IGNOU MBA-2007- Solved Assignment MS

01 MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS AND

BEHAVIOUR
MS-01       MANAGEMENT FUNCTION & BEHAVIOUR  
(best quality)
Version 2nd

Q1. Explain any two models of decision making process: Which model best characterises
your organisation’s (or an organisation you are familiar with) decision process. Cite examples
to justify your answer.
Ans. Decision making is the process of choosing between alternatives to achieve the goal.
Two  important models of decision making process are given below:
Ø Bounded Rationality Model or the Administrative Man
Ø Implicit favourite model or the Games Man
Bounded Rationality Model or the Administrative Man
As the name implies, this model does not assume individual rationality in the decision
process. Instead it assumes that people, while they may seek the best solution, usually settle
for much less because the decision they confront typically demand greater information
processing capabilities than they possess. They seek a kind of bounded (or limited) rationality
in decisions. . There are three mechanisms aim to describe the bounded rationality decision
precess;
Sequential attention to alternative solution:
Instead of generating all alternatives possible and evaluating them, people tend to examine
alternatives as they generate them. So when a seemingly suitable alternative is found, the
process is discontinued, which may miss out on the optimum solution.
Use Of Heuristics: A Heuristics is a rule, which guides the search for alternatives in to areas
that have high probability for yielding a satisfactory solution. Heuristics are also known as
thumb-rules. Heuristics give in to biases of stereotyping and availability.
Satisficing Where as the econologic model focuses on the decision maker as a optimizer, this
model sees him or her as a satisficer. This implies that an alternative is satisfactory if there
exists a  set of criteria that describes minimally satisfactory alternative, and the alternative in
question meets or exceeds all these criteria.
2. Implicit favourite model or The Games Man: This model deals primarily with non
programmed decisions that are basically novel or unstructured. This model explains how
during a search process, decision makers make a decision early on in the process and identify
an implicit favourite. Then they go on \0 the next best alternative known as the confirmation
candidate, and having identified one, they develop decision rule to justify their selection of
the implicit favourite. The entire process is designed to justify to the decision maker, through
the guise of scientific rigour, a non programmed decision that has already been made in
intuitive fashion.
Surya Ltd is the company in to distribution of the LPG cylinders. The decision making
process of this organisation is given below:   
The company is divided in to marketing, finance, production and human resource
departments. It  operates exclusively in Kerala. It is a professionally managed company with
four levels of management hierarchy, two at the supervisory level and two at the shop floor
level. A number of routine decisions have been programmed and the details are documented
in the company employee manual. These include all the company rules regarding duty
obligation and timings, leave policies and employee benefits. In case of the non routine basic
decisions, the decision making process at this organisation is not a very structured exercise.
In case of any problem arising, the responsible executive calls a meeting of the concerned
employees and discusses the issue .At times the discussion are more of a fact finding exercise
rather than a participative problem solving exercise.
This is specially so in the case of judgmental decisions. In the case of he analytical and
adaptive decisions, the top management is involved with the process. In these cases, the
approach is more structured although even in these cases there is no set norm or procedure. It
is more a case of conventional wisdom being applied to the process. There is consultation
with all the middle level managers. Then depending on the type of alternatives suggested, the
seemingly more valid ones are given to the concerned employees for analysis, and on
receiving their feed back the most viable decision is taken. The decision is subsequently
implemented. Thus this process is similar to the rational model of decision making but is not
exhaustive with the selection of the alternatives, nor as systematic with the implementation
and review.
The top management at Surya were thus more likely to follow the model of the
Administrative Man while the middle and lower levels are more likely to follow a mix of the
two models. The decision making system could be more structured at the middle level.
However, considering the modem environment and the size of the organization, the process
would be too slow and time consuming and therefore expensive. Thus the present system
seems naturally suited to the needs of Surya Ltd.

Q.2 What are the various types of conflict? Analyse two instances of inter- departmental conflicts in
your organisation and discuss the sources and outcomes of those conflicts.
Ans.Organisational conflict is the clash that occurs when the goal directed behavior of one group
blocks or thwarts the goal directed behavior of another.           
Types of Conflict
ØConflict with in an individual : There could be conflict with in oneself, the interpersonal conflict. 
There are three types of such conflicts. They are mainly an approach -avoidance conflict, an
approach-approach conflict, and finally an avoidance-avoidance conflict.
ØConflict between individuals: Conflict can also take an interpersonal form. Conflict between
individuals takes place due to personal dislikes or personality differences.
ØConflict between individual and a group : These types of inter group conflicts arise frequently due
to an individual’s inability to conform to the group norms. If the individual resents the pressure or
punishment, he could come in to conflict with other group members.
ØConflict between groups with in an organization : Intergroup conflicts are one of the most’
important types of conflicts to understand, as typically, an organisation is structured in the form of
several interdependent task groups. Examples are conflicts between Union arid management,
between one Union and other Union etc.
ØConflict between organisations : It is considered desirable if limited to the economic context only.
It is assumed that the conflicts between the organisations lead to innovative and new products.
Inter-Departmental conflicts: 
Groups of departments in an organisation have different functions to perform and often the goals of
one group are incompatible to the goals of another group, leading to a conflict situation. For
example the marketing department would prefer to have a higher stock of finished goods inventory
to expedite the delivery to customers, where as the finance department would like to minimize the
inventory-to reduce the carrying cost to the company. Here each department develops its own
goals, which may conflict with another departments goals and one department may try to achieve its
goals at the expense of another.
At EMCORP (Electric Manufacturing Corporation) The reason for the inter departmental conflict was
that the manufacturing department shows a picture of rising costs, consistent failure to meet the
delivery schedules and an increasing number of quality complaints. The manufacturing department
admits the poor performance, but says that the rising cost figures from accounting department are
pure history and of no use since they do not reach manufacturing in the month the work is
completed. The manufacturing department further states that their failure is due to the fact that the
sales department makes unrealistic promises, and does not bother to check the manufacturing
schedules.
Further the sales department complains against the finance department about the tightening of
credit requirements instituted by the finance department with out prior consultation with the sales
departments.
In both the above conflicts, the source of conflict lies in the fact that the departmental aims of each
department have been framed in such a way that they become the cause of inter departmental
conflicts. Some differences will always exist between the goals of sales and manufacturing, but a
median can arrived at considering the overall organizational goal. This was done at a meeting of the
departmental heads where manufacturing, sales and finance worked out a middle path. The finance
department agreed to jack up the level of inventory held. Moreover, a level of credit was agreed
upon by the sales and finance departmental heads. The sales department agreed to regular
meetings with manufacturing, so that they may be aware of their schedules. Finance agreed to
provide cost figures on time and not wait till month end.
Thus inter departmental conflicts arise at EMCORP between manufacturing department and sales
department and same way between sales department and the finance department were resolved
through establishing formal communication channels.
Q3.Discuss the system concept of management. Visualize your organisation as a system and list the
critical sub systems with in it. Explain the interrelationship between these sub systems, which
interlink them.
Ans. System Concept : A system is an association of interrelated and interdependent parts. The
system approach management represents a approach to solving problems by diagnosing them with
in a frame work of inputs, transformation processes, out puts and feed backs as shown in the figure
below
A system view of Organisation

The system involved may be an individual, a work group, a department, or an entire

organisation. A competent systems- oriented manager makes decisions only after identifying
and analyzing how other managers, departments, customers or others might be affected by
the decisions. .
In a system, “Inputs” are the physical, human, material, financial and information resources
.that enter a transformation process. At an education institute, for example, INPUTS includes
students, faculty, money and buildings. ‘Transformation Process” comprises the technology
used to convert inputs to outputs. At the educational institute this would include lectures,
assignments, projects, term papers and examinations. “Outputs” are the original inputs as
changed by the transformation process. Outputs at the educational institute include the
graduating students. For a system to perform effectively, it might also provide for feed back.
“Feed back” is information about a system’s status and performance. In an educational
institute a type of feed back is the ability of the graduating students to get good jobs. In an
organisation, feed back may take the form of marketing surveys, financial records, production
records, performance appraisals, and the like. A manager’s role with in this set up is to guide
the transformation process by planning, organizing, leading and controlling.
Let us consider the case of ABC pharma. It can be divided into inputs - financial,
infrastructure, human and informational from the environmental. It transforms these inputs
through the manufacturing process into products (outputs) which are then distributed through
the wholesale and retail system. The critical sub systems are Finance and HR inputs;
manufacturing process. Marketing and Distribution outputs. They are linked together through
internal communication channels. The manufacturing process is key to the system.
.
There are two types of systems: closed and open. A “closed system” ,limits its interaction
with its environment. At Toyota, the production department acts as a closed system,
producing standardized
products in an uninterrupted manner.
The manufacturing department at ABC Pharma does not receive any external inputs based on
which
it modifies its processes.

                                                            A closed system         

An “open system” interacts with the external environment. Nokia’s marketing department
constantly tries to identify new products and services to satisfy customers’
telecommunication desires. It monitors what competitors are doing and then develops ways to
deliver better quality and service at lower price, constantly receiving feed back from
customers as part of this process.
The marketing department at ABC Pharma therefore interacts with the environmental
subsystems of customers and competitors. It incorporates this feedback into its internal
policies.

An Open System

The importance of system concept to the manager is that it helps him to identify the critical
sub systems in his organisation and their inter relation ship with each other and the
environment.
A system is always seeking an equilibrium state, that is where all the sub systems are at the
optimum level in tune with each other, and the desired output is being achieved. In an open
system the level of equilibrium is dynamic. This is because the environment is never static. It
is always changing as it is always interacting with environment, what is equilibrium to day
may not be so to tomorrow. So the managers must seek the equilibrium level. One of the most
important interactions between the  organisation and the environment is that of information.
A manager well informed about the activities of the organisation can take corrective actions
much before the crisis develops.
Q.4 Explain the concept of Johari window citing suitable organisational instances. Briefly
describe the organisation you are referring to:
Ans. Johari window: The Johari window model of communication was developed by Joseph
Luft and Harry Ingham as a conceptual model for studying interpersonal activities. This
model aims to explain how people expose themselves to others and receive feed back from
others in interpersonal relationships.
The Johari Window has four parts: .
Arena : This is the public self, which is known to the self as well as others. It includes shared
and mutually held public information, feelings, motives, etc.
Blind spot: This area is known to others, but not to the self. This includes unsuspected
information feelings, reaction etc. known only to other parties.
Closed : This is the private self, which is known to the self, but not to others. This includes
hidden information, motives, feelings etc. known only to the self.
Dark : The dark area is neither known to the self nor to others. This includes undiscovered
potentials and creative reservoir known neither to the self nor to others.
The implication of this model is that if Arena is very small, there is very little free and
spontaneous interaction, where as if it is larger, there is a greater chance for participants in
any relationship to make correct perceptual judgments about each other. This helps them to
develop a realistic mutual expectations, which in turn helps increase the level of trust and
influence and maintain a mutual satisfying relationship. With the increase in thee area of
arena, the closed area or private self shrinks and it become less necessary to hide or deny
things one knows or feels. Arena can be expanded by self - disclosure and feed back. Self-
disclosure means revealing oneself to another person and sharing one’s own feelings and
opinions. This reduces the closed area. Feedback helps reduce the Blind spot area and helps
one increase one’s self awareness, since the individual in this case, does not know how others
view them. His risk of taking the initiative in self-disclosure helps develop meaningful;
relationship among employees.

Let us discuss the implications of the use of the Johari Window at ABC Pharma Ltd. The
company has 200 employees in various departments and about 100 workers engaged in
manufacturing. The H.R. department decided to use the Johari window as an aid to solving
communication problems within departments. The employees of the sales and finance
departments were introduced to the Johari window concept. The employees were allowed to
list their own characteristics with help from group members. This led to more openness
between employees and changed some of the negative perceptions held by others of some
employees in the group.
For instance Ganesh and Sudhir who belonged to the same group but from sales and finance
departments respectively, had been in constant conflict. Ganesh felt that Sudhir delayed
payments for his tours. Using the Johari Window, they discovered common characteristics
and the arena of openness grew as they disclosed facts about each other, unknown to
themselves. This led to resolution of the conflict between them.
On the whole the Johari window is used mainly to resolve interpersonal conflicts as
demonstrated above at ABC Pharam Ltd.
Q.5 Describe various channels of communication. Identify various types of’ communication networks
found in your organisation. Which is the most effective and why?
Ans. Communication refers to the sharing of ideas, facts, opinions, information and understanding.
Simply stated, communication can be stated to be the passing information and understanding from
one person to a-another. According to Peter Drucker, good communication is the foundation for
sound management. The managerial functions of planning, organizing, leading and controlling
depend on communication in an enterprise.
Channels of Communication : All organisations have structure and channels for the flow of
information, so decisions can be made, such process or structure of information is known as network
of communication channels. These channels can be formal or informal.
Formal Communication : An organisation chart shows the direction of formal communication flow in
an organisation. It recognizes various transmitters and receivers and the channels through which
they must communicate. The authority relation ship indicates the direction of communication flow
in an organisation. Usually formal communication takes places between a superior and a
subordinate; it may be either in the form of instructions or directives. Formal communication can be
further classified as upward, Downward and Horizontal communication, depending upon the
organisation needs and circumstances. Formal communication also takes place between an
organisation and outside interested parties like suppliers, creditors etc.
Formal communication network:
An Organisation intentionally prescribes the channels through which communication flow takes
place. These channels are designed to keep the flow of information in an orderly manner and to
protect the higher level of’ managers from the overload of information. However design of
communication structure depends on the management and the organisation needs. There are
various kinds or forms of communication networks: Some of them are
• The wheel network- which represents the administrator and four subordinates with whom he
interacts.
• Chain network- which represents the five level hierarchy, in which communication takes place 
upward, downward and across the organizational lines.
• The ‘Y’ network-represents the two subordinates report to the superior.
• The circle network- which represents a three level hierarchy in which there is communication 
between superiors and subordinates, at operative level.
Informal Communication: The communication which takes place with out following the formal lines
of communication is said to be informal communication. This channel is not created by the
management and not under its control. It is inferred cr known as “grapevine” because it spreads
throughout the organisation with its branches going out in all directions, irrespective of level of
authority and direction It exists on account of employees needs. and to communicate unfavorable
work conditions. The information through grape vine spreads faster than formal network and forms
cluster- chain between individuals, who act as information sources.     
When Michelle Meissner joined Continental Airlines (U.S.A.) as director of human resources, in 1995,
the working environment was terrible; Continental wasn’t meeting its financial goals an was about to
enter bankruptcy. Since then, however, things have changed. Continental had by 2001 enjoyed 21
consecutive quarters of profitability, had amongst the higher revenue per seat per mile in the
industry, and ranked high in consumer satisfaction. Also it was named as one Fortune’s 100 best
places to work.The key to Continental’s dramatic turnaround had been the leadership and
communication of CEO Gordon Bethune and COO Greg Brenneman. Their visibility, involvement and
commitment to Continental’s goals had made them credible communicators. Frequent
communication occurred with all employees at Continental. Employees often saw Bethune and other
managers in an airport break room talking about what’s going on. Both Bethune and Brenneman ate
lunch in the office cafe, not at their desks and asked employee,> to join them. During these informal
chats they learn the “bad news” from gate attendants, mechanics, reservation agents and others
who might lack the courage to make an appointment to see them in their offices.
To improve communication throughout the 50,OOO-employee organisation, Bethune and his team
established a Go Forward Plan. Every year employee surveys were conducted to find out the
communication skills of managers from their subordinates. Bethune himself communicated directly
with all employees through e-mail every Friday evening and his commitment to total communication
would mean full disclosure about good and bad news, no hiding the reality.
All this and other such measures have had a major contribution to the turnaround made by the
company and only underline the importance of communication in organisations.
In the case of Continental Airlines, the drawing on informal lines of communication set up by
Michael proved to be more effective than following the formal lines of communication more
information was shared and accessibility to the top management gave employees a feeling of self
worth which helped in engineering the turnaround there.