December, 2015
MS-1 : MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS AND
BEHAVIOUR
Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100(Weightage 70%)
Note : (i) There are two Sections : A and B.
(ii) Attempt any three questions from Section A, each question carrying 20 marks.
(iii) Section B is compulsory and carries 40 marks.
SECTION - A
1. What skills a manager would require as he moves from middle to top management level ? Explain
with rationale and relevant examples.
2. Why do organisations feel the need for identifying and evaluating possible alternative courses
of action for accomplishing organizational objectives ? Describe various means for generating alternative courses of action. Explain with relevant examples.
3. What is Delegation ? What are the basic elements of delegation of authority and problems faced in
doing so in an organisation ? Explain with examples.
4. What is the relevance of inter-personal competencies in the management of an organisation ? Briefly discuss the determinants of inter-personal behaviour with the help of relevant examples.
5. Write short notes on any three of the following :
(a) Managerial Values and Ethos.
(b) Individual Vs Group Decision making.
(c) MIS.
(d) Successful Vs Effective leader.
(e) Resistance to change.
SECTION - B
6. Read the case given below and answer the questions given at the end.
Ms. Renu had graduated with a degree in foreign languages. As the child of a military family, she had visited many parts of the world and had travelled extensively in Europe. Despite these broadening experiences, she had never given much thought to a career until her recent divorce.
Needing to provide her own income, Ms. Renu began to look for work. After a fairly intense but unsuccessful search for a job related to her foreign language degree, she began to evaluate her other skills. She had become a proficient typist in college and decided to look into secretarial work. Although she still wanted a career utilizing her foreign language skills, she felt that the immediate financial pressures would be eased in a temporary secretarial position.
Within a short period of time, she was hired as a clerk/typist in a typing pool at Life Insurance
Company. Six months later, she became the top typist in the pool and was assigned as secretary
to Mrs. Khan, Manager of marketing research. She was pleased to get out of the pool and to get
a job that had more variety in the tasks to perform. Besides, she also got a nice raise in pay.
Everything seemed to proceed well for the next nine months. Mrs. Khan was pleased with
Renu's work, and she seemed happy with her work. Renu applied for a few other more
professional jobs in other areas during this time. However, each time her application was rejected
for lack of related education and/or experiencein the area.
Over the next few months, Khan noticed changes in Renu. She did not always dress as neatly as she had in the past, she was occasionally late for work, some of her lunches extended to two hours, and most of her productive work was done in the morning hours. Khan did not wish to say anything because Renu had been doing an excellent job and her job tasks still were being accomplished on time. However, Renu's job behaviour continued to worsen. She began to be absent frequently on Mondays or Fridays. The two-hour lunch periods became standard, and her work performance began to deteriorate. In
addition, Khan began to suspect that Renu was drinking heavily, due to her appearance some
mornings and behaviour after her two-hourlunches.
Khan decided that she must confront Renu with the problem. However, she wanted to find
a way to help her without losing a valuable employee. Before she could set up a meeting,
Renu burst through her door after lunch one day and said :
"I want to talk to you Mrs. Khan".
"That's fine," Khan replied. "Shall we set a
convenient time ?"
"No! I want to talk now."
"OK, why don't you sit down and let's
talk ?"
Khan noticed that Renu was slurring her words slightly and she was not too steady.
"Mrs. Khan, I need some vacation time."
"I'm sure we can work that out. You've been with the company for over a year and have two
weeks vacation coming."
"No, you don't understand. I want to start it tomorrow."
"But, Renu, we need to plan to get a temporary replacement. We can't just let your job
go for two weeks."
"Why not ? Anyway anyone with an IQabove 50 can do my job. Besides, I need the time
off."
"Renu, are you sure you are all right ?"
"Yes, I just need some time away from thejob."
Khan decided to let Renu have the vacation,
which would allow her some time to decide what to do about the situation.
Khan thought about the situation the next couple of days. It was possible that Renu was an
alcoholic. However, she also seemed to have a negative reaction to her job. May be Renu was
bored with her job. She did not have the experience or job skills to move to a different type
of job at present. Khan decided to meet with the Personnel Manager and get some help developing
her options to deal with Renu's problem.
Questions :
(a) What is the core issue in the case ?
(b) What, according to you, was responsible for so sudden change in Renu's behavior and work ?
(c) Did Mrs. Khan handle the situation timely and properly ?
(d) As Chief of HR function, what alternatives do you have ?
- do you see this as an isolated case ?,
- would you to check and revisit organisational systems and processes only after a case ? Substantiate your answer with rationale.
