Q.

1 “Today managers need to perform various functions”: Elaborate the

Statement.

Ans:

Today managers need to perform various fundctions. An affective and efficient

manager should focus on two key results. The first is task performance and the
second is job satisfaction. Earlier, the management functions were Planning,
Organizing, Commanding, Coordinating, Controlling.

However, in recent time, management functions have been regrouped into four
categories, since the managerial tasks have become highly challenging a fluid in
nature making distinctions redundant to a certain extend. The four functions are as
follows:

• Planning
• Organizing
• Leading
• Controlling

1. Planning: It involves the process of defining goals, establishing strategies for

achieving these goals, and developing plans to integrate and coordinate activities.
Planning in order to be useful must be linked to the strategic intent of an
organization.

Strategic Planning: Top level managers engage chiefly in strategic planning or

long range planning Strategic planning is the process of developing and analyzing
the organization’s mission, overall goals, general strategies, and allocating
resources.

The tasks of the strategic planning process include the following steps:

Define the mission: A mission is the purpose of the organization. Thus, planning
begins with clearly defining the mission of the organization.

Conduct a situational or SWOT analysis : A situation or SWOT (Strengths,

Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis is vital for the creation of any
strategic plan.

Set goals and objectives: Strategic goals and objectives are developed to fill the
gap between current capability and the mission.
Develop related strategies (tactical and operational) : Tactical plans are based
on the organization’s strategic plan. In turn, operational plans are based on the
organization’s tactical plans. These are specific plans that are needed for each task
or supportive activity comprising the whole. Strategic, tactical, and operational
planning must be accompanied by controls to ensure proper implantation of the
plans, necessary to maintain competitive advantage in the said market.

Monitor the plan : A systematic method of monitoring the environment must be

adopted to continuously improve the strategic planning process. To develop an
environmental monitoring procedure, short-term standards for key variables that
will tend to validate and support the long-range estimates must be established.

2. Organizing : It involves designing, structuring, and coordinating the work

components to achieve organizational goal. It is the process of determining what
tasks are to be done, who is to do, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to
whom, and where decisions are to be made.

3. Leading : An organization has the greatest chance of being successful when all
of the employees work toward achieving its goals. Since leadership involves the
exercise of influence by one person over others, the quality of leadership exhibited
by supervisors is a critical determinant of organizational success.

Leading involves the following functions:

1.Team building : Teams enable knowledge-based and innovative decision

making. This collaboration is a revolution in the workplace.

2. Consensus Building : Top performance demands the joint effort of many

people, working together toward a common goal. When an individual works
together with others, effectiveness grows, creating greater productivity for all
involved. Together, employees can do more than the collective efforts of each
individual working alone.

3. Selecting : Selecting competent, high-performing employees capable of

sustaining their performance over the long run is a competitive advantage. The
selection process consists of forecasting employment needs, recruiting candidates,
interviewing applicants, and hiring employees.

4. Training/Orientation : Training/Orientation sets a tone for new employees’

work by describing job-related expectations and reporting relationships.
Employees are informed about benefits, policies, and procedures. Specific duties
and responsibilities and performance evaluation are clarified.

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 4. Controlling : It involves monitoring the employees’ behavior and
organizational processes and take necessary actions to improve them, if needed.
There are four steps in the control process. They are as follows:

Establish Performance Standards, Measure Actual Performance, Compare

Measured Performance Against Established Standards, Take Corrective Action.

There are different types of Controls viz. Feed forward controls Concurrent
controls and Feedback controls.

Management roles and skills : Managers need to play different roles viz.

1. Informational roles: This involves the role of assimilating and disseminating

information as and when required. Following are the main sub-roles, which
managers often perform:

a. Monitor—collecting information from organizations, both from inside and

outside of the organization

b. Disseminator—communicating information to organizational members

c. Spokesperson—representing the organization to outsiders

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

a. Entrepreneur—initiating new ideas to improve organizational performance

b. Disturbance handlers—taking corrective action to cope with adverse

situation

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

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

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

a. Figurehead—Ceremonial and symbolic role

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

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

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Q.2 “Skills are the tool for performance”-Explain various management
skills.
Ans:
Skills are tools for performance. In order to show effective performance, a
manager is required to have the following skills.

Management Skills

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

Technical skills: The ability is to apply specialized knowledge or expertise. All

jobs require some specialized expertise, and many people develop their technical
skills on the job. Vocational and on-the-job training programs can be used to
develop this type of skill.

Human Skill : This is

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

Conceptual Skill : This is an ability to critically analyze, diagnose a situation and

forward a feasible solution. It requires creative thinking, generating options and
choosing the best available option.

Effective vs. Successful Managerial Activities

Luthans (1988), on the basis of his study, found that all managers engage in four
managerial activities.

1. Traditional management— This activity consists of planning, decision

making, and controlling. The average manager spent 32 percent of his or
her time performing this activity, whereas successful managers spend 13%
and effective managers spend 13% of their time in this activity.

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 2. Communication—This activity consists of exchanging routine information
and processing paperwork. The average manager spent 29 percent of his or
her time performing this activity while successful manager spends 28% and
effective managers spend 44% of their time in this activity.

3. Human resource management—This activity consists of motivating,

disciplining, managing conflict, staffing, and training. The average manager
spent 20 percent of his or her time performing this activity, while successful
manager spends 11% and effective managers spend 26% of their time in
this activity.

1. Networking—This activity involves socializing, politicking, and

interacting with outsiders. The average manager spent 19 percent of his or
her time performing this activity, while successful manager spends 48%
and successful manages spend 11% of their time in this activity.

It was found that successful managers spent more time and effort in socializing,
interacting and networking. They did not spend much time to the traditional
management activities or to the human resource management activities (Luthans,
1988).

According to Mintzberg (1973), managerial roles are: Informational roles,

Decisional roles and Interpersonal roles. Katz (1974) has identified three essential
management skills: technical, human, and conceptual. Luthans (1988) found that
all managers engage in four managerial activities: (i) Traditional management—
This activity consists of planning, decision making, and controlling, (ii)
Communication—This activity consists of exchanging routine information and
processing paperwork, (iii) Human resource management—this activity consists of
motivating, disciplining, managing conflict, staffing, and training, and (iv)
Networking—this activity involves socializing, politicking, and interacting with
outsiders.

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Q.3 What is negotiation? Explain the process of negotiation.

Ans:

Negotiation is a “process in which two or more parties exchange goods or services

and attempt to agree upon the exchange rate for them (Robbins, 2008). There are
two general approaches to negotiation: distributive bargaining and integrative
bargaining.

Distributive bargaining

When engaged in distributive bargaining, one’s tactics focus on trying to get

one’s opponent to agree to one’s specific target point or to get as close to it as
possible. “Hard” distributive negotiation takes place when each party holds out to
get its own way. The hard approach may lead to a win–lose outcome in which one
party dominates and gains. “Soft” distributive negotiation, takes place when one
party is willing to make concessions to the other to get things over with. A soft
approach leads to accommodation in which one party gives in to the other, or to
compromise in which each party gives up something of value in order to reach
agreement.

Integrative bargaining

This strategy is adopted to create a win-win solution. Integrative bargaining

builds long-term relationships and facilitates collaborative work. Following
conditions are necessary for this type of negotiation to succeed (Robbins, 2003):

• Parties who are open with information and candid about their concerns
• A sensitivity by both parties to the other’s needs
• The ability to trust one another
• A willingness by both parties to maintain flexibility

The Negotiation Process:

A model of the negotiation process is as follows:

1) Preparation and planning:

• At this stage, homework needs to be done in regard to the nature, history,

concerned parties of the conflict. Based on the information, a strategy is
developed. Both the parties Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement
(BATNA) needs to be determined. BATNA determines the lowest value
acceptable to you for a negotiated agreement for both the parties.

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2) Definition of ground rules:

• At the stage, the venue, the negotiators, time will be decided.

3) Clarification and justification:

• When initial positions have been exchanged, the original demands of both
the parties need to be explained and justified. Proper documentation is
required at this stage to support each of the parties position.

4) Bargaining and problem solving:

• The essence of the negotiation process is the actual give and take in trying
to hash out an agreement. Concessions will undoubtedly need to be made
by both parties.

5) Closure and implementation:

• This is the final step, where the agreement is formalized and procedures to
implement the agreement will be developed.

The above is the process of negotiation.

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Q.4 Explain Classical Conditioning Theory?

Ans:

There are three theories of learning namely – classical conditioning, operant

conditioning, and social learning

1. Classical conditioning: Classical Conditioning is a form of associative

learning process proposed by Pavlov in 1927. It is also called Pavlovian or
Respondent Conditioning. Pavlov is widely known for first describing the
phenomenon of Classical Conditioning. This process involves presentations
of a neutral stimulus along with a stimulus of some significance. The
neutral stimulus does not lead to an overt behavioral response from the
organism. This is called as Conditioned Stimulus (CS). Significant stimulus
evokes an innate, often reflexive, response. This is called Unconditioned
Stimulus (US) and Unconditioned Response (UR), respectively. If the CS
and the US are repeatedly paired, eventually the two stimuli become
associated and the organism begins to produce a behavioral response to it. It
is the Conditioned Response (CR). The original and most famous example
of classical conditioning involved the salivary conditioning of Pavlov's
dogs. Classical conditioning was first experimented by Russian
physiologist, Ivan Pavlov, to teach dogs to salivate in response to the
ringing of a bell. During his research on the physiology of digestion in
dogs, Pavlov used a bell before giving food to his dog. Rather than simply
salivating in the presence of meat (a response to food – unconditioned
response), after a few repetitions, the dog started to salivate in response to
the bell. Thus, a neutral stimulus (bell) became a conditioned stimulus
(CS) as a result of consistent pairing with the unconditioned stimulus (US
– meat). Pavlov referred to this learned relationship as a Conditioned
Response.

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Q.5 How are culture and society responsible to built value system?

Ans: Values represent basic convictions that “a specific mode of conduct or end-
state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse
mode of conduct or end-state of existence” (Rokeach, 1973). When the values are
ranked in terms of their intensity, i.e., when the value are prioritized in terms of
their intensity, it is called value system. Types of values include, ethical/moral
values, doctrinal/ideological (political, religious) values, social values, and
aesthetic values.

National Culture And Values

Following are the most important research with regard to establishing relationship
between national culture and values. Hofstede (1980,1991), in order to find the
common dimensions of culture across the countries, gathered data from surveys
with 116,000 respondents working from IBM from more than 70 countries around
the world. The underlying concept of the four dimensions is described below
(Hofsede 1991):

• Power distance: This dimension measures the ’social equality’ i.e.; to what
extent a society accepts unequal distribution of power in families,
institutions and organizations. Inequality of power in organizations is
generally manifested in hierarchical superior-subordinate relationships.
• Uncertainty avoidance: This is a representation of a society’s tolerance for
uncertain situations. It measures to what extent a society manages those
situations by providing specific and conventional rules, regulations and
norms; by rejecting aberrant ideas or behavior; by accepting the possibility
of absolute truths and the accomplishments of expertise. Countries, which
score high in uncertainty avoidance, discourage risk-taking behavior and
innovation.
• Individualism vs. collectivism: Individualism gauges to what extent
individuals in a country consider themselves as distinct entities rather than
as members of cohesive groups. Collectivism, on the other hand,
emphasizes on ’social ties or bonds’ between individuals. Individualistic
society considers self-interest as more important than the group goal.
• Masculinity vs. femininity: This dimension refers to what extent dominant
values in a society emphasizes masculine social values like a work ethic
expressed in terms of money, achievement and recognition as opposed to
feminine social role which show more concern for people and quality of
life.

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Hofstede and Bond (1988) have identified a fifth dimension (based on Confucian
dynamism), called ‘long-term orientation’,
which measures employees’ devotion to the work ethic and their respect for
tradition. It was found that Asian countries like Hong Kong, Singapore, South
Korea and Taiwan are extremely strong in work ethic and commitment to
traditional Confucian values.

Hofstede (1991) further proposed that each person carries around several layers of
cultural programming. It starts when a child learns basic values: what is right and
wrong, good and bad, logical and illogical, beautiful and ugly. Culture is about
your fundamental assumptions of what it is to be a person and how you should
interact with other persons in your group and with outsiders. The first level of
culture is the deepest, the most difficult to change and will vary according to the
culture in which we grow up. Other layers of culture are learned or programmed in
the course of education, through professional or craft training and in organization
life. Some of the aspects of culture learned later have to do with conventions and
ethics in your profession. These layers are more of ways of doing things, or
practices as opposed to fundamental assumptions about how things are.

GLOBE research

GLOBE project integrates the above –mentioned cultural attributes and variables
with managerial behavior in organizations. Following are some of the questions
asked in this project to prove that leadership and organizational processes were
directly influenced by cultural variables:

Are leader behaviors, attributes and organizational practices universally accepted

and effective across cultures?

• Are they influenced by societal and organizational cultures?

• What is the effect of violating cultural norms that are relevant to leadership
and organizational practices?
• Can the universal and culture-specific aspects of leadership behaviour and
organizational practice be explained with the help of a theory accounting
for systematic differences across cultures?

From the above, GLOBE project identified nine cultural dimensions (House,
Javidan, Hanges and Dorfman, 2002: 3-10)

• Uncertainty- avoidance: GLOBE project defined this dimension as the

extent to which a society or an organization tries to avoid uncertainty by
depending heavily on prevalent norms, rituals and bureaucratic practices.

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 • Power distance: it is the degree to which power is unequally shared in a
society or an organization.
• Collectivism-I i.e. societal collectivism: it is the degree to which society
and organization encourages, and recognizes collective performance.
• Collectivism-II- In-group collectivism: it is the degree to which individuals
take pride, loyalty and cohesiveness in their organizations and families.
• Gender egalitarianism: GLOBE has defined this as an extent to which a
society or an organization minimizes gender differences and discrimination.
• Assertiveness: it is the degree to which individuals, both in organizational
and social context are, assertive and confrontational.
• Future orientation: it is the degree to which individuals are encouraged in
long- term future – orientated behaviors such as planning, investing, etc.
• Performance orientation: this dimension encourages and rewards group
members for performance improvement.
• Humane orientation: it is the degree to which organizations or society
encourage or reward for being fair, altruistic, friendly, generous and caring.

Work behavior across cultures

In every culture, there are different sets of attitudes and values which affect
behavior. Similarly, every individual has a set of attitudes and beliefs – filters
through which he/she views management situations within organizational context.
Managerial beliefs, attitudes and values can affect organizations positively or
negatively. Managers portray trust and respect in their employees in different ways
in different cultures. This is a function of their own cultural backgrounds. For
example, managers from specific cultures tend to focus only on the behavior that
takes place at work, in contrast to managers from diffused cultures who focus on
wider range of behavior including employees’ private and professional lives.
Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1998:86) have conducted a survey to find out
whether the employees believe their companies should provide housing to the
employees. It was found out that most managers from diffused cultures believed
that company should provide such facility (former Yugoslavia 89%, Hungary
83%, China 82%, Russia 78%), whereas less than 20% managers from specific
cultures such as UK, Australia, Denmark, France, etc., agreed on the same.

Laurent (1983: 75-96), as a result of his survey with managers from nine Western
European countries, U.S., three Asian countries found distinctly different patterns
for managers in common work situations.

order to maintain their credibility and retain the subordinates’ sense of security.
On the contrary, U.S. managers believed that a managers’ role should be to act as
a mentor who would facilitate the employees to solve the problem. They also or

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Q.6 Write short notes on

a) Locus of control
b) Machiavellianism

Ans:

Locus of control

A person’s perception of the source of his/her fate is termed locus of control.

Locus of control was formulated within the framework of Rotter’s (1954) social
learning theory of personality. Rotter (1975) pointed out that internality and
externality represent two ends of a continuum, not an either/or typology. Internals
tend to attribute outcomes of events to their own control. Externals attribute
outcomes of events to external circumstances. For example, college students with
a strong internal locus of control may believe that their grades were achieved
through their own abilities and efforts, whereas, those with a strong external locus
of control may believe that their grades are the result of good or bad luck, or to a
professor who designs bad tests or grades capriciously; hence, they are less likely
to expect that their own efforts will result in success and are therefore less likely to
work hard for high grades.

Individuals who rate high in externality are less satisfied with their jobs, have
higher absenteeism rates, are more alienated from the work setting, and are less
involved on their jobs than are internals. Internals, facing the same situation,
attribute organizational outcomes to their own actions. Internals believe that health
is substantially under their own control through proper habits; their incidences of
sickness and, hence, of absenteeism, are lower.

Internals generally perform better on their jobs, but one needs to consider
differences in jobs. Internals search more actively for information before making a
decision, are more motivated to achieve, and make a greater attempt to control
their environment, and hence, internals do well on sophisticated tasks. Internals
are more suited to jobs that require initiative and independence of action and want
autonomy and independence in their jobs. Externals are more compliant and
willing to follow directions and be led, and do well on jobs that are well structured
and routine and in which success depends heavily on complying with the direction
of others.

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Machiavellianism

Machiavellianism is the term that some social and personality psychologists use
to describe a person’s tendency to deceive and manipulate others for personal
gain. The concept is named after Renaissance diplomat and writer Niccolò
Machiavelli, who wrote Il Principe (The Prince). Christie and Geis (1970)
developed a test for measuring a person’s level of Machiavellianism. This
eventually became the MACH-IV test, a twenty-statement personality survey that
is now the standard self-assessment tool of Machiavellianism. An individual high
in Machiavellianism is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes that
ends can justify means. High Machs manipulate more, win more, are persuaded
less, and persuade others more. High Mach outcomes are moderated by situational
factors and flourish when they interact face to face with others, rather than
indirectly, and when the situation has a minimum number of rules and regulations,
thus, allowing room for improvisation. High Machs make good employees in jobs
that require bargaining skills or that offer substantial rewards for winning.

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