Q.

1)

We all apply reinforcement every day, most of the time without even realizing we are doing it.
For example you may tell your child “good job” after he or she clears their room or giving
punishment for not following instruction on given task. You get a pay hike/bonus or appreciation
from your manager after performing great job on a project. Reinforcement theory of motivation
was proposed by B F Skinner & his associates it is based on “Law of effect”, i.e. Individual’s
behavior with positive consequences tends to be repeated, but individual’s behavior with
negative consequences tends not to repeat. Reinforcement is a process through which a certain
type of behavior is strengthened in an individual.

In above case Arjan is an employee who is not disciplined however he is very good in his work
and one of the top performers and as a manager I feel he should be disciplined and need to come
on time for meetings to respect others time, as a manager I can use different reinforcement
element to strengthened this quality in him so that he can respect time and become discipline.
There are 4 elements of reinforcement theory shown in below Figure; we’ll discuss each of them
how that can be applied in the given case.
Positive Reinforcement

It is the positive reassurance & encouragement given to employees on exhibiting desired

behavior on delivering desired results. For Example giving regular positive feedback to
employee who is doing good on a particular project or giving a monitory benefits or pay hike to
that employee so that he continue to deliver that quality work.

In above case of Arjan manager has to develop a discipline in him, first he need to explain him
and make him understand what is the need for discipline, why he should respect other peoples
time, why he has to be punctual and he should come on time in office and meetings and once he
start becoming discipline then start giving him a positive feedback so that he will continue to be
disciplined.

Negative Reinforcement

It involves encouraging good behavior among employee by removing the situation or stimulus
that may lead to undesirable behavior or results

In above case Arjan is a very good performer & is one of the top performers but he is not
disciplined and always come late in office or in meeting so manager can add discipline as one of
the performance parameter in his annual rating, if he will come late it will impact his
performance rating since Arjan is a performer and to maintain his good performance rating he
will avoid coming late to office and Arjan automatically will start coming on time and he can
become disciplined.

Punishment

Punishment involves creating circumstances that do no allow any scope for occurance of any
undesirable behavior or result. There are two way where we can punish i.e. Positive punishment
and Negative Punishment.

In above case of Arjan in Positive punishment manager can ask Arjan whenever he is coming
late he has to seat extra time after office hours even after every one left and he has to compensate
the late time so to avoid the situation and embarrassment of sit alone in office where all his
colleague left for home he will try to come on time.

Positive punishment

I case of Negative punishment in above case manager can give penalties or pay cut whenever
Arjan is coming late to office or coming late in meeting or mark him absent from office on
continual showing indiscipline with the fear of pay cut or marking absent he will start to come on
time and he will become more descipline.

Negative Reinforcement
Extiction

It is the complete absence of reinforcement (Positive & Negative) for lowering the probability of
occurrence of undesirable behavior or results.

In case of Arjan manager will completely ignore and not appreciate him for any good work &
not give him any priority for next project or any work and make him feel that why discipline is
important for organisation without following the same he will be totally ignored this attitude of
manager will force him to improve on discipline.

Conclusion:

Arjan is a very good performer and he always want to be in a top performer he is carrying that
performer attitude with him so positive reinforcement will not give desired result since it might
possible he will not take his manager that seriously and he can continue to be indiscipline.
Whereas Punishment & Extinction make him de-motivated it will impact negatively on his
performance and it can also lead to bad relationship between manager and employee and can
lead to internal conflict between them. However Negative reinforcement where adding discipline
as one of the performance criteria with the fear of getting bad performance rating he will start
becoming more discipline also Arjan is a good performer so he will not like his performance to
get down due to discipline hence to get more good performance rating this will make him
motivated to come on time in office and during meetings. It will also build a healthy
interpersonal relationship between manager and employee.

Hence if I was a manager of Arjan and as per above all four elements of reinforcement I would
use Negative reinforcement for Arjan as explained above where his performance will get
impacted if he will not become discipline and since he wants to be a good performer he will
avoid being indiscipline and this will make him more him discipline without demotivating him or
without spoiling any relationship with him.
Q.2)

Culture is how you were raised. It developed while you grew up. With a computer metaphor,
culture is the software of our minds. We need shared software in order to communicate. So
culture is about what we share with those around us. Culture defined as the acquired knowledge
consisting of values, attitudes & behaviors that people use to intercept experience & generate
social behaviors. As companies evolve into global corporation, it is necessary for their
executives to understand the primary ways in which culture around the world differs.

Geert Hofstede, a widely known Dutch researcher of culture, has defined culture as "the
collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category
of people from another." He did a pioneering work on cultural value differences across countries
in 1970s. He did a survey on work related values using IBM and its subsidiaries in 40 countries.
Considering that IBM has a culture with strong organizational values, will the values of
employees remain same across countries or will they differ? He has summarized the differences
in terms of five value dimensions of national cultures. These five value dimensions are:

Power Distance: This pertain to distribution of power in institution and organisation

Individualism vs collectivism: This refers to a culture where people prefer to act individual or
collectively

Masculinity vs feminity: where culture with values like achievement, power and control are
masculinity culture whereas feminity culture promotes quality of life, modesty & interpersonal
relationships

Uncertainty avoidance: This dimension represents the extent to which the members of culture
feel threatened by uncertainty and unstructured situations and try to avoid them.

Long-Term vs Short-Term orientation: In long term orientation people value thrift,

persistence & tradition. In contrast, in the case short term orientation people value the here and
now and accept change more readily.

Apart from the above mentioned cultural differences by Geert Hofstede there are other cultural
difference as well like Leaderships, Business greetings, Meetings, Team work and Role of
women in Business. Today we will discuss the major cultural difference between China and
Great Britain on the above mentioned points.
Power Distance: Power distance defines as the extent to which the less powerful members of
institutions & organisation within a country expect & accept that power is distributed unequally.

 China is more towards high power distance where inequality in society is considered
more Normal. Whereas Great Britain is a Low power distance country where people feel
inequality is wrong and needs to be reduced.
 China which is high power society Superior are actually treated as superior as compared
to great Britain where hierarchies is there but you can change the rules set by superiors.
 In China subordinates simply assume & expect what needs to be do as compared to great
Britain where subordinates will consult relates to their work
 China is high power distance country where innovation comes only when they are
supported by hierarchies where as Great Britain which is low power distance society
there is spontaneous innovation people are more free to do new innovation in
organisation.

Individualism vs collectivism: The terms Individualism is a society in which ties between

individuals are loose every one look after for her or himself and immediate family in Individual
society people indentify with “I” identity. Collectivism is a society in which individuals from
birth onwards are part of strong enroots and look after like immediate families sometimes
extended families and sometime villages also in collective society people identify with “We”
identity.

 China is a country more towards collectivism society where as Great Britain is a country
which is more towards Individualism.
  China which is a collective society so while carrying out any task together relationship
comes first and task comes second, whereas Great Britain is a individual society so
carrying out task comes first and relationships may comes afterwards.
 China is a collective society and key work in collective society is harmony, there should
be harmony inside groups even if people disagree they should maintain the superficial
harmony otherwise group will be weakened it will fall apart. In Great Britain which is
Individualism society the ideas & confrontations do no harm they can sometimes be
healthy.

Few of the cultural differences explained in below table.

China Great Britain

Meeting and Greeting Shake hands upon meeting.
Chinese may nod or bow instead
of shaking hands, although
shaking hands has become
increasingly common.
They usually shake hands
before meeting and say
“hello” as a greetings

Dress For business, men wear sport coats
and ties. Slacks and open-necked
shirts are generally suitable in the
summer for business meetings;
jackets and ties are not necessary
Corporate Culture If the Chinese side no longer
wishes to pursue the deal, they
may not tell you. To save their
own face, they may become
increasingly inflexible and hard-
nosed, forcing you to break off
negotiations. In this way, they
may avoid blame for the failure
Women’s acceptance in A woman may gain acceptance,
Business but it will take time and will not
be easy.
For business meetings, men
wear dark suits and ties.
Women wear suits, dresses or
skirts and blouses
Meetings generally have a
concrete objective, such as:
making a decision, developing
a plan or arriving at an
agreement
women are becoming more
common in managerial
positions
Q.3 (a)

“Leaders are individuals who establish direction for a working group of individuals and who gain
commitment from this group of members to established direction and who then motivate
members to achieve the direction’s outcomes” (Conger, 1992, p18) Leadership is the ability of
an individual to persuade other individuals to behave in a particular way willingly. Leaders bring
every people on same platform, leading them from front, bring them together, motivate them,
and communicate them to achieve organizational goals.

Krabi Textile management has decided to go online mode from retail mode and mark their
presence in digital space and people of this company are resisting with this change as a leader
during this tough transition time he should possess certain people skills for efficient leadership
that will help Krabi textile to cope up with the situation. These skills are shown in below Figure.

Assertive Skills

Effective leadership requires th ability to assert how individuals behave in certain situation as
objectively as possible. Leader should be assertive & has to be clear and firm without being rude.
Being a leader of Krabi textile he should be assertive & clearly inform about management
decision to go online he need to empathies about management decision in calm & positive way
to his employees.
Communication Skills

Leader should develop strategies to communicate their ideas & views effectively.
Communication skills can help in exchange of ideas which help in problem solving & decision
making. As a leader of Krabi Textile he should communicate his employees about the reason &
need for the decision to go online from retail mode he should communicate how this decision
will benefit the organisation and their employees so that employees can understand the reason
behind decision taken by the management & they work to achieve organizational goal.

Motivational Skills

Communication alone may not encourage people to follow a leader. Individuals are interested in
throwing the benefits that they will get with those strategy & decision. Different people get
motivated by differently depending on their current environment As a leader of Krabi textile he
should set different motivational factors including monitory & non-monitory factors example -
Incentives, Appreciations, certificate, support, bonus etc. Motivated employees will work
towards achieving organizational goal and not resist with the change.
Adaptive Skills

Every individual are different, they do not have same need therefore manager need to have
adaptive skills to adjust the communication & motivation techniques while meeting an
Individuals needs. As a leader of Krabi Textile he has to be adaptive and has to use different
approaches to communicate with people or motivate them.

Conclusion

In above case if I was a leader of Krabi Textile I should have the people skills explained above
where I should be Assertive with my employees and ask them firmly and positively about the
management decision and ask them to implement the proposed change. I should have
communication skills where I should communicate peoples of organisation about the need and
importance of this decision taken by the management, what is the future plan of the organisation
and how this decision will help organisation in achieving that. I should have adaptive and
motivational skill to motivate the employees and adapt as per the situation require.

With the help of this people skills there will be more motivated people in and organisation who
are clear about the managements future plan and the need for the decision at the present, there
will be no confusion in employees about their role in companies future plan and they will not
resist from this change instead of that they will be more motivated and work more aggressively
to achieve the organizational goal.
Q.3(b)

The two terms management and leadership are used interchangeably. However, two are different
concept but interlinked and complementary to each others. Management is all about handling
complexity, while leadership is about managing change. Leaders set a vision for the future,
communicate the vision to people and inspired them to achieve that vision and Managers are
relatively risk averse and try to avoid conflicts wherever possible.

Following are the differences between managers and leaders:

 A Manager do the administration work their process is transactional meet objectives and
delegates tasks. Leader works on innovation their process is transformational, develop a
vision and find a innovative way forward.
 A Manager are work focused the goal is to get things done they are skilled at allocating
work. Leaders are people focused the goal include both people and results. They care
about you and want you to succeed.
 A Manager have subordinates they create circles of power and lead by authority. Leaders
have followers they create circles of influence and lead by inspiring.
 A Manager do the things right, Leaders do the right things.
 A Manager enact the existing culture and maintain status quo, Leaders challenges and
change it
 A Managers has a short-range views, Leaders has a long-term perspectives.
 A Manager focus on systematic and structures, a Leader focus on people.
 A Manager maintain, Leader develops.
 A Manager ask how and when, a leader asks what and why

Leaders and Managers can be compared on the following basis on general parameters:

Basis Manager Leader

A person becomes a manager by A person becomes a leader on basis of

Origin
virtue of his position. his personal qualities.

Manager has got formal rights in an

Formal Rights Rights are not available to a leader.
organization because of his status.

Followers The subordinates are the followers The group of employees whom the
 of managers. leaders lead is his followers.

A manager performs all five Leader influences people to work

Functions
functions of management. willingly for group objectives.

A leader is required to create cordial

A manager is very essential to a
Necessity relation between person working in
concern.
and for organization.

Stability It is more stable. Leadership is temporary.

Mutual
All managers are leaders. All leaders are not managers.
Relationship

Manager is accountable for self and

Leaders have no well defined
Accountability subordinates behavior and
accountability.
performance.

A manager’s concern is A leader’s concern is group goals and

Concern
organizational goals. member’s satisfaction.

People follow manager by virtue of People follow them on voluntary

Followers
job description. basis.

A manager can continue in office

A leader can maintain his position
Role till he performs his duties
only through day to day wishes of
continuation satisfactorily in congruence with
followers.
organizational goals.

A leader has command over different

Manager has command over
sanctions and related task records.
Sanctions allocation and distribution of
These sanctions are essentially of
sanctions.
informal nature.