ASSIGNMENT

DRIVE – SPRING 2017

PROGRAM – MBA – SEMESTER – 1
SUBJECT CODE & NAME – MBA101– MANAGEMENT PROCESS AND
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Assignment Set I

1. Explain the Definition and Importance of ‘management’.

Solution: Management
Management is the process of reaching organizational goals by working with and through people
and other organizational resources.

Management has the following 3 characteristics:

 It is a process or series of continuing and related activities.
 It involves and concentrates on reaching organizational goals.
 It reaches these goals by working with and through people and other organizational
resources.

Importance of Management
1) It helps in Achieving Group Goals - It arranges the factors of production, assembles
and organizes the resources, integrates the resources in effective manner to achieve goals.
It directs group efforts towards achievement of pre-determined goals. By defining
objective of organization clearly there would be no wastage of time, money and effort.
Management converts disorganized resources of men, machines, money etc. into useful
enterprise. These resources are coordinated, directed and controlled in such a manner that
enterprise work towards attainment of goals.

2) Optimum Utilization of Resources - Management utilizes all the physical & human
resources productively. This leads to efficacy in management. Management provides
maximum utilization of scarce resources by selecting its best possible alternate use in
 industry from out of various uses. It makes use of experts, professional and these services
leads to use of their skills, knowledge, and proper utilization and avoids wastage. If
employees and machines are producing its maximum there is no under employment of
any resources.

3) Reduces Costs - It gets maximum results through minimum input by proper planning and
by using minimum input & getting maximum output. Management uses physical, human
and financial resources in such a manner which results in best combination. This helps in
cost reduction.

4) Establishes Sound Organization - No overlapping of efforts (smooth and coordinated

functions). To establish sound organizational structure is one of the objective of
management which is in tune with objective of organization and for fulfillment of this, it
establishes effective authority & responsibility relationship i.e. who is accountable to
whom, who can give instructions to whom, who are superiors & who are subordinates.
Management fills up various positions with right persons, having right skills, training and
qualification. All jobs should be cleared to everyone.

5) Establishes Equilibrium - It enables the organization to survive in changing

environment. It keeps in touch with the changing environment. With the change is
external environment, the initial co-ordination of organization must be changed. So it
adapts organization to changing demand of market / changing needs of societies. It is
responsible for growth and survival of organization.

6) Essentials for Prosperity of Society - Efficient management leads to better economical

production which helps in turn to increase the welfare of people. Good management
makes a difficult task easier by avoiding wastage of scarce resource. It improves standard
of living. It increases the profit which is beneficial to business and society will get
maximum output at minimum cost by creating employment opportunities which generate
income in hands. Organization comes with new products and researches beneficial for
society.
2. Explain the steps involved in planning process. Discuss any 5 importance of Organizing.
Solution: Steps involved in planning process
a) Define the mission- A mission is the purpose of the organization. Thus, planning begins
with clearly defining the mission of the organization. The mission statement is broad,
deconcise, summarizing what the organization does. A mission statement should be short
— and should be easily understood and every employee should ideally be able to narrate
it from memory. An explicit mission guides employees to work independently and yet
collectively toward the realization of the organization’s potential. The mission statement
may be accompanied by an overarching statement of philosophy or strategic purpose
designed to convey a vision for the future as envisaged by top management.

b) Conduct a situational or SWOT analysis- The SWOT Analysis is one of several

strategic planning tools that are utilized by businesses and other organizations to ensure
that there is a clear objective defined for the project or venture, and that all factors related
to the effort, both positive and negative, are identified and addressed. In order to
accomplish this task, the process of SWOT involves four areas of consideration:
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It should be noted that when identifying
and classifying relevant factors, the focus is not just on internal matters, but also external
components that could impact the success of the project.

c) Set goals and objectives- Strategic goals and objectives are developed to fill the gap
between current capability and the mission. They are aligned with the mission and form
the basis for the action plans of an organization. Objectives are also called performance
goals. Generally, organizations have long-term objectives for factors such as, return on
investment, earnings per share, etc. It also helps in setting minimum acceptable standards
or common-sense minimums.

5 importance of organizing
 i. Specialization: The work of an organization is separated into units and departments
through an organizational network of associations. This helps in getting specialization in
different areas of work in an organization.

ii. Well-defined jobs: Organizational structure aids in getting the right people to do the job
by choosing people in accordance with their skills, knowledge and qualifications for
working in different departments of the organization. This aids in properly defining the
work of an organization which further aids in explaining the responsibilities of each
person.

iii. Clarifies authority: Organizational structure aids in helping the manager to understand
each person’s role. This can be achieved in the manager being able to understand clearly
how he has to use his powers. This aids in an increase in production as jobs and
responsibilities that are well defined make the manager’s jobs much more efficient.

iv. Co-ordination: Organization is a process of establishing co-ordination amongst various

departments and it also aids in defining relations amongst various positions and
individuals assisting each other. If the managers at a higher level implement their power
over the network of activities of managers at lower levels, it can bring about efficiency in
work.

v. Effective administration: The organizational structure aids in clarifying the positions of

the jobs. The roles and responsibilities of different managers are well-defined and by
dividing the work it is easy to achieve specialization. This further aids in an organization
that is well-organized and efficient.

3. Explain the following:

a) Definition of Leading.
Solution: Leading is the basic function within the management process "Leading is the use of
influence to motivate employees to achieve organizational goals". Managers must be able to
make employees want to participate in achieving an organization's goals. Three components
make up the leading function:
 Motivating employees
 Influencing employees
 Forming effective groups.

The leading process helps the organization move toward goal attainment. Leading involves the
social and informal sources of influence that a leader use to inspire action taken by others. If
managers are effective leaders, their subordinates will be enthusiastic about exerting effort to
attain organizational objectives. The behavioral sciences have made many contributions to
understanding this function of management. Personality research and studies of job attitudes
provide important information as to how managers can most effectively lead subordinates.
Leading involves the social and informal sources of influence that you use to inspire action taken
by others. If managers are effective leaders, their subordinates will be enthusiastic about exerting
effort to attain organizational objectives.

b) Importance of Leading
Solution: Importance of Leading
i. Commencing an Action - Leaders are the people who start an action. They generally
take the risk of any action.

ii. Providing Instructions - They provide instructions to conduct and finish a job.

iii. Motivating Others - They do motivate their subordinates.

iv. Improve Confidence - when employees are frustrated, demotivated, and stressed by
lengthy working pressure, leaders help to redevelop their confidence.

v. Building Morale - leaders develop the code of ethics that help to develop the morality of
the employees.
 vi. Building an Efficient Working Environment - they build the working environment in
such way that employees can work there very comfortably.

vii. Coordination - after any type of conflict of interest or chaos in an organization, it is very
important to reinstall the normal environment in that organization. Leaders reinstall the
working environment

In Conclusion, Leading is a very important function of management It always helps to minimize

deficiency and achieve organizational objectives. The above points justified the importance of
leading in an organization.

Assignment Set II
1. Define the term Controlling? What are the prerequisites of effective control?
Solution: Definition of controlling
Controlling means steering or regulating, i.e. leading to the practical achievement of the agreed
objectives. A controller ensures that everyone has the possibility of controlling themselves
within the framework of the elaborated goals and plans. The figure with intersecting circles
illustrates the division of tasks and roles between a manager and a controller in a team.

Controlling as a process and mental attitude is represented by the intersecting part of the circles.
It constitutes the result of the cooperation of a manager and a controller in a team (controlling as
applied business management)

Pre-requisites of effective control

1) Focus on Objectives- The control system should always focus on objectives. It should
aim to achieve the objectives of the organisation.

2) Suitability- The control system should be suitable to the needs of the organisation.
3) Promptness- The control system should be prompt. That is, it should find out the
deviations quickly. This will help the management to correct the deviations quickly.

4) Flexibility- The control system should be flexible. It should change according to the
changes in plans, situations, environments, etc. A rigid control system will always fail.
Hence flexibility is necessary for a control system.

5) Forward Looking- The control system should be forward-looking. It should forecast the
future deviations. That is, it should find out the deviations before it happens. It should
also take steps to prevent these future deviations.

6) Economical- The control system should be economical. This means the cost of the
control system should not be more than its benefits.

7) Simplicity- The control system should not be complicated. It should be easy to

understand and simple to use. Those who are going to use the control system should
understand it clearly and completely.

8) Motivating- The control system should be motivating. That is, it should give more
importance to preventing the mistakes and less importance to punishing the employees.
So, it should encourage, not discourage the employees.

9) Suggestive- The control system should be suggestive and it should give complete
answers for the following questions;
a. What is the Problem?
b. Where is the Problem?
c. How to solve the Problem?
 10) Proper Standards- The control system should have proper standards. The standards
should be very clear. They should be definite, verifiable, specific and measurable. They
should not be too high or too low.

2. Explain the components and functions of attitude.

Solution: Attitude
An attitude is a fairly stable evaluative tendency to respond consistently to some specific object,
situation, person, or category of people. Attitudes are tendencies to respond to the target of the
attitude. Thus, attitudes often influence our behaviour toward some object, situation, person, or
group. Attitudes are a function of what we think and what we feel. That is, attitudes are the
product of a related belief and value.

Belief + Value = Attitude à Behaviour.

Components of attitude
The three basic components of attitude are cognitive, Affective and Behavioural part.
1) Cognitive Component of Attitude refers to opinion or belief part of attitude. When you
form your opinion or judgment on the basis of available information and decide whether
you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion on that, it the cognitive part of attitude we
are talking about.

2) Affective Component of Attitude refers to the emotional aspect of attitude. This is

perhaps the most often referred part of attitude and decides mostly the desirable or
undesirable aspect attitude.

3) Behavioral Component of Attitude refers to the behavioral part of attitude. If we have a

positive attitude for a particular object, it is likely to be translated into a particular type of
behavior, such as buying or procuring that object.

Functions of attitude
According to Katz, attitudes serve four important functions from the viewpoint of organizational
behavior. These are as follows.
a) The Adjustment Function- Attitudes often help people to adjust to their work
environment. Well-treated employees tend to develop a positive attitude towards their
job, management and the organization in general while berated and ill treated
organizational members develop a negative attitude. In other words, attitudes help
employees adjust to their environment and form a basis for future behaviour.

b) Ego-Defensive Function- Attitudes help people to retain their dignity and self- image.
When a young faculty member who is full of fresh ideas and enthusiasm, joins the
organization, the older members might feel somewhat threatened by him. But they tend to
disapprove his creative ideas as ‘crazy’ and ‘impractical’ and dismiss him altogether.

c) The Value-Expressive Function- Attitudes provide individuals with a basis for

expressing their values. For example, a manager who values hard and sincere work will
be more vocal against an employee who is having a very casual approach towards work.

d) The Knowledge Function- Attitudes provide standards and frames of reference that
allow people to understand, and perceive the world around him. If one has a strong
negative attitude towards the management, whatever the management does, even
employee welfare programmes can be perceived as something ‘bad’ and as actually
against them.

3. Define leadership. Write a brief note on ‘Contingency Theories of Leadership’.

Solution: Leadership
Leadership is the process of guiding and directing the behavior of followers in organizations. As
leadership is focused on the Vision it is all about the 'future' focus. Leadership seeks to find new
opportunities for individuals and the organization to be a success in the future. That might mean
dealing first with very difficult situations that threatened survival today. In tackling those threats
leadership still seeks to create the better future and seize opportunities.
Contingency Theories of Leadership
In contingency theory of leadership, the success of the leader is a function of various
contingencies in the form of subordinate, task, and/or group variables. The effectiveness of a
given pattern of leader behavior is contingent upon the demands imposed by the situation. These
theories stress using different styles of leadership appropriate to the needs created by different
organizational situations. No single contingency theory has been postulated. Some of the theories
are:
a) Fiedler’s contingency theory- Fiedler’s theory is the earliest and most extensively
researched. Fiedler’s approach departs from trait and behavioral models by asserting that
group performance is contingent on the leader’s psychological orientation and on three
contextual variables: group atmosphere, task structure, and leader’s power position. The
main idea of this early theory is that leadership effectiveness (in terms of group
performance) depends on the interaction of two factors: the leader's task or relations
motivations and aspects of the situation. The leader's task or relations motivation is
measured through the Least Preferred Coworker scale (LPC). This scale asks leaders to
recall a coworker (previously or currently) they work with least well and to characterize
this individual with ratings on a series of 8-point bipolar adjectives (e.g., distant– cold).
High LPC scores reflect more positive descriptions of the least preferred coworker,
whereas low LPC scores evidence more negative perceptions. Fielder argued that an
individual with a high LPC score is motivated to maintain harmonious interpersonal
relationships, whereas an individual with a low LPC score is motivated to focus on task
accomplishment.

b) Hersey & Blanchard’s situational theory- This theory is an extension of Blake and
Mouton’s Managerial Grid Model and Reddin’s 3-D management style theory. With this
model came the expansion of the notion of relationship and task dimensions to leadership
and adds a readiness dimension. Hersey and Blanchard highlight four different types of
leadership behavior based on combining directive and supportive behavior: telling,
selling (high directive, high supporting), participating (low directive, high supportive),
and delegating. The leader's function is to continually evaluate and adapt his or her
behavior to each follower's task maturity and psychological maturity to complete the task
at hand. For instance, when a follower has lower maturity, it prescribes that a leader
should tell the follower how to get the job done.