MBA- Semester 1 Assignment Set 1 - Marks 60 (6X10=60) MB0038- Management Process and Organizational Behaviour - 4 credits Subject Code

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Note: Each question carries 10 Marks. Answer all the questions.

Question 1- Define emotional intelligence. Explain Golemans model of emotional intelligence. Ans. Emotional Intelligence (EI) describes the ability, capacity, skill or, in the case of the trait EI model, a self-perceived ability, to identify, assesses, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups. Different models have been proposed for the definition of EI and disagreement exists as to how the term should be used. Despite these disagreements, which are often highly technical, the ability EI and trait EI models (but not the mixed models) enjoy support in the literature and have successful applications in different domains. Goleman's framework of emotional intelligence Goleman developed a framework to explain emotional intelligence in terms of five elements, he described as self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. Each of these elements has distinctive characteristics, as outlined below: 1) Self-awareness: examining how your emotions affect your performance; using your values to guide decision-making; self-assessment - looking at your strengths and weaknesses and learning from your experiences; and being self-confident and certain about your capabilities, values and goals. 2) Self-regulation: controlling your temper; controlling your stress by being more positive and action-centered; retaining composure and the ability to think clearly under pressure; handling impulses well; and nurturing trustworthiness and self-restraint. 3) Motivation: enjoying challenge and stimulation; seeking out achievement; commitment; ability to take the initiative; optimism; and being guided by personal preferences in choosing goals. 4) Empathy: the ability to see other people's points of view; behaving openly and honestly; avoiding the tendency to stereotype others; and being culturally aware. 5) Social skills: the use of influencing skills such as persuasion; good communication with others, including employees; listening skills; negotiation; co-operation; dispute resolution; ability to inspire and lead others; capacity to

initiate and manage change; and ability to deal with others' emotions particularly group emotions. Goleman claims that people who demonstrate these characteristics are more likely to be successful in senior management, citing research from various sources that suggests senior managers with a higher emotional intelligence rating perform better than those without. He gives several anecdotal case studies to illustrate ways in which emotional intelligence can make a real impact in the workplace. The most popular and accepted mixed model of emotional intelligence is the one proposed by Goleman (1995). He viewed emotional intelligence as a total of personal and social competences. Personal competence determines how we manage ourselves, whereas social competence determines how we handle our interpersonal relationships.

Emotional Intelligence

Personal Competence Self Awareness Self Regulation Motivation

Social Competence Empathy Social Skills

GOLEMANS MODEL OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE Personal competence: It comprises of three dimensions of emotional intelligence, such as, selfawareness, self-regulation and motivation. Self-awareness is the ability of an individual to observe him/herself and to recognize a feeling as it happens (Goleman, 1995). The hallmarks of this ability are self-confidence, selfassessment and openness to positive criticism. Self-regulation is the ability to control emotions and to redirect those emotions that can have negative impact. Trustworthiness, integrity, tolerance of ambiguity and attitude to accept change are some characteristics of this ability. Motivation is the ability to channelize emotion to achieve a goal through self-control and by moderating impulses as per the requirement of the situation. The people who have this ability are optimistic and committed towards organizational as well as individual goals. Social competence: It comprises of two dimensions namely, empathy and social skills. Empathy is the ability to feel and get concerned for others, take their perspective and

to treat people according to their emotional reactions. People with this ability are experts in generating and motivating others. Social skills are the ability to build rapport and to manage relationships with people. People having this skill are very effective in persuasiveness and team management. Social skill is the culmination of all other components of emotional intelligence assuming that people can effectively manage social and work relationships only when they can understand and control their own emotion and can emphasize with the feelings of others.

Question 2 What are the hindrances that we face in perception? Ans. Perception (or at times referred to as Social Perception) has been defined in a variety of ways since its first usage. From the lay mans perspective, perception is defined as an act of being aware of ones environment through physical sensation, which denotes an individuals ability to understand. However, many social psychologists have tended to develop the concept around one of its most essential characteristics that the world around us is not psychologically uniform to all individuals. This is the fact, in all probability, that accounts for the difference in the opinions and actions of individuals/groups that are exposed to the same social phenomenon. According to Nelson and Quick (1997) Social Perception is the process of interpreting information about another person. What this definition has clearly highlighted is that the opinion one forms about another person depends on the amount of information available to him/her and the extent to which he/she is able to correctly interpret the information acquired. In other words, a person may be in possession of the same set of information that other people have on a particular situation, person or group but still arrive at different conclusions due to individual differences in the capacity to interpret the information acquired. The model shown below provides a concise description of the three major characteristics that influence our perception: MODEL OF SOCIAL PERCEPTION
Characteristics of perceiver: Familiarity Attitude Self-Concept Characteristics of target: Physical Appearance Verbal Appearance Non-Verbal Cues

SOCIAL PERCEPTIO N

Characteristics of the situation: Context of the interaction

From the above model, it is understood that the process of perception is a complex phenomenon that derives from the characteristics of the environment, the perceiver, and the perceived. Factors impacting perception (Hindrances to Perception): The perceptual mechanism is basically affected by two factors, namely the internal and external. Internal factors: Amongst the internal factors are: Needs and Desires: Basically the perception of relatively satisfied people differs significantly from those of frustrated individuals. In the words Rao and Narayana People at different levels of needs and desires perceive the same thing differently. Furthermore, the expectations, motivations and desires of people also shape their perception of other and situations around them. Personality: Individual characteristic behavior is another strong influence on what you perceive about that individual. It is a trite say that optimistic people perceive the things in favorable terms, pessimistic beings in negative terms. According to Maslow, between the optimist and the pessimist exist a category of people who are capable of perceiving others accurately and objectively. They sum this issue this issue in the following outline: Secure individuals tend to perceive others as warm, not cold. Thoughtful individuals do not expose by expressing extreme judgment of others. Persons who accept themselves and have faith their individuality perceives things favorably. Self-accepting individuals perceive themselves as liked, wanted and accepted by others. Experience:

Combined with knowledge, experience has a perpetual impact on the perception of an individual. Successful experiences enhance and boost the perception ability and lead to accuracy in perception of a person where as failure erodes self-confidence. External Factors: Listed under this sub-head are: Size: Perceptual stimulus of larger sizes has higher chances of being perceived. This is due to the fact that the factor of size is commonly associated with dominance and others to standing out for selection. A straight-forward example is that a full. Page advert catches more attention than those less than a page. Intensity: This factor has to do with promoting the chances of a stimuli being selected. For example, some of the strategies that foster intensity are underlining or bolding or italicising words in a written text. The greater the intensity of a stimulus, the more likely it will be noticed.

Frequency: Addresses the attention that accrues from the steady repetition of a particular stimulus. That is, the art of repetition simply attracts our alertness and provost our sensitivity to the message being sent across. The stimulus that is repeated with greater intensity is more likely to qualify for selection as it were. Status: The status of a person being perceived exerts a lot of influences on a perception. Within an organization, highly placed officers expectedly influence employees than persons who occupy lower rings of the organizations hierarchy. Contrast: Stimulus that share common features with the environment are less likely to quality for selection by the perceiver compared to those that contrast sharply with the environment. For example, a person that spots riotous colors or dress like father Christmas in June would certainly attract more attention that those that put up normal appearance.

Question 3 Describe the bases of power.

Ans. Power can be categorized into two groups: Formal Power Informal Power Formal Power: It is based on the position of an individual in an organization. Formal power is derived from either ones ability to coerce or reward others or is derived from the formal authority vested in the individual due to his/ her strategic position in the organizational hierarchy. For example, a manager may threaten to withhold a pay raise, or to transfer, demote, or even recommend the firing of a subordinate who does not act as desired. Such coercive power is the extent to which a manager can deny desired rewards or administer punishments to control other people. The availability of coercive power also varies across organizations. The presence of unions and organizational policies on employee treatment can weaken this power base significantly. Formal power may be categorized into four types which are as follows: 1. Coercive Power: The coercive power base is being dependent on fear. It is based on the application, or the threat of application, of physical sanctions such as the infliction of pain, the generation of frustration through restriction of movement, or the controlling by force of basic physiological or safety needs. In an organization one can exercise power over another if they have the power to dismiss, suspend, demote another assuming that the job is valuable to the person on whom power is being unleashed. 2. Reward Power: The opposite of coercive power is reward power. Reward power is the extent to which a manager can use extrinsic and intrinsic rewards to control other people. Examples of such rewards include money, promotions, compliments, or enriched jobs. Although all managers have some access to rewards, success in accessing and utilizing rewards to achieve influence varies according to the skills of the manager. 3. Legitimate Power: The third base of position power is legitimate power, or formal authority. It stems from the extent to which a manager can use subordinates internalized values or beliefs that the boss has a right of command to control their behavior. For example, the boss may have the formal authority to approve or deny such employee requests as job transfers, equipment purchases, personal time off, or overtime work. Legitimate power represents a special kind of power a manager has because subordinates believe it is legitimate for a person occupying the managerial position to have the right to command. The lack of this is legitimacy will result in authority not being accepted by subordinates. Thus this type of power has the following elements: It represents the power a person receives as a result of his/her position in the formal hierarchy. Positions of authority include coercive and reward powers.

Legitimate power, however, is not limited to the power to coerce and reward. It encompasses the acceptance of the authority of a position by members of an organization.

4. Information Power: This type of power is derived from access to and control over information. When people have needed information, others become dependent on them. (For example, managers have access to data that subordinates do not have). Normally the higher the level, the more information would be accessed by managers. Informal Power (or Personal Power): Informal power resides in the individual and is independent of that individuals position. There are three bases of informal power: Expertise (or Expert Power) Rational Persuasion Referent Power Expert power: It is the ability to control another persons behavior by virtue of possessing knowledge, experience, or judgment that the other person lacks but needs. A subordinate obeys a supervisor possessing expert power because the boss ordinarily knows more about what is to be done or how it is to be done than does the subordinate. Expert power is relative, not absolute. However the table may turn in case the subordinate has superior knowledge or skills than his/ her boss. In this age of technology driven environments, the second proposition holds true in many occasions where the boss is dependent heavily on the juniors for technologically oriented support. Rational persuasion: It is the ability to control anothers behavior, since, through the individuals efforts; the person accepts the desirability of an offered goal and a viable way of achieving it. Rational persuasion involves both explaining the desirability of expected outcomes and showing how specific actions will achieve these outcomes. Referent power: It is the ability to control anothers behavior because the person wants 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 obedience may occur, for example, because the subordinate likes the boss personally and therefore tries to do things the way the boss wants them done. In a sense, the subordinate attempts to avoid doing anything that would interfere with the pleasing boss subordinate relationship. Followership is not based on what the subordinate will get for specific actions or specific levels of performance, but on what the individual represents a path toward lucrative future prospects.

Question 4 - Explain sensitivity training. Ans. Sensitivity Training is a form of training that claims to make people more aware of their own prejudices, and more sensitive to others. According to its critics, it involves the use of psychological techniques with groups that its critics, e.g. G. Edward Griffin, claim are often identical to brainwashing tactics. Critics believe these techniques are unethical. Sensitivity training (also known as T-group, T standing for training): This approach evolved from the group dynamics concept of Kurt Lewin and the first sensitivity training session was held in 1946 in State Teachers College, New Britain, USA. Since then, it spread to numerous training centers in USA and other countries. Sensitivity training is a small-group interaction process in the unstructured form which requires people to become sensitive to others feelings in order to develop reasonable group activity. The objectives of sensitivity training are as follows: 1. To make participants increasingly aware of, and sensitive to, the emotional reactions and expressions in themselves and others. 2. To increase the ability of participants to perceive, and to learn from, the consequences of their actions through attention to their own and others feelings. 3. To stimulate the clarification and development of personal values and goals consonant with a democratic and scientific approach to problems of personal and social decisions and actions. 4. To develop achievement of behavioral effectiveness in participants. 5. To develop concepts and theoretical framework for linking personal values and goals to actions consistent with these inner factors and situational requirements. Process of Sensitivity Training: Sensitivity training focuses on small group (T-group) with number of members ranging from ten to twelve. T-groups are designed to provide members with experiential learning about group dynamics, leadership and interpersonal relationships. The basic T-group training or sensitivity training is to change the standards, attitudes and behavior of individuals by using psychological techniques and programs. Based on the sources from where these members are drawn, there may be three types of T-group: strangerlab, cousin-lab, and family-lab. In the stranger-lab, all participants are from different organizations and they are strangers to each other. In cousin-lab, all participants are from the same organization but from different units. According to his biographer, Alfred J Marrow, Kurt Lewin laid the foundations for sensitivity training in a series of workshops he organized in 1946 to carry out a 'change' experiment, in response to a request from the Director of the Connecticut State Interracial Commission. This led to the founding of the National Training Laboratories in Bethel, Maine in 1947. Kurt Lewin, who met Eric Trist in 1933, influenced the work of the London Tavistock Clinic, both in its work with soldiers during the Second World War and in its later work with

the Journal Human Relations jointly founded by a partnership of the Tavistock Institute and Lewin's group at MIT. The nature of modern Sensitivity Training appears to be in some dispute. Its modern critics portray its origins and function in negative terms. Others view the approach as benignly beneficial in many of its historical and contemporary implementations. During World War II, Psychologists like Carl Rogers in the USA and William Sargant, John Rawlings Rees, and Eric Trist in Britain were used by the military to help soldiers deal with traumatic stress disorders (then known as Shell Shock). This work, which required service to large numbers of patients by a small number of therapists and necessarily emphasized rapidity and effectiveness helped spur the development of group therapy as a treatment technique. Rogers and others evolved their work into new forms including encounter groups designed for persons who were not diagnosably ill but who were recognized to suffer from widespread problems associated with isolation from others common in American society. Other leaders in the development of Encounter Groups, including Will Schutz, centered their work at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. Meanwhile, Training Groups or T-Groups were being developed at the National Training Labs, now part of the National Education Association. Over time the techniques of T-Groups and Encounter Groups have merged and divided and splintered into specialized topics, seeking to promote sensitivity to others perceived as different and seemingly losing some of their original focus on self-exploration as a means to understanding and improving relations with others in a more general sense.

Question 5 - Explain the different Managerial Leadership Grid Theory.

leadership

styles

as

per

Ans. "Grid" was originally developed by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton between 1958 and 1960 and first published in 1964 (Blake and Mouton 1964). The model was particularly influenced by Fleishman's work on initiating structure and consideration. Fleishman posited that there were two underlying dimensions of leadership behavior which were called "consideration" and "initiating structure". Consideration referred to behavior reflecting respect for subordinates' ideas and consideration of their feelings. Initiating structure referred to the extent to which a leader structured and defined his or her role and those of subordinates in order to achieve formal organizational goals. It was argued that high consideration was associated with high subordinate satisfaction, while high initiating structure was

associated with high effectiveness but also high grievance levels and absenteeism. Further, it was claimed that when leaders rated high on both dimensions, high effectiveness and high satisfaction would occur without the grievance and absenteeism. Fleishman and Simmons (1970), in a representative quote, concluded "that the leadership pattern which combines high consideration and structure is likely to optimize a number of effectiveness criteria for a variety of supervisory jobs". This was subsequently referred to as the "highhigh" leader paradigm and was the subject of research and the target for criticism during the 1970s (Larson, Hunt and Osborn 1976; Nystrom 1978). The Grid model predicts specific core leadership approaches or styles when leaders operated with various combinations (integrations) of the two attitudinal dimensions. Blake and Mouton plot five core leadership approaches on their two dimensional grid as shown in Figure 1. These are represented by numerical shorthand, based on their Grid co-ordinates. The 9,9 model is seen by Blake and Mouton as the ideal leadership style and is espoused by them as the "one best way" of leadership.

High

1, 9

9, 9

Concern for People

5, 5

Low

1, 1
Low Concern for People

9, 1
High

Figure 1. The Managerial Grid

The five major leadership styles specified as per Managerial: 1. The impoverished style (1, 1). The indifferent Leader: In this style, managers have low concern for both people and production. Managers use this style to avoid getting into trouble. The main concern for the manager is not to be held responsible for any mistakes, which results in less innovative decisions. A leader uses a

delegate and disappear management style. Since they are not committed to either task accomplishment or maintenance; they essentially allow their team to do whatever it wishes and prefer to detach themselves from the team process by allowing the team to suffer from a series of power struggles. 2. The country club style (1, 9). The accommodating Leader: This style has a high concern for people and a low concern for production. Managers using this style pay much attention to the security and comfort of the employees, in hopes that this would increase performance. The resulting atmosphere is usually friendly, but not necessarily that productive. This person uses predominantly reward power to maintain discipline and to encourage the team to accomplish its goals. Conversely, they are almost incapable of employing the more punitive coercive and legitimate powers. This inability results from fear that using such powers could jeopardize relationships with the other team members. 3. The produce or perish style (9, 1). The Controlling Leader: This believes in the authority-obedience. With a high concern for production, and a low concern for people, managers using this style find employee needs unimportant; they provide their employees with money and expect performance back. Managers using this style also pressure their employees through rules and punishments to achieve the company goals. This dictatorial style is based on Theory X of Douglas McGregor, and is commonly applied by companies on the edge of real or perceived failure. This is used in case of crisis management. People who get this rating are very much task-oriented and are hard on their workers (autocratic).There is little or no allowance for cooperation or collaboration. Heavily task-oriented people display these characteristics: they are very strong on schedules; they expect people to do what they are told without question or debate; when something goes wrong they tend to focus on who is to blame rather than concentrate on exactly what is wrong and how to prevent it; they are intolerant of what they see as dissent (it may just be someones creativity), so it is difficult for their subordinates to contribute or develop. 4. The middle-of-the-road style (5, 5). The Status Quo Leader. (Balance & Compromise): It is Organization-man management approach, which believes that the adequate organization performance is possible through balancing the necessity to get out work with maintaining morale of people at satisfactory level. Managers using this style try to balance between company goals and workers needs. By giving some concern to both people and production, managers who use this style hope to achieve acceptable performance.

5. The team style (9, 9). The Sound / Team Leader (Contribute & Commit):

This is based on the aspect that work accomplishment is from committed people; interdependence through a common stake in the organization purpose leads to relationships of trust and respect. In this style, high concern is paid both to people and production. As suggested by the propositions of Theory Y, managers choosing to use this style encourage teamwork and commitment among employees. This method relies heavily on making employees feel as a constructive part of the company. This type of person leads by positive example and endeavors to foster a team environment in which all team members can reach their highest potential, both as team members and as people. They encourage the team to reach team goals as effectively as possible, while also working tirelessly to strengthen the bonds among the various members. They normally form and lead some of the most productive teams.

Question 6 - Mr. Suresh Kumar is the VP- HR of a leading Financial services company. He is having a meeting with Ms. Rejani Chandran leading HR consultant. Mr. Suresh is concerned about creating an environment that helps in increasing the job satisfaction amongst employees. Assume that you are Ms. Rejani, the HR consultant. What suggestions you will give to Mr. Suresh, for creating an environment that increases job satisfaction? Ans. 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. The most important factors for job satisfaction: 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. 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. 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.

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. Supportive Colleagues: Employees have need for social interaction. Therefore, having friendly and supportive co-workers and understanding supervisor's leads to increased job satisfaction. 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 behavior in an intense desire to succeed. Social Responsibility: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) 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.