Question 1

a) Span of control:It indicates the number of employees or managers who work under one head. Span of control

may be narrow or broad.

b)Narrow Span Wide Span1. Close supervision 1. Forced to delegate2. Close control 2. Clear policies must be made.3. Faster communication 3. Subordinates must be carefully selected.4. Superiors tend to get too much involved in the work of subordinates.

4. Overloaded superiors may become decision bottlenecks.

5. Many levels of management 5. Danger of superior’s loss of control.6. High cost 6. Requires high quality managers.7.Excessive distance between top and bottom level.

c) The time that a manager gets to spend with the subordinates is the fundamental factor. The other factors are:

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 narrow span is preferred.

Well defined plans and repetitive process: If the business has these, a wide span is viable, if not a narrow span is preferred.

Verifiable objectives: Wide span demands verifiable objectives and that is much less in narrow span.

Speed of change: Organisation 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: Task simplicity: If task is simple, a wide span is viable. Competency of managers: With highly competent managers, a wide span works well. Subordinate readiness’s : If the subordinates are mature and are willing to assume responsibility,

a wide span works well.

Question 2

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a) Controlling: It can be defined as measuring and correcting of performance to achieve the organisational goals.

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.

b) Pre-requisites of effective control:All managers like to have controls because without them their plans would go awry. The pre-

requisites are: 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 be flexible to include the changed plans, unforeseen circumstances, or

outright failure. For example, Sambhavi may use budget control to say the inventory level but if the sales are significantly higher or lower, there should be flexibility in the control.

Fitting to the organisational culture:Imagine putting tight control over Sambhavi whose culture is family like and open with the freedom to experiment. The control will most certainly affect the culture which to begin with 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.

Question 3

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a) PersonalityPersonality can be defined as a dynamic and organised set of characteristics possessed by a

person which uniquely influences his/her knowledge, motivations and behaviour in various situations. Personality refers to those characteristics of the person that account for consistent patterns of feelings, thinking and behaving.

b) Cattell’s 16 personality Factor Model (16 PF):Working on earlier models, Cattell reduced the traits to 16 primary factors. Each of these has high

and low ranges. They are as follows.1. Warmth: Warm, outgoing, attentive to others, kind, easy going, participating, likes people on the

high range as against impersonal, distant, cool, reserved, detached, formal or aloof.2. Reasoning: Abstract-thinking, more intelligent, bright, higher general mental capacity, fast

learner.3. Emotional stability: Emotionally stable, adaptive, mature, faces reality, calm.4. Dominance: Dominant, forceful, assertive, aggressive, competitive, stubborn, bossy.5. Liveliness: Lively, animated, spontaneous, enthusiastic, happy go lucky, cheerful, expressive,

and impulsive.6. Rule-consciousness: Rule-conscious, dutiful, conscientious, conforming, moralistic, staid, rule

bound.7. Social boldness: Socially bold, venturesome, thick skinned, and uninhibited.8. Sensitivity: Sensitive, aesthetic, sentimental, tender minded, intuitive, refined.9. Vigilance: Vigilant, suspicious, distrustful, and oppositional.10. Abstractedness: Abstract, imaginative, absent minded, impractical, absorbed in ideas.11. Privateness: 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, insecure, worrying, and self

blaming.14. Self-reliance: Self-reliant, solitary, resourceful, individualistic, self sufficient.15. Perfectionism: Perfectionist, organised, compulsive, self-disciplined, socially precise, exacting

will power, control, self-sentimental.16. Tension: Tense, high energy, impatient, driven, frustrated, over wrought, time driven.

Question 4

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a) Contemporary Theories of Motivation:

ERG Theory:Alderfer (1972) classifies needs into three categories.1) The existence category that provides our basic material existence requirements.2) Relatedness category which provides relationship and social status.3) Growth category which refers to personal development.

McClelland’s Theory of needs:McClelland’s (1961) theory focuses on three needs: achievement, power, and affiliation. This actually describes the predominance of disposition of various types of people. All people have all these needs but the predominant need drives them.

Need for achievement: Those predominant in this derive satisfaction from reaching goals. To do that, they generally undertake tasks of moderate difficulty rather than very easy or very difficult one.

Need for power: Those predominant in this derive satisfaction from ability to control others and goal achievement is secondary.

Need for affiliation: Those predominant in this derive satisfaction from social and interpersonal activities.

Cognitive Evaluation Theory:Some people do not get motivated by extrinsic rewards. It is better to leave to do a job from which he derives satisfaction.

Goal-Setting Theory:This theory proposes that challenging goals produce a higher level of output than do the generalised goals. A goal serves as a motivator, because, it causes people to compare their present capacity to perform with that required to succeed at the goal.

Goal commitment. Adequate self-efficacy. Task characteristics. National culture.

Reinforcement Theory:Reinforcement theory argues that reinforcement conditions human behaviour; that behaviour is a function of its consequence and that it can be modified by providing consequences. Reinforced behaviour tends to be repeated.

Equity Theory:According to this theory, employees make comparisons of their job inputs and outcomes relative to those of others. If they perceive the ratio as fair, they are motivated, else demotivated.

Organisational justice:People’s perceptions of fairness motivate or demotivate them. They are three types.

Distributive justice Procedural justice Interactional justice

Expectancy Theory:It proposes that motivation depends on:

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The belief that one’s effort will positively lead to performance (called expectancy). An individual’s belief that he will be rewarded in accord with his or her own level of

performance (Instrumentality). The value a person places on the rewards he or she expects to receive from an

organisation (Valence). Motivational Language Theory:

Language is a motivator for people. At least to some extent this is true. We motivate people through talks, explanations and instructions.

Question 5

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a) Factors that affect Group Behaviour:There are several factors that affect group behaviour. These factors affect the group process and

group decision making. Norms:

It can be defined “acceptable standards of behaviour that are shared by the group members”. This is a guideline for members detailing what they ought and ought not to do under certain circumstances.

Conformity:Conformity is the process of adhering to group norms. Research evidence suggests strong evidence that groups can place strong pressures on individual members to change their attitudes and behaviours to conform to the group’s standard. Norms are enforced effectively by the groups by:1. Increasing communication with a non-conforming member.2. Ignoring the non-conforming member.3. Excluding him or her from activities and physical coercion or expulsion.

Status:Status is a socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members by others. Those members of the group who enjoy a higher status are able to break group norms.

Groupthink:It is perhaps the greatest danger to effectiveness or groups. Caught between the need for cohesion and multiplicity of ideas, most groups suffer from this. According to Irving Jains, group think is a “deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgement resulting from in-group pressures”.

Group shift:This is a special case of groupthink. As the discussion proceeds, those who are more conservative, tend to shift to greater risk. This can happen because:1. Once the members become familiar, they become bolder.2. The society values more risk and therefore people want to be seen as more risk taking.3. Group decision is not attributable to a single person; people take greater risk since they do

not have to shoulder accountability for it singly. Social loafing:

Social loafing occurs when one or more group members rely on the efforts of other group members and fail to contribute their own time, effort, thoughts, or other resources to a group since it is harder to attribute the groups outputs to individual contribution.

Production blocking:Production blocking is limiting another person’s output by getting in his or her way. Production blocking occurs when too many employees are trying to work in a given space or when the organisation has poorly planned the use of its facilities.

Group decision making techniques:1. Interacting: Here, the members discuss the issue. 2. Brainstorming: This is an idea generation exercise used when the problem is difficult and

alternatives are not forthcoming.3. Nominal group technique: This is a modified version of brainstorming.

Question 6

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a) Leadership:Leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building

trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realise your own leadership potential. It is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal.

b) Contingency Theories of Leadership:Contingency theories suggest that there is no one best style of leadership and that an effective

style depends on how the leader adopts a style in relation to the group and the situation. A previously successful style may not be effective in a new context.

Fielder’s Contingency Model(FCM) of leadership:This model dominates the modern literature on contingency theories. FCM postulates that the leader’s effectiveness is based on situational contingency which is a result of interaction of two factors; leadership style and situational favourableness. Fielder identified three situational components that determine the favourableness of situation control. They are:1. How defined and structured the work is?2. How much position power the leader has?3. The relationship between the leader and the followers.

Path goal theory:Path goal theory draws its inspiration from the expectancy model of motivation. If there is a leader and a follower, the follower expects something and the leader is able to fulfil it by defining it as a goal, means to achieve the goal, removing obstacles to achieving it, etc.

Situational leadership:It is the highly popular model of situational leadership. Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard are the brain behind the theory. They identified that the leaders have four leadership styles.1. Telling (directing)2. Selling (consulting)3. Participating 4. Delegating

Reddin’s 3D theory of managerial effectiveness:This theory builds on the Hersey Blanchard theory of situational leadership and Blake and Mouton theory of Managerial grid. He identifies four effective styles that are matched to the situation using the situational sensitivity of the leaders, i.e., the ability to evaluate the situation and style flexibility or the ability to change the style according to the situation. 1. Bureaucrat2. Developer3. Executive4. Benevolent autocrat

Shortcomings of contingency theories:Situational approach seems to be intuitively appealing; however, since there are limitless contingencies, it does not help an executive seeking what to do and when. It does not explain how the style can be varied to the situation, whether the situation can be varied or modified, role of values in leadership, strategic decision making of the leaders, etc.

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