Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 1 MB0038 Management Process and Organizational Behaviour 4 Credits (Book ID: B1621)

Assignment (60 Marks)

Q1. Describe the concept of vision and mission in an organization? Answer:-Vision statements reflect the ideal image of the organization in the future. They create
a focal point for strategic planning and are time bound, with most vision statements projected for a period of 5 to 10 years. The vision statement communicates both the purpose and values of the organization. For employees, it gives direction about how they are expected to behave and inspires them to give their best. Shared with customers, it shapes customers understanding of why they should work with the organization. It is a general statement given by the top management to achieve the desired end result. The vision statement includes vivid description of the organization as it effectively carries out its operations. Developing a vision statement can be quick culture-specific, i.e., participants may use methods ranging from highly analytical and rational to highly creative and divergent, e.g., focused discussions, divergent experiences around daydreams, sharing stories, etc. Therefore, visit with the participants how they might like to arrive at description of their organizational vision. Developing the vision can be the most enjoyable part of planning, but the part where time easily gets away from you. Note that originally, the vision was a compelling description of the state and function of the organization once it had implemented the strategic plan, i.e., a very attractive image toward which the organization was attracted and guided by the strategic plan. Recently, the vision has become more of a motivational tool, too often including highly idealistic phrasing and activities which the organization cannot realistically aspire. On the other hand a mission statement explains the company's core purpose and values. Its prime function is internal to define the key measure or measures of the organizations success and its prime audience is the leadership team and stockholders. Mission statements are the starting points of an organizations strategic planning and goal setting process. They focus attention and assure that internal and external stakeholders understand what the organization is attempting to accomplish. At is most basic; the mission statement describes the overall purpose of the organization. At is most basic; the mission statement describes the overall purpose of the organization. If the organization elects to develop a vision statement before developing the

mission statement, ask Why does the image, the vision exist -- what is its purpose? This purpose is often the same as the mission. Developing a mission statement can be quick culturespecific, i.e., participants may use methods ranging from highly analytical and rational to highly creative and divergent, e.g., focused discussions, divergent experiences around daydreams, sharing stories, etc. Therefore, visit with the participants how they might like to arrive at description of their organizational mission. When wording the mission statement, consider the organization's products, services, markets, values, and concern for public image, and maybe priorities of activities for survival. Consider any changes that may be needed in wording of the mission statement because of any new suggested strategies during a recent strategic planning process. Ensure that wording of the mission is to the extent that management and employees can infer some order of priorities in how products and services are delivered. When refining the mission, a useful exercise is to add or delete a word from the mission to realize the change in scope of the mission statement and assess how concise is its wording.

Q2. (a) Define planning.

Answer:-Planning helps an organization to achievement its goals. The process begins with reviewing the current operations of the organization and identifying what needs to be improved operationally in the upcoming year. From there, planning involves envisioning the results the organization wants to achieve, and determining the steps necessary to arrive at the intended destination--success, whether that is measured in financial terms, or goals that include being the highest-rated organization in customer satisfaction. Planning is the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning involves the creation and maintenance of a plan. As such, planning is a fundamental property of intelligent behavior. This thought process is essential to the creation and refinement of a plan, or integration of it with other plans; that is, it combines forecasting of developments with the preparation of scenarios of how to react to them. An important, albeit often ignored aspect of planning, is the relationship it holds with forecasting. Forecasting can be described as predicting what the future will look like, whereas planning predicts what the future should look like. The counterpart to planning is spontaneous order. In organizations, planning is a management process, concerned with defining goals for company's future direction and determining on the missions and resources to achieve that target. To meet the goals, managers may develop plans such as a business plan or a marketing plan. Planning always has a purpose. The purpose may be achievement of certain goals or targets. Main characteristics of planning in organizations are:

Planning increases the efficiency of an organization. It reduces the risks involved in modern business activities. It facilitates proper coordination within an organization. It aids in organizing all available resources. It gives right direction to the organization.

It is important to maintain a good control. It helps to achieve objectives of the organization. It motivates the personnel of an organization. It encourages managers' creativity and innovation. It also helps in decision making.

The planning helps to achieve these goals or target by using the available time and resources. The concept of planning is to identify what the organization wants to do by using the four questions which are "where are we today in terms of our business or strategy planning? Where are we going? Where do we want to go? How are we going to get there?

(b) Explain the importance of planning.

1. Increases efficiency Planning makes optimum utilization of all available resources. It helps to reduce wastage of important resources and avoids their duplication. It aims to give highest returns at the lowest possible cost. Planning thus increases the overall efficiency.

2. Reduces business-related risks There are many risks involved in any modern business. Planning helps to forecast these businessrelated risks. It also helps to take the necessary precautions to avoid these risks. Thus, planning reduces business risks.

3. Facilitates proper coordination Often, the plans of all departments of an organization are well coordinated with each other. Similarly, the short-term, medium-term and long-term plans of an organization are also coordinated with each other. Such proper coordination is possible only because of efficient planning.

4. Aids in organising Organizing means to bring together all available resources, i.e. 6Ms. Organizing cannot be done without planning. This is because planning tells us how much resources are required, when it is required, so on. This means that planning aids in organizing.

5. Gives right direction Direction means to give proper information, accurate instructions and right guidance to the subordinates. Direction cannot be done without planning. This is because planning tells us what to do, how to do it and when to do it. Therefore, planning helps to give right direction.

6. Keeps good control- In control, the actual performance of an employee is compared with the plans, and deviations (if any) are found out and corrected. It is impossible to achieve such a control without right planning. Therefore, planning becomes important to keep a good control.

7. Helps to achieve objectives Every organization has certain goals or objectives or targets. It keeps working hard to fulfill these objectives. Planning helps an organization to achieve these objectives but with some ease and promptness. Planning also helps an organization to avoid doing some random (done by chance) activities.

8. Motivates the personnel A good plan provides various financial and non-financial incentives to both managers and employees. These incentives motivate them to work hard and achieve the objectives of the organization. Thus, planning through various incentives helps to motivate the personnel of an organization.

9. Encourages creativity and innovation Planning encourages managers to express and/or use their creativity and innovation. This brings satisfaction to the managers and success to the organization.

10. Helps in decision making A manager makes many different plans. Then manager selects or chooses the best of all available plans. Doing a selection or choosing something means to take a decision. So, decision making is facilitated by planning

Q3. (a) Why leading is important?

Answer:-Leading is about setting direction and ensuring that that direction is followed. Leading can apply to leading oneself, other individuals, groups, organizations and societies. The nature of how leading is done depends on the context of the situation, one one's perspective, and on the nature and needs of those involved. There is a rich history and body of research regarding leadership. This module aims to make that accessible to you. Companies or Managers success depends upon their ability to influence, convince and inspire the people working under them. The art of Leading and Managing People is to understand the fundamental principles of human behavior and interpersonal communication to engage employees in serving your goals, by amalgamating their achievement with their motivation. If managers examine their own management objective and leadership style, they will discover why some of their management methods arent working. In such scenarios executive programs like EPLM leadership management programs active-learning approach blends interactive lectures with hands-on experiences help put the principles into practice. The program content helps you examine your own management objectives and leadership styles and makes you learn their use to get the desired results when working in a team. The program will let you experiment with the new approach and behaviors in practical learning sessions, receive constructive feedback during interactive sessions. All this will sharpen your insight for resolving current and future challenges. The focus of the program is on results. The learners will also create a roadmap for their future success in a team as they learn to:

Communicate their leadership objectives with more clarity and impact. Build up their power of influence and test new perspectives for motivating others. Make a customized plan for processes to implement which will bring lasting change in their leadership styles.

Studying the characteristic of leadership is useful because we tend break things into characteristics to make big concepts easier to handle. There are common traits that define leadership, and finding them only takes some study of those who have been successful. By actively building on these traits you can develop into a stronger leader.

(b) What are the characteristics of leading?

Here are some of the most common traits in the characteristic of leadership:

Empathy: Creating a legitimate rapport with your staff makes it less likely that personal issues and resentment can creep in and derail the group. When your team knows that you are empathetic to their concerns, they will be more likely to work with you and share in your vision, rather than foster negative feelings.

Consistency: Being a consistent leader will gain you respect and credibility, which is essential to getting buy-in from the group. By setting an example of fairness and credibility, the team will want to act the same way. Honesty: Another characteristic of leadership that lends itself to credibility. Those who are honest, especially about concerns, make it far more likely that obstacles will be addressed rather than avoided. Honesty also allows for better assessment and growth. Direction: Having the vision to break out of the norm and aim for great things --then the wherewithal to set the steps necessary to get there-- is an essential characteristic of good leadership. By seeing what can be and managing the goals on how to get there, a good leader can create impressive change. Communication: Effective communication helps keep he team working on the right projects with the right attitude. If you communicate effectively about expectations, issues and advice, your staff will be more likely to react and meet your goals. Flexibility: Not every problem demands the same solution. By being flexible to new ideas and open-minded enough to consider them, you increase the likelihood that you will find the best possible answer. You will set a good example for your team and reward good ideas. Conviction: A strong vision and the willingness to see it through is one of the most important characterizes of leadership. The leader who believes in the mission and works toward it will be an inspiration and a resource to their followers.

Of course, there are several other theories about leadership and leadership styles where different skills come into play. But no matter what your approach, if you display the previous traits you will be well equipped to lead a team successfully.

Q4. (a) Define organisation behaviour (OB)?

Answer:- Organizational behavior is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structures have on behavior within organization for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving an organization's effectiveness. It is an interdisciplinary field that includes sociology, psychology, communication, and management; and it complements the academic studies of organizational theory and human resource studies. It may also be referred to as organizational studies or organizational science. The field has its roots in industrial and organizational psychology. It is the study and application of knowledge about how people act in an organization. As individual and as a groups. Organizational Behavior (known as OB) in which large number of tolls are used for analysis purpose. It helps manager to look for the behavior of individuals in an organization. OB applies knowledge gained about individuals, groups and structure. OB is concerned with what people do in an organization and how that behavior affects the performance of that organization. Manager of an organization is required to have complete knowledge and information about the following facts:1. When do two people (co-workers, or a superior -subordinate) interact?

2. When do two or more groups need to co-ordinate their efforts? 3. What complexities are involved in inter-personal relations? 4. Why some employees are more successful than others? 5. How can we act as a team? 6. How to handle the stress of workers - superiors and sub ordinates? 7. How to obtain suggestions from employees? 8. Why the culture of one organization differs from other and why it is changing constantly? An understanding of organizational behavior is valuable for improving human behavior in positive direction, on the one hand and the total organization climate, on the other hand. It tries to promote our understanding of the process of human behaviour and the changes that takes place in the goals, roles, values and interests of the organization members during the course of their association with organizations.

(b) What are the limitations of OB?

1. OB helps an individual to understand human behavior only at workplace or he she may be a failure at domestic front. 2. OB has not contributed to improved interpersonal relations in an organization, Jealousies , back stabbing , harassments go side by side with rewards, lectures, discussions, smiles etc. 3. OB is selfish and exploitive .With emphasis on motivation, efficiency, productivity there exists a kind of competition among workers and they are not able to live in harmony. 4. OB will not totally abolish conflict but it can only reduce it. 5. OB has all most become a fad wide manager. Abolishing physical disparities has not abolished mental barriers.

Q5. (a) What is meant by emotional intelligence?

Answer:- Emotional intelligence is a concept that has become widely popular in management texts and related literature for its ability to enhance and capitalize on the human potential of an organization. Seeking to support a leaders cognitive, emotional and physical resources, the use of emotional intelligence is a modern tool of effective management, enabling the individual to

manage a wide range of employees that are often performing in a unique set of roles. In addition, emotional and personal competencies are two primary factors that are shown to be directly linked to performance within a work environment, making their identification and analysis essential for effective management as well as the increased development of the organizations human capital. Emotional intelligence is a response to the problems businesses face in the modern world. With tighter budgets, escalating costs and the continuous demand to produce more for less, theres a need to develop a higher standard for leadership skills, ones that will effectively address the challenges of high employee turnover, a rapidly changing business environment and the everincreasing demand for improved products and services. And at least in part, the solution to these problems is found in a leader who possesses technical knowledge as well as the social and emotional abilities that will enable them to meet and beat the afore mentioned challenges and maximize the human potential of their organization while achieving their own personal agenda.

(b) What is the impact of emotional intelligence on managers?

Incorporating an understanding of emotional intelligence into your workplace can improve management effectiveness; increase teamwork and have a positive impact on key measures. More and more organizations are discovering that emotional intelligence skills in managers are a vital component of their organizations success people truly are the differentiation in todays fast moving and ever increasingly global market. Managers who possess emotional intelligence approach supervisory responsibilities from a different perspective. They understand the importance of communicating effectively with staff members, and of treating each employee with respect. Possessing emotional intelligence allows managers to better understand and motivate people they supervise. This seminar provides skills to help you learn how to: Understand the impact you have on people around you Better understand the human brain and how it influences behavior Utilize emotional intelligent techniques to stay focused during the most challenging work situations Practice specific management behaviors to bring out the inherent potential in others

Q6. Suppose you are the Team Manager in a multinational company with team strength of 10 members. You are given the responsibility of ensuring that the team gives excellent performance or results. What are the key issues you have to handle in team building? Answer: - Some of the key issues are:1. COMMITMENT Commitment to the purpose and values of an organization provides a clear sense of direction. Team members understand how their work fits into corporate objectives and they agree that their team's goals are achievable and aligned with corporate mission and values. Commitment is the foundation for synergy in groups. Individuals are willing to put aside personal needs for the benefit of the work team or the company. When there is a meeting of the minds on the big picture this shared purpose provides a backdrop against which all team decisions can be viewed. Goals are developed with corporate priorities in mind. Team ground rules are set with consideration for both company and individual values. When conflict arises, the team uses alignment with purpose, values, and goals as important criteria for acceptable solutions.

2. CONTRIBUTION The power of an effective team is in direct proportion to the skills members possess and the initiative members expend. Work teams need people who have strong technical and interpersonal skills and are willing to learn. Teams also need self-leaders who take responsibility for getting things done. But if a few team members shoulder most of the burden, the team runs the risk of member burnout, or worse -- member turn-off. To enhance balanced participation on a work team, leaders should consider three factors that affect the level of individual contribution: inclusion, confidence, and empowerment. The more individuals feel like part of a team, the more they contribute; and, the more members contribute, the more they feel like part of the team. To enhance feelings of inclusion, leaders need to keep work team members informed, solicit their input, and support an atmosphere of collegiality. If employees are not offering suggestions at meetings, invite them to do so. If team members miss meetings, let them know they were missed. When ideas -- even wild ideas -- are offered, show appreciation for the initiative.

3. COMMUNICATION For a work group to reach its full potential, members must be able to say what they think , ask for help, share new or unpopular ideas, and risk making mistakes. This can only happen in an atmosphere where team members show concern, trust one another, and focus on solutions, not problems. Communication --when it is friendly, open, and positive --plays a vital role in creating such cohesiveness. Friendly communications are more likely when individuals know

and respect one another. Team members show caring by asking about each other's lives outside of work, respecting individual differences, joking, and generally making all feel welcome. 4. COOPERATION Most challenges in the workplace today require much more than good solo performance. In increasingly complex organizations, success depends upon the degree of interdependence recognized within the team. Leaders can facilitate cooperation by highlighting the impact of individual members on team productivity and clarifying valued team member behaviors.

5. CONFLICT MANAGEMENT It is inevitable that teams of bright, diverse thinkers will experience conflict from time to time. The problem is not that differences exist, but in how they are managed. If people believe that conflict never occurs in "good" groups, they may sweep conflict under the rug. Of course, no rug is large enough to cover misperception, ill feelings, old hurts, and misunderstandings for very long. Soon the differences reappear. They take on the form of tension, hidden agendas, and stubborn positions. On the other hand, if leaders help work teams to manage conflict effectively, the team will be able to maintain trust and tap the collective power of the team. Work teams manage conflict better when members learn to shift their paradigms (mindsets) about conflict in general, about other parties involved, and about their own ability to manage conflict. Three techniques that help members shift obstructing paradigms are reframing, shifting shoes, and affirmations.

6. CHANGE MANAGEMENT It is no longer a luxury to have work teams that can perform effectively within a turbulent environment. It is a necessity. Teams must not only respond to change, but actually initiate it. To assist teams in the management of change, leaders should acknowledge any perceived danger in the change and then help teams to see any inherent opportunities. They can provide the security necessary for teams to take risks and the tools for them to innovate; they can also reduce resistance to change by providing vision and information, and by modeling a positive attitude themselves. 7. CONNECTIONS A cohesive work team can only add value if it pays attention to the ongoing development of three important connections: to the larger work organization, to team members, and to other work teams. When a work team is connected to the organization, members discuss team performance in relationship to corporate priorities, customer feedback, and quality measures. They consider team needs in light of what's good for the whole organization and what will best serve joint objectives. Leaders can encourage such connection by keeping communication lines open. Management priorities, successes, and headaches should flow one way; team needs, successes, and questions should flow in the other direction.