2018
COMMERCE
Course: 102
(Organizational Behaviour and Theory)
Full Marks: 80
Time: 3 hours
The figures in the margin indicate full marks for the questions.
1(a) What is Organisation? Explain the various linkages that need to be examined in studying organisational interface.
-> An entrepreneur organizes various factors of production like land, labour, capital, machinery, etc. for channelizing them into productive activities. The product finally reaches consumers through various agencies. Business activities are divided into various functions; these functions are assigned to different individuals.
Various individual efforts must lead to the achievement of common business goals. Organization is the structural framework of duties and responsibilities required of personnel in performing various functions with a view to achieve business goals through organization. Management tries to combine various business activities to accomplish predetermined goals.
Present business system is very complex. The unit must be run efficiently to stay in the competitive world of business. Various jobs are to be performed by persons most suitable for them. First of all various activities should be grouped into different functions. The authority and responsibility is fixed at various levels. All efforts should be made to co-ordinate different activities for running the units efficiently so that cost of production may be reduced and profitability of the unit may be increased.
Characteristics of Organisation:
Different authors look at the word ‘organisation’ from their own angle. One thing which is common in all the viewpoints is that organisation is the establishment of authority relationship among persons so that it helps in the achievement of organisational objectives.
Some of the characteristics of organisation are studied as follows:
1. Division of Work:
Organisation deals with the whole task of business. The total work of the enterprise is divided into activities and functions. Various activities are assigned to different persons for their efficient accomplishment. This brings in division of labour. It is not that one person cannot carry out many functions but specialisation in different activities is necessary to improve one’s efficiency. Organisation helps in dividing the work into related activities so that they are assigned to different individuals.
2. Co-Ordination:
Co-ordination of various activities is as essential as their division. It helps in integrating and harmonising various activities. Co-ordination also avoids duplications and delays. In fact, various functions in an organisation depend upon one another and the performance of one influences the other. Unless all of them are properly coordinated, the performance of all segments is adversely affected.
3. Common Objectives:
All organisational structure is a means towards the achievement of enterprise goals. The goals of various segments lead to the achievement of major business goals. The organisational structure should build around common and clear cut objectives. This will help in their proper accomplishment.
4. Co-operative Relationship:
An organisation creates co-operative relationship among various members of the group. An organisation cannot be constituted by one person. It requires at least two or more persons. Organisation is a system which helps in creating meaningful relationship among persons. The relationship should be both vertical and horizontal among members of various departments. The structure should be designed that it motivates people to perform their part of work together.
5. Well-Defined Authority-Responsibility Relationships:
An organisation consists of various positions arranged in a hierarchy with well defined authority and responsibility. There is always a central authority from which a chain of authority relationship stretches throughout the organisation. The hierarchy of positions defines the lines of communication and pattern of relationships.
Various linkages that need to be examined in studying organisational interface:
A management team makes decisions and takes actions aimed at (1) ensuring that the organizational system performs, (2) ensuring that the organizational system continually improves its performance, and (3) responding to problems and crises. To ascertain whether its decisions and actions are working, the management team measures for the purpose of obtaining selected data. Those data are then converted into information, which is portrayed and perceived by the management team. The management team formulates or reformulates decisions.
The transformation of performance data into management information requires an understanding of the linkages that relate the activities of individuals, groups, and the organization as a whole. In the process of identifying and then modelling those linkages, one must pay particular attention to the way in which performance is measured and productivity is assessed at the different levels of the organizational hierarchy. The literature and our own experience suggest the following four guidelines for constructing performance measurement systems for organizations. Each of the guidelines is examined in turn below.
An organization’s system of performance and productivity measures should be designed to support and complement the organization’s mission and objectives. Strategies, actions, and measures should be aligned.
The system of performance measures should reflect the differing needs and perspectives of managers and leaders at various levels of the organization. Measurement systems should be user driven.
Measures of performance should be flexible and dynamic in light of changes within the organization and its operating environment.
Reliance on traditional performance and productivity measures can be problematic because they are unlikely to provide all the information needed to model the relationships across organizational levels, or even to assess organizational performance and productivity completely.
(b) Discuss the Classical Organisation Theory and Neo- classical approach in Organisation.
-> Classical Organisation Theory:
The Classical Theory is the traditional theory, wherein more emphasis is on the organization rather than the employees working therein. According to the classical theory, the organization is considered as a machine and the human beings as different components/parts of that machine.
The classical theory has the following characteristics:
1. It is built on an accounting model.
2. It lays emphasis on detecting errors and correcting them once they have been committed.
3. It is more concerned with the amount of output than the human beings.
4. The human beings are considered to be relatively homogeneous and unmodifiable. Thus, labour is not divided on the basis of different kinds of jobs to be performed in an organization.
5. It is assumed that employees are relatively stable in terms of the change, in an organization.
6. It is assumed that the authority and control should be vested with the central authority only, in order to have a centralized and integrated system.
Assumptions of the Classical Organisation Theory
The classical organisation theory was based on the following assumptions:
1. The relationship between workers and management was established through
formal communications, defined tasks and accountability and formalised
procedures and practices to minimise conflict between them.
2. Workers are considered to be driven by economic considerations who can
be motivated basically by economic rewards. Money is considered the main
motivator.
3. The managers were characterised as rational, kind-hearted, intelligent
and qualified personnel but they are supposed to deal with the workers
firmly in the system.
4. The classical organisation theory assumes that the organisation is a
machine and the people its components. In order to make any improvement in
the whole system, internal factors were considered and less attention was
given to factors in the external environment which may constrain and
facilitate the system.
5. It has been assumed by the theory that both workers and managers are
rational. Workers can easily perceive that their interests can be served
only by increasing the productivity and getting more wages for higher
productivity, on the other hand, management gets the fruits of higher
productivity. Management tries to find out best ways of doing a job by
introducing new improvements in machines and devoting time to such
technical engineering and administrative aspect of organisation which can
make the man produce as much as he can with minimum expenses so that
workers can contribute more to the organisation and earn more for
themselves in return.
6. The classical organisation theory puts special emphasis on the error and
particularly on the detection of error and its correction after it happens.
7. The classical organisation theory assumes that man is relatively
homogeneous and unmodifiable while designing the jobs and in picking the
extra pairs of hands.
8. The classical organisation theory, in its essential character, is
centralised. The integration of the system is achieved through the
authority and control of the central mechanism.
Two Streams of the Classical Organisation Theory
Classical theorists were divided in opinion. The two streams are scientific
management and administrative management. The scientific management stream
of the organisation theory emphasised on the efficiency of lower levels of
the organisation while administrative stream focused on the efficiency of
higher levels. F.W. Taylor is called the father of scientific management
approach. Taylor and his followers insisted upon dividing and sub-dividing
the tasks through time and motion studies because he was of the view that
objective analysis of facts and collection of data in the workplace could
provide the basis for determining the best way to organise the work. Thus,
they investigated the effective use of human beings in industrial
organisations and studied primarily the use of human beings as adjuncts to
machines in the performance of routine tasks. The approach taken by
this theory is quite narrow and encompasses primarily psychological
variables. As such this theory is also referred to as ‘Machine Theory’ or
‘Physiological Theory.’ The scientific management group was mainly
concerned with the tasks at floor or operative levels, and these tasks were
quite different from other tasks in the organisation because:
1. These tasks are largely repetitive in nature so that the daily
activities of a worker can be sub-divided into a large number of cyclical
repetitions of essentially the same or closely related activities.
2. These tasks do not require any problem-solving activity by the workers
who handle them. Thus, more attention was given in standardising the
working methods. The second stream is the administrative stream of
organisation theory emphasises efficiency at higher levels. It was
concerned with the managerial organisation and process. Henry Fayol was the
leader for this group. He, for the first time, studied the functions and
laid down principles of management in a systematic manner for the guidance
of managers. The other contributors were Gulick, Oliver Sheldon, Mooney and
Reiley, Berwick, Weber and others. The theorists have viewed the central
problem as being one where there must be the identification of tasks
necessary for achieving the general purpose of the organisation and of the
grouping or departmentalizing, to fulfil those functions most effectively.
These two approaches are similar in recognising the fact that organisation
is a closed system, however, there are differences between the two.
Key Characteristics of the Classical Organisation Theory:-
Scott and Mitchell have pointed out four key pillars on which the classical organisation theory seems to have been built. They are:
1. Division of Labour: Division of labour refers to
the division of tasks of an organisation into sub-tasks and then allow
these sub-tasks or sub-parts to individuals. The allotment should be in
such a way that each individual would have a small task so that he can
specialise himself in that part with a view to improving the efficiency of
the organisation while at the same time, the total of individuals’ tasks
should add up to the organisation’s goals and objectives. The approach
rests upon the simple assumption that the more a particular job is broken
down into its component parts, the more specialised a worker can become in
carrying out his part of the job and the more specialised he becomes, the
more efficient the whole organisation will be. This element is the
cornerstone among the four elements mentioned above because other three
elements are dependent upon the division of labour.
2. The Scalar and Functional Processes: The scalar
and functional processes deal with the vertical and horizontal
organisation. The scalar process deals with the vertical elaboration of an
organisation. In other words, it is the chain of command or the line of
authority, along which authority flows from the top (chief executive) to
the bottom (first line supervisor), and obligations and reporting from the
bottom to the top. Each one in the organisation is told who their superiors
are and who are their subordinates or to whom they are responsible and
accountable for performing their job. A delegation of authority flows from
this line of command. The functional process deals with the horizontal
organisation, i.e., a grouping of various functions into units and clearly
defining the relationship between the various heads of the units. The
grouping of functions can be done on the basis of purpose, process,
clientele, place and time.
3. Structure: It refers to the
logical relationship of functions in an organisation arranged in order to
accomplish the objectives. These relationships are a line and staff
relationships. People, departments, divisions and other segments of the
organisation that are authorised to determine the basic objectives of the
business and assess their achievements constitute the line. The staff is
that part of the organisation which assists and advises the line on matters
concerning it, in carrying out its duties. For example, in a manufacturing
concern, production is a line function while personnel and finance are the
staff functions.
4. The Span of Control: In order to achieve the
objectives, the managers are to get the work done from the unlimited number
of workers in a large organisation. A manager cannot supervise an unlimited
number of people. The span of control refers to the number of subordinates
a supervisor can supervise effectively. Wide span yields a flat structure
whereas short span results in a tall structure. Grains has developed a
mathematical formula to show the numerical limitations of the subordinates,
a manager can control. If an organisation is designed on the above
principle, it will look like a pyramid. At the top of the structure, there
is head of the organisation followed by the top executive, executives,
middle managers, junior managers and at the bottom the first line
supervisors. Chain of command and line of communication both flow from the
top to the bottom in this structure. The line of responsibility, however,
flows from bottom to top. There is no provision of upward communication in
this system except in relation to the results of task performance.
Neo-classical theory
The neoclassical theory was an attempt at incorporating the behavioural sciences into management thought in order to solve the problems caused by classical theory practices. The premise of this inclusion was based on the idea that the role of management is to use employees to get things done in organizations. Rather than focus on production, structures, or technology, the neoclassical theory was concerned with the employee. Neoclassical theorists concentrated on answering questions related to the best way to motivate, structure, and support employees within the organization.
Studies during this time, including the popular Hawthorne studies , revealed that social factors, such as employee relationships, were an important factor for managers to consider. It was believed that any manager who failed to account for the social needs of his or her employees could expect to deal with resistance and lower performance. Employees needed to find some intrinsic value in their jobs, which they certainly were not getting from the job that was highly standardized. Rather than placing employees into job roles, where they completed one specific task all day with little to no interaction with co-workers, employees could be structured in such a way that they would frequently share tasks, information, and knowledge with one another. The belief was that once employees were placed into this alternate structure, their needs for socialization would be fulfilled, and thus they would be more productive.
Two Movements in the Neoclassical Theory:-
The neoclassical theory encompasses approaches and theories that focus on the human side of an organization. There are two main sources of neoclassical theory: the human relations movement and the behavioural movement. The human relations movement arose from the work of several sociologists and social physiologists who concerned themselves with how people relate and interact within a group. The behavioural movement came from various psychologists who focused on the individual behaviour of employees. To better understand these movements, let’s take a look at how the work of these various sociologists and psychologists influenced management thought.
2(a) What is Authority? Discuss in brief the different types of Authority with examples.
-> Authority is the legitimate power which one person or a group possesses and practices over another. The element of legitimacy is vital to the notion of authority and is the main means by which authority is distinguished from the more general concept of power .
Some of the important characteristics of authority are :(a) legitimacy (b) dominance (c) an informal power (d) rationality and (e) accountability.
(a) Legitimacy:
It determines the effectiveness of authority. Hence it is the hall mark of the concept of authority. According to Robert Dahl “A commands B and B feels A has perfect right to do so and to which he has complete obligation to obey. Power of this kind is often said to be legitimate………. Legitimate power is often called authority.”
(b) Dominance:
Authority is capacity of the individual to command others. An individual or a group which possesses authority exercises dominance over other individuals. Authority is a command of superior to an inferior.
(c) An informal power:
It is not a formal power as it lacks characteristics which are the main features of power. According to Fredrick “Authority is not a power but something that accompanies power.” It is the quality in men and things which adds to their power, something which creates power but it is not itself power.
(d) Rationality:
This is the main characteristic of authority. In the words of Fredrick, ‘The man who has authority possesses something that I would describe as the capacity for reasoned elaboration for giving convincing reasons for what he does or proposes to have others to do.” Evidently the basis of authority is logic or reason.
(e) Accountability:
The individual or a group of individuals who possess authority are responsible to some higher authority. In a democratic system accountability is the most significant characteristic of authority.
Types of Authority:-
Traditional Authority
According to Weber, the power of traditional authority is accepted because that has traditionally been the case; its legitimacy exists because it has been accepted for a long time. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, for instance, occupies a position that she inherited based on the traditional rules of succession for the monarchy. People adhere to traditional authority because they are invested in the past and feel obligated to perpetuate it. In this type of authority, a ruler typically has no real force to carry out his will or maintain his position but depends primarily on a group’s respect.
A more modern form of traditional authority is patrimonialism, which is traditional domination facilitated by an administration and military that are purely personal instruments of the master (Eisenberg 1998). In this form of authority, all officials are personal favourites appointed by the ruler. These officials have no rights, and their privileges can be increased or withdrawn based on the caprices of the leader. The political organization of ancient Egypt typified such a system: when the royal household decreed that a pyramid be built, every Egyptian was forced to work toward its construction.
Traditional authority can be intertwined with race, class, and gender. In most societies, for instance, men are more likely to be privileged than women and thus are more likely to hold roles of authority. Similarly, members of dominant racial groups or upper-class families also win respect more readily. In the United States, the Kennedy family, which has produced many prominent politicians, exemplifies this model.
Charismatic Authority
Followers accept the power of charismatic authority because they are drawn to the leader’s personal qualities. The appeal of a charismatic leader can be extraordinary, and can inspire followers to make unusual sacrifices or to persevere in the midst of great hardship and persecution. Charismatic leaders usually emerge in times of crisis and offer innovative or radical solutions. They may even offer a vision of a new world order. Hitler’s rise to power in the postwar economic depression of Germany is an example.
Charismatic leaders tend to hold power for short durations, and according to Weber, they are just as likely to be tyrannical as they are heroic. Diverse male leaders such as Hitler, Napoleon, Jesus Christ, César Chávez, Malcolm X, and Winston Churchill are all considered charismatic leaders. Because so few women have held dynamic positions of leadership throughout history, the list of charismatic female leaders is comparatively short. Many historians consider figures such as Joan of Arc, Margaret Thatcher, and Mother Teresa to be charismatic leaders.
Rational-Legal Authority
According to Weber, power made legitimate by laws, written rules, and regulations is termed rational-legal authority. In this type of authority, power is vested in a particular rationale, system, or ideology and not necessarily in the person who implements the specifics of that doctrine. A nation that follows a constitution applies this type of authority. On a smaller scale, you might encounter rational-legal authority in the workplace via the standards set forth in the employee handbook, which provides a different type of authority than that of your boss.
Of course, ideals are seldom replicated in the real world. Few governments or leaders can be neatly categorized. Some leaders, like Mohandas Gandhi for instance, can be considered charismatic and legal-rational authority figures. Similarly, a leader or government can start out exemplifying one type of authority and gradually evolve or change into another type.
(b) Define Centralisation and Decentralisation. Describe briefly the factors influencing Centralisation or Decentralisation and also mention some of the advantages of both.
-> Definitions of Centralisation:
Centralisation has been defined as the “systematic and consistent reservation of authority at central point within the organisation.” This means the scope for delegation is limited as far as possible, the decisions are taken at the executive level precluding thereby the subordinates from taking decisions or performing some work.
In this way, under centralisation, the executive reserves work for himself instead of delegating to his subordinate and ultimately reserves authority; but where he is forced to delegate work, he may do as by not delegating adequate authority so that the subordinate must approach him to arrive at approximate decision.
As stated by Louis A. Allen, “centralisation denotes that a majority of the decisions having to do with the work being performed are not made by those doing the work but at a point higher in the organisation.” Further, Henry Fayol defines it as “everything that goes to increase importance of the subordinate’s role is decentralisation, everything which goes to reduce it is centralisation.”
Factors of Centralisation are:
(1) To Facilitate Personal Leadership:
Where company’s size is not large, personal leadership plays an important role particularly at the early stage of its growth. Under such a form of organisation, personal leadership will have a potent influence retaining power of authority and responsibility at the central point. The existence and success of new but small enterprises may depend upon singleness and flexibility.
He is a talented leader, who, with all powers in his hand, not only commands but takes quick decisions, and imaginative action. He further sees that his small centralised company often shows distinctive flair in adopting new fashionable style, production pattern and new techniques is sales. All these may put his concern at a competitive advantage as against those that are decentralised. Therefore, centralisation in a small company is adopted giving full scope to a dynamic leader.
(2) To Provide Integration:
For the accomplishment of operation of the enterprise, it is found by many companies that integration of activities is an essence of operation and tins objective can be fulfilled only when there is centralisation in the company. Common objectives can be fulfilled by integrating different activities. This is possible by issuing central directions; hence is the need of centralisation.
(3) To Promote Uniformity of Action:
When a company desires that it’s all branches must have a uniform policy as regards purchases, sales, advertisements etc. and feels that there should be uniformity in existence, there must be centralisation of the appropriate decisions.
Centralisation is practised largely where:
(a) Uniformity of action is desired particularly in a multi- unit company;
(b) Uniformity of action for handling personnel matters is important;
(c) Framework within which salary, job classifications and salary ranges are to be established;
(d) Uniformity in the goods offered for sale is necessary; buying of such goods is centralised;
(e) To schedule production more effectively in its own factories, buying of materials is centralised;
(f) Uniformity of these, quality as to type of advertisement art work, copy and design etc. to be ensured on uniform basis for advertisement programme.
(4) To Handle Emergencies:
Emergency decisions that are likely to affect all units of the company are made by the central authority to maintain proper equilibrium between executives and subordinates of all different units. As we find that the competition is more acute or the emergency is urgent and immediate, the need for centralised decision making is also great.
Advantages of Centralization:
Too much of decentralization gives a certain degree of freedom and autonomy to lower level managers, which is dangerous to the organizations. Therefore, to certain extent in certain aspects centralized control is essential.
The advantages of centralization are:
(i) Symbol of Prestige:
Because of centralized power, the chief executive of the enterprise will get more power and importance, which is a Prestige Symbol for him.
(ii) Uniformity in Policies, Decisions etc.:
As policies, decisions and practices are made at top level of the enterprise, there will be uniformity in them.
(iii) Lower Costs:
Few number of specialist staff are required under centralization as they are pooled up centrally and fewer physical resources are required which aims at reduction in operating costs.
(iv) Better Specialists:
Centralization aims at use of few highly qualified specialists, as the quantum of their work and scope are adequate to support and challenge such executives.
(v) Tighter Control:
Under centralization, all the facts are coming to the notice of the top executive. He himself can use his authority to set the things right. In this way, centralization aims at greater and tighter control.
Meaning of Decentralisation:
Decentralisation of authority may be defined as “a situation in which ultimate authority to command and ultimate responsibility for results is localised as far down in the organisation as efficient management of the organisation, permits. It is carried out by creating; under a central organisation, a number of autonomous units with mandates to operate as independent units.”
From this definition it is clear that decentralisation is a systematic effort made for delegating authority to the lowest levels in the organisation. However, the right to take decisions on vital matters will remain with the central authority. But when the lowest levels receive Orders, they receive them with necessary amount of responsibility and authority. They get more or less autonomous position in the organisation. Thus decentralisation is mainly concerned with the placement of authority with reference to responsibility.
Factors of Decentralisation:
(1) To Ease Burden on Top Executive:
Centralisation of authority puts the whole responsibility on the shoulders of the executive and his immediate group. This will put the executive in an embarrassing position, because he is over-burdened with each and every aspect of management and, therefore, will hardly find any time to think over and plan ahead, for organisational problems, co-ordination and business controls.
Proliferation of personal staff by the executives is an indication that he is tired of his job and would like to get assistance from his colleagues to complete part of his workload. When this has been practised very often, there will be a general discontent among his assistants, since they are to do the work without having any authority.
Centralised executive also forms committee to get rid of his work-load. Through this method, he brings together experienced managers who are well qualified to take approximate decisions. This is how the executive tries to lessen the burden of his work by introducing systematic decentralisation.
(2) To Facilitate Diversification:
Diversification of products or marketing is possible when divisionalisation is generally based on the principle of decentralisation. Even without diversification, a company can grow very large either in sales or employees and can be managed by one man, provided problems presented to him are limited in respect to his capacity and are not complex and varied. This is possible again only when one line of business is prevailing.
But where a company deals in varied products such as chemicals, feeds and pharmaceuticals etc., one man’s control over all the different aspects of marketing these products will not be effective. So, in order to grow markets for these varied products, decentralisation must be adopted to such point where skilled and experienced judgement can be brought fully to solve the major problems.
Thus we find that it is diversity, rather than size, which is mainly responsible for decentralisation. This conclusion holds well in any type of company irrespective of its size.
(3) To Provide Market and Product Emphasis:
When a company is not in a position to satisfy its customers by supplying the products and fails very badly to face the competition, it is ascribed to the inefficiency of a highly centralised management. In a competitive market, customers expect salesman to offer them a new style, lower prices, qualitative goods etc. without bothering themselves with the difficulties of the top management.
Therefore, a customer can be given full satisfaction in respect of quality, delivery, novelty and prices of products he intends to purchase if different departments are formed with full responsibility and authority. This ends the process of centralisation and given birth to decentralisation.
(4) To Encourage Development of Managers:
If management is centralised, hardly one or two a chance to take decisions on vital matters. This method provides no opportunity to others either at the middle or lower level management to develop their thinking power nor gives them a chance to show their ability, skill or efficiency in handling matters independently.
The development of managers is possible only by giving them a management job to do and delegating to them the authority to make important decisions. It is also found that decentralisation gives managers freedom to try new methods and techniques and a chance to every individual to learn how to lead. Further, decentralisation helps managers to develop their skill, because it spreads decision making to more positions.
It has been observed that organisation structure can influence the motivation of people within the company. If the organisation structure is based on sound principles, it also motivates managers to the highest productivity. Therefore, the organisation structure expected for this purpose should be of small groups and should provide not only close interaction but mutual interdependence.
This means the large-scale decentralisation stimulates the formation of small cohesive groups. Where the organisation is decentralised, leadership in this type of organisation demands a high degree of participation, constant effort to communicate, and continuing personal interest in the welfare of the members of the company. Under decentralisation scheme, the executive will be further motivated since he gets opportunity to work closely with his subordinates and is, therefore encouraged to guide them and also to appraise their performance.
The advantages of decentralization are:
(i) Gives Relief to Higher Executive:
By delegating a part of their authority to subordinates, higher up executive will get some relief and he can concentrate his time on important matters. In fact, decentralization is a means of expanding business activates.
(ii) Facilitates Managerial Development:
As delegation of a part of authority of higher executive to the subordinate, the subordinate will get experience in discharging his superior. This will make the juniors to learn work and become capable for promotion, by learning managerial work like planning, organizing, staffing and controlling.
(iii) Promotes Coordination:
Because of the decentralization, junior’s gets opportunities of promotion, because of their managerial capability acquired through delegation of authority by superiors. Naturally it smoothens personal relationship and promotes coordination among employees.
(iv) Boosts the Moral and Efficiency of Managers:
Because of decentralization the divisional managers performing the superior’s duty with greater care, this will enhance the performance of his department or division. The department’s achievements may be measured in terms of benefits to the enterprise from the divisions to recognize the efficiency of divisional manager and necessary award may be given to the division. This will generally boosts the moral and efficiency of divisional managers.
(v) Infuses Greater Motivation:
By delegating greater decision making power on managers down the line, imitative is prompted and they are motivated to higher performance.
3(a) What is meant by Organisational Behaviour? Mention different types of attitudes. How attitudes can be changed, described briefly?
-> The study of Organizational Behaviour (OB) is very interesting and challenging too. It is related to individuals, group of people working together in teams. The study becomes more challenging when situational factors interact. The study of organizational behaviour relates to the expected behaviour of an individual in the organization.
No two individuals are likely to behave in the same manner in a particular work situation. It is the predictability of a manager about the expected behaviour of an individual. There are no absolutes in human behaviour. It is the human factor that is contributory to the productivity hence the study of human behaviour is important. Great importance therefore must be attached to the study.
Researchers, management practitioners, psychologists, and social scientists must understand the very credentials of an individual, his background, social framework, educational update, impact of social groups and other situational factors on behaviour.
Managers under whom an individual is working should be able to explain, predict, evaluate and modify human behaviour that will largely depend upon knowledge, skill and experience of the manager in handling large group of people in diverse situations. Pre-emptive actions need to be taken for human behaviour forecasting.
The value system, emotional intelligence, organizational culture, job design and the work environment are important causal agents in determining human behaviour. Cause and effect relationship plays an important role in how an individual is likely to behave in a particular situation and its impact on productivity.
An appropriate organizational culture can modify individual behaviour. Recent trends exist in laying greater stress on organizational development and imbibing a favourable organizational culture in each individual. It also involves fostering a team spirit and motivation so that the organizational objectives are achieved.
There is a need for commitment on the part of the management that should be continuous and incremental in nature.
The determinants of the organizational behaviour are as under:
There are three major factors that affect OB. The working environment being the base for all three factors, they are also known as the determinants of OB. The three determinants are −
1. People
2. Structure
3. Technology
People:
An organization consists of people with different traits, personality, skills, qualities, interests, background, beliefs, values and intelligence. In order to maintain a healthy environment, all the employees should be treated equally and be judged according to their work and other aspects that affect the firm.
Example − A company offers campus placement to trainees from different states like Orissa, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh and many more. However, during and after training, all trainees are examined only on the basis of their performance in the tasks assigned.
Organizational Structure:
Structure is the layout design of an organization. It is the construction and arrangement of relationships, strategies according to the organizational goal.
Example − Organizational structure defines the relation of a manager with employees and co-workers.
Technology:
Technology can be defined as the implementation of scientific knowledge for practical usage. It also provides the resources required by the people that affect their work and task performance in the right direction.
Example − Introduction of SAP, big data and other software in the market determines individual and organizational performance.
Attitude:
Attitude can be described as a tendency to react positively or negatively to a person or circumstances.
Thus the two main elements of attitude are this tendency or predisposition and the direction of this predisposition.
It has been defined as a mental state of readiness; organize to through experience which exerts a directive or dynamic influence on the responses.
These can also be explicit and implicit.
Explicit attitudes are those that we are consciously aware of and that clearly influence our behaviours and beliefs. Implicit attitudes are unconscious, but still, have an effect on our beliefs and behaviours.
As said by psychologists Thomas who imposes limits as a level attitude trend is positive and negative, associated with the object of psychology.
Object psychology here includes symbols, words, slogans, people, institutions, ideas and so on.
Characteristics of Attitude are;
1. Attitudes are the complex combination of things we tend to call personality, beliefs, values, behaviours, and motivations.
2. It can fall anywhere along a continuum from very favourable to very unfavourable.
3. All people, irrespective of their status or intelligence, hold attitudes.
4. An attitude exists in every person’s mind. It helps to define our identity, guide our actions, and influence how we judge people.
5. Although the feeling and belief components of attitude are internal to a person, we can view a person’s attitude from his or her resulting behaviour.
6. Attitude helps us define how we see situations, as well as define how we behave toward the situation or object.
7. It provides us with internal cognitions or beliefs and thoughts about people and objects.
8. It can also be explicit and implicit. Explicit attitude is those that we are consciously aware of an implicit attitude is unconscious, but still, have an effect on our behaviours.
9. Attitudes cause us to behave in a particular way toward an object or person.
10. An attitude is a summary of a person’s past experience; thus, an attitude is grounded in direct experience predicts future behaviour more accurately.
11. It includes certain aspects of the personality as interests, appreciation and social conduct.
12. It indicates the sum total of a man’s inclinations and feelings.
13. An attitude is a point of view, substantiated or otherwise, true or false which one holds towards an idea, object or person.
14. It has aspects such as direction, intensity, generality or specificity.
15. It refers to one’s readiness for doing Work.
16. It may be positive or negative and may be affected by age, position, and education.
Types of Attitude:-
1. Job Satisfaction,
2. Job Involvement,
3. Organizational Commitment.
Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction is the level of contentment a person feels regarding his or her job . This feeling is mainly based on an individual’s perception of satisfaction.
A person with a high level of job satisfaction holds positive attitudes about the job, while a person who is dissatisfied with his or her job holds a negative attitude about the job.
A person having a negative attitude shows a personality disposition that is inclined to experience nervousness, tension, upset, distress, etc. whereas those with a positive attitude will feel happy themselves, others and their work.
Generally, it is deemed a high level of job satisfaction means positive attitudes towards the job and vice versa.
When people speak of employee attitudes, more often than not they mean job satisfaction. In fact, the two are frequently used interchangeably.
Job Involvement
Job involvement refers to the degree with which an individual identifies psychologically with his or her job and perceives his or her perceived performance level important to self-worth.
High levels of job involvement are related to fewer absences and lower resignation rates.
However, it seems to more consistently predict turnover than absenteeism, according to as much as 16 percent of the variance in the former.
Organizational Commitment
The last job-attitude refers to organizational commitment. It is understood as one’s identification with his or her organization and feels proud of being its employee.
It is defined as a state in which an employee identifies with a particular organization and, its goals, and wishes to maintain membership in the organization.
Different studies demonstrate that an individual’s level of organizational commitment is a better indicator of turnover than the far more frequently used job satisfaction predictor, explaining as much as 34 percent of the variance.
Basically, turnover and absenteeism are low when employees have an organizational commitment.
Attitude can be changed if we differentiate negative attitude from a positive attitude.
A positive attitude can bring positive change in life, it is difficult to change attitudes but with some effort, it can be done.
The individual from a culturally deprived environment who holds an array of hostile attitudes may change often he is given opportunities for education.
A person from a privileged subculture, who has always held to a democratic attitude, may become negative towards some group because of one unfortunate experience.
Well established attitudes tend to be resistant to change, but others may be more amenable to change.
Attitudes can be changed b a variety of ways.
Ways of Changing Attitude
·New information will help to change attitudes.
·Negative attitudes are mainly formed owing to insufficient information.
·Attitudes may change through direct experience.
·Another way in which attitudes can be changed is by resolving discrepancies between attitudes and behaviour.
·Change of attitude can come through the persuasion of friends or peers.
·Attitudes may change through legislation.
·Since a person’s attitudes are anchored in his membership group and reference groups, one way to change the attitude is to modify one or the other.
·Fear can change attitude. If low levels of fear are used, people often ignore them.
·Changing the attitude differs with reference to the situation also.
(b) Discuss about the Transactional Analysis and its uses.
-> When people transact and exchange ideas and information, they are either comfortable or uncomfortable communicating with each other. Transactional analysis is a technique which helps to understand the behaviour of other person so that communication becomes effective. Understanding human behaviour helps to motivate, guide and direct other persons.
Transactional Analysis (TA), thus, facilitates communication. TA studies transactions amongst people and understands their interpersonal behaviour. It was developed by Eric Berne, a psychotherapist. He observed there are several ‘people’ inside each person who interact with other people in different ways.
To understand TA, one should understand the following:
1) Ego States
2) Life position and
3) Analysis of Transactions.
Ego States
It represents a person’s way of thinking, feeling and behaving. There are three ego states present in everyone: child, parents and adult. They are related to behaviour of a person and not his age. However, they are present in every person in varying degrees. There may be more of one ego state than another at a specific point of time. When two persons communicate with each other, communication is affected by their ego states. These are;
a) Child Ego- Child behaviour reflects a person’s response to communicate in the form of joy, sorrow, frustration or curiosity. These are the natural feelings that people learn as children. It reflects immediate action and immediate satisfaction. It reflects childhood experience of a person gained generally up to the age of five years.
A child can be:
Natural child – He is naturally curious, joyous or scornful. He does what comes his way naturally.
Adaptive child- He reacts the way his parents want him to react. He is trained to act.
Rebellious child- He has the experience of fear, frustration and anger.
(b) Parent Ego:
Parent behaviour is acquired through external environment. As young children, their parents’ behaviour remains embedded in their minds which are reflected as parental ego when they grow up. It usually reflects protection, displeasure, reference to rules and working on the basis of past precedents.
This can be:
(i) Nurturing parent ego:
As nurturing parents, managers praise good performance of the workers. They interact with them and help them during times of distress. They reflect nurturing behaviour towards others.
(ii) Negative or critical parent ego:
As critical parents, managers criticize or ignore poor performance of the workers rather than help them to improve. They have a critical attitude while interacting with others.
(c) Adult ego:
Adult behaviour reflects the ability to analyse the situation and take logical decisions. He overcomes the emotional feelings and takes decisions based on facts and figures. This state is based upon reasoning, thinking, experience, rationality and discussion based on facts.
It updates the parental ego to determine what is right and wrong and child ego to determine what feelings to express and what not to express. These ego states are present in all human beings at some time or the other. People respond to different situations in different ways depending on their ego state.
2. Life Position:
Behaviour of a person depends upon his experience at different stages of his life. He develops a philosophy towards work from early childhood which becomes part of his identity and remains with him for lifetime unless some external factor changes it. These positions are called life time positions.
They fall into four categories:
(a) I am OK, You are OK.
(b) I am OK, You are not OK.
(c) I am not OK, You are OK.
(d) I am not OK, You are not OK.
(a) I am OK, You are OK:
This life position represents adult ego of a person. It becomes the philosophy of a person who has good and positive experiences with others. They feel confident about themselves and others. Managers with this life position believe in give and take. They are competent to take decisions and also allow others to participate in the decision-making processes. They delegate authority and express confidence and consistency in others. They are not threatened by others and express freely what they want to express.
(b) I am OK, You are not OK:
This life position represents parent ego of a person who is brought up as a rebellious child. They have critical attitude towards others. They believe whatever they do is right and blame others for their wrong acts. This usually happens when a person is ignored as a child.
Managers with this life position have critical attitude towards others. They find faults with others and lack trust, faith and confidence in them. They believe whatever they do is right and, therefore, do not delegate tasks to others.
(c) lam not OK, You are OK:
This life position represents a state of distrust in the person himself. He lacks confidence in whatever he does. He believes he cannot do things that people around him can do and, therefore, keeps grumbling most of the times about something or the other.
Managers with this life position are usually not good managers. They do not perform well, have an erratic behaviour, feel guilty for their acts and often use excuses to act against others.
(d) I am not OK, You are not OK:
This life position represents a desperate state of persons who have lost interest in life. They have been brought up as neglected children and, therefore, have negative attitude towards life. In extreme situations, they may even commit suicide. Managers with this life position do not believe in themselves and others. They make mistakes in work, do not make proper decisions and also do not believe in decisions made by others.
One of these life positions dominates every person at a point of time. The optimum position is ‘I am OK, You are OK where a person believes in himself and others. It represents an adult- adult transaction and a psychologically matured state of mind. This position can be achieved through education and managers should try to reach this stage through training and development programmes in their interest and interest of the organisation.
3. Analysis of Transactions:
When two persons interact or communicate with each other, there is a transaction between them. While transacting, both of them are at different ego states.
Based on the ego states, two types of transactions can take place:
(a) Complementary and
(b) Crossed.
(a) In complementary transactions, sender of information gets an expected response from the receiver. People get expected response from each other because both are in the expected ego states. Both are, therefore, satisfied and communication is complete. In complementary transactions, ego states of two persons are parallel to each other. Stimulus and response patterns are as predicted.
(b) In crossed transactions, sender gets unexpected response from the receiver which obstructs the process of communication. Stimulus – response lines are not parallel in these transactions. Rather, they cross each other. The person who initiates the transaction or creates a stimulus gets a response he does not expect.
4(a) Compare and contrast Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory with Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory of Motivation.
-> Motivation implies the process of encouraging people to act in order to attain the desired objectives. It is something that stimulates an individual to keep doing the act already initiated. In this context, Abraham Maslow, a renowned psychologist, highlighted the elements of the theory of motivation, in a classic paper released in 1943. His theory is based on human needs and its fulfilment.
Abraham Maslow is an American psychologist, who introduced the popular ‘Need hierarchy theory’ on motivation. The theory emphasizes the urge to satisfy needs of people working in the organization.
The theory is divided into two categories, i.e. growth needs and deficiency needs, which are further, sub classified into five needs, within each individual, represented in the shape of a pyramid. The theory is based on the premise that human needs are in proper sequence, wherein psychological need is at the bottom, and self-actualisation needs are at the top level. Other needs, i.e. safety needs, social needs and esteem needs are in the middle. It infers that higher level needs cannot evolve until the lower level needs are not satisfied. As the needs of human beings are unlimited, whenever one need is satisfied, another need take its place. Moreover, an unsatisfied need is the motivator which governs the behaviour of the individual.
On the other hand, Frederick Herzberg is an American psychologist, who coined out the concept of job enrichment and two-factor theory on motivation based on rewards and incentives. He attempted to shed more light on the concept of work motivation.
Frederick Herzberg is a behavioural scientist, who developed a theory in the year 1959 called as the two-factor theory on motivation or motivation-hygiene theory.
Herzberg and his associates carried out interviews of 200 persons including engineers and accountants. In that survey, they were asked about the components of job that make them happy or unhappy, and their answers made it clear that it was the working environment that causes unhappiness or dissatisfaction.
As per the theory, hygiene factors are essential to keep a reasonable level of satisfaction among employees. Such factors do not actually result in satisfaction, but their absence causes dissatisfaction, that is why, they are known as dissatisfies. Secondly, motivational factors are inherent to the job, and so the increase in these factors will lead to the rise in the satisfaction level, while the decrease does not cause dissatisfaction in employees.
Key Difference between Maslow and Herzberg’s Theory of Motivation:-
The basic points of difference between Maslow and Herzberg’s theory of motivation can be summed up as under:
1. Maslow’s Theory is a general theory of motivation which expresses that the urge to satisfy needs is the principle variable in motivation. In contrast, Herzberg’s Theory on motivation reveals that there are some variables existing at the workplace that results in job satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
2. Maslow’s theory is descriptive, whereas the theory propounded by Herzberg is simple and prescriptive.
3. The basis of Maslow’s theory is human needs and their satisfaction. On the other hand, the Herzberg’s theory relies on reward and recognition.
4. In Maslow’s theory, there is a proper sequence of needs from lower to higher. Conversely, no such sequence exists in the case of Herzberg’s theory.
5 Maslow’s theory states that unsatisfied needs of an individual act as the stimulator. As against, Herzberg’s theory reveals that gratified needs govern the behaviour and performance of an individual.
6. The needs of an individual are divided into two categories i.e. survival/deficiency needs and growth needs as per Maslow. On the classified into Hygiene and motivator factors.
7. In Maslow’s theory, any unsatisfied need of an individual serves as the motivator. Unlike in the case of Herzberg, only higher level needs are counted the motivator.
(b) Who is a Leader? Discuss with examples the different leadership styles.
-> Leaders are a beacon of change. They question ideas and give answers to questions nobody wants to. And it is not easy. Most of us would not even dare to tread on these thin ropes that hang stretched thin between the pillars of right and wrong. But people need leaders to show them, what is indeed right. That is where your leadership abilities come into play, and even the world of leaders has rules. To be the leader you want to be, you need to follow some principles of leadership that will help you stay sane in the midst of people who continuously look up to you.
This is a selfish world no doubt. It is not hard to find people who prefer living for themselves in the shroud of complete disregard of others. Marcus Aurelius believes that we came into this world for the sake of one another and we were meant to live, survive, and thrive in harmony. Being a leader, you should try to instil the realization in people that life is not just about them. Leaders should become guardians of their followers and inspire them to help each other. And when this thought finds its ground in an organization, there is a wide horizon for growth.
Leaders are humans, and humans make mistakes. Every leader should try to make sure that they do not over-exalt themselves for when they do so, they reduce the waiver for mistakes, which small or big, humans are bound to make, and so are leaders. Be humble to yourself and your followers and try to rectify the mistakes they make. This will help you gain closure about your followers and beget respect in their minds for you.
Most of the leaders in today’s industry adapt leadership roles as they see fit. In that order, there is no specific formula which predefines a certain leadership style, or type of a leader for that matter. However, it doesn’t hurt anyone to know a thing or two about leadership before actually performing that role within any capacity.
The different leadership styles are:-
1. Transformational Leader:
Transformational leaders normally step up the ladder once they are employed in a small position. You may have seen one or two people in the company who get promoted and acquire the responsibilities of a division head, manager or any other senior-level post. These people are transformational leaders. However, there’s also an element of “brown-nosing”. We also call it favoritism where a certain employee tends to stick around whenever senior management walks in. Don’t be that guy. No one likes this kind of person.
Your fellow employees will talk behind your back, and eventually, you’ll be out-casted. If you go up the rungs this way, you’re only going to be a self-proclaimed transformational leader. No one else will regard you in that capacity.
2. Transactional Leaders:
Transactional leadership was already mentioned earlier in this write-up. This is the kind of leader who sets an effort vs. rewards criterion in an organization. Normally, transactional leaders are good, but they can also get on your nerves if they start punishing people for underperforming.
The worst kind of transactional leader is a person who holds employees against their will to turn in a submission or meet a deadline for upper management’s benefit. The good thing about this style of leadership is their tenacity to get work done. They set incentives and employees feel motivated to do their best.
3. Servant Leadership:
Most of the leaders in today’s industry adapt leadership roles as they see fit. In that order, there is no specific formula which predefines a certain leadership style, or type of a leader for that matter. However, it doesn’t hurt anyone to know a thing or two about leadership before actually performing that role within any capacity.
4. Autocratic Leadership:
This leadership is an integral part of leadership styles examples. Autocratic leaders are focused on a results-oriented approach. They mostly make decisions alone. They don’t trust everyone easily, and they also expect others to be just as much passionate about work as they are. Autocratic leaders are exceptional military commanders.
However, in the business sector, this type of leader is rarely seen. The reason is attributed to different environment setup and organization structure where old school autocratic leadership methods cannot be directly applied. Since all the employees are working as civilians, they are under no obligation to follow “orders” as seen in a military setup.
An autocratic leader is best suited to an organization where policies are strict. In such companies, creativity and initiative are at an all-time low. Everyone works in a system like a robot. If you are part of such a company, we advise you to move on – unless and until you are an autocratic leader yourself!
5. Hands off Leadership:
Often called Laissez-Faire, hands-off leaders are an important part of leadership styles examples. Have you ever heard of the expression: “I leave that to you in your capable hands?” Laissez-Faire leaders simply delegate tasks and expect their subordinates to complete those tasks to the best of their abilities. Hence the expression “hands-off leader” came into existence. These leaders are good in the sense that they are not very strict on policies. Workers define their work hours for as long as they are completing their activities and meeting the desired quota.
Laissez-Faire leaders also recognize those employees who over-deliver – and reward them accordingly. Those employees, who can work under minimum supervision, are best suited under the wings of a laissez-faire leader.
6. Democratic Leadership:
Another important element of leadership styles examples is the democratic leader. You all know what democracy means; what it stands for at government level. Apply the same concept in a business environment, and you are looking at a mix of autocratic leader and a hands-off leader.
We are aware that an autocratic leader makes you cringe. But at least he’s better than a narcissistic leader because he lines up everything with clarity. A narcissistic leader will stab you in the back when you are least expecting it.
Anyhow, democratic leaders foster discussion, participation, and different creative tactics. Since they are not entirely autocratic, they encourage their fellow team members to take initiative and outperform wherever that’s possible.
7. Coaching leadership
Coach-Style leadership is an effective method of taking your team forward. This is because a coach-style leader focuses in-depth on identifying and nurturing the strengths of each and every member of their team, instead of giving the same orders to everyone.
This strategy will enable the team to work together through their own individual strengths rather than trying to do something that they are not comfortable with. Coach-Style leadership is very similar to strategic and democratic leadership, but the core focus of this strategy is to increase the growth and success of every individual employee.
When the employees are groomed using this strategy and not forced to focus on similar skills and goals, and effective team is formed where every employee has unique expertise or skillset, that can easily be used in different projects, as the leader sees fit.
A manager like this will benefit the company and also help the employees improve their individual strengths by giving them new tasks, offer them guidance, or meeting them discuss issues and offer valuable constructive criticism.
8. Strategic leadership
According to Wikipedia, “Strategic leadership is the ability to influence others to voluntarily make decisions that enhance the prospects for the organization’s long-term success.”
In Laymen’s terms, Strategic leadership is a manager or a team member’s ability to charter a vision for the team and the company. When they envision the strategy, they would easily persuade the other team members to follow the same strategy with the help of the right strategies and tools.
This leadership technique easily enables the managers to create a team that is full of skill diversity, exceptionally trained and well-equipped individuals that help the company in any normal or emergency situation.
9. Laissez-Faire Leadership
Laissez-Faire is a French word that means ‘let them do’ and if you want to translate it into English, it’s ‘let it be’. From these meanings, you can conclude that in this leadership style, the managers or team leads delegate the responsibilities to the actual people working or the team members.
This helps the team to get the work done on their own terms as quickly as possible without any interference.
Laissez-faire leadership is the only style where the team gets the maximum amount of flexibility and scope for innovation. This style of leadership is perfect for teams that include team members who don’t team leads lording over them.
10. Charismatic leadership
This leadership style solely depends on the leader. The amount of charisma he/she has will inspire the people more, and they’ll more work effectively to please their leader and benefit the company.
Leaders like these inspire, energize and motivate the people working under them, and this technique is so successful that the Centre for Association Leadership confesses that this style actually increases the team morale and pushes them towards success.
Not everyone is naturally charismatic, but you can learn to be more motivational and inspiring, which will help the people not just in your work life but also in your personal life.
11. Pace-Setter Leadership
Pace-Setter leadership is the one where the work is speed-oriented. The leader will push the team to get results fast. We see this leadership style in Agile work environments where the work and time deadlines are not defined, and a lot of different elements are needed to be altered in real-time.
We know that this is one of the leadership styles which seems like the people are being grilled to do more and more work without any recognition. Not true. Pacesetters do push their employees, but they do that in a way that the employees are inspired into doing more work. This actually enhances performance and individual energy levels rather than decreasing them.
Pacesetters leadership style works quite well in stock markets and sales-related organizations where numbers matter a lot and rapid action is required to diffuse the situation.
5(a) What is Communication? Explain how barriers to effective communication can be overcome .
-> Communication is simply the act of transferring information from one place, person or group to another.
Every communication involves (at least) one sender, a message and a recipient. This may sound simple, but communication is actually a very complex subject.
The transmission of the message from sender to recipient can be affected by a huge range of things. These include our emotions, the cultural situation, the medium used to communicate, and even our location. The complexity is why good communication skills are considered so desirable by employers around the world: accurate, effective and unambiguous communication is actually extremely hard.
A communication therefore has three parts: the sender, the message, and the recipient.
The sender ‘encodes’ the message, usually in a mixture of words and non-verbal communication. It is transmitted in some way (for example, in speech or writing), and the recipient ‘decodes’ it.
Of course, there may be more than one recipient, and the complexity of communication means that each one may receive a slightly different message. Two people may read very different things into the choice of words and/or body language. It is also possible that neither of them will have quite the same understanding as the sender.
In face-to-face communication, the roles of the sender and recipient are not distinct. The two roles will pass back and forwards between two people talking. Both parties communicate with each other, even if in very subtle ways such as through eye-contact (or lack of) and general body language. In written communication, however, the sender and recipient are more distinct.
There are wide ranges of ways in which we communicate and more than one may be occurring at any given time.
The different categories of communication include:
Spoken or Verbal Communication , which includes face-to-face, telephone, radio or television and other media.
Non-Verbal Communication , covering body language, gestures, how we dress or act, where we stand, and even our scent. There are many subtle ways that we communicate (perhaps even unintentionally) with others. For example, the tone of voice can give clues to mood or emotional state, whilst hand signals or gestures can add to a spoken message.
Written Communication : which includes letters, e-mails, social media, books, magazines, the Internet and other media? Until recent times, a relatively small number of writers and publishers were very powerful when it came to communicating the written word. Today, we can all write and publish our ideas online, which have led to an explosion of information and communication possibilities.
Visualizations : graphs and charts , maps, logos and other visualizations can all communicate messages.
The process of interpersonal communication cannot be regarded as a phenomena which simply ‘happens’. Instead, it must be seen as a process that involves participants who negotiate their roles with each other, whether consciously or unconsciously.
A message or communication is sent by the sender through a communication channel to one or more recipients.
The sender must encode the message (the information being conveyed) into a form that is appropriate to the communication channel, and the recipient then decodes the message to understand its meaning and significance.
9 Important Measures to Overcome the Barriers of Communication:
(1) Clarify Ideas before Communication:
The person sending the communication should be very clear in his mind about what he wants to say. He should know the objective of his message and, therefore, he should arrange his thoughts in a proper order.
(2) Communicate According to the Need of the Receiver:
The sender of the communication should prepare the structure of the message not according to his own level or ability but he should keep in mind the level, understanding or the environment of the receiver.
(3) Consult Others before Communication:
At the time of planning the communication, suggestions should be invited from all the persons concerned. Its main advantage will be that all those people who are consulted at the time of preparing the communication plan will contribute to the success of the communication system.
(4) Be Aware of Language, Tone and Content of Message:
The sender should take care of the fact that the message should be framed in clear and beautiful language. The tone of the message should not injure the feelings of the receiver. As far as possible the contents of the message should be brief and excessive use of technical words should be avoided.
(5) Convey Things of Help and Value to the Listener:
The subject matter of the message should be helpful to the receiver. The need and interest of the receiver should specially be kept in mind. Communication is more effective in such a situation.
(6) Ensure Proper Feedback:
The purpose of feedback is to find out whether the receiver has properly understood the meaning of the information received. In the face-to- face communication, the reaction on the face of the receiver can be understood.
But in case of written communication or some other sort of communications some proper method of feedback should be adopted by the sender.
(7) Consistency of Message:
The information sent to the receiver should not be self- contradictory. It should be in accordance with the objectives, policies, programmes and techniques of the organisation. When a new message has to be sent in place of the old one, it should always make a mention of the change otherwise it can create some doubts.
(8) Follow up Communication:
In order to make communication effective the management should regularly try to know the weaknesses of the communication system. In this context effort can be made to know whether to lay more stress upon the formal or the informal communication would be appropriate.
Similarly, suggestions can be invited in respect of the medium of communication (oral, written and gestural) to know as to which medium would be more effective and appropriate.
(9) Be a Good Listener:
It is the essence of communication that both the sender and the receiver should be good listeners. Both should listen to the each other’s point of view with attention, patience and positive attitude. A sender can receive much relevant information by being a good listener.
(b) Define Change Management. Discuss the various approaches for reducing resistance to change.
-> Change management is a systematic approach to dealing with the transition or transformation of an organization’s goals, processes or technologies. The purpose of change management is to implement strategies for effecting change, controlling change and helping people to adapt to change. Such strategies include having a structured procedure for requesting a change , as well as mechanisms for responding to requests and following them up.
To be effective, the change management process must take into consideration how an adjustment or replacement will impact processes, systems, and employees within the organization. There must be a process for planning and testing change, a process for communicating change, a process for scheduling and implementing change, a process for documenting change and a process for evaluating its effects. Documentation is a critical component of change management, not only to maintain an audit trail should a rollback become necessary but also to ensure compliance with internal and external controls, including regulatory compliance .
Change management can be used to manage many types of organizational change.
The three most common types are:
1. Developmental change – Any organizational change that improves on previously established processes and procedures.
2. Transitional change – Change that moves an organization away from its current state to a new state in order to solve a problem, such as mergers and acquisitions and automation.
3. Transformational change – Change that radically and fundamentally alters the culture and operation of an organization. In transformational change, the end result may not be known. For example, a company may pursue entirely different products or markets.
4. As a conceptual business framework for people, processes and the organization, change management increases the success of critical projects and initiatives and improves a company’s ability to adapt quickly.
5. Business change is constant and inevitable, and when poorly managed has the potential to cause organizational stress as well as unnecessary and costly re-work.
6. By standardizing the consistency and efficiency of assigned work, change management assures that the people asset of an organization is not overlooked. As changes to work occur, change management helps employees to understand their new roles and build a more process-driven culture. Change management also encourages future company growth by allowing it to remain dynamic in the marketplace.
Various approaches for reducing resistance to change:-
1. Provide information in advance:
Whenever possible managers should provide employee who will be affected by the proposed change, information in advance regarding the reasons for the upcoming change, its nature, its planned timing, and its possible effects on the organisation and its personnel. Withholding information that could seriously affect the lives and future of particular individuals should be avoided if possible. However, competitive survival of a firm may require the information regarding future changes to be closely held until shortly before the change is to occur.
2. Encourage participation:
When possible, employees should be encouraged to participate in establishing the change. A person who is involved in implementing change procedure will likely to be more supportive of the change.
3. Guarantee against loss:
To promote acceptance of technological changes, some organisations guarantee that there will be no lay-offs as a result of such changes. In case of changes in methods and output standards, employees are often guaranteed retention of their present level of earnings during the learning period.
4. Make only necessary changes:
Changes should be made only when the situation demands them, not because of the whims and fancies of managers. If a manager makes changes for the sake of change, he will soon discover that any changes proposed by him will receive only minimal acceptance irrespective of whether it is beneficial or not.
5. Attempt to maintain useful customs and informal norms:
Whenever possible, changes should be made to coincide with the cultural and informal norms of the organisation. This is important because of the real value of informal workgroup from the stand point of interpersonal relationships. For instance, when safety shoes were introduced, few would wear them willingly because of their unusual appearance. When they were redesigned to resemble normal shoes, the resistance faded. This implies that changes that go against established customs and informal norms will likely create resistance and have little chance of being readily accepted.
6. Build trust:
If a manager has a reputation for providing reliable and timely information to employee, the explanation as to why a change is to be made will likely be believed. The change may still be resisted, but if the manager is trusted by the employees, problems will be minimised.
7. Provide counselling’s:
Counselling or discussion with the employees who will be affected by the change may reduce the resistance and may stimulate them to voluntarily adopt a change. Nondirective counselling has been used effectively in many change situations.
8. Allow for negotiation:
Resistance to change can be reduced by the process of negotiation. Negotiation is a primary method used by labour unions to effect modification of proposed managerial changes.
