BUS 801 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR AND

MANAGEMENT

QUESTION AND ANSWER MATERIAL

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Question (2013/14, No. 2): Your motivation involves the relationship between your
effort, your performance, and the desirability of the outcomes of your performance.
How true is this statement?
SOLUTION
Expectancy theory is the most comprehensive explanation of how employees are motivated.
It was proposed by Victor Vroom in 1964. Expectancy theory states that an individual tends
to act in a certain way based on the expectation that the act will be followed by a given
outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual. It includes three
variables or relationships (Robbins and Coulter, 2009).
It includes three variables or relationships;
i. Expectancy or effort–performance linkage is the probability perceived by the
individual that exerting a given amount of effort will lead to a certain level of
performance.
ii. Instrumentality or performance–reward linkage is the degree to which the individual
believes that performing at a particular level is instrumental in attaining the desired
outcome.
iii. Valence or attractiveness of reward is the importance that the individual places on the
potential outcome or reward that can be achieved on the job. Valence considers both
the goals and needs of the individual.

Expectancy theory which is a component of process theory of motivation seeks the answers
to the following questions;
– Will increased effort improve performance?
– Will increased performance be rewarded?
– Does the reward have value?
The key to expectancy theory is understanding an individual’s goal and the linkage between
effort and performance, between performance and rewards, and finally, between rewards and
individual goal satisfaction. It emphasizes payoffs, or rewards. As a result, we have to believe

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that the rewards an organization is offering align with what the individual wants. Expectancy
theory recognizes that no universal principle explains what motivates individuals and thus
stresses that managers understand why employees view certain outcomes as attractive or
unattractive. After all, we want to reward individuals with those things they value positively.
Also, expectancy theory emphasizes expected behaviours. Do employees know what is
expected of them and how they’ll be evaluated? Finally, the theory is concerned with
perceptions. Reality is irrelevant. An individual’s own perceptions of performance, reward,
and goal outcomes, not the outcomes themselves, will determine his or her motivation (level
of effort).
To influence their expectancy perceptions, managers may train their employees, or hire
people who are qualified for the jobs in question. Low expectancy may also be due to
employees feeling that something other than effort predicts performance, such as political
behaviours on the part of employees. In this case, clearing the way to performance and
creating an environment in which employees do not feel blocked will be helpful. The first
step in influencing instrumentality is to connect pay and other rewards to performance using
bonuses, award systems, and merit pay. Publicizing any contests or award programs is helpful
in bringing rewards to the awareness of employees. It is also important to highlight that
performance and not something else is being rewarded. For example, if a company has an
employee-of-the-month award that is rotated among employees, employees are unlikely to
believe that performance is being rewarded. In the name of being egalitarian, such a reward
system may actually hamper the motivation of highest performing employees by eroding
instrumentality. Finally, to influence valence, managers will need to find out what their
employees value. This can be done by talking to employees, or surveying them about what
rewards they find valuable.

Question (2013/14, No. 4): Reinforcement is anything that causes a given behaviour to
be repeated or inhibited. Discuss
SOLUTION
Reinforcement theory is based on the work of Ivan Pavlov in behavioural conditioning and
the later work B. F. Skinner did on operant conditioning (Bauer et al., 1998).According to
this theory, behaviour is a function of its consequences. Imagine that even though no one
asked you to, you stayed late and drafted a report. When the manager found out, she was
ecstatic and took you out to lunch and thanked you genuinely. The consequences following
your good deed were favourable, and therefore you are more likely to do similar good deeds

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in the future. In contrast, if your manager had said nothing about it and ignored the sacrifice
you made, you would be less likely to demonstrate similar behaviours in the future, or your
behaviour would likely become extinct.
Reinforcement theory describes four interventions to modify employee behaviour. Two of
these are methods of increasing the frequency of desired behaviours while the remaining two
are methods of reducing the frequency of undesired behaviours.

– Positive reinforcement is a method of increasing the desired behaviour. Positive

reinforcement involves making sure that behaviour is met with positive consequences.
Praising an employee for treating a customer respectfully is an example of positive
reinforcement. If the praise immediately follows the positive behaviour, the employee
will see a link between behaviour and positive consequences and will be motivated to
repeat similar behaviours.
– Negative reinforcement is also used to increase the desired behaviour. Negative
reinforcement involves removal of unpleasant outcomes once desired behaviour is
demonstrated. Nagging an employee to complete a report is an example of negative
reinforcement. The negative stimulus in the environment will remain present until
positive behaviour is demonstrated. The problem with negative reinforcement may be
that the negative stimulus may lead to unexpected behaviours and may fail to stimulate
the desired behaviour. For example, the person may start avoiding the manager to avoid
being nagged.

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– Extinction occurs when a behaviour ceases as a result of receiving no reinforcement. For
example, suppose an employee has an annoying habit of forwarding e-mail jokes to
everyone in the department, cluttering up people’s in-boxes and distracting them from
their work. Commenting about the jokes, whether in favourable or unfavourable terms,
may be encouraging the person to keep forwarding them. Completely ignoring the jokes
may reduce their frequency.
– Punishment is another method of reducing the frequency of undesirable behaviours.
Punishment involves presenting negative consequences following unwanted behaviours.
Giving an employee a warning for consistently being late to work is an example of
punishment.
Since reinforcement theory says that behaviour is a function of its consequences. Those
consequences that immediately follow a behaviour and increase the probability that the
behaviour will be repeated are called reinforcers. Reinforcement theory ignores factors such
as goals, expectations, and needs. Instead, it focuses solely on what happens to a person when
he or she does something. Using reinforcement theory, managers can influence employees’
behaviour by using positive reinforces for actions that help the organization achieve its goals.
And managers should ignore, not punish, undesirable behaviour. Although punishment
eliminates undesired behaviour faster than non-reinforcement does, its effect is often
temporary and may have unpleasant side effects including dysfunctional behaviour such as
workplace conflicts, absenteeism, and turnover. Although reinforcement is an important
influence on work behaviour, it isn’t the only explanation for differences in employee
motivation

Question (2013/14, No. 5): It is interesting to know that Mintzberg classified the modern
manager’s roles into three. What are these roles?

SOLUTION
The term managerial roles refers to specific actions or behaviours expected of and exhibited
by a manager. When describing what managers do from a roles perspective, we’re not
looking at a specific person per se, but at the expectations and responsibilities that are
associated with being the person in that role—the role of a manager.
After following managers around for several weeks, Prof Henry Mintzberg of McGill
University, Canada concluded that, to meet the many demands of performing their functions,
managers assume multiple roles. A role is an organized set of behaviours, and Mintzberg

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identified ten roles common to the work of all managers. As summarized in the following
figure, the ten roles are divided into three groups:
i. interpersonal,
ii. informational, and
iii. Decisional.
The informational roles link all managerial work together. The interpersonal roles ensure that
information is provided. The decisional roles make significant use of the information. The
performance of managerial roles and the requirements of these roles can be played at
different times by the same manager and to different degrees, depending on the level and
function of management. The ten roles are described individually, but they form an integrated
whole.
The three interpersonal roles are primarily concerned with interpersonal relationships. In the
figurehead role, the manager represents the organization in all matters of formality. The top-
level manager represents the company legally and socially to those outside of the
organization. The supervisor represents the work group to higher management and higher
management to the work group. In the liaison role, the manager interacts with peers and
people outside the organization. The top-level manager uses the liaison role to gain favours
and information, while the supervisor uses it to maintain the routine flow of work. The leader
role defines the relationships between the manager and employees.

The direct relationships with people in the interpersonal roles place the manager in a unique
position to get information. Thus, the three informational roles are primarily concerned with
the information aspects of managerial work. In the monitor role, the manager receives and
collects information. In the role of disseminator, the manager transmits special information
into the organization. The top-level manager receives and transmits more information from
people outside the organization than the supervisor. In the role of spokesperson, the manager
disseminates the organization’s information into its environment. Thus, the top-level manager
is seen as an industry expert, while the supervisor is seen as a unit or departmental expert.

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 The Ten Managerial Roles

The unique access to information places the manager at the centre of organizational decision
making. There are four decisional roles managers play. In the entrepreneur role, the manager
initiates change. In the disturbance handler role, the manager deals with threats to the
organization. In the resource allocator role, the manager chooses where the organization will
expend its efforts. In the negotiator role, the manager negotiates on behalf of the
organization. The top-level manager makes the decisions about the organization as a whole,
while the supervisor makes decisions about his or her particular work unit.
The supervisor performs these managerial roles but with different emphasis than higher
managers. Supervisory management is more focused and short-term in outlook. Thus, the
figurehead role becomes less significant and the disturbance handler and negotiator roles
increase in importance for the supervisor. Since leadership permeates all activities, the leader
role is among the most important of all roles at all levels of management.

A number of follow-up studies have tested the validity of Mintzberg’s role categories and the
evidence generally supports the idea that managers—regardless of the type of organization or
level in the organization—perform similar roles. However, the emphasis that managers give
to the various roles seems to change with organizational level. At higher levels of the
organization, the roles of disseminator, figurehead, negotiator, liaison, and spokesperson are
more important; while the leader role (as Mintzberg defined it) is more important for lower-
level managers than it is for either middle or top level managers.

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Question (2014/15, No. 3): “Leaders are born not made”. Discuss.

A leader is someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority. Leadership
is what leaders do. It’s a process of leading a group and influencing that group to achieve its
goals. Leadership is described as the social and informal sources of influence that you use to
inspire action taken by others. It means mobilizing others to want to struggle toward a
common goal.
People have been interested in leadership since they started coming together in groups to
accomplish goals. These early leadership theories focused on the leader (leadership trait
theories) and how the leader interacted with his or her group members (leadership behaviour
theories).

Trait Theories
Most importantly, charismatic leadership and the great man theory (READ ABOUT THEM
YOURSELF), which is among the contemporary approaches to leadership, may be viewed as
an example of a trait approach. Also, the Big man Five Personality Traits (READ ABOUT
THEM YOURSELF).
Stodgil (1948) from his survey concluded that the following traits/qualities are found in
successful leaders:
– Physical traits: height, health, appearance, vigour etc.
– Intelligence and ability traits: This include planning, conceptualisation, comprehension
etc.
– Personality traits: This include self-confidence, aggressiveness, adaptability etc.
– Task related traits: This include initiative, achievement, drive, persistence etc.
– Social traits: This include administrative ability, cooperativeness, interpersonal skill etc.
Kirkpatrick and Locke (1991) identified seven traits for a successful leader;
i. Drive. Leaders exhibit a high effort level. They have a relatively high desire for
achievement, they are ambitious, they have a lot of energy, they are tirelessly persistent in
their activities, and they show initiative.
ii. Desire to lead. Leaders have a strong desire to influence and lead others. They
demonstrate the willingness to take responsibility.
iii. Honesty and integrity. Leaders build trusting relationships with followers by being
truthful or non-deceitful and by showing high consistency between word and deed.

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iv. Self-confidence. Followers look to leaders for an absence of self-doubt. Leaders,
therefore, need to show self-confidence in order to convince followers of the rightness of
their goals and decisions.
v. Intelligence. Leaders need to be intelligent enough to gather, synthesize, and interpret
large amounts of information, and they need to be able to create visions, solve problems, and
make correct decisions.
vi. Job-relevant knowledge. Effective leaders have a high degree of knowledge about the
company, industry, and technical matters. In-depth knowledge allows leaders to make well-
informed decisions and to understand the implications of those decisions.
vii. Extraversion. Leaders are energetic, lively people. They are sociable, assertive, and
rarely silent or withdrawn.

Behavioural Theories:
This is based on the assumption that leadership is a behaviour that can be taught to
individuals. Researchers hoped that the behavioural theories approach would provide more
definitive answers about the nature of leadership than did the trait theories.
Leadership styles
The University of Iowa studies explored three leadership styles to find which was the most
effective.
i. The autocratic style described a leader who dictated work methods, made unilateral
decisions, and limited employee participation.
ii. The democratic style described a leader who involved employees in decision making,
delegated authority, and used feedback as an opportunity for coaching employees.
iii. Finally, the laissez-faire style leader let the group make decisions and complete the
work in whatever way it saw fit.
The researchers’ results seemed to indicate that the democratic style contributed to both good
quantity and quality of work. Had the answer to the question of the most effective leadership
style been found? Unfortunately, it wasn’t that simple. Later studies of the autocratic and
democratic styles showed mixed results. For instance, the democratic style sometimes
produced higher performance levels than the autocratic style, but at other times, it didn’t.
However, more consistent results were found when a measure of employee satisfaction was
used. Group members were more satisfied under a democratic leader than under an autocratic
one.

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TOPIC- MANAGING INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND PERCEPTION IN
ORGANIZATION.

The impact of individual differences on organisational behaviour is becoming more and more
tremendous. Especially in organisation’s recruitment and selection process, individual
differences are highly concerned by employers. Considering the development of
organisational effectiveness, researchers spent more time on the study of individual
differences to discover how they may affect individual performance so to influence
organisation’s performance. Robbins (2003) states that organisations want to match
individual to specific jobs by taking individual differences into account and organisations
have expanded their interest to the individual-organisation fit recently. How to effectively
manage people within a diverse context is becoming a serious issue for all managers.

According to Mullins (2007), people differ from each other and individual differences are the
basis of diversity within organization. Thus, an effective manager in modern business world
is required to be able to identify individual differences and coordinate individual with
organisation’s requirement. This essay will illustrate a brief study about individual
differences and factors that cause individual differences:

1. Gender
2. Age
3. Personality
4. Ethnicity
5. Religion
6. Educational background
7. Demographic factors,
8. Intelligence
9. Ability
10. Values – Upbringing, Family background.

Managing individual differences in organization is most key. Individual differences that

affect employee attitudes and behaviours. Our values and personality explain our preferences
and the situations we feel comfortable with. Personality may influence our behaviour, but the
importance of the context in which behaviour occurs should not be neglected. Many
organizations use personality tests in employee selection, but the use of such tests is
controversial because of problems such as faking and low predictive value of personality for

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job performance. Perception is how we interpret our environment. It is a major influence over
our behaviour, but many systematic biases colour our perception and lead to
misunderstandings. Perception is how individual make sense of their environment in response
to environmental stimuli. Perception management is coordinated approach to manage the way
stakeholders, customers and employees perceive the brand and enterprise based on how the
organization behaves internally and externally. While perceiving our surroundings, we go
beyond the objective information available to us, and our perception is affected by our values,
needs, and emotions. There are many biases that affect human perception of objects, self, and
others. When perceiving the physical environment, we fill in gaps and extrapolate from the
available information.

Furthermore individuals also contrast physical objects to their surroundings and may perceive
something as bigger, smaller, slower, or faster than it really is. In self-perception, we may
commit the self-enhancement or self-effacement bias, depending on our personality. We also
overestimate how much we are like other people. When perceiving others, stereotypes infect
our behaviour. Stereotypes may lead to self-fulfilling prophecies. Stereotypes are perpetuated
because of our tendency to pay selective attention to aspects of the environment and ignore
information inconsistent with our beliefs. When perceiving others, the attributions we make
will determine how we respond to the situation. Understanding the perception process gives
us clues to understand human behaviour.

Question (2016/17, No. 1): If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Discuss

The management process involves tasks and goals of planning, organizing, directing,
(coordinating) and controlling. Management is the act of engaging with an organization’s
human talent and its resources to accomplish desired goals and objectives.

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Planning is the first and most critical of all management functions. Planning involves both
what is to be done and how it is to be done. Robbins (1996), defines planning as the process
of defining the organizations objectives or goals, establishing overall strategy for achieving
these goals. Planning is the formal process of choosing an organizational mission and overall
goals for both the short run and long run, devising divisional and departmental and even
individual goals, and allocating resources to achieve the various goals strategies and tactics.

Benjamin Franklin was accredited with the statement “If you fail to plan, you are plan to
fail”, this describes the importance and benefits of planning in the managerial process and
function. Organizations that do not take planning critical have tendencies of succeeding in
their organizational goals and objectives. Hence the benefits of planning include

- Planning gives a sense of direction and purpose to an organization.

- Planning enables an organization to take advantage of opportunities and contain
threats in the operative business environment.
- Planning provides awareness of changing environment so that an organisation can
adapt better to it
- Planning helps an organization to concentrate on resources and capabilities of best
potential.
- Planning assists management and managers in providing a method of ascertaining
early financial and other resources requirements.
- Planning provides an organization criteria for measuring performance.

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 - Planning helps an organization to achieve steady growth and survival.

Question (2016/17, No. 4): What is Organizational culture. Explain its components b) what
general and specific types can be used to describe and organizations culture.

SOLUTION

Organizational culture is broad and multifaceted, it can be a source of competitive advantage

if the culture is valuable, rare, inimitable and well organized. It is defined as a system of
shared values held by the members of the same organization. The shared values distinguish
one organizations from the others. An organizational culture is consider to be strong when its
core values are intensely held and widely shared by all members of an organization.

Organizational culture encompasses values and behaviours that "contribute to the unique
social and psychological environment of an organization. According to Needle (2004).
organizational culture represents the collective values, beliefs and principles of organizational
members and is a product of factors such as history, product, market, technology, strategy,
type of employees, management style, and national culture; culture includes the
organization's vision, values, norms, systems, symbols, language, assumptions, environment,
location, beliefs and habits.

The components identified in organizational culture are seen in the levels of organizational
culture which are: Basic Assumptions of the organization, shared values and artefacts.

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b) Below are the general and specific types of components used to describe Organizational
culture-
Artifacts – Physical Artifacts, Symbols such as logos, brand colours that are tangible and
visible manifestations like office structure and office spaces, décor, nature, facilities and
utilities. Cultural artifacts that are manifested in the behavior of the people for example, what
they do and how they talk.

Communication – Language, terminology, phrases, acronyms used in communicating the

objectives, values, norms, beliefs and assumptions through stories, myths and legends enable
the members to believe, remember and follow the culture within the organization.

Ceremonies and Celebrations – Conducting ceremonies and celebrations like Foundation

Days, Seasonal Festivals and Social Gatherings etc will build collective behaviour among the
members. The behavioural norms evolved over a period in the organization will define the
expectations from the new members which get transmitted through socialization.

Routines, Rites and Rituals – Staff meetings, training sessions, performance appraisals,
visits by management or superiors serves the purpose of providing a sense of security,
personal identity, give meaning to the members and also help in better management and
control. For Example, if competent professionals are not staying with the organization for
long time, that implies they are not valued in the organization.

Shared Beliefs and Values - Very essential for the success of the organization. The
unconscious values and beliefs held by the members of the organization are expressed in
certain events repeatedly. For Example, if the organization believes that Customer
Satisfaction is essential for the success, any behaviour that meets the criteria is acceptable
even if it violates the set norms and procedures.

Question (2016/17, No. 5): Explain your understanding of organizational structure. b) What
are the elements of organization structure?

SOLUTION

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This is defined as the formal configurations between individuals and groups within an
organization regarding the allocation of tasks responsibilities and authority. It refers to the
allocation of work roles and the administrative mechanisms to control and integrate work
activities. Organizational structure refers to how the work of individuals and teams within an
organization is coordinated. In order to achieve organizational goals and objectives,
individual work needs to be coordinated and managed. Structure is a valuable tool in
achieving coordination, as it specifies reporting relationships (who reports to whom),
delineates formal communication channels, and describes how separate actions of individuals
are linked together. The major factors influencing organizational structure includes, its size,
the strategy, the technology and the environment. Examples of organizational structure
Simple structure, Divisional Structure, Boundary Less Design structure etc.

b) The elements of structure which are also called the building blocks of organization
structure which constitute how organizations conceptualize their structure. According to
Onokala and Banwo (2014), the following elements of organizational structure include:

- Span of control and Hierarchical levels: An important element of an organizational

structure is the number of levels it has in the hierarchy. Keeping the size of the
organization constant, tall structures have several layers of management between
frontline employees and the top level, while flat structures5 consist of few layers. A
closely related concept is span of control, or the number of employees reporting to a
single manager.
- Formalization: is the extent to which policies, procedures, job descriptions, and rules
are written and explicitly articulated. In other words, formalized structures are those
in which there are many written rules and regulations. These structures control
employee behaviour using written rules, and employees have little autonomy to make
decisions on a case-by-case basis. Formalization makes employee behaviour more
predictable. Whenever a problem at work arises, employees know to turn to a
handbook or a procedure guideline. Therefore, employees respond to problems in a
similar way across the organization, which leads to consistency of behaviour. While
formalization reduces ambiguity and provides direction to employees, it is not
without disadvantages. A high degree of formalization may actually lead to reduced
innovativeness, because employees are used to behaving in a certain manner. In fact,

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 strategic decision making in such organizations often occurs only when there is a
crisis.
- Specialization: This is defined as the number of different occupational titles or
different functional activities in the organization. This relates to departmentalization
in the organization. The level of specialization is based on level of technology
operational in the organization.
- Centralization; is the degree to which decision making authority is concentrated at
higher levels in an organization. In centralized companies, many important decisions
are made at higher levels of the hierarchy, whereas in decentralized companies,
decisions are made and problems are solved at lower levels by employees who are
closer to the problem in question.
- Chain of command: This depicts the hierarchical relationships from the top to the
bottom of the organization. It is intended to result in the achievement of goals and
objectives, also for basis of effective control and coordination. The chain of command
must also have unity of command which is also represented in an organizational
chart, it is also related to power and authority in the organization.
NOTE: ILLUSTRATE WITH A REAL LIFE ORGANIZATION OF YOUR
CHOICE. TALK ABOUT GTB STRUCTURE, TOYOTA STRUCTURE OR
ANY THAT SUITES YOU.

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