Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, Erode – 638 052.(An Autonomous Institution affiliated to Anna University, Coimbatore)

Department of Management Studies

07MB104 - Organizational Behaviour

Part A – (1 Mark Questions)

Unit – I

1. Organizational behavior is all of the following EXCEPT: (DoD3)a) A field of study b)c) An applied field d)e) Studying what people do in an organization f)g) An intuitive analysis of human behavior h)

2. The best approach for obtaining knowledge about human behavior is: (DoD2)a) The common sense approachb) An observational approachc) A systematic approachd) A theoretical approach

3. _____ means that organizations are becoming more heterogeneous in terms of gender, race, and ethnicity. (DoD1)

a) Globalizationb) Workforce diversityc) Affirmative actiond) Organizational culture

4. _____ has helped us understand differences in fundamental values, attitudes, and behavior between people in different countries. (DoD1)

a) Anthropologyb) Psychologyc) Social psychologyd) Political science

5. What behavioral science discipline has made the MOST significant contributions to understanding individual behavior? (DoD2)

a) Sociologyb) Social psychologyc) Psychologyd) Anthropology

6. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of physical ability? (DoD1)a) Staminab) Strengthc) Looksd) Dexterity

7. The learning concept of reinforcing closer and closer approximations to the desired new behavior is called: (DoD1)

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a) Modelingb) Shapingc) Classical conditioningd) Social learning

8. Eliminating any reinforcement that is maintaining an unwanted behavior is called: (DoD1)a) Extinctionb) Punishment

c) Negative reinforcementd) Positive reinforcement

9. Learning techniques that allow individuals to manage their own behavior so that less external management control is necessary are termed: (DoD1)

a) Self-managementb) MBO

c) Reengineeringd) Mentor programs

10. The application of reinforcement concepts to individuals in the work setting is referred to as: (DoD2)

a) Classical conditioningb) Self-management

c) Reengineeringd) Behavior modification

11. The belief that "discrimination is wrong" is a value statement. Such an opinion is the _____ component of an attitude. (DoD2)

a) Cognitiveb) Affective

c) Reactived) Behavioral

12. If attitudes and behavior are inconsistent, individuals will most likely: (DoD4)a) Change their behavior.b) Change their attitudes.

c) Change either their attitudes and/or behavior.

d) Do nothing.13. Quietly continuing to do your work, even though you're dissatisfied, is what type of response to dissatisfaction? (DoD1)

a) Exitb) Voice

c) Loyaltyd) Neglect

14. Raju is unhappy with his job. He takes every possible vacation and sick day and sometimes shows up for work late. He is expressing his dissatisfaction by: (DoD5)

a) Exitb) Voice

c) Loyaltyd) Neglect

15. An individual's personality is determined by: (DoD1)a) Heredityb) Environment

c) Situational factorsd) All of the above

Unit - II16. Which dimension of the Big Five model refers to an individual's propensity to defer to others? (DoD2)

a) Extroversion b) Agreeableness

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c) Emotional stability d) Openness to experience

17. Holland's theory of personality-job fit argues that job satisfaction is highest and turnover lowest where: (DoD1)

a) A personality and occupation are in agreement.b) An individual is highly motivated.c) Salary is high.d) Employees have an education.

18. Emotions that are organizationally-required and considered appropriate in a given job are termed: (DoD4)

a) Felt emotionsb) Displayed emotions

c) Conditional emotionsd) Exposed emotions

19. Which of the following is NOT a dimension of emotional intelligence? (DoD1)a) Self-awarenessb) Self-management

c) Self-motivationd) Self-evaluation

20. Because it is impossible for us to assimilate everything we see, we engage in: (DoD2)a) Selective perceptionb) Memorization

c) Mental desensitizationd) Periodic listening

21. The drive to become what one is capable of becoming is which level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs? (DoD1)

a) Socialb) Self-actualization

c) Physiologicald) Esteem

22. Which of the following were considered higher-order needs by Maslow? (DoD1)a) Physiological, safety, socialb) Safety, social, esteemc) Esteem, self-actualizationd) Social, esteem, self-actualization

23. A Theory X manager would assume employees would: (DoD2)a) Like workb) Seek responsibility

c) Need to be controlledd) Exercise self direction

24. Two-factor theory suggests that extrinsic factors such as _____ cause dissatisfaction. (DoD5)a) Advancementb) Working conditions

c) Achievementd) Recognition

25. Individuals with a high need to achieve prefer all of the following EXCEPT: (DoD1)a) Job situations with personal

responsibilityb) A high degree of risk

c) Overcoming obstaclesd) Feedback

26. According to the goal-setting theory of motivation, goals should be: (DoD2)a) Extremely difficultb) Easy

c) Difficult but attainabled) Just a bit beyond his or her potential.

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27. The degree to which organizational rewards satisfy an individual's personal goals or needs and the attractiveness of those potential rewards for the individual is the ____ relationship. (DoD1)

a) Rewards-personal goalsb) Performance-rewardc) Effort-performanced) Rewards-effort

28. A theory based on "needs" is the premise for theories by all of the following EXCEPT: (DoD3)

a) McClellandb) Alderfer

c) McGregord) Maslow

29. A participative process that uses the entire capacity of employees and is designed to encourage increased commitment to the organization's success is: (DoD1)

a) MBOb) Employee involvement

c) Reengineeringd) OB Mod

30. Work groups of employees and supervisors who meet regularly to discuss their quality problems and recommend solutions is a form of participative management called: (DoD1)

a) Department teamsb) Cooperative groups

c) Evaluation teamsd) Quality circles

Unit -III31. _____ is an incentive plan where improvements in group productivity determine the total amount of money that is allocated. (DoD3)

a) ESOPb) Gainsharing

c) Variable payd) Scanlon plan

32. To motivate professionals, you should do all of the following EXCEPT: (DoD2)a) Provide them with ongoing challenging projectsb) Give them autonomyc) Force them to assume managerial responsibilitiesd) Allow them to structure their work in ways that they find productive

33. In order to maximize the motivation of a diverse workforce, the key word will be: (DoD1)a) Fairnessb) Flexibility

c) Statusd) Money

34. The stage in group development which is characterized by uncertainty is: (DoD1)a) Norming b) Storming

c) Forming d) Performing

35. Which of the following is NOT an external condition imposed on the group? (DoD1)a) Group composition b) Authority structure

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c) Formal regulations d) Performance evaluation system36. The most recent approach to group decision making blends the nominal group technique with sophisticated computer technology. It is called the: (DoD2)

a) Delphi technique b) Electronic meeting

c) Nominal technique d) None of the above

37. How others believe you should act in a given situation is a: (DoD1)a) Norm b) Stereotype

c) Role expectation d) Role perception

38. Group cohesiveness is increased with each of the following EXCEPT: (DoD4)a) When the group is heterogeneous. b) When the group has spent a great deal of time together. c) When external threats exist. d) When the group is physically isolated.

39. Brainstorming is: (DoD2)a) Used to build group cohesiveness. b) A technique that tends to restrict independent thinking. c) A process for generating ideas. d) Used mainly when group members cannot agree on a solution.

40. Which of the following does NOT explain the current popularity of teams? (DoD5)a) Teams outperform individuals when the tasks require multiple skills. b) Teams enable organizations to better utilize employee talents. c) Teams are a means to increase employee motivation. d) Teams do not require employee participation in operating decisions.

41. _____ is an attribute of work teams which results in a level of performance that is greater than the sum of the individual inputs. (DoD1)

a) Synergy b) Enthusiasm

c) Energy d) Initiative

42. _____ teams go farther than problem-solving teams in getting employees involved in work- related decisions and processes. (DoD1)

a) Problem identification b) Self managed

c) Virtual d) Performance

43. Which is NOT one of the three primary factors that differentiate virtual teams from face-to- face teams? (DoD1)

a) The absence of nonverbal and paraverbal cues. b) Limited social contact. c) Increased social rapport. d) The ability to overcome time and space constraints.

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44. Which of the following is true of teamwork as compared to individual work? (DoD1)a) Teams have increased communication demands. b) Teams have conflicts to be managed. c) Teams have meetings to be run. d) All of the above.

45. Effective teams require which of the following skills? (DoD2)a) Problem-solving skills. b) Technical expertise.

c) Interpersonal skills. d) All of the above.

Unit - IV46. All of the following are advantages of diversity except: (DoD1)

a) Increased flexibility b) Increased creativity

c) Multiple perspectives d) Increased cohesiveness

47. Memos, letters, e-mail, fax transmissions, and organization periodicals represent(DoD2)a) Informal organizational communication channels b) Formal organizational communication channels c) Written communication d) Techno communication

48. Jake tells his boss only what he believes the boss wants to hear. He is engaging in: (DoD1)a) Filtering b) Selective perception

c) Jargon d) Feedback

49. In dealing with cross-cultural communication, a manager might practice putting herself in the place of the employee, a method termed: (DoD3)

a) Sympathy b) Empathy

c) Symbolic interaction d) Semantics

50. Which of the following is NOT a dimension of trust? (DoD1)a) Integrity b) Competence

c) Loyalty d) Distance

51. Which of the following is NOT an individual factor related to political behavior? (DoD1)a) Personality traits b) Perceived alternatives c) Declining organizational resources d) Expectations of success

52. The process by which individuals attempt to control the impressions others form of them is: (DoD2)

a) Impression management b) Misdirection

c) Defense behavior d) Perception management

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53 If no one is aware of conflict, it is generally agreed that: (DoD1)1. Employee-employer relations will be good. 2. Conflict is subversive. 3. No conflict exists. 4. Conflict is inevitable.

54. The traditional view of conflict argues that conflict: (DoD1)a) Cannot be avoided. b) Must be avoided.

c) Is good for a group. d) Improves productivity.

55. The _____ view of conflict argues that some conflict is absolutely necessary for a group to(DoD4)

a) Perform effectively.b) Human relations c) Interactions

d) Traditional e) Functional

56. The presence of conditions that create opportunities for conflict to arise is the ______ stage of the conflict process. (DoD2)

a) Potential opposition b) Cognition

c) Vision d) Intentions

57. Integrative bargaining focuses relationships on: (DoD5) a) I win -- you lose. b) The short term.

c) Resistance to bargaining. d) The long term.

58. During which phase of the negotiation process do the parties exchange their initial proposals or demands? (DoD2)

a) Preparation and planning b) Definition of ground rules c) Clarification and justification d) Bargaining and problem-solving

59. Institutionalization is when(DoD1)a) You become a part of your organization. b) An organization takes on a life of its own. c) You are offered a life-time position. d) An organization employs over 1,000 people.

60. Which of the following is not a characteristic of organizational culture? (DoD1)a) Attention to detail b) Innovation

c) Formalization d) Team orientation

Unit - V61. The unanimity of a strong culture builds all of the following EXCEPT: (DoD2)

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a) Cohesiveness b) Loyalty

c) Quality d) Organizational commitment

62. Culture is most likely to be a liability when: (DoD5)a) It increases consistency of behavior. b) The environment is dynamic. c) Management is incompetent. d) It reduces ambiguity.

63. Culture-creation occurs in all of the following ways EXCEPT: (DoD1)a) Founders only hire and keep employees who think and feel the way they do. b) Founders indoctrinate and socialize employees to their way of thinking and feeling. c) Founders traditionally keep their vision secret from all organizational members. d) The founders' own behavior acts as a role model that encourages employees to identify

with them and thereby internalize their beliefs.

64. All of the following serve to sustain a culture EXCEPT: (DoD1)a) Selection. b) Formalization.

c) Socialization. d) Top management.

65. _____ is the process that adapts employees to the organization's culture. (DoD1)a) Training b) Mentoring

c) Socialization d) Communicating

66. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a spiritual organization? (DoD2)a) Focus on individual development b) Employee empowerment c) Censorship of employee expression d) Trust and openness

67. Which of the following argues that employees will no longer be able to rest on their previous accomplishments and success? (DoD3)

a) Continuous improvement b) MBO

c) Team management d) Authoritative management

68. What is action research? (DoD1)a) Analysis of flow sheets b) Diagnosis c) Systematic collection of data and analysis d) Overload

69. Resistance can be: (DoD2)a) Overt b) Implicit

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c) Immediate d) All of the above

70. Refreezing involves: (DoD1) a) Movement to a new state b) Retrograde to an old state c) Making a new change permanent d) Training employees for change

71. The arrangement of one's workplace is important primarily because: (DoD2)a) It significantly influences social interaction. b) It signifies status. c) It affects security of confidential information. d) It affects workers' health.

72. Which programs focus on an employees' mental and physical condition? (DoD4)a) Fitness programs b) Health programs

c) Alternative programs d) Wellness programs

73. Which of the following are wellness programs? (DoD1)a) Quitting smoking b) Controlling alcohol abuse

c) Losing weight d) All of the above

74. What helps individuals better cope with job demands? (DoD1)a) Stress management b) Time management

c) Training d) Cross training

75. Which of the following types of technology are changing the workplace? (DoD1)a) Cell phones b) Computer Networks c) PDAs

d) All of the above

Part – B– (4 Mark Questions) - Unit – I

1. What are the contributing disciplines to OB. Briefly write about each discipline? (DoD3)2. Trace the historical development of OB. (DoD1)3. What are the determinants of personality? (DoD1)4. What are the attributes of personality? (DoD1)5. What are personality traits? (DoD2)

Part – B– (4 Mark Questions) - Unit – II

6. Briefly digress on values and attitudes. (DoD2)7. What are the components and functions of attitudes? (DoD1)8. Explain briefly about the basic concepts pertaining to Motivation. (DoD3)9. What is a Group? Briefly describe the various types of groups. (DoD1)

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10. Differentiate between formal groups and informal groups. (DoD1)

Part – B– (4 Mark Questions) - Unit – III

11. What are the factors that contribute to group cohesiveness? (DoD1)12. What is organization culture? How it can influence individual performance? (DoD1)13. Diagrammatically explain Maslow’s need Hierarchy Theory. (DoD3)14. How would you go about changing and strengthening culture? (DoD1)15. Why is change a permanent factor in human life? (DoD2)

Part – B– (4 Mark Questions) - Unit – IV

16. How would you go about tackling resistance to change? (DoD1)17. Diagrammatically explain the force field analysis model. (DoD2)18. What is organization development? (DoD1)19. Briefly explain about sources of conflicts. (DoD3)20. How would you go about resolving conflicts? Why “Negotiation” is a vital aspect in

arriving at a solution to problems? (DoD1)

Part – B– (4 Mark Questions) - Unit – V

21. Why power and politics are inevitable factors that functional managers have to contend with in organizations? (DoD2)

22. What are the cause and consequences? (DoD3)23. What are the strategies adopted to cope with stress? (DoD1)24. Digress on health disorders and their relation with stress. (DoD1)25. List out the approaches to measure organizational effectiveness. (DoD1)

Part – C – (10 Mark Questions) - Unit – I

1. How are OB concepts addressed in management functions, role and skills? (DoD1)2. “Behavior is Generally Predictable, so there is no need to formally study OB” why is this

statement wrong? (DoD1)3. Examine any three types of attitudes. Explain cognitive dissonance theory. (DoD1)4. Compare and contrast the motivation-hygiene theory of Frederick Herzberg with Abraham

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs theory. Substantiate your answer diagrammatically. (DoD3)5. What is the relationship between job satisfaction, absenteeism and turnover which is the

stronger relationship? (DoD2)

Part – C – (10 Mark Questions) - Unit – II

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6. What are group roles? Explain with reference to the different type of roles individuals play in an organization. (DoD1)

7. Describe the factors in the big five model. Which factor shows the greatest value in predicting behavior? Why does it? (DoD1)

8. What is organizational politics? What impact does it have on organizational climate? (DoD1)

9. What can you do, as a manager, to increase the likelihood that your employees will exert a higher level of effort? (DoD2)

10. What is group think and group shift? What are their effects on decision-making quality? (DoD1)

Part – C – (10 Mark Questions) - Unit – III

11. Contrast power tactics with power bases. What are some of the key contingency variables that determine which tactic a power holder is likely to use? (DoD3)

12. Define political behavior. Why is politics a fact of life in organizations? (DoD1)13. What are the political strategies which can be opted by individuals and subunits who want to

exhibit political behavior? (DoD1)14. What are the components in the conflict process model? From your study of OB elucidate

how a conflict proceeds through the five stages. (DoD1)15. What is the difference between functional and dysfunctional conflict? What determines

functionality? (DoD2)

Part – C – (10 Mark Questions) - Unit – IV

16. What benefits can socialization provide for the organization? For the new employee? (DoD3)

17. Can an employee survive in an organization if he or she rejects it’s core values? Explain. (DoD1)

18. How are opportunities, constraints, and demands related to stress? Give an example of each. (DoD2)

19. What can organization do to reduce employee stress? Elucidate. (DoD1)20. In an organization that has a history of “following the leader”, what changes can be made to

foster innovation? (DoD1)

Part – C – (10 Mark Questions) - Unit – V

21. Elucidate on health disorders and their relation with stress. (DoD2)22. Critically examine the OB modification program. Explain four application of the learning

theory. (DoD3)

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23. “A good leader is not necessarily a good manager”. Discuss this statement and compare leadership with management. (DoD1)

24. Describe the role of organization development in organizational improvement. What are its various limitations and problems? (DoD1)

25. Explain the nature and scope of organizational behavior with suitable examples. Substantiate some of the recent changes that have influenced the study of organizational behavior. (DoD1)

Part D – (10 Mark Questions) - Unit - I

1. An Unskilled Labourer Need Understanding Too!

If you were to walk around one of Transocean Sedco Forex’s oil rings, off the New Orleans’ coast, you’d see something that might puzzle you. Most of the workers have three stickers on their hard hats. One says “Start to Understand Me.” The other two are closed dots. What’s this all about? The colored dots are there to tell co-workers about the personality under the hat. The company believes that workers are better able to understand each other and get along if they know the personalities of the people with whom they have to work.

Transocean has hired on outside consulting firm to provide personality assessment to its 8,300 workers worldwide. For instance, employees are presented with 28 sets of four words. Each worker picks a word that describes him least. A typical set: fussy, obedient, firm, playful. Employees then are shown how to score their test and find out their two dominant colors. For instance, reds are driven. Yellows are emotional, talkative, and have a fondness for people. Greens are cautions and serious. Reds are strong-willed and decisive. And blues dislike change and can be a little wishy-washy. Rig workers wear their dots on their hats, while land-based employees post theirs outside their office doors. No one is forced to display their colors and some think the program may be too instructive. Roberts, a Transocean adviser for operational safety, says those who question the program’s credibility are “probably blue people.”

A number of employees seem to find the dots helpful. Peter, a red-green rig manager, keeps a color chart under the glass covering his desk for quick reference. John, a senior rig hand on a drilling ship who is also a red-green, thinks the colors correctly reflect his personality: blunt, to the point, and not liking to talk much. David, a blue-yellow, says the colored dots help him deal with high-strung red-greens now that he’s figured out that he just has to get to the point more quickly.

This program is not being applied only at Transocean. Similar personality-based coding systems are being put into place with a number of blue-collar employees. Assembly-line workers in Kentucky are using the system. So are police officers in Kansas, electricians in Texas, construction crews in Florida, and carpenters and plumbers in New York City.

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Questions(DoD2)

1. Analyze how the personalities of unskilled person can be estimated?2. Do you think having employees “wear their personalities on their hats” is a personal

intrusion? Is it unethical?

Part D – (10 Mark Questions) - Unit - II

2. What drives Employees at Microsoft?

The reality of software development in a huge company like Microsoft-it employs more than 48,000 people- is that a substantial portion of your work involves days of boredom punctuated by hours of tedium. You basically spend your time in an isolated office writing code and sitting in meetings during which you participate in looking for and evaluating hundreds of bugs and potential bugs. Yet Microsoft has no problem in finding and retaining software programmers. Their programmers work horrendously long hours and obsess on the goal of shipping product.

From the day new employees begin work at Microsoft, they know they’re special and that their employer is special. New hires all have one thing in common-they’re smart. The company prides itself on putting all recruits through a grueling “interview loop,” during which they confront a barrage of brain-teasers by future colleagues to see how well they think. Only the best and the brightest survive to become employees. The company does this because Microsofties truly believe that their company is special. For instance, it has a high tolerance for nonconformity. Would you believe that one software tester comes to work every day dressed in extravagant Victorian outfits? But the underlying theme that unites Microsofties is the belief that the firm has a manifest destiny to change the world. The least consequential decision by a programmer can have an outsized importance when it can effect a new release that might be used by 50 million people.

Microsoft employees are famous for putting in long hours. One program manager said, “In my first five years, I was the Microsoft stereotype. I lived on caffeine and vending-machine hamburgers and free beer and 20-hour workdays….. I had no life……I considered everything outside the building as a necessary evil.” More recently, things have changed. There are still a number of people who put in 80-hour weeks, but 60-and 70-hour weeks are more typical and some even aredoing their jobs in only 40 hours.

No discussion of employee life at Microsoft would be complete without mentioning the company’s lucrative stock option program. Microsoft created more millionaire employees, faster,

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than any company in American history-more than 10,000 by the late-1990s. while the company is certainly more than a place to get rich, executives still realize that money matters. One former manager claims that the human resources’ department actually kept a running chart of employee satisfaction versus the company’s stock price. “When the stock was up, human resource could turn off the ventilation and everybody would say they were happy. When the stock was down, we could give people massages and they would tell us that the massages were too hard.” In go-go 1990s when Microsoft stock was doubling every few months and yearly stock splits were predictable, employees not only got to participate in Microsoft’s manifest destiny, they could get rich in the process. By the spring of 2002, with the world in a recession, stock prices down, and the growth for Microsoft products slowing, it wasn’t so clear what was driving its employees to continue the company’s dominance of the software industry.

Questions (DoD1)

1. If you were a programmer, would you want to work at Microsoft? Why or why not?2. How many activities in this case can you tie into specific motivation theories? List the

activities, the motivation theories, and how they apply.

3. Trilogy Software

Few industries have undergone as much turbulence in the past few years as those in internet-related businesses. One of the leaders in this industry is Trilogy Software, based in Austin, Texas. Trilogy, founded in 1989, creates software to help e-businesses handle procurement, customer service, relationship management, and data integration. Its 1500 employees serve an impressive client base that includes Ford, FedEx, Land’s End, Charles Schwab, and Motorola.

Trilogy’s president and CEO, Joe Liemandt, seeks to hire and keep employees who can flourish in a chaotic environment, who are willing to take risks, and aren’t afraid of working long hours. Liemandt has fashioned a strategy for Trilogy that encompasses maintaining the high energy of a start-up with the experience of an established company. An important part of that strategy is continually recruiting “only the best” – bright, dynamic individuals from the best universities, business schools, and industries. By hiring great people and giving them significant responsibilities from day one, Liemandt hopes his firm will be able to respond to competitive challenges, keep its entrepreneurial spirit alive, and achieve its goal of being a high-impact company.

New recruits are wooed to Austin with dinners, cultural and recreational outings, and competitive salaries. Once there, the recruits go through “boot camp”-an-intensive training program conducted to turn rookies into Trilogians. In classes led by Liemandt and other Trilogy

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veterans, the first week is spent learning about programming languages, product plans, and marketing. Classes start at 8 A.M. and, in the first month at least, last until midnight. During the second week, the new hires are divided into small teams and given three weeks to complete projects ranging from making an existing Trilogy product run faster to creating new projects from scratch. Their performance on these projects will affect where the new hires are eventually placed and also determines whether they’ll be rewarded with a trip to Lasvegas at the end of boot camp.

This boot camp introduction to Trilogy is designed to instill the company’s values and shape new employees’ expectations. Recruits are told that effort won’t be enough. In a presentation given by Liemandt about the team projects, the recruits are shown a slide that says, “No Reward for Trying.” He flatly states, “If you set a hard goal and don’t make it, you don’t win any points.” Some recruits fall out during this boot camp. But for those who survive, life at Trilogy can be very rewarding and satisfying.

The company’s atmosphere combines work and play. Trilogy gives employees ambitions responsibilities and the freedom and resources to fulfill them. The firm’s culture encourages maximizing employee passion, energy, and commitment. And the company generously rewards its employees for their performance. Company benefits are intended to keep employees motivated and excited. For instance, it offers fully stocked kitchens, company trips, discounted memberships at local gyms, the use of company ski boats on two Austin lakes, and an on-site caretaker service to take care of personal errands.

Questions (DoD1)

1. Design an employee attitude survey that Trilogy’s managers might use. Remember to tailor it to tap the attitudes that Trilogy is looking for in its employees.

2. What predictions, if any, could you make about job satisfaction at Trilogy? How might job satisfaction affect work outcomes at Trilogy?

Part D – (10 Mark Questions) - Unit – III

3. The Sad Saga of the Sastri Hall Hostel Kitchen

The Sastri Hall Hostel was built 30 years ago to house 40 engineering students and provide them food. At that time, the hostel kitchen had 8 cooks, 4 maids and one rotating senior engineering student who was assigned to help with the cash and accounting transactions. Four cooks worked from 5.00 a.m. till 1.30 p.m. and the other four worked from 1.30 p.m. to 10.p.m.Every morning and evening two maids helped clean up the tables after the students had finished eating and washed the utensils. Anand and Bhima were the head cooks for the morning and evening shifts, respectively. They prepared the sweet dish (dessert) and assigned the work to the other cooks according to the menu. Each cook was entrusted with a special assignment, such as

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preparing breakfast or evening tiffin, making the vegetarian dishes, cooking the non-vegetarian items and the like.

Each cook estimated the requirements of provisions and other requisites to prepare the breakfast, tiffin, vegetarian and other non-vegetarian menu, and the head-cook estimated the needs for the sweets preparations, coffee, tea, milk and other necessities. Each individual cook located the least expensive source for procuring the needs of the kitchen, a process that not only saved money for the hostel but also helped the vendors to sell their products in bulk. About 80 percent of the savings, i.e., the difference between the open market price and the cheaper bulk price of the supplies procured, was later passed on to the cooks as ‘Diwali Bonus’. This provided added incentive and enthusiasm to the cooks to search for the most competitive sources and suppliers.

Because of the relatively small number of people served, the cooks felt no pressure, and delighted in serving “tasty” dishes to the students. The cooks in both shifts were all in their mid to late 50s, and a spirit of harmony prevailed among them. In each shift they conversed freely, took turns serving meals and all of them ate together after the students had been served.

The working conditions were less than ideal, with five ceiling fans in the dining hall and none in the kitchen. The cooks sweated a lot during the long summer months, with the heat of the blazing firewood driving them to near exhaustion. Though they were constantly wiping their face and neck with towels, they never complained. The head-cook pretty much left the other cooks to organize their work in their own way, without undue interference, since they always cooked good food and on time. If one of the cooks fell ill, or could not come to work for any other reason (such as a function in the family, marriage, death, etc), the others, including the head-cook, took on the additional work and the meals were almost always ready on time despite the manpower shortage. During those rare occasions when a cook did not have his part of the menu prepared on time, or a dish was prepared not salted to taste, the others reprimanded him overtly and sharply, but the incident was soon forgotten. Such episodes were common to both the morning and evening shifts.

In 1991, the Sastri Hall hostel had to be considerable enlarged due to enrollment of engineering students in larger numbers over the years. The stop-gap arrangements of housing students in various places could not go on for ever, and a new enlarged facility was completed in 1993 to cater to 600 men and women. This included not only living quarters, but a large recreation hall, library, swimming pool, an attractive garden and two badminton and tennis courts. The new kitchen was very spacious and the facilities included powerful electric ovens, gas stoves, refrigerators, freezers for the meat products and huge platforms for cutting the vegetables, storing the cooked food and keeping the utensils. Above all, the kitchen too had ceiling and pedestal fans so that the cooks could cook in comfort, especially during summer.

Due to the vastly enlarged scope of preparations and service, additional cooks, servers, errand boys and maids were hired All the old cooks were put together in the morning shifts along with a newly hired cooks. Nine cooks were newly hired to take care of the evening shifts. The newly hired servers, cleaning boys, and maids were equally distributed among the two shifts to

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help the cooks and keep the facility clean. A supervisor, Mr. Bhoja, was recruited to head the entire operations of the kitchen. He had a number of years of experience to his credit in managing restaurants and other large food service canteens, and had recently come to the city to be close to his ailing mother. He took complete in-charge – planning all menus, buying all the provisions and other requirements form the wholesale market in bulk, and assigning work to others. He had the authority to run the facility and was entrusted with all responsibility for the kitchen operations. The hiring and firing of people were, however, done by the hostel’s chief warden and director. The work of the cooks was still assigned on a functional basis (breakfast, vegetarian, non-vegetarian, sweets, savouries, etc), but now, there were several cooks assigned to each speciality. The time schedule for the morning crew was moved ahead by an hour, with the morning crew working from 4.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. and the evening shift from 1.00 p.m. to 10.30.p.m. The evening crew had to work extra 30minutes so that all groceries and utensils were back in their place to enable the morning crew to start work immediately to get the breakfast ready by 6.00 a.m. A head cook was also chosen for each of the two shifts to ensure that things were done properly whenever the supervisor was not physically present.

The morning cooks who were not used to preparing such large quantities of food, sometimes failed to prepare meals as tasty as they used to be. At such times, they blamed the supervisor, Bhoja, for not good quality ingredients and in the right quantities. They voiced their opinions constantly in his hearing, and at one time even told him that his purchases were a sheer waste of money. A second complaint of the morning crew related to the new cook who was recently hired. They said that the new cook was too loud, constantly sang the latest film songs at the top of his voice, and when he was not singing, waxed eloquently over his own expertise and abilities and advised the other cooks how to do their jobs better. There were constant arguments and fights between the new cook, Krishna and the members of the old crew. A third complaint of the morning crew was that the evening shift crew had an easy time because all they did was to mix all the leftovers of the morning’s foods, add some fresh “masala” and squeeze some lime juice and lo and behold, a major part of their work was done! They also started that they had heard through the grapevine that the evening crew members took turnes in leaving early to go to the movies. Finally, they grumbled and had arguments with the supervisor that the two cleaning boys, who were supposed to take away the plates and clean the tables after each batch of students had finished eating, were too slow and wasted time. Because of this, the cooks were often forced to clean some of the tables in order to seat a fresh batch of waiting students. The cooks complained that cleaning the tables was not their job and they threatened to quit if the cleaning boys were not reprimanded and ordered to “shape up”. While investigating the matter, the supervisor found that the cleaning boys were not slow nor wasting their time; they just had too much to do within a limited time.

The evening crew was also experiencing several problems. First, was the problem of the new employees adjusting to the schedule and the work. They also resented the fact that they had to work 30 minutes longer than the morning crew and felt they were being taken advantage of because they were all new. The most serious problem, however, involved the evening head-cook, Mr.Rama, who was much younger than the others and also had a bachelor’s degree in economics. Rama had been searching high and low for a job for the past years and felt he had to take any job that come his way since he needed money to support his family and feed his wife

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and children. Rama was very mature in his views, had positive attitudes and a pleasing personality, and was very capable. What was surprising was the fact that he also turned out to be a very good cook within a short period of time. When Rama was hired, he was rather apprehensive about how well he would fit in the group, whose members were all older and not well educated. He was nervous that they would give him a “hard time” when they came to know that he had a college degree. He mentioned these concerns of his to the hostel director during his interview. Though the director himself was not sure how the whole thing would work out, he was inclined to help this educated unemployed man who seemed to have a healthy positive head cook’s job. As expected, the other cooks strongly resented his position as their head and nicknamed him “the Brihaspathi”, “Young Professor”, “Vidwan”, etc. Their resentment and displeasure showed up in their tardiness, delays in menu preparations and frequent badly cooked meals.

Things came to a head when Rama one day inadvertently spilled the coffee seeds in the floor while transferring them from the gunny bag to the storage bin and asked the cook standing nearby to help him pick them up. The cook immediately walked up to the supervisor’s office and said he wanted to quit if he was going to be “ordered about” to do such jobs!

When the morning crew members hear about what had happened to the evening crew, they all agreed to meet that evening in the municipal park to draw up a “list of their grievance and demands”, which if not considered by the supervisor and the hostel director, would be grounds enough for them to go on strike.

Questions: (DoD2)1. Bring out the inert group dynamics in the Hotel Kitchen2. Analyze and give your solution to resolve the issue using the concepts of Team Management.

4. Escalation of Conflict Through Endowed Chair

Dr Anand, chairman of the Department of Management, and Dr. Sivaraman, Chairman of the Accountancy Department, have always felt awkward whenever they interacted with each other during the executive committee and other meetings. The management department had an excellent group of faculty members who were not only reputed for their research, but were also first rate teachers. No other department in the college of Business had such a group of prolific researchers who had published so much. In fact, the management department faculty and their chairman did entertain feeling of superiority even though they tried not to flaunt it. Because of their research productivity and national reputation, the university allocated more resources to the department for more funded trips to conferences, more Xeroxing money, more secretarial assistance and the like.

Dr. Sivaraman was also proud of his accountancy department faculty because the members were extremely active and successful in acquiring consulting projects and generating a lot of money for the department and the college. The worked closely with big accounting firms and private sector organizations and received generous donations from them. Because of such

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funds, the faculty had a plush carpeted office, the best stationery and other status symbols. Actually, the accountancy department looked like a private company’s showroom, with Kashmiri carpets, fancy furniture, an impressive conference room and expensive decorative pieces of art.

In private, the management department referred to the accountancy department as “the greatest show on earth”, and the latter referred to the management faculty as “pen pushers”. On one occasion three of the management faculty had to go to the accountancy department to obtain the tax professor’s clarification on the recent budget statement made by the Finance Minister. They had to wait in the department’s waiting area for the return of the faculty member who had just stepped out of his office. Dr. Sivaraman who happened to come out at that time remarked jokingly to the waiting members, “you must find it pleasant to sit on soft sofas after sitting on hard chairs the whole day in your office.” When Dr, Anand heard about this, he issued a memo to all his faculty that they should use the intercom as much as possible in the future and not bother other department faculty with personal visits to their offices. Every one certainly knew that the memo was the outcome of his resentment towards Dr. Sivaraman observation.

Shortly after these incidents, the management department received a capital fund donation from one of its alumni, which was expected to fetch an annual interest of Rs. 50,000. Mr. Ramesh, the donor was the president of a very prosperous, privately owned company. He had received his Master Degree in management 10 years earlier and had risen rapidly to the top. He had always held the research-oriented faculty of the management department in high esteem and thought it would be an excellent idea to fund an “Endowed Chair” to the department. This would enable the management department chairman to bring in some international scholar of reopute from time to time and further enhance its prestige. Mr. Ramesh was not solely motivated by philanthropy since the donation would entitle the company to a tax write-off. The management department chairman, of course, gratefully accepted the offer.

As the company’s PR group tried to gain publicity for the donation, the management department chairman and several faculty members were interviewed buy the press. The ceremonial award of the “Endowed Chair” by the president of the company to the department chairman was nationally televised. The company and the management department were very much in the news for several days.

When Dr. Sivaraman met Dr.Anand in the corridor one day as all this was happening, he congratulated Anand and said with a hint of sarcasm that it must be a great feeling to receive such a donation, especially since this was the first time that they had generated funds from outside the university system. Dr. Anant thanked Sivaraman and said that if the accountancy department needed any assistance in getting its faculty to publish, his faculty would be glad to share information on how to go about doing research and publishing with them. After this episode the two chairmen did not even exchange greetings in the hallway. Faculty members from both departments started to make innuendos and snide remarks at each other in classes while lecturing to students. When all this reached the ears of the dean of the college, through the grapevine, he called the two department chairmen and gave them a severe dressing down. He rebuked them of their unprofessional behavior and deplorable conduct. In effect, he asked them to “mend or end”. Though things seemed to quieten down considerably immediately after this,

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students still heard the management department faculty speaking ill if the accountancy department and vice versa. The Dean was not unaware of what was happening and was pondering about how to resolve the problem once and for all.

Questions: (DoD2)

1. Analyze the reasons for the conflicts between the two departments.2. How the dean can resolve the conflict without damage to the organization? Discuss your

solution

5. Growing Pains of the Pennathur Tyre Company

The Pennathur Tyre Company (PTC) was incorporated as a partnership firm in 1986 to fill what one of its partners, Mr. Mani, called a void that existed in South India. According to Mr.Mani, who had worked for a foreign tyre company for nearly 15 years, there was no company that really had for its major aim the production of tyres at the minimum cost and their sale to customers at an affordable price. “Four wheel vehicle owners pay through their nose for tyres, petrol and repairs. Anybody who owns a car spends at least 35 to 40 percent of his salary on its maintenance and that is not how it should be,” Mani was often heard to say. Mr. Mani started the PTC in partnership with two close friends of his who had also had extensive experience in the tyre business, working for other companies. Mr. Mani was very actively involved in the business and was at work every day at the crack of dawn and never left the place before 8.00 pm. Sometimes when work was heavy, Mani would stay as late as 10.00 pm at the shop. One of the other two partners owned another business as well as and was, for all practical purposes, a sleeping partner in this firm, and the third partner was much less involved in the day to day operations of the company than Mr. Mani.

PTC, though a small partnership firm, had enormous backing from the business community because of their appreciation of the goals of the company and the extreme dedication of Mr. Mani. Thus, PTC was off to a good start. Being very cost conscious, PTC set up small Cost Analysis department. As business began to expand, more customer services were added and the company attained an excellent reputation for its wheel balancing service. As a result, the company was given sole dealership for helmets as well. In 1988, just two years after its incorporation, the company had to expand its premises, operations and personnel. With the expansion came the growing pains and Mr. Mani and the two partners had to encounter many small hurdles. Even as they were trying to solve one problem, several others seemed to crop up. Mr. Mani highlighted some of the more serious ones and described them to me as follows. “Dr.Sekaran, sometimes I wish we had never expanded our business. When we more merely selling tyres we could comfortably handle the operations and services to our customers. The smile on the customers’ faces as they drive cars away is still very gratifying. But because of our

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increased staff size, we are beginning to lose control. Often, the customers are not served as effectively as they could be. The personal touch that we had established with our customers seems to be slowly slipping away. I have been telling the employees that they should be more customer-oriented, but they seem to be more concerned about their own inter-departmental problems and flights. For Instance, last week, while a customer was waiting patiently, the mechanic who was to have changed the oil and filter in his car, was arguing for more than half an hour with the purchase clerk about some trivial matter. I almost lost my patience, and was about to give the mechanic a bit of my mind, when my partner took the mechanic aside and talked to him. The fact that customers are not serviced without delays bothers me. I wonder if it bothers my partners as well. I have not discussed these kinds of issues with them since I don’t want them to think that I am getting unduly worried about small matters.

“Another potential problem lies in the way some of the employees come across to the others in the company. For instance, we have a rather brash young engineer. He is thoroughly knowledgeable about his work and is extremely productive, but he always wears a serious look on his face and talks in a very abrupt, and sometimes, abrasive manner. Some of his mechanics have told me that they are scared of him. I have a set of capable workmen and don’t want to lose any of them. I am at a loss to know how to handle this particular situation. I guess if I happened to work for this engineer, I would also be scared of him; but he is really a nice person, you know. The only problem is that he is too intense and comes across to others as a bad tempered. We have a few others who are just the opposite, laughing and joking all the time and I sometimes wonder if their workers take them seriously at all!

“Something else is also engaging my thoughts. Ultimately, I would like to see each of the service departments as individual profit centers and share the additional profits with the workers. That, of course, is down the road; perhaps three to five years from now. I am thinking that if the employees have a stake in the profits they will work harder and I shall not have to put in so much time supervising them. But then, they should all learn to work well together so that there is more collaboration and joint problem solving rather then competion and dysfunctional conflicts. I would like them all to see themselves as one big family where everybody works together harmoniously to reap the full benefits. If somehow, we can develop that spirit of friendliness and cooperation, it would be great! Maybe, I am rambling too much, but these and similar issues keep engaging my thoughts and I was wondering if you have any advice for we on how I should handle some of these issues”.

Questions: (DoD1)1. Analyze the case and identify the problems and causes for them.2. Identify appropriate OD interventions strategies to resolve the issue, explain you recommendation’s and how it would resolve the problem.

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Part D – (10 Mark Questions) - Unit - IV

7. Tardiness in the production Department of the Bhilai Steel Plant

The Vice President for production at the Bhilai Steel Plant was giving the Production Department manager, Mr. Singh, a hard time for doing nothing about his work group, which was perpetually coming late to work and was behind schedule for several months in a row in the performance quotas. His contention was that with the consistent tardiness of the production crew the production process was getting delayed by about 15 minutes on an average, per member per day, and this was no way for the department to meet the assigned quotas. “We are losing about 6 to 8 hours of production time per member per month, and you don’t seem one bit concerned about it”, he yelled at the manager. He added that he was quite upset about his “lax management style” and made it very clear that unless he took necessary steps to deal with the tardiness problem, he would have to be replaced with another manager who would “manage the crew effectively”.

Mr. Singh knows that he has an able and good group of workers but he also realizes that they are bored with their work and do not have enough incentives to meet the production quotas. Hence, they seem to respond to the situation by taking things easy and coming late to work by a few minutes everyday. Mr. Singh is also aware that they were by turns leaving the workplace a few minutes early in the evening. In spite of all this, he pretended not to notice the irregularities, resting satisfied that once the workers started their work, they proceeded to execute their jobs very satisfactorily, and in fact, often helped to meet rush orders whenever they knew that their manager was in a bind.

Mr. Singh has heard about reinforcement strategies that can be used rectify the type of situation he is presently confronted with.

Questions: (DoD1)1. Analyze the behavior of the workers and why the manager Mr.Singh was ineffective.2. Discuss in detail how reinforcement strategies can be used to rectify the situation.

8. The Rueful Results of Records Room Relocation

The Records Room of the Exchange Control Department of the Renuka Bank is a work unit manned by ten record clerks and the supervisor, Ms. Janaki. Mr.Roy is the manager in charge of the Records Room (RR), a responsibility that is rather insignificant compared to his other duties. The RR serves to store the files sent by the various sections as and when customers’ applications are ‘disposed off’ and the “case is treated as closed”, and retrieve them as and when needed by the sections. Centralization of the records maintenance function and maintenance of the records at the farthest end of the ground floor of the bank had helped to present a pleasant and neat appearance to the customers and improve customer service, since the respective sections could get the files from the RR without loss of their time in searching for these in their cabinets.

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Requests for stored files used to be sent generally to RR by the concerned sections everyday at 10.00 a.m. and 3.00 p.m. In case of urgent need, the clerks from the sections would request the files in person and these were always made available to them without delay. Ms. Janaki was in overall charge of supervising the staff and all paper work connected with the movement of the files. The tasks were invariably carried out smoothly and efficiently by the RR staff.

The Records Room was spacious, and enclosed by walls in three sides and a strong steel wire mesh on the fourth side, facing the front side of the hall, with a door. The movement of files was through this door. A second door on the wall on the east opened to the street and was always kept bolted form within, expect when one of the staff had to use it to go out or come from the side street. Access to RR was limited and a messenger by always stood guard at the front entrance door. He would permit admission only to other messenger boys and clerks with “request challans”. None else could come in. This tight safeguard was necessary so that people could not come in anytime they wanted and remove the files themselves.

Record cabinets and bureaus were neatly organized in the room and the record clerks had a very systematic and methodical procedure for storing the files and folders received daily. All files returned during the day were shelved temporarily in specially designed cabinets, which were placed along with the steel mesh such that those outside the RR could not see the clerks sitting inside.

The ten records clerks worked harmoniously and helped one another whenever there was a “flood of request” for files. At such times, they would often stay 30 minutes to an hour late in the evening or come early in the morning to organize the returned files. They took great pride in efficiently servicing the sections during the day without delays. On certain days the crew would have less work and spend their time chatting, tossing clips and rubber bands at each other, or solving crossword puzzles. Members of the group also had the habit of slipping through the side door, two at a time, to have a cup of coffee or eat some snacks in the restaurant across the street which was within three minutes’ walk distance. They would invariably ask Ms. Janaki if she wanted anything and would get it for her if she was so inclined. People outside the RR had no direct view of what was going on in there, but many envied the group for the spirit of camaraderie that prevailed in it.

The bank recently bought extra computers to speed up its every expanding operation and reduce the cumbersome and tedious manual record keeping procedures. Since no space was initially earmarked for the incoming computers, the Premises Departments of the bank decided to house the computer facilities in the RR area and move the Records Room to the third floor of the building, where the manager Mr. Roy had his office. The decision to move was communicated to the RR staff, and the shifting was done during the weekend. On Monday, when the RR crew reported to work, they found that the third floor office was smaller, and oblong in shape in contrast to the big square room they had on the first floor. This facility also had the steel mesh, but the cupboards were organized all along the three walls, with the mesh side left completely bare. The RR was thus fully exposed in view to the other sections on the floor, and the manager, Mr. Roy, was sitting in his cabin right outside the RR. Some of the specially designed cabinets

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previously used for temporarily storing the returned files were retained by the Computer Division for their use, and thus, the RR also ran short of cabinets, Ms. Janaki tried to get the cabinets returned and stacked against the steel mesh as before, but the director of the Computer Lab “requested” her to put up with the inconvenience till the new file cabinets ordered for the Lab were recived.

The RR clerks felt they were “exposed to the whole world” and were unhappy that they could no longer talk to each other freely, solve crossword puzzles, or operate as before without attracting the attention of those sitting outside. To make matters worse, Mr. Roy frequently instructed Janaki to make sure that the returned files were stored neatly and not thrown “all over the place”, making the area look untidy and shabby. Her complaints regarding lack of cabinets fell on deaf ears. The custom of the clerks sneaking out for coffee and snacks obviously ran into trouble. Clerks in other sections, who observed the RR crew taking time out for coffee, also started doing the same, much to the chagrin of their managers who complained to Mr.Roy. Mr.Roy told Ms. Janaki in no uncertain terms that she should exercise more control over her staffOr run the risk of not being considered for promotion. The unique privileges the RR group once enjoyed were no more theirs to enjoy. Ms. Janaki, who had always got along well with her staff who rendered efficient service to the sections, was now getting nervous and full of anxiety about her future. Her stress was heightened when Mr.Roy called her one day and said that he observed her clerks throwing clips at each other and if she were not able to control them, she should either resign or seek a transfer.

The RR clerks who liked Ms. Janaki and did not want to cause her any trouble, thereafter pretended to be quite and hard-working whenever they say Mr.Roy come out of his cabin. They hid all the returned files in a corner where nobody could notice them, even as they continued to talk, throw clips, and solve crossword puzzles when nobody was observing them. Their latest game was to select the most appropriate nickname for Roy. They referred to him as W2 – Short form for Wicked Witch.

Ms. Janaki just found, to her utter dismay, that about 300 returned files were lying in a hidden corner of the room unattended and the requisition slips, which were hitherto promptly serviced now lay piling up inside the clerk’s desk drawers!

Questions: (DoD1)

1. What were the required and emergent behaviours of the Records Room group in the old and the new setting? What were the factors influencing the emergent behaviours in both situations? What were the consequences of the emergent behaviours in each case?

2. Discuss fully the effectiveness of the group before and after the change, using the input throughput-output model.

9. Analysis of a Group Decision at Time Warner

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In the spring of 2000, Time Warner was finalizing its merger with America online. With critics calming that this merger would create an unruly monopoly, you would have thought that Time Warner management would have been particularly sensitive to its public image. But it made a decision on April 30th that would sorely tarnish that image.

Time Warner was in the process of renegotiating its contract with Walt Disney to determine how much Time Warner would pay for the use of three of Disney’s cable channels and whether Disney would renew Time Warner’s right to carry the ABC network (ABC is owned by Disney). Negotiations had begun more than five months earlier but where going nowhere. Deadlines had been extended seven times. Animosities were escalating between Time Warner and Disney negotiators. By late April, face-to-face talks had ceased. Communication had come down to the exchanges of nasty faxes.

On April 26th, five days before the latest negotiating deadline, when Time Warner’s rights to carry the ABC network were to expire, ABC faxed a terse letter to Time Warner notifying it that Disney expected Time Warner to continue to carry the ABC signal period, when stations measure audiences to determine what to charge advertisers. Time Warner had been insisting on an eight-month extension. The tone of the fax set off the tempers of some Time Warner executives. They felt ABC was negotiating by fiat.

Within Time Warner, executives began considering blocking ABC’s signal to the 3.5 million homes that Time Warner’s cable serviced. Some saw blocking the signal as a real risk. Given that cable companies aren’t popular with the public and often seen as charging monopolistic prices, several Time Warner execs feared that they would take the blame rather than Disney. Others argued that Disney, itself a huge conglomerate, might take just as much blame, if not more, if Time Warner put its message out effectively. And they doubted ABC would take the chance of losing up to $3 million a day in advertising revenues. They figured the thereat of blocking ABC’s signal might finally bring Disney to agree to Time Warner’s terms.

By Sunday, April 30th, still no agreement had been reached. More terse faxes went back and forth. Neither side would budge from its demands. By 8:30 P.M., Disney executives began to sense that Time Warner’s threat to pull the ABC signal was real, though they still found it hard to believe. Meanwhile, Time Warner executives were convinced that they had Disney cornered. “It’s clear they didn’t think we would drop, and we didn’t think they would let us drop,” said Fred Dessler, a senior vice president at Time Warner and head of its negotiating team.

Finally, with no compromise felt there was no turning Time Warner Cable’s president called the company’s CEO, Gerald Levin, and told him he was about to order his engineers to block the ABC signal. Levin supported the decision. At 12:01 on Monday May 1, the ABC screen went briefly to static, then the phrase “Disney has taken ABC away from you” appeared in bright yellow letters on a blue screen.

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Within 24 hours, the mayor of New York attacked Time Warner as a predatory monopoly. Disney dispatched its lawyers to the Washington offices of the U.S. Federal Communication Commission, where they requested that the commission force Time Warner to transmit its signals. Time Warner executives went to Washington to plead their case before the FCC. It quickly became clear that the commission was siding with Disney in this dispute. The next day, Tuesday, the New York Times published an editorial that said the threat to Disney by a combined AOL and Time Warner was real. It now was becoming increasingly clear to Time Warner executives that they were losing the public relations war.

Tuesday afternoon, after only 39 hours of blocking ABC’s signal, Time Warner called a news conference and announced that it had offered Disney a six month extension of the negotiations. The following day the FCC ruled that Time Warner had violated the law by blocking ABC from its system during a sweeps month.

Time Warner executives admitted afterward that they erred. They say they made a legal miscalculation and also incorrectly assumed that Disney would back down. “Why did we decide to take a stand now?” asked Dessler. “We thought it was the right time. They were just pushing us and pushing us.”

Questions (DoD2)

1. What does this case say about role of emotions in decision making?2. How did “group forces” shape this decision? Discuss the out come in this process.

Part D – (10 Mark Questions) - Unit – V

10. The Unpredictable Ms Sindhu Joshi

Ms Sindhu Joshi has been working in the reserve bank for 13 years now. When she joined as a clerk in the Exchange Control Department, she, like any other new clerk, was given routine work such as entering incoming and outgoing letters, indexing and filling. During the first six months of her probationary period Ms Joshi did her job adequately but subsequently started to be rather careless in performing her work. Her cross-referencing of letters was either incomplete or inaccurate, she frequently misfiled papers and a lot of papers lay on her desk without being filed on time. These slowed down the disposal of applications by other clerical staff as they were constantly searching for pervious references. They were often annoyed to find that many of the papers they were looking for in the files were lying on Ms Joshi’s desk for over a month waiting to be filed.

As the situation deteriorated Ms Joshi was transferred to another section. In the new section she was asked to deal with applications received from students for release of foreign

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exchange for study abroad-usually to the USA or Germany. Each case was somewhat different and while the polices for release of exchange for studies were clearly laid down annually by the Government of India, all applications did not quite fit into the rules and regulations. Sometimes special interpretations and judgement calls had no be made when applications conformed to policies in most aspects but deviated in a minor way. Ms Joshi who herself had a Master’s Degree from Bombay University and would have very much liked to go abroad for further studies, took vicarious pleasure in dealing with the cases, putting up elaborate notes where cases did not quite fall into the guidelines of the bank. Her remarks were usually right on target and her new supervisor was very much pleased with her work. She had learnt her work very fast, and expeditiously disposed off the applications as and when they were received. Ms Joshi often came to work in the mornings, ahead of time to organize her day’s work, and frequently stayed late to complete the work so that when the applications came the next day, she had their papers ready. Such a high level of motivation was rather unusual in the bank’s clerical employees. When time came for annual performance appraisal, her superintendent gave her a glowing evaluation and complimented her personally as well; a very unusual feature in the bank.

A year later, at the request of the superintendent in charge of the Foreign Securities Section, Mr Patankar, Ms Joshi was transferred to his section. Mr Patankar had specifically asked for her because he knew she had done a superb job in the Students Section. He was in urgent need of a good worker since two of his clerks had suddenly gone in sick leave three weeks earlier, and with no substitutes made available immediately, the work in the section had piled up. The personnel department complied with Mr Patankar’s request and transferred Ms Joshi, much to the annoyance of the superintendent in the Students Section.

The work relating to foreign securities was totally new to Ms Joshi. She found it fairly interesting but was not exactly thrilled about dealing with cases pertaining to foreign securities held by Indians. “Who cares how many securities are held, where, how, and why”, she often muttered to herself. She was also visibly irritated when her supervisor constantly checked on how she was doing, and how many pending cases she still had on her desk. He offered her unwanted advice on which cases should be handled immediately and which ones could stand some delay. What also confused her was the fact that even though she dealt with the cases at the first step-that is, she put up the papers with all the references, citing the policies and recommending a course of action (approval, rejection, or seek further clarification)-she seldom saw them there after. All approved cases were handed over to another clerk who put the approval stamp on the duplicate copies of the letters and sent to another clerk who wrote a standard memo of rejection and yet another clerk wrote letters where further clarification/documentation was needed. Thus, once the original applications left her hands with the recommendations as to the course of action to be taken, she seldom saw them again. She had no way of knowing whether her supervisor agreed with her recommendations or had taken different view of the matter, unless

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she read through the papers lying on the desk of the clerks. She, of course, hardly had any time for that.

After nearly six months on the job, Ms Joshi started coming late to work and also frequently absented herself. Her supervisor, who had great expectations of her, was very much frustrated by her tardiness and absenteeism and gave her a bad report during the next annual appraisal. Ms Joshi was glad to proceed on maternity leave two months later, away the “terrible” office.

Questions(DoD1)

1. Analyze the case and identify the problem causes and solution alternatives.2. Discuss how job design and job change affects people. How will you ensure effectiveness in job change?

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