Management Process and Organizational Behavior

MBA -1st SEM, Assignment – Set 1

Subhabrata Mahanti-520922902
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Q (1) Explain the managerial roles and managerial skills.

Answer:

Managerial Roles:
According to Mintzberg (1973), managerial roles are as follows:

1. Informational roles

2. Decisional roles

3. Interpersonal roles

1. Informational roles:- This involves the role of assimilating and disseminating information as and
when required. Following are the main sub roles, which managers often perform:

a. Monitor-collecting information from organizations, both from inside and outside of the
organization

b. Disseminator-communicating information to organizational members

c. Spokesperson-representing the organization to outsiders

2. Decisional roles:- It involves decision making. Again, this role can be subdivided in to the
following:

a. Entrepreneur-initiating new ideas to improve organizational performance

b. Disturbance handlers-taking corrective action to cope with adverse situation

c. Resource allocators-allocating human, physical, and monetary resources

d. Negotiator - negotiating with trade unions, or any other stakeholders

3. Interpersonal roles:- This role involves activities with people working in the organization. This is
supportive role for informational and decisional roles. Interpersonal roles can be categorized under
three subheadings:

a. Figurehead-Ceremonial and symbolic role

b. Leadership-leading organization in terms of recruiting, motivating etc.

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c. Liaison-liasoning with external bodies and public relations activities.

Management Skills:

Katz (1974) has identified three essential management skills: technical, human, and conceptual.

1.Technical skills: The ability is to apply specialized knowledge or expertise. All jobs require some
specialized expertise, and many people develop their technical skills on the job. Vocational and on
the job training programs can be used to develop this type of skill.

2.Human Skill: This is the ability to work with, understand and motivate other people (both
individually and a group). This requires sensitivity towards others issues and concerns. People, who
are proficient in technical skill, but not with interpersonal skills, may face difficulty to manage their
subordinates. To acquire the Human Skill, it is pertinent to recognize the feelings and sentiments of
others, ability to motivate others even in adverse situation, and communicate own feelings to others
in a positive and inspiring way.

3.Conceptual Skill: This is an ability to critically analyze, diagnose a situation and forward a
feasible solution. It requires creative thinking, generating options and choosing the best available
option.

Q (2) Describe the contemporary work cohort.

Answer:
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 era they 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 values have been listed below:

1. Veterans: - Workers 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 II

a. Believed in hard work

b. Tended to be loyal to their employer
c. Terminal values: Comfortable life and family security

2. Boomers: - Employees who entered the workforce during the 1960s through the mid1980s
belonged to this category. Their value orientations were:

a. Influenced heavily by John F. Kennedy, the civil rights and feminist movements, the Beatles, the
Vietnam War, and baby boom competition
b. Distrusted authority, but gave a high emphasis on achievement and material success
c. Organizations who employed them were vehicles for their careers
d. Terminal values: sense of accomplishment and social recognition
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3. Xers: - began to enter the workforce from the mid1980s.
They cherished the following values:

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

b. Value flexibility, life options, and achievement of job satisfaction
c. Family and relationships were important and enjoyed team-oriented work
d. Money was important, but would trade off for increased leisure time Value, Ethics And
e. Less willing to make personal sacrifices for employers than previous generations
f. Terminal values: true friendship, happiness, and pleasure

4. Nexters - most recent entrants into the workforce.

a. Grew up in prosperous times, have high expectation, believe in themselves, and confident in their
ability to succeed.
b. Never-ending search for ideal job; see nothing wrong with job-hopping.
c. Seek financial success.
d. Enjoy team work, but are highly self-reliant.
e. Terminal values: freedom and comfortable life.

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Q (3) Elaborate the issues related to culture and emotion.

Answer:

There are two Views of Culture and Emotion:

Universality- Emotions are part of human nature and in all cultures universally the same set of basic
emotions. Based on his cross-cultural research, Ekman (1999) has found six emotions which are
universally recognized and applicable. They are:

1.Anger
2.Fear
3.Sadness
4.Happiness
5.Disgust
6.Surprise.

Cultural specificity- 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 are
responsible 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

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and emotional responses; the emotions shown in a particular culture reflects the norms, values,
practices, and language of that culture.
Alexithymia emotional disorder
Some people have difficulty in expressing their emotions and understanding the emotions of others.
Psychologists call this alexithymia. People who suffer from alexithymia rarely cry and are often seen
by others as bland and cold. Their own feelings make them uncomfortable, and they are not able to
discriminate among their different emotions. People, suffering from alexithymia, may be effective
performers in jobs where little or no emotional labor. Alexithymic symptoms may be seen in people
who experience:
1.Posttraumatic stress disorder
2.Certain brain injuries
3. Eating disorders (i.e., bulimia, anorexia, or bingeeating disorder)
4. Substance use dependence
5. Depression
6. Other mental health conditions

Relationship of gender with emotion.

A number of research findings supports the view that women are more emotional than men
(e.g.,Broverman, Vogel, Broverman, Clarkson, & Rosenkrantz, 1972; Widiger & Settle, 1987).
Women are assumed to experience more frequent and intense emotions, whereas men are assumed to
be emotionally inexpressive and to have less intense emotional experiences. However, researchers
have argued that the stereotype of men as unemotional is more accurate for adult targets than for
child targets because males learn to control their emotions as they get older (Fabes and Martin,
1991).

Likewise, women and men may experience happiness in a similar way, but women have been taught
that they can strongly express the emotion of happiness, whereas men have been taught to control it.
The impact of socialization practices accumulate over time and, thus, these stereotypes are likely to
apply more strongly to adult populations (Geer and Shields, 1996).

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Q (4) Discuss the assumption of Douglas Mc Gregor (Theory X and Theory Y)

Answer:
Douglas McGregor in his book, "The Human Side of Enterprise" published in 1960 has
examined theories on behavior of individuals at work, and he has formulated two models which he
calls Theory X and Theory Y.
Theory X Assumptions
The average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if he can.

• Because of their dislike for work, most people must be controlled and threatened before they
will work hard enough.
• The average human prefers to be directed, dislikes responsibility, is unambiguous, and desires
security above everything.
• These assumptions lie behind most organizational principles today, and give rise both to
"tough" management with punishments and tight controls, and "soft" management which aims
at harmony at work.

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 • Both these are "wrong" because man needs more than financial rewards at work, he also needs
some deeper higher order motivation - the opportunity to fulfill himself.
• Theory X managers do not give their staff this opportunity so that the employees behave in
the expected fashion.

Theory Y Assumptions

• The expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is as natural as play or rest.
• Control and punishment are not the only ways to make people work, man will direct himself if
he is committed to the aims of the organization.
• If a job is satisfying, then the result will be commitment to the organization.
• The average man learns, under proper conditions, not only to accept but to seek responsibility.
• Imagination, creativity, and ingenuity can be used to solve work problems by a large number
of employees.
• Under the conditions of modern industrial life, the intellectual potentialities of the average
man are only partially utilized.

Comments on Theory X and Theory Y Assumptions

These assumptions are based on social science research which has been carried out, and demonstrate
the potential which is present in man and which organizations should recognize in order to become
more effective.

McGregor sees these two theories as two quite separate attitudes. Theory Y is difficult to put into
practice on the shop floor in large mass production operations, but it can be used initially in the
managing of managers and professionals.

In "The Human Side of Enterprise" McGregor shows how Theory Y affects the management of
promotions and salaries and the development of effective managers. McGregor also sees Theory Y as
conducive to participative problem solving.

It is part of the manager's job to exercise authority, and there are cases in which this is the only
method of achieving the desired results because subordinates do not agree that the ends are desirable.

However, in situations where it is possible to obtain commitment to objectives, it is better to explain

the matter fully so that employees grasp the purpose of an action. They will then exert self-direction
and control to do better work - quite possibly by better methods - than if they had simply been
carrying out an order which the y did not fully understand.

The situation in which employees can be consulted is one where the individuals are emotionally
mature, and positively motivated towards their work; where the work is sufficiently responsible to
allow for flexibility and where the employee can see her or his own position in the management
hierarchy. If these conditions are present, managers will find that the participative approach to
problem solving leads to much improved results compared with the alternative approach of handing
out authoritarian orders.

Once management becomes persuaded that it is under estimating the potential of its human resources,
and accepts the knowledge given by social science researchers and displayed in Theory Y
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assumptions, then it can invest time, money and effort in developing improved applications of the
theory.

McGregor realizes that some of the theories he has put forward are unrealizable in practice, but wants
managers to put into operation the basic assumption that:

• Staff will contribute more to the organization if they are treated as responsible and valued
employees.

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Q (5) What is personal power – Explain different bases of personal power?

Answer:

Power is the ability to make things happen in the way an individual wants, either by self or by the
subordinates. The essence of power is control over the behavior of others (French & Raven, 1962).
Managers derive power from both organizational and individual sources. These sources are called
position power and personal power, respectively.

Personal power resides in the individual and is independent of that individual's position. .

Three bases of personal power are:

1. Expertise,

2. Rational persuasion,

3. Reference.

1. Expert power is the ability to control another person's 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.

2. Rational persuasion is the ability to control another's behavior, since, through the individual's
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.

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3. Referent power is the ability to control another's 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.

Charismatic Power is an extension of referent power stemming from an individual's personality and
interpersonal style. Others follow because they can articulate attractive visions, take personal risks,
demonstrate follower sensitivity, etc.

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Q (6) Write a short note on potential sources of stress.

Answer:

While environmental factors are forces outside the organization, which may act as potential sources
of stress due to uncertainties and threats that they create for any organization and its members,
factors within organization can also act as potential source of stress. Together or singly they may
create a tense and volatile working environment 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 factors:

 Environmental uncertainty influences stress levels among employees in an organization.

 Changes in the business cycle create 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 of time.

Organizational factors:

 Pressures to avoid errors or complete tasks in a limited time period, work overload, a
demanding and insensitive boss, and unpleasant coworkers are a few 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.
a. Role conflicts create expectations that may be hard to reconcile or satisfy.
b. Role overload is experienced when the employee is expected to do more that
time permits.
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 c. Role ambiguity is created when role expectations are not clearly understood.
d. Interpersonal demands are pressures created by other employees.
e. Organizational structure defines the level of differentiation in the organization,
the degree of rules and regulations, and where decisions are made. Excessive
rules and lack of participation in decisions might be potential sources of stress.

Organizational leadership represents the managerial style of organization’s

senior executives. CEOs, by virtue of their managerial styles create an
organizational culture which reflects tension, fear, and anxiety. They
overemphasize tight control, hire and fire policies which keep organizational
members on hot seat and create stress among them.

f. Individual factors:
g. These are factors in the employee’s personal life. Primarily, these factors are
family issues, personal economic problems, and inherent personality
characteristics.
h. Broken families, wrecked marriages and other family issues may create stress at
workplace as well.
i. Economic problems created by individuals overextending their financial
resources. Spending more than earnings stretches financial positions, create
debt situation leading to stress among individuals.
j. 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. These individuals with high level of mistrust
for others also cause stress for themselves.
k. Stressors are additive – stress builds up.

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