Masters of Business Administration MBA Semester 1 MB0038 Management Process And Organisation Behavior Assignments

Transcription

1 Winter 2013 Exam April /may 2014 Masters of Business Administration MBA Semester 1 MB0038 Management Process And Organisation Behavior Assignments Q.No.1 What do you mean by Span of Control? Differentiate between narrow spa of control and wide span of control. Describe the factors that influence the span of control. Ans: - A department may have several homogenous sections of managers, junior managers, and employees. This leads us to the questions of how many employees should work under a manager, how many managers should work under a senior manager, then a division head, etc. The term span of control indicates the number of employees or managers who work under one head. Span of control m ay be narrow or broad. When a very few people report to a head and a chain is made that way upward, then it is called narrow span. Thus in a narrow span a department may have three of four sections, under each section head, there could be another two or three sub section and under each sub section there could be nine or ten employees. In a wide span there may be 20, 30, or more subordinates under one head. Factors that influence the span of control The time that a manager gets to spend with the subordinate is the fundamental factor. Based on this, several sub factors emerge and are discussed below. Training wide span demands high level of training while in narrow span, one can manage with less. Task definition and delegation wide span demands clear task definition and delegation while this can be much less in a narrow span. Well defined plans and repetitive process - if the business has these, a wide span is viable, if not a narrow span is preferred. 1

2 Narrow Span Wide Span Advantages Disadvantages Advantages Disadvantages Close supervision Superiors tend to get too much involved in the work of subordinates Forced to delegate Overloaded superiors may become decision Bottlenecks Close Control Many levels of management Clear policies must be made Danger of superior s loss of control Faster Communication High cost Excessive distance between top and bottom level Subordinates must be carefully selected Requires high quality managers DIFFRENCE BETWEEN SPAN OF CONTROL 2

3 Verifiable objectives wide span demands verifiable objectives and this is much less in narrow span. Speed of change when the speed of change is high, a wide span may not be practical from a communication perspective but may not be practical if such changes need close control. Organization structure, written and oral communication when this is of a higher order, wide span can work well. Effective interaction and meeting wide span demands both more than narrow span. Specialists - When there are a greater number of specialists at the upper level, a wide span is preferable. If the number of specialists is more at the lower level, then a narrow span can work better. Task simplicity if the task is simple, a de pan is viable. Competency of managers with highly competent managers, a wide span works well. Subordinate readiness if the subordinates are mature and are willing to assume responsibility, a wide span works well. Q.No.2 Define the term controlling. What are the pre-requisites of effective control? Ans: - Controlling can be defined as measuring and correcting of performance to achieve the organizational goals. According to Breach, Controlling is a systematic exercise which is called as a process of checking actual performance against the standards or plans with a view to ensure adequate progress and also recording such experience as is gained as a contribution to possible future needs According to Donnell, just as a navigator continually takes reading to ensure whether he is relative to a planned action, so should a business manager continually take reading to assure himself that his enterprise is on right course. 3

4 Prerequisites of Effective control All managers like to have controls because without them their plans would go awry. Now study the prerequisites to have an effective control system. Tailoring controls to plans and positions A control is exercised on an activity or a group of activities it follows that what control is good for a position may not be relevant for another. Tailoring controls to individual manager Controls have to be adjusted to the individual manager s capability also, if someone does not understand a control, he\she will not trust it or use it as a result of which it will become dysfunctional. Designing point to the exceptions at critical point if a control has to be effective, it must control the exception and that too at the critical point. Objectivity of controls Many management actions are subjective, but when controls are created, they must be objective, accurate, and must suit a standard, While this may be relatively easy in machine related systems and financial related indicator, we have to be careful when we have to relate it to the intangible areas. Flexibility Controls must flexibility to include the changed plans unforeseen circumstances, or outright failure. Fitting to the organizational culture - Imagine putting tight control over Sambhavi whose culture is family-like and open with the freedom to experiment. The control will most certainly effect the culture which to begin with is the competitive advantage of Sambhavi Therefore it must fit the culture, If you have a tight and bureaucratic system, a lose control will also not work. Economy of controls - Controls must be worth their costs. Creating controls which are excessively expensive is counter-productive. For example, we cannot have the same controls in an aircraft and a car. Ability to lead to corrective action - The control should lead to corrective action. Only then it closes the loop and leads to better performance For example, if the ROI of an outlet is below the standards specified, there should be a review system, which detest the section that have not contributed their part ad have exceeded it so that the performance can be corrected or rewarded. 4

5 Q.No.3 Define the term personality. Describe Cattell s Personality Factor Model. Ans: - Personality Definition and Determinants Personality can be defined as a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person which uniquely influences his/her knowledge, motivations and behavior in various situations (Ryckman, 20004). According to Pervin, Cervone & john, (2005), personality refers to those characteristics of the person that account for consistent patterns of feelings, thinking and behaving. In other words, personality is the set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that are organized and relatively enduring and that influence his/her interactions with and adaptations to physical and social environments and his/her own psyche. Cattell s 16 Personality Factor Model (16PF) Working on earlier models, Cattell reduced the traits to 16 primary factors. Each of these has high and low ranges,. These 16 are described below. 1. Warmth. warm outgoing, attentive to others, kind, easy going, participating, likes people in the high range as against impersonal, distant, cool, reserved, impersonal, detached, formal or aloof. 2. Reasoning. Abstract-thinking, more intelligent, bright, higher general mental capacity, fast learner (higher scholastic mental capacity). 3. Emotional stability. Emotionally stable, adaptive, mature, faces reality, calm (higher ego strength). 4. Dominance. Dominant, forceful, assertive, aggressive, competitive, stubborn, bossy. 5. Liveliness. Lively, animated, spontaneous, enthusiastic, happy go lucky, cheerful, expressive, impulsive. 6. Rule-consciousness. Rule-conscious, dutiful, conscientious, conforming, moralistic, staid, rule bound. 5

6 7. Social boldness. Socially bold, venturesome, thick skinned, uninhibited. 8. Sensitivity. Sensitive, aesthetic, sentimental, tender minded, intuitive, refined. 9. Vigilance. Vigilant, suspicious, skeptical, distrustful, oppositional. 10. Abstractedness. Abstract, imaginative, absent minded, impractical, absorbed in ideas. 11. Private ness. Private, discreet, non-disclosing, shrewd, polished, worldly, astute, diplomatic. 12. Apprehension. Apprehensive, self doubting, worried, guilt prone, insecure, worrying, self blaming. 13. Openness to change. Open to change, experimental, liberal, analytical, critical, free thinking, flexibility. 14. Self-reliance. Self-reliant, solitary, resourceful, individualistic, self sufficient. 15. Perfectionism. Perfectionist organized compulsive, self-disciplined, socially precise, exacting will power, control, self-sentimental. 16. Tension. Tense, high energy, impatient, driven, frustrated, over wrought, time driven. Remaining answers are available in the full assignments. For full assignments contact us Naveen kumar : naveenk31@yahoo.co.in, smuassignments2014@gmail.com Website: Note: Paid assignments will be in word format as per SMU s new guidelines without any watermark. 6