controls and a hierarchical structure is needed to supervise the workers

closely. It is also assumed that workers generally place security above all otherfactors and will display little ambition.

Theory YIn this theory management assumes employees may be ambitious, self-motivated,

and anxious to accept greater responsibility, and exercise self-control, self-direction,autonomy and empowerment. It is believed that employees enjoy their mental and

physical work duties. It is also believed that, if given the chance employees have thedesire to be creative and forward thinking in the workplace. There is a chance for

greater productivity by giving employees the freedom to perform to the best of theirabilities without being bogged down by rules.

From the above, it is clear that Theory X assumes that lower order needs dominate

individuals. Theory Y assumes that higher order needs dominate individuals.

5. What is personal power - Explain different bases of personal power?

Personal Powerresides in the individual and is independent of that individuals

position.

Three bases of personal power are expertise, rational persuasion, and reference.

Expert poweris the ability to control another persons behavior by virtue ofpossessing knowledge, experience, or judgment that the other person lacks, but

needs. Expert power is relative, not absolute. However the table may turn in casethe subordinate has superior knowledge or skills than his/ her boss. In this age of

technology driven environments, the second proposition holds true in manyoccasions where the boss is dependent heavily on the juniors for technologically

oriented support.

Rational persuasionis the ability to control anothers behavior, since, through theindividuals efforts; the person accepts the desirability of an offered goal and a viable

way of achieving it. Rational persuasion involves both explaining the desirability ofexpected outcomes and showing how specifications will achieve these outcomes.

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Referent poweris the ability to control anothers behavior because the personwants to identify with the power source. In this case, a subordinate obeys the boss

because he or she wants to behave, perceive, or believe as the boss does.



This may occur, because the subordinate likes the boss personally. In a sense, the

subordinate attempts to avoid doing anything that would interfere with the pleasingboss -subordinate relationship.

Charismatic Poweris an extension of referent power stemming from an individualspersonality and interpersonal style. Others follow because they can articulate

attractive visions, take personal risks, demonstrate follower sensitivity, etc.

6. Write a short note on potential sources of stress.

Potential sources of stress

While environmental factors are forces outside the organization, which may act aspotential sources of stress due to uncertainties and threats that they create for anyorganization and its members, factors within organization can also act as potential

source of stress. Together or singly they may cause a tense and volatile workingenvironment which can cause stress for organizational members because the inability

of individuals to handle the pressures arising out of these sources.

The following may be seen to be the potential sources of stress:

1. Environmental factorsEnvironmental uncertainly influences stress levels among employees in an

organization.

Changes in the business cycle crate economic uncertainties.

Political uncertainties can be stress inducing.

Technological uncertainty can cause stress because new innovations can

make an employee's skills and experience obsolete in a very short period oftime.

2. Organizational factors

Pressures to avoid errors or complete tasks in a limited time period, work

overload, a demanding and insensitive boss, and unpleasant co workers are afew examples.

Task demands are factors related to a person's job. They include the design

of the individual's job (autonomy, task variety, degree of automation)

working conditions, and the physical work layout.

Role demands relate to pressures that are a function of the role an individual

plays in an organization.

1. Role conflicts create expectations that may be hard to reconcile or satisfy.2. Role overload is experienced when the employee is expected to do more than time

permits.3. Role ambiguity is created when role expectations are not clearly understood.

4. Interpersonal demands are pressures created by other employees.

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5. Organizational structure defines the level of differentiation in the organization, thedegree of rules and regulations, and where decisions are made. Excessive rules and

lack of participation in decisions might be potential sources of stress.



6. Individual factors:a. These are factors in the employee's personal life. Primarily these factors are family

issues, personal economic problems, and inherent personality characteristics.

b. Broken families, wrecked marriages and other family issues may create stress atworkplace as well.

c. Economic problems created by individuals overextending their financial resources.Spending more than earnings stretches financial positions, create debt situation

leading to stress among individuals.d. A significant individual factor influencing stress is a person's basic dispositional

nature. Over-suspicious anger and hostility increases a person's stress and risk for

heart disease. There individuals with high level of mistrust for others also causestress for themselves.e. Stressors are additive- stress builds up.

7. Individual differences: Five individual difference variables moderate therelationship between potential stressors and experienced stress:

a. Perception

b. Job experiencec. Locus of control

d. Self-efficacye. Hostility

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1. Discuss Henri Fayols administrative theory (14 Principles ofManagement)

Henri Fayol, a mining engineer and manager by profession, defined the nature and

working patterns of the 20th century organization in his book, General and IndustrialManagement, published in 1916. In it, he laid down what he called 14 principles of

management. This theory is also called Administrative Theory. The principles ofthe theory are:

1. Division of work: tasks should be divided up with employees specializing in a

limited set of tasks so that expertise is developed and productivity increased.2. Authority and responsibility: authority is the right to give orders and entails

enforcing them with rewards and penalties; authority should be matched withcorresponding responsibility.

3. Discipline: this is essential for the smooth running of business and isdependent on good leadership, clear and fair arguments, and the judicious

applications of penalties.4. Unity of command: for any action whatsoever, an employee should receive

orders from one superior only; otherwise authority, discipline, order and

stability are threatened.5. Unity of direction: a group of activities concerned with a single objective

should be coordinated by a single plan under one head.

6. Subordination of individual interest to general interest: individual or groupgoals must not be allowed to override those of the business.

7. Remuneration of personnel: this may be achieved by various methods but itshould be fair, encourage effort, and not lead to overpayment.

8. Centralization: the extent to which orders should be issued only from the topof the organization is a problem which should take into account its

characteristics, such as size and the capabilities of the personnel.9. Scalar chain (line of authority): communications should normally flow up and

down the line of authority running from the top to bottom of the organization,but sideways communication between those of equivalent rank in different

departments can be desirable so long as superiors are kept informed.10.Order: both materials and personnel must always be in their proper place,

people must be suited to their posts so there must be careful organization of

work and selection of personnel.11.Equity: personnel must be treated with kindness and justice.12.Stability of tenure of personnel: rapid turnover of personnel should be

avoided because of the time required for the development of expertise.13. Initiative: all employees should be encouraged to exercise initiative within

limits imposed by the requirements of authority and discipline.14.Espirit de corps: efforts must be made to promote harmony within the

organization and prevent dissension and divisiveness.Many practicing manager even today, list these functions as their core of activities.

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2. Explain shaping behavior and different methods of shaping behavior.

When a systematic attempt is made to change individuals behavior by directing theirlearning in graduated steps, it is called shaping behavior.

There are four methods of Shaping Behavior. They are as follows:

Positive reinforcement - This is the process of getting something pleasant as a

consequence of a desired behavior, to strengthen the same behavior. For exampleone gets a commission, if he/she achieves sales target.

Negative reinforcement This is the process of having a reward taken away as aconsequence of a undesired behavior. For example scholarship is withdrawn from thestudent who has not done well on the examination.

Punishment is causing an unpleasant condition in an attempt to eliminate an

undesirable behavior. This is the process of getting a punishment as a consequenceof a behavior. This is the process of getting a punishment as a consequence of

behavior. Ex: having your pay docked for getting late to office.

Extinction - eliminating any reinforcement that is maintaining a behavior. So, if a

person puts in extra effort, but gets no recognition for it, he will stop doing it.

Both positive and negative reinforcement result in learning. They strengthen a

response and increase the probability of repetition. Both punishment and extinctionweaken behavior and tend to decrease its subsequent frequency.

3. Write a detailed note on MBTI and big five model.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

The MBTI classifies human beings into 4 opposite pairs (dichotomies), base on their

psychological opposites. These 4 opposite pairs result into 16 possible combinations.In MBTI, individuals are classified as (McCrae and Costa, 1989):

a. Extroverted and 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 ex.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 havea natural head for business or mechanics. They like to organize and run

activities.

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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 routineassignments.



THE BIG FIVE MODEL

Many researchers argue that five basic dimensions underlie all other personality

dimensions (e.g.: McCrae and Costa, 1990; Digman 1997).The 5 basic dimensions are:

1. Extraversion: Comfort level with relationships. Extraverts tend to begregarious, assertive and sociable. Introverts tend to be reserved, timid and

quiet.2. Agreeableness: Individuals propensity to defer to others. High agreeableness

people-cooperative, warm and trusting. Low agreeableness people-cold,

disagreeable and antagonistic.3. Conscientiousness: A measure of reliability. A highly conscientious person isresponsible, organized, dependable and persistent. Those who score low on

this dimension are easily distracted, disorganized and unreliable.4. Emotional Stability: A persons ability to withstand stress. People with positive

emotional stability tend to be calm, self-confident and secure. Those with highnegative scores tend to be nervous, anxious, depressed and insecure.

5. Openness to experience: The range of interests and fascination with novelty.Extremely open people are creative, curious and artistically sensitive. Those

at the other end of the openness category are conventional and find comfortin the familiar.

Research suggested important relationships between these personality dimensionsand job performance (Barrick, & Mount, 1991). For example, conscientiousness

predicted job performance for all occupational groups. Individuals who aredependable, reliable, careful, thorough, able to plan, organized, hardworking,

persistent and achievement oriented tend to have higher job performance.

Employees higher in conscientiousness develop higher levels of job knowledge. Forthe other personality dimensions, predictability depended upon both the performance

criterion and the occupational group. Extraversion predicted performance in

managerial and sales position. Openness to experience is important in predictingtraining proficiency.

4. Explain the stepwise procedure of Rational Decision Making Model.

The optimizing decision maker is rational. He or she makes consistent, value-

maximizing choices within specified constraints. This also includes the resourcecrunch and other instructions as well.

The rational decision making model

This model proposes six steps, which are as follows:

STEP 1: Defining the problem.

A problem is a discrepancy between an existing and a desired state of affairs.

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Many poor decisions can be traced to the decision maker overlooking a

problem or defining the wrong problem.



STEP 2: Identify the decision criteria important to solving the problem.

The decision maker determines what is relevant in making the decision. Any

factors not identified in this step are considered irrelevant to the decisionmaker.

This brings in the decision makers interests, values and similar personal

preferences.

STEP 3: Weigh the previously identified criteria in order to give them the correctpriority in the decision.

STEP 4: Generate possible alternatives that could succeed in resolving the problem.

STEP 5: Rating each alternative on each criterion.

Critically analyze and evaluate alternatives.

The strengths and weaknesses of each alternative become evident as they are

compared with the criteria and weights established in the second and thirdsteps.

STEP 6: The final step is to compute the optimal decision:

Evaluating each alternative against the weighted criteria and selecting the

alternative with the higher score.

The above-mentioned model works with the following assumptions (March, 1994):

Problem Clarity. The decision maker is assumed to have complete information

regarding the decision situation.

Known Options. It is assumed the decision maker is aware of all the possible

consequences of each alternative.

Clear Preferences. Criteria and alternatives can be ranked and rated to reflect

their importance.

Constant Preferences. Specific decision criteria are constant and the weights

assigned to them are stable over time.

No time or cost constraints. The rational decision maker can obtain full

information about criteria and alternatives because it assumed that there areno time or cost constraints.

Maximum payoff. The rational decision maker will choose the alternative that

yields the highest perceived value.

5. Elaborate Group Structure.

Work groups in order to function as a coordinated unit need to have a properstructure where there must be certain elements like formal leadership, role clarity

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among group members. In the absence of these factors groups not only becomeconflict ridden, but also suffer from confusion, and function on a sub optimal level.

Each element is explained briefly below:



Formal LeadershipAlmost every work group must have a formal leader, which is typically identified

by a title. The leader can play an important part in the groups success.

Roles

All group members are actors, where each is playing a role. While some of these

roles may be compatible others create conflict. Different groups impose differentrole requirements on individuals.

Role perception

For playing ones role effectively in a group, ones view of how one is supposed toact in a given situation must be clear leading to clear role perception. By

watching and imitating senior members of a group the new comers learn how totake on their roles effectively and also learn how to play them well.

Role expectations

Tuning oneself and behaving in a socially desirable manner is a part of fulfilling

role expectations in a given situation in the context of achieving group goals andorganizational goals.

Role conflict

When a group member is faced with a challenge of playing multiple roles, roleconflict may occur due to inability of the individual to balance all the roleseffectively, thereby reducing role effectiveness, hampering the group and

organizational goal attainment process.

6. Write down different steps of Conflict Management.

There are two types of Conflict Management approaches:1) Direct

2) Indirect

Direct Conflict Management approaches

There are 5 approaches to direct conflict management. They are based on therelative emphasis on cooperativeness and assertiveness in the relationship between

the conflicting parties. They are as follows:

Avoidance It is an extreme form of inattention; everyone simply pretends

that the conflict does not really exist and hopes that it will go away.

Accommodation involves playing down differences among the conflictingparties and highlighting similarities and areas of agreement. This peaceful

coexistence ignores the real essence of a given conflict and often creates

frustration and resentment.

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Compromise It occurs when each party gives up something of value to the

other. As a result of no one getting its full desires, the antecedent conditionsfor the future conflicts are established.



Competition Here a victory is achieved through force, superior skill, ordomination by one party. It may also occur as a result of authoritative

command, whereby a formal authority simply dictates a solution and specifieswhat is gained and what is lost by whom. This is a case of win-lose situation

and as a result, future conflicts over the same issues are likely to occur.

Collaboration It involves recognition by all conflicting parties that something

is wrong and needs attention. It stresses gathering and evaluatinginformation in solving disputes and making choices.

Indirect Conflict Management approaches

It includes reduced interdependence, appeals to common goals, hierarchical referral,and alterations in the use of mythology and scripts (Schermerhorm et al 2002).

Reduced interdependence when work flow conflicts exist, managers can adjust the

level of interdependency among units or individuals (Walton and Dutton, 1969). Toreduce the conflict, contact between conflicting parties may be reduced. The

conflicting units can then be separated from one another, and each can be providedseparate access to resources. Buffering is another technique to build an inventory, or

buffer, between the two groups so that an output slowdown or excess is absorbed bythe inventory and does not directly pressure the target group.

Appeals to Common Goals - An appeal to common goals can focus on the mutual

interdependence of the conflicting parties to achieve the common goal of anorganization.

Hierarchical referral Here conflicts are reported to the senior levels to reconcile and

solve.

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MP & OB Zoheb

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