Neuroscience for Managers

CIA I

SUBMITTED BY

Group 4

Athiban (2127017)

Kajal Kumari (2127141)

Sukanya Giridev (2127441)

Prasanth T (2127309)
SUBMITTED TO

Prof. Arti Arun Kumar

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

CHRIST (DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY), BANGALORE

DECEMBER 2022
Introduction

Neuroscience is an interdisciplinary science that works closely with other disciplines, such as
mathematics, linguistics, engineering, computer science, chemistry, philosophy, psychology,
medicine, and management. Neuroscience in management gives us more flexibility and enables
us to approach things in a way that gets more targeted results than the previous styles of
management training.
The study of neuroscience is concerned with how the brain affects behavior and cognitive
processes, or how individuals think. Neutron activation patterns are crucial to help managers and
leaders engage with clients and subordinates effectively and facilitate the change of uneasy or
unhelpful thought, feeling, and behavior patterns. Knowledge and understanding of neuroscience
can help with this.
Using Neuroscience for management can contribute to a better performance in several areas such
as:
1. Participative Management.
2. Change Management.
3. Straightforwardness & Composure.
4. Self-Awareness.
5. Making People Comfortable and Putting them at Ease.
6. Persistence in Achieving Set Goals.
7. Building Employee Relationships.

Interpretation and Framework Relation

SCARF Model

The SCARF model is a paradigm that clarifies how people behave in different social contexts.
We used the theory of the SCARF model to interpret the problem.
In the interview, the interviewee focused on what causes a worker to switch from one employer
to another?
In this scenario, we can link it to a need for Status— the increase in self-worth associated with the
move. As most of the company’s income was from the products they provided to the client, the
income generated was divided into two parts: first, salary to employees and secondly, using that
cost for future expenses in the company.
Employees were not satisfied with the salary structure and they wanted a hike which was a tough
task for the company to give, so the self-worth of employees was not satisfied with the change in
the organization which led to increased attrition rate.
A need for Certainty - familiarity or ability to predict the future - follows close behind.
We can relate the scenario of COVID-19 phase with Certainty, as Covid hit every company
badly, similarly Nutz Technovation Pvt. Ltd. faced the same issue, they could not predict the
market needs during Covid which led to no salary for 1 month for employees.

Autonomy: The degree of autonomy refers to one's sense of control over their life. The
autonomy of an employee is threatened by managers who frequently micromanage.
In the interview, Gowtham told us the threat which covid posed to their company, they could not
afford to lose employees by micromanaging or showing authority over employees. They
followed participative management which increased the trust of employees and with that sense of
belonging.

Relatedness: The focus of relatedness is on how secure or attached we feel with others. It also
has to do with our sense of affiliation and belonging to a certain group. However, the social
isolation we have all been feeling has put our sense of relatedness in danger. We simply do not
share the same connections, and we are unsure of how long this will continue to be the case.
Even during the COVID period, the corporation paid its full salaries and offered health
insurance. The corporation organized a one-day picnic in Yercaud following COVID in order to
foster opportunities for social engagement among its personnel.

Fairness: Fairness is how we define equitable transactions between individuals. Starting in

childhood and continuing into the present day at work, when we compare pay rates, office space,
and access to amenities, we are hardwired to expect to get our fair share of things.
The business has made transportation arrangements for the employees of Nutz pvt ltd. by
offering flexibility to meet individual demands.

Leadership Theory
Leadership involves taking chances and questioning the status quo. Leaders inspire people to do
something new and better. Surprisingly, leaders do what they do to pursue innovation rather than
out of responsibility. They assess success by examining the team's accomplishments and
learning.
There are a few fundamental principles from the study of neuroscience that business leaders can
utilize to better understand how their brains work and how to perform more effectively while
coping with the range of difficult emotions that we all encounter.

Flight or Fight
Leaders' decision-making is hampered when they are in fight-or-flight mode. They have a more
difficult time reacting calmly or creatively to complex situations.Understanding how our brains
function during our most difficult times is a valuable tool for increasing our awareness and
preventing us from engaging in counterproductive behaviors.
Neuroplasticity
Adaptable attitudes and the ability to adapt, grow, and change to meet new challenges are
essential characteristics for today's leaders. This is where the term "neuroplasticity" comes into
play. Neuroplasticity is a brain feature that promotes our potential to change throughout our
lifetimes. It is the foundation for learning, remembering, and altering behavior.

Better leadership through neuroscience

Utilizing the concepts of neuroscience and understanding leadership to improve and be more like
a leader is possible. Neuroscience talks about how the brain functions and relating it with
leadership has made scientists raise questions about if leaders are Born or Made. But it is still
evident that the brain can be molded according to our need through rigorous practice and will,
which is the concept of neuroplasticity.

Situational Leadership
Situational Leadership is a practical, repeatable approach that leaders can use to improve their
influence on others. The process begins with a clear knowledge of the task or goal that must be
completed. Furthermore, the assignment allows both the leader and the follower to align on the
follower's preparedness to perform. That alignment informs the leader's best chance of success
when choosing a style or approach.
Core Competencies
1. Diagnose an individual’s Performance Readiness to complete a specific task.
2. Adapt leader behavior based on the diagnosis.
3. Communicate an influence approach in a manner that followers can both understand and
accept.
4. Advance by managing the movement toward higher performance.

The Advantages of Situational Leadership

1. Establishes a common performance language

2. Considers multi-directional influence
3. Rather than typecasting people, job specificity is used as a measure of performance.
4. enables leaders to effectively influence behavior change
5. Improves the speed and quality of staff development
6. teaches leaders how to appropriately assess and respond to their surroundings

Mr. Gowtham demonstrated situational leadership in the second challenge, which occurred when
the pandemic struck. Because there was a lockdown, there was reduced demand for some
services, such as advertisements for pharmaceutical businesses, which were already in high
demand. Gowtham, as a leader, believed in his employees' preparedness and took the risk of
conducting online web design and graphic design classes, which enabled him to pay up to 80%
of their salaries during such a critical situation. His situational awareness and his quick
wittedness let him make a strategic decision at a very crucial moment. He made sure he was well
aware of the firm's situation as well as the employees' situation and adapted to the negative
situation that they were in and made it into a positive one. This is what makes a situational
leader. Mr. Gowtham also mentioned how he had to make decisions every day and the crucial
point he had in his mind was survival of the business. This made him much better at making
decisions as the startup's founder. The concept of neuroplasticity comes to play here.

CONCLUSION
When we manage others, it is very useful to know in their brain or in their mind, what is likely to
be causing them challenges? What is the real root of people's problems, for instance, in change
management? When guiding someone through a process, what will we need to be especially
careful of? We can look at the fundamentals of how human brains function and how minds are
most likely to process specific information rather than just assuming what has previously worked
for other people or other organizations. From there, we can apply that to the flexible approach we
need for everyone rather than just assuming what has previously worked for others or other
organizations.
 TRANSCRIPT
1. What are the key critical challenges being faced by the you (manger) which involved
decision making and how did you resolve those issues?

The first issue is that there was a point of time when we had to shift our office in another
location and we had only 23 people that time, so we were planning to expand our office
structure. For that we had to increase everything which means me and my team were planning to
recruit at least 3-4 people for the next phase of our development and for that we had to increase
our total infrastructure, like buying new operating systems which is kind of tricky if looked at
financially and legally.

As we already had registered for our office but due to increase in manpower, we had to move to
another office with a space capacity of 40-45 employees. The old office address registration had
to be changed to the new office address, which was kind of challenging considering the financial
standpoint of our organization. As a startup we want to sustain as much as we can.

Second challenge, during Covid time we faced major issues. Companies were shut down and
most of the companies were not finding advertisement as their main focus like pharmaceutical
online companies did not require advertisement as the demand was already high. To tackle this
issue, we came up with a long-term solution which was upskilling and upgrading according to
the market demand and external factors through online sessions. Giving online web designing
classes, graphic designing sessions and web development classes were most of the focus. After
being shut down for 4 months and no salary for 1 month to any of the employees, these online
sessions during Covid time helped us to give at least 80% of the salaries to employees.

The third problem is related to our product and project vision aka project vs product. We
started this company to create products. When we provide services, we are expected to know
about everything that is being done in the world to have competitive advantage. When a start-up
company plans to make products the big problem which we face is financial support and
retention of employees. We have also seen that when two or more employees work on a single
project, there is a possibility that one of the employees is planning to quit the job for monetary
purposes or hike.

As a startup we work on sharing profit and losses all together with employees and everyone in
the organization. We try to provide projects with lower cost and with that cost we try to
distribute that in multiple sections like salary and for future products. This is what leads to
financial issues and retention of employees.