MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME
December, 2015
MS-21 : SOCIAL PROCESSES AND BEHAVIOURAL ISSUES
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. All
questions carry 20 marks each.
(iii) Section - B is compulsory and carries 40 marks.
SECTION - A
1. What are the strategies available to a manager in an organisational set to enhance employee motivation ?
2. Briefly describe the components of Emotional intelligence and its importance in organisations. Can emotional intelligence be learnt ? Discuss in brief.
3. Briefly discuss different group decision makingtechniques and their strengths and weakness.
4. Describe Johari Window Model and Transactional analysis. Discuss how these models help in strengthening interpersonal relations ?
5. Write short notes on any three of the following :
(a) Qualities of an effective Counselor.
(b) Preventing Inter-group conflict.
(c) Referrent Power.
(d) Characteristics of Learning organization
(e) Cultural Shock.
SECTION - B
6. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end :
Dharam Singh, general manager at 'Prithviraj Chemicals' was worried about his future, even though he had been told that after 'Prithviraj Chemicals' is merged with Orchid Pharmaceuticals he would be promoted and also be required to shoulder the additional responsibility of identifying those who should be retained as employees even after the merger. Dharam was concerned because he had heard that the organisational culture at 'Orchid' was computer driven, while at 'Prithviraj Chemicals', the focus was on "relationship"
A month later after the official merger of the two companies, the new management took the decision to shift the headquarters to Bangalore from Mysore. This decision was communicated to its employees, (many of 'Prithviraj Chemicals'). They approached Dharam Singh to ask 'Why was the new management shifting its Headquarters to a new place (Bangalore)', Was it because the two managements did not trust each other ?' This question was posed especially because most of Prithviraj's employees had become used to the'quiet, risk averse and friendly work environment' and were worried whether in Bangalore, with its 'cosmopolitan outlook, it would lead to cultural clashes.
As anticipated there were certain instances which had Dharam Singh wondering how to solve such cultural differences. The 'Prithviraj employees' consensus, relationship-result oriented approach always believed in an open communication system with all employees keeping each other informed about any decision and bringing about a consensus in all the decisions taken. On the other hand, the 'Orchid' employees were individually only concerned with their 'individual' work i.e., they were more focused on ambitious cost-cutting goals and each employee was individually responsible for quantifiable results.
• Whenever any work related problem arose,the 'Prithviraj' employees adopted an attitude 'Tell us about the problem from all angles and we will discuss and tell you how best to handle it.' In contrast, the 'Orchid' employees attitude was 'just tell me how this problem will/may affect my work, I am not interested in the whole problem.
. Many of 'Orchid' employees had worked in other cities of North India and few of them had also travelled abroad for official work and thus were more confident, more computer savvy, tough and didn't mince words. Because of this, the 'Prithviraj' employees felt threatened and preferred to describe 'Orchid' employees as 'loners','tough' and 'hard working.'
• At 'Prithviraj', employees were required to make weekly financial and staffing updates to their 'bosses'. However, at 'Orchid' this formality was considered to be a waste of time and they didn't adopt or accept this practice.
Dharam Singh had been with 'Prithviraj since the last 12 years and knew that 'Sudhir' (the M.D. at 'Prithviraj') had a lot of confidence in him when he had said "Dharam, I am very sure that we can count on you to see that there is no dissent among the employees after the merger. The new company is looking upon you to solve the societal-level cultural difference which is prevailing among the employees, so that we can have our own unique culture which would be a blend of both 'Prithviraj' and 'Orchid's way of doing business."
Questions :
(a) Critically analyse the core issues of the case.
(b) Understanding the type of culture followed by 'Prithviraj' and 'Orchid', what type of culture should the newly merged company follow ?
(c) Can you suggest ways to help Dharam Singh to cope with the existing cultural differences ?
