Answer Key MBA First Semester Examination, March 2013 Organisational Behaviour 1. A. What is Organisational Behaviour?

Discuss the role of various behavioural science disciplines that contribute to OB. The attitudes and behaviours of individuals and groups in organisations. Organisational Behaviour is concerned with the understanding, prediction and control of human behaviour in organisations. Contributing Disciplines Psychology - It deals with individual behaviour Sociology Anthropology - It studies the origin and development of human cultures, how they functioned in the past, and how they continue to function in the present. Politics Economics - It helps in allocation of scare resources, understanding the decision process, etc. and studies the impact of economic policies in organisations. Other Multi-disciplinary studies include Social, Industrial, Clinical Psychology, etc. B. What is Personality? What factors determine personality? How the Myers-Brigg Type Indicator(MBTI)measure personality? Personality is the sum total of the ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others. Personality is how a person affects others and how he understands and views himself as well as the pattern of inner and outer measurable traits, and the person-situation interaction. Determinants of Personality Biological Factors: - Heredity, Physical Features Family and Social Factors (Environmental Factors) Situational Factors Other Factors: Temperament, Interest, Character, Motives, etc. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. Carl Jung theorized that there are four principal psychological functions by which we experience the world: sensation, intuition, feeling, and thinking. One of these four functions is dominant most of the time. After taking the MBTI, participants are usually asked to complete a Best Fit exercise and then given readout of their Reported Type, which will usually include a bar graph and number to show how clear they were about each preference when they completed the questionnaire.

2. A. What are the main components of attitude? What are the major job attitudes? There are three components of attitude. 1: Cognitive component: It refers that's part of attitude which is related in general know how of a person, for example, he says smoking is injurious to health. Such type of idea of a person is called cognitive component of attitude. 2: Effective component: This part of attitude is related to the statement which affects another person. For example, in an organization a personal report is given to the general manager. 3: Behavioral Component: The behavioral component refers to that part of attitude which reflects the intension of a person in short run or in long run. Types of Job attitudes Global job attitude Global job attitudes are attitudes developed towards a job through the organization, working environment, affective disposition, aggregate measures of job characteristics and the social environment. Other types of job attitudes 1. Job Involvement: 2. Organizational Commitment: 3. Perceived Organizational Support (POS): 4. Employee Engagement: B. Quality of Work Life (QWL) is gaining more importance than many other HR Concepts. Discuss. Quality of Work Life is becoming an increasingly popular concept in recent times. It basically talks about the methods in which an organisation can ensure the holistic well-being of an employee instead of just focusing on work-related aspects. It is a fact that an individuals life cant be compartmentalised and any disturbance on the personal front will affect his/her professional life and vice-versa. Therefore, organisations

have started to focus on the overall development and happiness of the employee and reducing his/her stress levels without jeopardising the economic health of the company. Each organisation has its own way of achieving this. But the most common elements adopted are:

3. A. Compare and contrast Leading and Managing

LEADING 1.Challenge the System 2.Inspire shared Vision 3.Align Constituencies 4.Enable Others 5.Encourage the Heart

MANAGING 1.Preserve the System 2.Plan, Budget, Schedule 3.Organize and Staff 4.Direct & Supervise 5.Control and problem-solve

B. What is organisational Leadership? How does leadership differ across culture? Leadership is the process of influencing the behaviour of others to work willingly and enthusiastically for achieving pre-determined goals. Is the process of influencing the behaviour of others. A leadership style is a leader's style of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. It is the result of the philosophy, personality, and experience of the leader. Different situations call for different leadership styles.

In an emergency when there is little time to converge on an agreement and where a designated authority has significantly more experience or expertise than the rest of the team, an autocratic leadership style may be most effective; however, in a highly motivated and aligned team with a homogeneous level of expertise, a more democratic or laissez-faire style may be more effective. The style adopted should be the one that most effectively achieves the objectives of the group while balancing the interests of its individual members. 4.A. How might an organisation go about balancing the paradox of having both compatibility and diversity in a team? A team leader must think about diversity as diversity of ideas and experience, not just race and gender. Every team member must not only be able to understand and work with all the other team members, but they must also want to. Embracing diversity is the first step to managing a truly diverse team. In order to facilitate this, team leaders should consider the following:

Develop an atmosphere in which it is safe for all employees to ask for help. People should not be viewed as weak if they ask for help. Joining weakness with strengths to get a goal or objective accomplished is one aspect of building great teams. One persons weakness should be another persons strength. Include everyone on the problem solving and decision making process. Include people who are different than you in informal gatherings such as lunch, coffee breaks and spur of the moment meetings. Create a team spirit in of which every member feels a part.

B. Can you change culture? What tools would you use to try to change culture? Yes 1. Clarifying meaning. The first step in culture change is to clarify what it means and what it doesnt mean for the organizations culture to change. 2. Identifying stories. Since organizational culture is best communicated through stories a second step is to identify one or two positive incidents or events that illustrate the key values that will characterize the organizations future culture. 3. Determining strategic initiatives. Strategic initiatives involve the activities that will be started, stopped, and enhanced. 4. Identifying small wins. The rule of thumb regarding small wins is to find something easy

to change, change it, and publicize it. 5. Craft metrics, measures, and milestones. 6. Communication and symbols. It is certain that resistance to culture change will occur in the organization. 7. Leadership development. All organizational change requires leadership, champions, and owners.

5.Case Study