Organization Behavior-2

Assignment – A

Question 1. “Some people view conflict as inherently bad whereas others believe that some degree of conflict in organizations is desirable” Which view do you subscribe to and why?

Question 2. How can an understanding of transactional analysis be of value to a modern manager?

Question 3. How will you determine the personality of a person? Also explain the personality traits that have relevance from the point of view of organizational behavior.

Question 4. “To provide optimal incentive to the people at work to achieve desired results the management must understand the prevailing level and nature of motives because without such information, it would not be possible to use suitable incentives both tangible and intangible to effectively mobilize and direct human efforts towards the attainment of organizational goals.” Elucidate the statement.

Question 5. Write notes on any three of the following.

• a. Various perspectives and approaches to management theory.
• b. Process of Social Learning
• c. Mintzberg’s Managerial Roles
• d. Sigmund Freud’s theory on personality development.
• e. Barriers to effective communication

 

Assignment – B

Question 1. What are the main characteristics or Organization Development? Do you think OD might work in the organization you are familiar with? Explain why or why not?

Question 2. “Stress is a dynamic condition supposed to accompany opportunities and yet is characterized by individual exhaustions and diminished organizational accomplishments.” Do you agree? Discuss

Question 3. Identify the leadership style of your superior under whom you have worked either in academic setting or in a work setting and analyze its impact on your work performance and satisfaction.

Case Study

Space organization and Human Behaviors

The Records Room of the Exchange Control Department of the Welfare Cooperative Bank is a work unit manned by ten record clerks and the supervisor, Ms. Janki. Mr. Bhisnoi is the manager in charge of the Records Room (RR), a responsibility that is rather insignificant compared to his other duties. The RR serves to store the files sent by the various sections as and when customers’ applications are “disposed off” and the “case is treated as closed” and retrieve them as and when needed by the sections. Centralization of the records maintenance function and maintenance of the records at the farthest end of the ground floor of the bank and helped to present a pleasant and neat appearance of the customers and improve customer service, since the respective sections could get the files from the RR without loss of their time in searching for these in their cabinets.

Requests for stored files used to be sent generally to RR by the concerned sections every day at 10.00 AM and 3.00 PM. In case of urgent need, the clerks from the sections would request the files in person and these were always made available to them without delay. Ms. Janki was in overall in charge of supervising the staff and all paper work connected with the movement of the files. The tasks were invariably carried out smoothly and efficiently by the RR staff.

The Records room was spacious, and enclosed by walls on three sides and a strong steel wire mesh on the fourth side, facing the front side of the hall, with a door. The movement of the files was through the door. A second door on the wall on the east opened to the street and was always kept bolted from within, except when one of the staff had to use it to go out or come in form the street side. Access to the RR was limited, and a messenger boy always stood guard at the front entrance door. He would permit admission only to other messenger boys and clerks with “request challans.” None else could come in. This tight safeguard was necessary so that people could not come in anytime they wanted and remove the files themselves.

The ten record clerks worked harmoniously and helped one another whenever there was a “flood of requests” for files. At such times, they would often stay 30 minutes to an hour late in the evening or come early in the morning to organize the returned files. They took great pride in efficiently servicing the sections during the day without delays. On certain days the crew would have less work and spend their time chatting, tossing clips and rubber bands at each other, or solving crossword puzzles. People outside the RR had no direct view of what was going in there, but many envied the group for the spirit of camaraderie that prevailed in it.

The bank recently bought extra computers to speed up its ever expanding operations and reduce the cumbersome and tedious manual record keeping procedures. Since no space was initially earmarked for the incoming computers, the premises department of the bank decided to house the computer facilities in the RR area and move the Records Room to the third floor of the building, where the manager, Mr. Bhisnoi had his office. The decision to move was communicated to the RR staff, and the shifting was done during the weekend. On Monday when the RR crew reported for work, they found that the third floor office was smaller and rectangular in space in contrast to the big square room they had on the first floor. The RR was exposed in view to the other sections on the floor, and the manager, Mr. Bhisnoi, was sitting in his cabin right outside the RR. Some of the specially designed cabinets used for temporarily storing the returned files were retained by the computer division for their use, and thus, the RR also ran short of cabinets. Ms. Janki tried to get the cabinets returned and stacked against the steel mesh as before, but the director of the computer lab “requested” her to put up with the inconvenience till the new file cabinets ordered for the lab were received.

The RR clerks felt they were “exposed to the whole world” and were unhappy that they could no longer talk to each other freely, solve crossword puzzles, or operate as before without attracting the attention of those sitting outsides. To make matters worse, Mr. Bhisnoi frequently instructed Janki to make sure that the returned files were stored neatly and not thrown “all over the place”, making the area look untidy and shabby. Her complaints regarding lack of cabinets fell on deaf ears. The unique privileges the RR group once enjoyed were no more theirs to enjoy. Ms. Janki, who had always got along well with her staff who rendered efficient services to the sections, was now getting nervous and full of anxiety about her future. Her stress was heightened when Mr. Bhisnoi called her one day and said that he observed clerks throwing clips at each other and if were not able to control them, she should either resign or seek a transfer.

The RR clerks who liked Ms. Janki and did not want to cause her any trouble, thereafter pretended to be quiet and hardworking whenever thy saw Mr. Bhisnoi come out of his cabin. They hid all the returned files in a corner where nobody could notice them, even as thy continued to talk, throw clips, and solve crossword puzzles when nobody was observing them.

Ms. Janki just found, to her utter dismay, that about 300 returned files were lying in a hidden corner of the room unattended, and the requisition slips, which were hitherto promptly serviced, now lay piling up inside the clerks’ desk drawers.

Question 1. What are the required and emergent behaviors of the Records room group in the old and the new setting? What were the factors influencing the emergent behaviors in both situations? What were the consequences of the emergent behaviors in each case?

Question 2. What were the norms of the group before and after the shift? How did these norms affect group cohesion and performance?

Question 3. If you were Mr. Bhisnoi, what would you do now?

Assignment – C

1. The four systems of management were provided by–
(a). Likert
(b). Blake and Mouton
(c). Fred Fiedler
(d). Hersey and Blanchard

2. Crossed transactions are also called–
(a). Gallows transactions
(b). Complementary transactions
(c). Non-complementary transactions
(d). Ulterior transactions

3. Expert Power is based on–
(a). Special knowledge and expertise
(b). Punishment and influence
(c). Charisma
(d). Power and Status

4. The tendency of a tightly knit group to bring individual thinking in line with group thinking is called–
(a). Polarization
(b). Delphi Technique
(c). Group shift
(d). Group think

5. The developmental branch of MBO was developed by–
(a). Drucker
(b). Odiome
(c). Mc. Gregor
(d). Keith Davis

6. Job- involvement is a type of–
(a). Belief
(b). Attitude
(c). Value
(d). Personality

7. The concept of transactional analysis was introduced by–
(a). Dorothy Jongeward
(b). Thomas Harris
(c). Eric Berne
(d). Murial James

8. The process through which a new employee is introduced to the job /organization is–
(a). Internal Mobility
(b). Selection
(c). Placement
(d). Orientation

9. _______ theories assert that specific behavior differentiate leaders from non- leaders.
(a). Systems theories.
(b). Contingency theories
(c). Behavioral theories
(d). Trait theories

10. Theory Z represents the adaptation of–
(a). Chinese management
(b). American management
(c). Japanese management
(d). British Management

11. Formal conflict is a type of–
(a). Goal conflict
(b). Organizational conflict
(c). Role conflict
(d). Group conflict

12. Which of the following are core disciplines contributing to organizational behavior?
(a). Economics, Semantics & physiology
(b). Psychology, sociology & anthropology
(c). Mathematics & engineering
(d). Political science, economics & history

13. The horizontal system of communication is also known as–
(a). Interactive system
(b). Abandoned system
(c). Popular system
(d). Representative system

14. Culture is transmitted to employees through–
(a). Rituals
(b). Stories
(c). Jargons
(d). All the above

15. The father of scientific management is–
(a). F W Taylor
(b). Henry Fayol
(c). F W Lanchester
(d). James Mooney

16. The carrot and stick theory of motivation is related to–
(a). Theory X
(b). Theory Y
(c). Theory Z
(d). Hertzberg’s 2 factor theory

17. The basic assumption of organizational behavior relates to–
(a). Nature of people and organization
(b). Technology
(c). External social system
(d). Internal resource chanellisation

18. Stereotyping refers to judging people based on–
(a). Single Characteristic
(b). Group characteristic
(c). Attribution
(d). Motives & desires

19. A mechanism by which the superior & subordinate jointly set the goals and plan the activities needed for the purpose is–
(a). Planning
(b). MBO
(c). MBE
(d). Strategic management

20. Management grid incorporates ___________ major styles of leadership.
(a). Five
(b). Three
(c). Seven
(d). Nine

21. The layers of management are technically referred to as–
(a). Managerial design
(b). Managerial hierarchy
(c). Managerial levels
(d). Managerial status

22. The ability & power to develop new ideas is referred to as–
(a). Innovation
(b). Creativity
(c). Productivity
(d). All the above

23. One of the objectives of organizational change is–
(a). Changes in an organization’s level of adaptation to its environment
(b). Increased motivation
(c). Greater innovation
(d). Increased productivity

24. Who has (have) formulated ‘Life Cycle Theory’ of leadership–
(a). Hersay & Blanchard
(b). Fiedler
(c). Reddin
(d). Likert

25. Laswell formula of communication deals with–
(a). Synchronic & diachronic modes
(b). Communication sequence
(c). Communication competence
(d). Communication control

26. Theories of Learning does not include–
(a). Classical Conditioning
(b). Operant Conditioning
(c). Natural Learning
(d). Cognitive Learning

27. The ‘Big Five’ dimensions of personality includes–
(a). Extroversion
(b). Agreeableness
(c). Conscientiousness
(d). All the Above

28. Father of administrative management is–
(a). L. Urwick
(b). F W Taylor
(c). Max Weber
(d). Henry Fayol

29. _________ is a unit of recognition.
(a). Stroke
(b). Ego-State
(c). Transaction
(d). Life-Position

30. Which among them is a not an element of perception?
(a). Control
(b). Interpretation
(c). Registration
(d). Stimulus

31. Max Weber is associated with–
(a). Administrative Theory
(b). Scientific Management
(c). Hawthorne experiments
(d). Bureaucracy

32. One of the sub-systems of OD is–
(a). Management Development
(b). Managements Diversion
(c). Management Disintegration
(d). Management integration

33. Resistance to change can be overcome by–
(a). Participation & involvement
(b). Manipulation & cooptation
(c). Facilitation & Support
(d). All the above

34. Which is positively associated with group cohesiveness?
(a). Expert power
(b). Referent Power
(c). Legitimate Power
(d). Reward Power

35. System restructuring approach to conflict management involves–
(a). Rotation of Personnel
(b). Change of perception
(c). Authoritative command
(d). Collaborative behaviors

36. Who has conducted the Auto kinesis experiments?
(a). Sheriff
(b). Merceil
(c). Shaw
(d). Pavlov

37. Mc. Celland’s theory of motivation does not include–
(a). Achievement motivation
(b). Power motivation
(c). Affiliation motivation
(d). Money motivation

38. Angular & Duplex transactions are type of–
(a). Simplex transactions
(b). Complex transactions
(c). Crossed transactions
(d). Complementary transactions

39. The set of techniques by which reinforcement theory is used to modify human behavior is–
(a). OB Mod
(b). OD techniques
(c). Control techniques
(d). MBTI

40. Divergent Perceptual sets may cause–
(a). Industrial conflicts
(b). Attitude
(c). Absenteeism
(d). Indiscipline