Ms-21 Question bank (12)
Ms-21 Question bank
Ms-21 june 2011
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-21 June, 2011
MS-21 : SOCIAL PROCESSES AND BEHAVIOURAL ISSUES
1. Briefly discuss the role of Manager with reference to paradigm shift in the present day business context.
2. What is perception ? Discuss the role of perception in organisations. How can errors in perception be overcome ? Justify your answer with suitable examples.
3. Describe the importance of Behaviour Modification in organisations. Briefly discuss the role of ethics in Behaviour Modification.
4. What are the various sources of conflict ? Explain any two Conflict Management styles and their relevance in an organizational set up.
5. Write short notes on any three of the following :
(a) Learning Organisations
(b) Barriers to Communication
(c) McClelland's Achievement Motivation Theory.
(d) Work Ethics
(e) Groups vs Teams
6. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end :
The lyer group of Hotels, Chief Manager Ashish (Bangalore Branch) was facing a unique problem. Inspite of being recognised as 'A Chain of Hotels which can he trusted for its excellent service delivery'. One of the main problems faced by its Bangalore branch was a high turnover of its housekeeping staff, since the past one year, which
led to its existing clientele's dissatisfaction. Two to three of the hotel's esteemed existing customers had made it a point to make a note of this in the customers suggestion book. Ashish realised that it was imperative to reduce if not stop the housing staff turnover as this apart from causing customer dissatisfaction was adversely affecting the hotel's overall performance. Ashish had a meeting with the housekeeping managers and the housekeeping executives and it was decided that a new reinforcement system would be effective from the following month when the housekeeping staff would get an additional bonus of Rs. 500/- every month, provided the employee had 100 percent attendance and a performance rating of above 90 per cent. Over and above, the first ten of best housekeeping as identified by the housekeeping manager, would be allowed to undergo training at the hotel's in- house centre of learning and development. Ashish had thought the above reinforcement system would be more effective since it would take care of the otherwise incurring costs involved in hiring new housing staff - the price to be paid for losing experienced housing personnel.
The housekeeping tasks were separated into vacuum cleaning, dusting, changing sheets,
changing water and flowers in the room etc. The managers (or supervisors) were asked to observe the housekeeping staff's behaviour while they performed their tasks and then forward the names of the best performers for the training programme. At the end of six months Ashish was surprised to see that the housing staff turnover remained the same at 40 per cent. A meeting with the housekeeping managers did not get anywhere because the reasons cited by them (those leaving the firm) were mentioned as 'personal reasons'.
One day when Ashish was on his way to greet a good old customer of the hotel, overheard a (chanced) conversation between two housekeeping staff Sagar and Vinay.
Sagar - "Our HM (House Manager) Maya madam had promised me that if my performance improves she would recommend my name for the training programme, but this time once again she has recommended the name of Trivedi - another sloppy worker".
Vinay - "Biswas Sir, my HM has said that he is happy with my cent per cent attendance and 92% (on an average) performance rating since the last three months, but he says that the bonus although promised monthly, will be paid as a single consolidated amount every six months, due to the accounting problems."
Questions for Discussion
(a) Was the contingency of positive reinforcement suggested by Ashish proper in the above context ?
(b) How do you feel the schedule of reinforcement can be modified to improve employee performance ?
(c) What reinforcement should be provided for changing the behaviour of the housekeeping managers in the above case ?
Ms-21 dec 2007
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-21 Dec, 2007
MS-21 : SOCIAL PROCESSES AND BEHAVIOURAL ISSUES
1. Identify the reasons for growing importance of values in an organisation. Discuss impact of Globalisation on value systems in the organisations.
2. Describe Herzberg's Motivation and their context. and McClelland's theories of relevance in today's organisational
3. Discuss the importance of Behaviour Modification in organisations and describe the format which is required for industrial behaviour modification.
4. What is the contribution of team roles as an approach to work ? Are they better than individual approach ? Justify.
5. Write short not€s on any three of the following :
(a) Communication networks
(b) Dynamics of power
(c) Perceptual errors
(d) Knowledge management
(e) Emotional intelligence
6. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end :
For over a year now, Sandeep, the CEO of consulting firm Market Movers (MM) had been trying to inculcate a deep involvement with the customer as a way. of life at MM. But no matter what, their involvement seemed to only skim the surface. of course, the teams worked very. diligently, but sandeep always felt that there Are something missing in their approach. He had tried many models and methods; but after a grand start full of enthusiasm and effectiveness, somehow the momentum would be lost.
The incidents kept coming to his mind as if to remind him to find the elusive 'something'. what had triggered his thinking today was an angry exchange between him and Vinay Chabra the previous evening over what Sandeep felt was inability to look beyond the nose. Keya Sircar, his associate director, had been surprised over what she called'loss of decorum'. "A little loss of decorum is good," Sandeep had said later. "lt allows you to go beyond the ordinary. And I don't want the ordinary ! we are working with minds and the mind is such that it can create just
as well as it can destroy as it can go into a state of inactivity. But because the mind controls when you are not in control. I admonish to demand commitment to their innate creativity. it's a reminder of what they truly are passionate people who
must control the mind's meanderings from the focus." Sandeep was aware of the potential creativity of his team. I3ut what nullified his efforts was the gap between
ideas and execution. When they brainstormed, bright ideas emerged. But after this, there was a virtual paralysis : the ideas did not lead to performance. Rather, the passion in the performance did not match the passion in the ideas, so was there a breach opening up between lnspiration and motivation ? At MM, there was no performance bonus. Sandeep's view was : "Perform we will; that's what we are here for. If I give you rewards for performing, you will only perform. But we will reward creative observation." Sandeep did not believe in motivation' It led to performaocg doing an act which had to be done -but not to creativity. This then was the substance of his appeal for passion. Motivation presunred the existence of knowledge that had to be turned into action, execution and application. So he sai'd : "knowledge + motivation : activity or event". But the event itself was a tried and tested one. Therefore, motivation was only a means to deliver the desired results. But the business they were in could not operate from known past outcomes any more. Today's businesses demanded all-new, outstanding outcomes. That originality and uniqueness was possible only if there was passion to go beyond known 'knowledge' and trained abilities. What he called passion for creativity, ngt mere productivity. "Anyone can produce based on another's template and ideas. But to be the template generator, that's originality." Keya said , ''This, radical approach is not conducive for our kind of timeframes !" Sandeep said :
"in consulting, the cutting edge is innovation. The tried and tested consulting model of doing process reviews and model-building will wither away because the faith in
models is dying. Innovation can happen only if the people involved have a passion for it. The key differentiator between businesses that succeed and those that fail is passion. The moment there is a mismatch between personal passion and the product line, it fails to work."
Questions :
(a) Does motivation help in raising performance only. Or it also inspires creativity and innovativeness among employees ?
(b) Why is Sandeep's approach o{ niotivation not suitable ?
(c) Does Organisation need a team of highly motivated employees to succeed ? Give reasons.
Ms-21 dec 2008
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-21 Dec, 2008
MS-21 : SOCIAL PROCESSES AND BEHAVIOURAL ISSUES
1. Describe briefly the salient features of counseling in organizations. Discuss the possible outcomes of counselling.
2. Explain briefly the Behaviourist and Cognitive approaches to learning and their relevance in organizations.
3. How do groups form ? What are the conditions for enhancing group effectiveness.
4. What are the characteristics of a Learning Organization and explain how a learning organization differs from a Traditional Organisation.
5. Write short notes on any three of. the following
(a) Power vs. Authority
(b) Emotional Intelligence
(c) Political Implications
(d) Corporate Governance
(e) Transaction Analysis
6. Read the case gizten belozo and anszoer the questions given at the end.
Mr. Subash works at the headquarters of a multinational Motorbike company. His task was to process warranty claims and advice service engineers working in the field with distributors throughout the world. Then Mr. Subash heard of an opening for a field engineer in this company itself. As a first step, Mr. Subash approached his immediate superior Mr. Manohar and asked to be considered for the post. He was told to mind his present job sincerely with an assurance that his request would be considered.later on. After sometime while Mr. Manohar was on a business trip, Subash approached Ms. Sarala, the Service Manager for international operations, who was of course the boss of Mr. Manohar. During the discussion, Ms. Sarala, who favoured promoting young talents from within the company realized that Mr. Subash was well qualified for the position of a field engineer. Ms. Sarala promised to talk to Mr. Manohar after his return from the trip. One week later, Mr. Manohar called Subash to his room and said, "I learnt you have talked to Ms. Sarala while I was away about the position of field engineer. I would not like you to be shifted at this moment, as very recently we have switched over to a computerised claim-processing system and I need your services because you have the broadest experience among all the seven persons working under me on this project." Subash was shocked to see the logic as to why he should not seek for promotion and why should he not be considered for the same, as he fulfils all the eligibitity criteria for being appointed as a field engineer. He was not able to justify the stand taken by his superior as he should be punished for being the most experienced person in the group. Two weeks later, a field engineer was appointed from outside the organisation with almost identical qualifications but with a little more experience. Subash was wondering what he should do next.
Questions:
l. Identify the problem in the case. What would be your next step, if you were Subash ?
2. How would you react to this development, if you were the CEO of the organisation and it was done wlth/ without your consent/knowledge ?
3. How do you perceive the role of Mr. Manohar and other superiors as Managers ? Do you think it may lead to any organisational problem ? If yes, why ?
4. Do you see this development as a solitary case or a happening which may have its bearing on the overall work culture of the organization
