01.

Executive Summary

Organization is a social unit composes of two or more people that function or relatively
continues based to achieve a common goal. Organizational behavior is the study of what
people think, feel and do in and around organizations. And also it is the study of human
behavior in organizational settings, the interface between human behavior and the
organization, and the organization itself. Organizational Behavior focuses on three levels
of behavior in organizations. These are individual behaviors, group behaviors and overall
performances in organization. In this report our main focus goes to the group behaviors
of MAS Holdings.MAS Holdings is one of the largest non-listed companies on the
Colombo Stock Exchange in terms of market capitalization in the large apparel industry
of Sri Lanka. MAS is an innovation driven company which focuses on fashion and
lifestyle. It is one of Asia’s largest manufacturers of intimate apparel, sportswear,
performance wear, and swimwear and provides specialized IT solutions to the apparel
and footwear industry worldwide. MAS also owns Sri Lanka’s first international brand of
lingerie, amanté. MAS provide an empowering culture for our 70,000 associates to
activate their full potential.

In our research we identified plenty of ways that conflicts might accuse. In case of MAS
holdings there are some basic issues that accused such as issues with the leader, late
shipments, issues with the study leaves and wrong grouping methods etc.

Through this report we came up with recommendations in order to overcome these issues.
An appointed leader will be respected, but not necessary liked; if they have the
competence and commitment for the role then they will be able to have a strong
leadership and strong management for the organization. In order to increase the
motivation of employees, extra benefits could be given, both extrinsic & intrinsic.As well
as it is crucial to introduce a system to transfer unfinished work to another group member
when one group member goes on leave. And further we recommended MAS needs to
introduce a well-structured grouping system so that the best individuals would be selected
for a group to complete a particular task.

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02. Organization

Organization is a social unit composes of two or more people that function or relatively
continues based to achieve a common goal or set of goals.

2.1 Organizational Behavior

A field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure have on
behavior within organizations for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards
improving an organization’s effectiveness.

Organizational behavior is the study of what people think, feel and do in and around the
organizations.

The study of human behavior, attitudes and performance within an organization setting
drawing on theory, methods and principles from such disciplines as psychology,
sociology, politicalscience and cultural anthropology to learn about individuals, groups,
structures and processes. Organizational Behavior focuses on three levels of behavior in
organizations.

 Individual Behaviors
 Groups Behaviors
 Overall Performance

2.2 Groups and Group Behaviors

In an organizational context, groupthink and group behavior are important concepts as

they determine the cohesiveness and coherence of the organizational culture and
organizational communication.

The essential feature of a group is that its members regard themselves as belonging to the
group. A group is defined as any number of people who:
 interact with one another

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  are psychologically aware of one another and
 perceive themselves to be a group

A work group is a collection of people who share most, if not all, of the following
characteristics:
 a definable membership
 groups consciousness
 a sense of shared purposes
 interdependence and
 ability to act in a unitary manner

2.3 Formation of Groups

Tuckman (1965) devised a model of group formation which consists of the following five
stages.

 Stage 1 – Forming

This refers to primary formation of the group where tasks have to be understood,
resources and information acquired, individuals have to get to know one another and
there is considerable reliance on the leader.

 Stage 2 – Storming

It represents the period when problems begin to be faced more openly than in the
previous stage. Individuals begin to question or challenge the task and have to face
emotional issues between and among themselves.

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  Stage 3 – Norming

This period of relative confusion moves into a more considered stage where conflicts are
settled; new standards are developed and owned by the members. Cooperation really
takes off.

 Stage 4 – Performing

This stage opens the way for the most productive moment when the group is working
effectively both in terms of goals and its internal relationships. Group work develops and
solutions are found.

 Stage 5 – Adjourning

This stage underlines the fact that a group’s life will eventually come to an end as people
move on elsewhere in the organization or as original purpose is attained and the job is
completed.
The above analysis demonstrates that the group/team development can only takeplace
over time.

2.4 Types of Groups

Work groups are divided into two namely, formal and informal groups.

1. Formal groups

These are the units that are established by management as part of an organizational
structure. They are defined in terms of their purpose and roles. They are official in the
sense that they have appropriate authority and they are provided with financial and
physical resources. The groups are to:
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  further the aims and objectives of the organization as laid down in mission
statements, policies and routine procedures.
 think of organizations being mainly composed of such formal groups.

2. Informal groups

These are employee centered groups whose aims and intentions may counter those of the
official organization. The characteristics of the informal group are that: -

 they draw their norms (rules) of behavior from amongst themselves.

 their first loyalty tends to be towards their fellow group members rather than to
the organization as a whole.
 their goals are decided more by what they feel is right for them rather than by
what is laid down for them by the management.
 their behavior is derived more from interpersonal relationships than by any role
allocated by the management.
 their behavior may or may not be in line with what their organization expects.
 they generally meet social and security needs before other needs.
 group leadership is exercised on a charismatic basis rather than by legitimate
authority.

3. Task groups

A task group has one specific task to accomplish, and it is clearly and specifically
defined. It differs from a command group in that command group is assembled to help a
leader with a specific job that could be general in nature. Whereas a task group has a
specific task, they are focused on and need to accomplish.

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2.5 Key Issues in Group Behavior

In examining the behavior of people in groups, whether formal or informal, there are a
number of key issues that have to be considered and these are: -

1. Group size

The size of a group is one factor that can determine its likely behavior
. Large groups: -
 require a higher extent of formalization than smaller.
 require clearer lines of communication.
 tend to pay less attention to the needs of individuals than smaller groups.
 concentrate more on task requirements than personal issues.
 are more legally liable to the development of such groups than smaller groups.

2. Purpose of group

 Work - groups are assigned definite purpose within the organizational structure.
 Work - groups are often asked to focus their efforts on specific problems.
 Short-term nature- Some groups are especially set up for this very purpose, such
as task forces.
 Working parties and project groups. Short-term tasks are usually allocated some
explicit time limit.

3. Nature of task

The nature of the task is broadly decided in terms of the group’s purpose and objectives.
A fairly specific task and outcome will demand different quantities from the group
compared with, say a generally-stated problem requiring further questions to beasked.
Some types of the tasks can be: -

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  Ongoing or routine
 Implementing new process or procedures
 Creating new ideas

03. Company Introduction

MAS Holdings is one of Sri Lanka’s largest apparel manufacturers, employing more than
34,450 people in 21 factories in 10 countries. Annual revenues are US$570 million. Each
year, MAS manufactures 44 million bras and is Victoria’s Secret’s largest supplier.

The company is privately-held and owned entirely by the Amalean family. The MAS
name came from the first letters of its founders. Mr.Mahesh Amalean,Mr. Ajay Amalean
and Mr. Sharad Amalean. Chairman Mahesh Amalean, the eldest son of five children,
held the CEO title until 2004. The current CEO and Deputy Chairman is middle brother,
Sharad, who had previously been the CFO. The youngest brother, Ajay, is Director of the
Corporate Solutions division, and also handles the creative Marketing and Design aspects
of the business and oversees MAS’ Finance and Human Resources functions. The rest of
the Executive Management Board consists of three Managing Directors, the Director of
Corporate Development and the Group Director of Human Resources. All are
professional managers and longtime MAS employees. The two Amalean sisters reside in
the US and are not part of the business.

MAS comprises four business units: MAS Intimates, MAS Active, MAS Fabrics and
MAS Investments, a separate non-apparel business. The Intimates Division is the largest
and consists of seven plants that manufacture bras, panties and briefs in Sri Lanka and
India and two Marketing, Design and Product Development units in Sri Lanka. MAS
Active Division has eight leisure wear and sportswear plants based in Sri Lanka,
Madagascar, Vietnam and India. MAS Fabrics manufactures elastic, fabrics, lace, hooks
and other accessories in Sri Lanka, the UK, Mexico, Indonesia and China. MAS

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Investments includes two IT consulting companies, the Corporate Branding and Retail
unit and a diversified investment portfolio.

MAS is also a global corporate citizen. The organization is relentless in maintaining its
global outlook on governance while striving to be a leader in corporate governance. MAS
takes pride in aligning its corporate governance initiatives with globally accepted best
practices while being sensitive to the cultural perspectives in the multiple countries of
operation. They continue to introduce policies, operating procedures and best practices
throughout the organization to ensure that MAS operates in line with internationally
accepted best practices as well as exceeds their customers' expectations.
The shareholders and the board are committed to achieving excellence in sustainable
corporate governance and have set in place focused teams to ensure organizational policy
deployment.

 Vision
“Be the Leader in providing multi facility connectivity, empowering supply chain
solutions in a sustainable eco system”

 Mission
“Our goal is to provide an unparalleled range of industrial services, enabling
investors the most feasible environment for seamless activity, within a climate
promoting intra & inter-generational equity, based on the commitment for
continuous growth for the company and its shareholders”

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3.1 Group Behavior in MAS Holdings

In Unichela MAS,the management has divided the organization into different

departments in order to increase efficiency such as Operations department, Finance
department and Human resources department etc.
Our main focus is on finance department. In finance department, there are five units
namely Accounts receivable, Accounts payable, General ledger, Operations finance unit
and Purchasing unit. Our group behavior research is focused on Accounts payable unit.
Accounts payable is money owed by a business to its suppliers shown as a liability on a
company’s balance sheet. Their main task is due payment settlements. In MAS,they
divided their accounts payable unit further into two sections namely as MRP* and
NMRP*.The task of employees in MRP section is to settle payments of MRP related
foreign transactions and the task of NMRP is to settle payments of local suppliers. For an
example expenditures arise from a function which is organized by MAS.
Accounts payable group consists of 10-15 members and each individual is assigned to
handle the payments of nearly 60 suppliers while the total unit handles nearly 600
suppliers. Employees get time period of 14-15 days to complete their assigned work.
Emails are used to communicate information, messages among the unit.
When the company divides employees into the group they do not have any specific
criteria such as skill levels, experiences, age limits etc. If there is any deficient in the
group they transfer members from one group to another group. In order to measure the
performances of employees within the group in line with their targets, the company uses
the element called Dash Board. It consists of three columns which show the target of each
employee.
Through the discussion, we realized that the conflicts among the group members are
minimal in MAS. This is because of the group cohesiveness within the group as well as
the company is giving their employees rewards, bonus schemes, local & foreign tours in
order to motivate them and get their higher performances to the company.

*MRP = Assuming Manufacturing Resource Planning

*NMRP = Assuming Non-manufacturing Resource Planning

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04. Issues Identified inWorking Groups of MAS Holdings

In most groups, when working on a task, there will be some form of problem,
disagreement, conflict. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the group is poor, or problematic;
in fact, it is natural to have to negotiate differences between members. There are a
number of problems that arise during group work. The problems we identified in the
accounts payable unit are as follows;

1. Lack of strong leadership

2. Personal distractions of employees
3. Work stress
4. Lack of proper grouping methods

1. Lack of strong leadership

Any group working together needs a strong leader to identify the team's objective,
maintain the group's focus on that end, and drive the team toward its established goal.
According to the research, they have mentioned that the current leader of the account
payable unit is unable to guide the group towards the direction.A good leader is someone
who stays in the front line of battle, leading through inspiration rather than pressuring
through hierarchical control. This certain leader does not listen to other members
especially the members who are more practiced than he is.Most leaders like this certain
leader often feel confident that they could rise to the challenge and become that boss if
they had to. He may not be aware of every aspect of knowledge; therefore he needs the
support of the group to carry on with the work. Because of his false knowledge the group
has failed to achieve their target once. His overabundance of ego, pride, and arrogant
attitudes discourage the members to work with him. They mentioned that the former
leaders of the unit were better leaders who were willing to take the blame on behalf of the
group and give them the credit. However the current leader never gives recognition and
he always points out the mistakes and criticizes the work. Due to these certain reasons,
the members have refused to work under his supervision. They have filed several

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complaints against the leader to the top management. Leaders pay a high price for
ignoring the important process of building healthy relationships within the group
members. This certain leader has received a vote of non-confidence from the group which
means his position of being the leader is at a stake.

2. Personal distractions of employees

Through the research we found that the accounts payable unit had an issue regarding late
shipments and delay of supplier payments. When we did an in-depth analysis on this
issue, the reason to this appeared to be the personal distractions of employees. Employees
who were on their study leave have left their work undone. Due to this reason the group
has failed to function properly. Therefore the work process has been collided and also
shipments and payment process crashed at some points.Most employees in this unit are
also engaged in studies besides their professional career. Employees who were
responsible to complete the assigned work failed to accomplish the work the due to their
assignments and examinations. Supplier payments were behind as a result of this. As
MAS being a manufacturing company, supplier deliveries being on time does matter. If
the payments get postponed, the deliveries will not be on time. The whole process was
gone down due to this.

3. Work stress

As we mentioned above, the process of supplier payments goes down when the
employees leave the work undone and obtain their study sessions. Another issue arises
from this reason. Other members of the unit get the responsibility of the work undone
which leads them to a pressurized mental state. Overloaded work did result in
demotivating the members. Each individual was apportioned to handle nearly 60
suppliers where this situation places them to handle nearly 100 suppliers at the time
period of 15 days. These employees of the accounts payable unit were discouraged
because the senior employees kept pressurizing them until the work was done. However

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these demotivated employees were unable to complete the assigned work. As a result of
this the whole process was behind.

4. Lack of proper grouping methods

When the company divides employees into groups, they do not have any specific
criteria.If an individual causes any deficient in the group they transfer members from one
group to another group. According the research, they mentioned that the group was
assigned to complete a certain work. Few of the individuals were even unable to
understand the task because of lack of the related knowledge. Therefore they were failed
to complete the assigned target. The above issue has been arisen several times. The
management does not divide employees into groups according the knowledge or the
experience or any other criteria. They choose employees casually and divide groups. If
any of the individuals possess lack of performance, they transfer the individual to another
group. And also if a new individual joins the unit, he is placed into the group where
members are minimal.It may result in problems because the knowledge of the individual
may differ from the tasks he will be assigned to complete within the group. The methods
they are following currently might accuse problems in the coming future with larger
consequences.

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05. Recommendations

1. Lack of strong leadership

An appointed leader will be respected, but not necessary liked, if they have the
competence and commitment for the role, and if they treat others fairly consistent the
values and guiding principles of the organization. In fact, if the leader is respected, the
team will compensate for gaps in their competence by sharing accountability mutually to
get things done. Unfortunately, this is not the case with the accounts payable unit at MAS
Holdings.

A leader should be made based upon competence and commitment, and potential for the
future growth of the certain leader, the organization, and its employees. The appointed
leader must possess the necessary leadership skills rather than just knowledge and
experience on a specific field. He must be able to motivate, organize and drive the group
towards achieving the group goals. If this is not the case, the appointed leader may "win"
but the organization and its employees may lose.

Those in a higher authority should pay attention as to how managers are performing as
leaders, and to those who are the real leaders.

It is evident that a change in the appointment criteria is needed. When appointing a new
leader, the top management must make sure that the individual possesses the necessary
leadership skills as well as the experience in that particular field, rather than just choosing
the leader based on seniority which could result in dysfunctional behavior among the
group members. Top management could use a careful screening process in order to check
whether the candidate possesses the necessary requirements.

An employee succession programme can be used here as well. The top management
could recognize the next leader in advance based on the seniority and give him training
on developing the leadership skills so that when his time comes he would be fully
prepared. This is more in line with the current practice at MAS Holdings' accounts
payable unit.

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 2. Personal distractions of employees
It is evident that there has been poor communication among group members regarding
unfinished work as the employees who obtained study leave had left their work as it is.
Shipment & payment process had gone down as a result. Therefore, it is crucial to
introduce a system to transfer unfinished work to another group member when one group
member goes on leave, so that he can start from where previous member left off. This
will ensure work completion & timely payments.

3. Work stress
In order to increase the motivation of employees, extra benefits could be given, both
extrinsic & intrinsic. This will help to reduce the stress to a certain extent. A relaxed
working environment would also result in increased employee motivation. The pressure
from the senior employees should be minimized when working on a tight schedule.

Top management should also consider acquiring additional labor, even on a part time
basis, when more employees are on leave.

4. Lack of proper grouping methods

As evidenced from the research, it is clear that MAS needs a better grouping
methodology. MAS needs to introduce a well-structured grouping system therefore the
best individuals would be selected for a group to complete a particular task. The system
needs to ensure that the scope of the group's objective is within the field of expertise of a
group member. This will eliminate dysfunctional behavior among the group members &
will improve group cohesiveness which will result in effective group performance.

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06. Conclusion
The design, manufacture and export of textiles and apparel products is one of the biggest
industries in Sri Lanka, and one which plays a key role in advancing the country’s
economy. The apparel industry of Sri Lanka employs about 15% of the country’s
workforce, accounting for about half of the country’s total exports and Sri Lanka is
among the top apparel producing countries in the world relative to its population. MAS
Holding, Brandix Lanka Limited, Hidramani Group, Maliban Textiles are top apparel
giants in Sri Lanka.

We selected MAS holdings as the organization for our research on “Why do some
groups function effectively whilst others dysfunctional?”. MAS is an innovation driven
company which focuses on fashion and lifestyle. It is one of Asia’s largest manufacturers
of intimate apparel, sportswear, performance wear, swimwear and provides specialized
IT solutions to the apparel and footwear industry worldwide. MAS provide an
empowering culture for our 70,000 associates to activate their full potential.

Organizational behavior is the study of what people think, feel and do in and around
organizations. And also it is “the study of human behavior in organizational settings, the
interface between human behavior and the organization, and the organization itself.
Organization Behavior focuses on three levels of behavior in organizations. These are
individual behaviors, group behaviors and overall performances in organization. In this
report our main focus goes to the group behaviors of MAS Holdings.

Through our organizational behavior assignment we identified group behaviors of MAS

Holdings and pointed out basic issues that accused when people are working as a group.
By observing this report we recommended how they can overcome those issues by
themselves. Also in conclusion we came upon with few suggestions and
recommendations to be done to the company to make it a globally recognized.

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07. Conversation

Q- What are the units you have in your Finance department?

A- We have several units under our finance department. We have Accounts payable,
accounts receivable, general ledgers, Operational Finance Unit and Purchasing
Unit.

Q- What’s the department that you are in working and what kind of tasks that you
have to perform?

A- I’m currently working in the accounts payable department. Since we are a

manufacturing company we get supplies from local and international suppliers. So
basically what we have to do is, handle their payments.

Q- Group or individual task?

A- Well basically the company evaluates our individual performances but still we are
working as groups. This is how it works; basically every person will be assigned
with a target, liabilities and responsibilities so they will be working on their
individual tasks while helping others in need. So end of the day, Team has
achieved its goals while the individuals improve their personal performances.

Q- What are the criteria you consider when you divide employees into groups?

A- Well to be honest we don’t have special criteria to divide employees into groups.
Normally how we do is, we mix groups according to experiences of the
employees, so that way it is much productive. And we have minimum 6 members
in a group and maximum is 16.

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Q- How do you assign duties and responsibilities?

A- Well basically in my department we individuals have our own suppliers to handle

and we have our deadlines for work and payment settlements. As an Example: I
handle 64 suppliers, so I have to worry about each and everything regarding that
until their payment is done.

Q- How do you assign leaders in each group?

A- Well normally the most senior becomes the group leader and the experience and
his interaction with other employees matters too. That’s the normal procedure of
picking a group leader.

Q- Do the members perform their duties well? Is dividing into groups is effective?
Reasons?

A- Yeah basically their individual performances are really high. If they are new
comers, in some points their performance can be low but with the competition and
the good experience here they groom them self well to perform well. Group work
is pretty much effective but not in every work. We all know that group work can
be used only for some extent only so the organization has nothing to do with it.
And yes, group work is really effective cause even though its group work there is
a bit of a competition between individuals but still they help others in times of
need, so I see this method as a success.

Q- Are there any groups which do not function well? If so reasons?

A- Well once awhile we do detect groups which don’t function well. I think that’s
pretty normal when it comes to companies and there is no particular reason for not
functioning well. There can be so many reasons. Most of the times it can be lack

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 of experience in the field, distractions and sometimes attitude issues of member
plus failures of group leaders.

Q- Issues faced by the company due to lack of the group’s performance?

A- Well actually we face difficulties due to lack of performance of groups. Most of

the times it’s the delays of payments, supplier dissatisfactions and late shipments.
But these issues are very rare, but that doesn’t mean we don’t face them. We do,
sometimes.

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08. References

1. Groups and Group Behavior - 2015. . [ONLINE] Available

at:http://ir.uz.ac.zw/jspui/bitstream/10646/653/1/group_%26_groups_behaviour.p
df. [Accessed 17 April 2015].

2. Organizational Behavior Notes – [ Accessed 17 April 2015]

3. MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry

- 2015. . [ONLINE] Available
at:http://www.unprme.org/reports/masholdingsfinalinseadcasefeb28th2006.pdf.
[Accessed 18 April 2015].

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