Name: Taher H

Roll No: 110188

Enrolment No: MBA1/JUN18N/211301528456839F
National Institute of Business Management
Chennai - 020

FIRST SEMESTER EMBA/ MBA

Subject: Organizational Behavior

Attend any 4 questions. Each question carries 25 marks

(Each answer should be of minimum 2 pages / of 300 words)

1. Describe Interpersonal roles.

2. Explain the major personality attributes Influencing Organizational Behavior.

3. What is matching personalities and jobs? Discuss.

4.How do we learn? Three theories have been offered to explain the process by which we
acquire patterns of behavior. Explain each theory.

5. Explain the link between perception and individual decision-making.

6.Describe Hierarchy of Needs Theory

25 x 4=100 marks

1. Describe Interpersonal roles.

Interpersonal:

Interpersonal refers to something involving, 0r occurring among several

people. Interpersonal skills refer to our ability to get along with others.

The Roles:

Mintzberg published his Ten Management Roles in his book, "Mintzberg on Management:
Inside our Strange World of Organizations," in 1990.

The ten roles are:

 Figurehead.

 Leader.

 Liaison.

 Monitor.

 Disseminator.

 Spokesperson.

 Entrepreneur.

 Disturbance Handler.

 Resource Allocator.

 Negotiator.

Interpersonal Category

The managerial roles in this category involve providing information and ideas.

1. Figurehead — As a manager, you have social, ceremonial and legal responsibilities. You're
expected to be a source of inspiration. People look up to you as a person with authority, and
as a figurehead.

2. Leader — This is where you provide leadership for your team, your department or perhaps
your entire organization; and it's where you manage the performance and responsibilities of
everyone in the group.

3. Liaison — Managers must communicate with internal and external contacts. You need to
be able to network effectively on behalf of your organization.

Informational Category

The managerial roles in this category involve processing information.

4. Monitor — In this role, you regularly seek out information related to your organization and
industry, looking for relevant changes in the environment. You also monitor your team, in terms
of both their productivity, and their well—being.

5. Disseminator — This is where you communicate potentially useful information to your

colleagues and your team.

6. Spokesperson — Managers represent and speak for their organization. In this role you're
responsible for transmitting information about your organization and its goals to the people
outside it.

Decisional Category

The managerial roles in this category involve using information.

7. Entrepreneur — As a manager, you create and control change within the organization. This
means solving problems, generating new ideas, and implementing them.

8. Disturbance Handler — When an organization or team hits an unexpected roadblock, it's

the manager who must take charge. You also need to help mediate disputes within it.

9. Resource Allocator — You'll also need to determine where organizational resources are
best applied. This involves allocating funding, as well as assigning staff and other
organizational resources.

10. Negotiator — You may be needed to take part in, and direct, important negotiations within
your team, department, or organization.

2. Explain the major personality attributes Influencing Organizational Behavior.

1. Authoritarianism:

Authoritarianism as a concept was developed by the psychologist Adorno during World War II
to measure susceptibility to autocratic, fascistic or antidemocratic appeals. After that the
concept was extended to the human personality. According to Adorno, “This concept refers to
a belief that there should be status and power differences among people in organizations.”
Authoritarians tend to place high moral value on their beliefs and are strongly oriented towards
conformity of rules and regulations. They naturally prefer stable and structured work
environments which are governed by clean rules and procedures.

2. Bureaucratic Personality:

The personality of a bureaucratic person is based upon respect for organizational rules and
regulations. He is different from an authoritarian person in respect that his acceptance of
authority is not total and blind. A person who is bureaucratic in nature values subordination,
conformity to rules, impersonal and formal relationships. These people become better
supervisors when the type of work is routine, repetitive and procedural because these people
are not innovative, they do not like taking risks and feel more at ease in following established
directions.

3. Machiavellianism:

This personality trait of Machiavellianism also known as Mach is named after Niccolò
Machiavelli, who wrote in the 16th century on how to gain and use power.

The characteristics of high MACH employers are as follows:

 A Mach man is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance and believes that ends can
justify means.

 A high Mach man manipulates more, wins more, are persuaded less and persuade
others more than the low machs.

 High Mach people flourish when they interact face to face with others rather than
indirectly.

 These people are successful when the situation has a minimum number of rules and
regulations.

 High Mach man has high self confidence and high self-esteem. They are cool and
calculating and have no hesitation using others or taking advantage of others in order to
serve their own goals.

 They are not easily swayed by a sense of friendship, trust or loyalty. They are especially
successful in exploiting structured situations and vulnerable people.

4. Introversion and Extroversion:

These two terms are generally associated with the interpersonal behavior of an individual and
his sociability. Extroverts are gregarious and sociable individuals while introverts are shy, quiet
and retiring. It has been observed that introverts and extroverts people have different career
orientations and require different organizational environment to maximize performance.
Extroverts are more suitable for positions that require considerable interaction with others that
is why managerial positions are dominated by extroverts.

5. Problem Solving Style:

Individuals have their own style of solving their problems and making their decisions and this
style of their affects their personality in certain ways. There are four problem solving styles
based upon Don Hellriegll, John W. Slocum and Richard W. Woodman “organizational
behavior”.

These styles are:

 Sensation Feeling Style:

 Sensation Thinking Style:
 Intuition Feeling style:
 Intuition Thinking Style:

6. Achievement Orientation:

Achievement orientation or a high need to achieve is a personality trait which varies among
different types of people and can be used to predict certain behavior. The people with very
high achievement orientation strives to do things in a better way. They want to feel that their
success or failure is due to their own actions. These people do not like to perform easy tasks
where there is no challenge or tasks with very high amount of risk as the failure rate is more.

7. Locus of Control:

Locus of control refers to an individual’s belief that events are either within one’s control
(Internal Locus of Control) or are determined by forces beyond one’s control. Some people
believe that they are the masters of their own fate. Other people see themselves as pawns of
fate, believing that whatever happens to them in their lives is due to their luck or fate. The first
type is labeled as internals and the latter has been called externals. A person’s perception of
the source of his or her fate is termed locus of control.

A large amount of research has consistently shown the following characteristics of the internals
and externals.

Internal Locus of Control:

 A person with a strong internal locus of control has more control over his own behavior.
He believes that he controls events concerning his own life and his internal traits
determine what happens in a given situation. He believes that he is the master of his
own density.

 These people are more active in seeking more information to make decisions. They are
 better at retaining the information and are less satisfied with the amount of information
they possess.

 Internals are more active socially.

 Internals prefer skill achievement outcomes.

 Internals are more likely to use personally persuasive rewards and power bases and
less likely to use coercion.

External Locus of Control:

 People who rate high in externality are less satisfied with their jobs, have higher
absenteeism rates, are more alienated from the work setting and are less involved on
jobs than are internals. They generally prefer directive management.
 Unlike the internals, these people prefer chance-oriented awards.
 A person with a strong ‘external locus of control’ feels that outside forces are affecting
the events in his life and he is at the mercy of destiny, chance or other people. He
believes that everything will happen by the will of God and nothing or nobody can stop
it. External locus of control refers
 Unlike, the internals, the externals are more interested in job security and not in
advancement of careers.

8. Self Esteem:

“Self Esteem refers to the feeling of like or dislike for oneself.” “Self Esteem is the degree of
respect a person has for himself.” This trait varies from person to person as people differ in the
degree to which they like or dislike each other. The research on self-esteem offers some

9. Self-Monitoring:

“Self-monitoring is a personality trait that measures an individual’s ability to adjust his or her
behavior to external situational factors”. Self-monitoring is a personality trait which has recently
received attention. The research on self-monitoring is in infancy, so predictions must be
guarded.

10. Risk Taking:

The propensity of people to assume risks or avoid risks varies from person to person
depending upon the willingness of the people to take chances. This human trait will affect the
decision-making capability of a manager. This individual personality trait will determine how
long will it take a person to take a decision or how much information will be needed before he
takes a decision.

Some people are very conscious in nature, while the others are impulsive. An impulsive person
is a high-risk taking manager; he will make rapid decisions and use less information in making
their choices than a very conscious and low risk-taking manager. But the research shows that
the decision accuracy is generally the same in both the groups.

11. ‘Type A’ and ‘Type B’ Personality:

People who are impatient, aggressive and highly competitive are termed as ‘Type A
‘personality. But those who are easy going, laid back and non—competitive are termed as
‘Type B’ personality. Type ‘A’ people tend to be very productive as they work very hard. Their
negative side is that they are very impatient, good team players, more irritable and have poor
judgment. Type ‘B’ people do better on complex tasks involving judgment and accuracy rather
than speed and hard work.

12. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI):

The personality theory proposed by Carl Jung identified the way people preferred to perceive
their environment. Almost Twenty years later, Briggs and Myers developed the Myers —
Briggs type indicator (MBTI) a personality test that measured each of the traits in Carl Jung’s
model. MBTI is in—fact, one of the most widely used personality tests. It is used by many
organizations to select people for a particular position.

3. What is matching personalities and jobs? Discuss

Personalities:

Personality is a set of individual differences that are affected by the development of an

individual: values, attitudes, personal memories, social relationships, habits, and skills.
Different personality theorists present their own definitions of the word based on their
theoretical positions.

Holland's Six Personality Types

According to John Holland's theory, most people are one of six personality types: Realistic,
Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional.
Take the valid Career Key test to find out which ones you are most like and the careers and
college majors that fit you best. The characteristics of each of these are described below:

Realistic

 Likes to work with animals, tools, or machines; generally, avoids social activities like
teaching, healing, and informing others;

 Has good skills in working with tools, mechanical or electrical drawings, machines, or
plants and animals;
  Values practical things you can see, touch, and use like plants and animals, tools,
equipment, or machines; and

 Sees self as practical, mechanical, and realistic.

Investigative

 Likes to study and solve math or science problems; generally, avoids leading, selling, or
persuading people;

 Is good at understanding and solving science and math problems;

 Values science; and

 Sees self as precise, scientific, and intellectual.

Artistic

 Likes to do creative activities like art, drama, crafts, dance, music, or creative writing;
generally, avoids highly ordered or repetitive activities;

 Has good artistic abilities - in creative writing, drama, crafts, music, or art;

 Values the creative arts - like drama, music, art, or the works of creative writers; and

 Sees self as expressive, original, and independent.

Social

 Likes to do things to help people —— like, teaching, nursing, or giving first aid,
providing information; generally, avoids using machines, tools, or animals to achieve a
goal;

 Is good at teaching, counseling, nursing, or giving information;

 Values helping people and solving social problems; and

 Sees self as helpful, friendly, and trustworthy.

Enterprising

 Likes to lead and persuade people, and to sell things and ideas; generally, avoids
activities that require careful observation and scientific, analytical thinking;
  Is good at leading people and selling things or ideas;

 Values success in politics, leadership, or business; and

 Sees self as energetic, ambitious, and sociable.

Conventional

 Likes to work with numbers, records, or machines in a set, orderly way; generally,
avoids ambiguous, unstructured activities

 Is good at working with written records and numbers in a systematic, orderly way;

 Values success in business; and

 Sees self as orderly, and good at following a set plan.

5. Explain the link between perception and individual decision-making.

The link between perception and individual decision making

Individuals in organizations make decisions. That is, they make choices from among two or
more alternatives. Top managers, for instance, determine their organizations goals, what
products or serVices to offer, how best to finance operations, or where to locate a new
manufacturing plant.

Middle and lower-level managers determine production schedules, select new employees, and
decide how pay raises are to be allocated. Of course, making decisions is not the sole
province of managers. Non-managerial employees also make decisions that affect their jobs
and the organizations for which they work.

The more obVious of these decision might include whether or not to come to work on any
given day, how much effort to put forth once at work, and whether or not to comply with a
request made by the boss. In addition, an increasing number of organizations in recent years
have been empowering their non managerial employees with job-related decision making
authority that historically was reserved for managers. Individual decision making, therefore, is
an important, part of organizational behavior. But how individuals in organizations make
decisions and the quality of their final choices are largely influenced by their perceptions.

Decision making occurs as a reaction to a problem. That is, there is a discrepancy between
some current state of affairs and some desired state, requiring the consideration of alternative
courses of action. So if your car breaks down and you rely on it to get to work, you have a
problem that requires a decision on our part. Unfortunately problems come neatly packaged
with a label clearly displayed on them. One personal problem is another personal satisfactory
state of affairs. One manager may View her two percent decline in quarterly sales to be a
serious problem requiring immediate action on her part. In contrast, her counterpart in another
diVision of the same company, who also had a two percent sales decrease, may consider that
percentage quite acceptable. So the awareness that a problem exists and that a decision
needs to be made is a perceptual issue.

Moreover, every decision requires the interpretation and evaluation of information. Data are
typically received from multiple sources, and they need to be screened, processed, and
interpreted. Which data, for instances, are relevant to the decision and which are not? The
perceptions of decision maker will answer that question. Alternatives will be developed, and
the strengths and weakness of each will need to be evaluated. Again, because alternatives
come with identifying them as such or with their strengths and weakness cllearly marked, the
individual decision perceptual process will have a large bearing on the final outcome. Finally,
throughout the entire decision process, perceptual distortions often surface that have the
potential to bias analysis and conclusions.

The Link between Perception and Individual Decision Making

Decisions = Choosing between 2 or more alternatives

Problems = A discrepancy between some current state of affairs and some desired state

Steps in the Rational Decision-Making Model

 Define the problem.
 Identify the decision criteria.
 Allocate weights to the criteria.
 Develop the alternatives.
 Evaluate the alternatives.
 Select the best alternative.

Assumptions 0f the Rational Decision-Making Model

- Problem Clarity-
— The problem is clear and unambiguous.
- Known Options-
— The decision—maker can identify all relevant criteria and Viable alternatives.
- Clear Preferences-
— Rationality assumes that the criteria and alternatives can be ranked and weighted.
- Constant Preferences-
— Specific decision criteria are constant and that the weights assigned to them are stable
over time.
- No Time or Cost Constraints-
— Full information is available because there are no time or cost constraints.
-Maximum Payoff-
— The choice alternative will yield the highest perceived value.