TERM 1 : ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR & HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ASSIGNMENT

Total : 30 Marks (Part A- 10 Marks +Part B-20 Marks)

PART A: Answer Two Case Studies

(One case study{CS} from OB and One case study from HR) -(2CS X5M=10 Marks)

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR CASE STUDIES:

1. Read the case carefully and answer the questions that follow :

Ramesh Ambani was appointed as Operations Planning Manager in the Surepleasure

Airlines last month. Immediately after reporting to his new job, Ramesh recognised that
there were difficulties with the time control section. This section consisted of sixteen
Junior clerks, eight senior clerks and a supervisor who reported to him.

The basic function of time control section is to maintain records of all rotatable parts
used on a fleet of eighty-five passenger aircraft. Records reflect the date on which a part
was installed or removed and total aircraft flying time. To maintain identification, serial
numbers are recorded for each controlled part. The Airport Authority rules require strict
control of parts having limited life. Parts that have operated beyond their approved limit
have to be removed and overhauled.

The problem that Ramesh noticed was that there were numerous instances of inaccurate
records. The records were in violation of Airport Authority regulations and poor record-
keeping resulted in excessive overhaul costs. When Ramesh studied the situation, he
observed that the employees had formed an extremely strong informal work-group. The
members would accept or reject new employees into the work-group based on factors
completely unrelated to the job. Some outsiders observed that if a new employee's
behaviour was not in tune with the informally determined norms, he or she had little
chance of success within the group.

The group members arranged for contributory dine-and-dance party every week-end
and had a great time together. Those who did not like to participate and socialise were
ignored and 'made to feel uncomfortable to the point that they would quit the
organisation. This resulted in an annual turnover rate of apptoximately 200 percent.
Ramesh realised that this problem had to be solved immediately or major problems
could result for the Surepleasure Airlines in future.

Questions
 (a) What are the dysfunctions of informal organisation in the Surepleasure Airlines ?

(b) Could there be any benefits of informal organisation in this company ?

(c) What suggestions would you give to the management of this company to cope with
the informal organisation ?

2. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end :

In 1995 Ford Motor Company announced a major reorganization called "Ford 2000". The
idea, championed by Chairman and CEO, Alex Trotman and Vice Chairman Edward E.
Hagenlacker, eliminated more than a dozen engineering design centres around the world
and consolidated them into only five - of which four are in Dearborn, Michigan, and one in
Europe. The one in Europe was responsible for creating one basic design for small cars for
the world market and then making minor modifications for local markets. For example, the
same template will be used in Europe, South America, and Asia. The four design centres in
Dearborn will do the same for large front-wheel-drive cars, rear-wheel-drive cars, pick-up
trucks, and commercial vehicles. The consolidation effort requires that more than twenty-
five thousand salaried employees relocate or at least report to new managers.
Manufacturing and assembly will still take place in plants around the world.

The purpose is to integrate Ford's operations around the world and revolutionize the way it
designs and builds more than seventy lines of cars and trucks, which it sells in more than
two hundred markets. The goals are reduced duplication of effort, increase volume
purchasing, save more than $4 billion per year, and double profitability. All this for a
company that made $3.8 billion profit from automotive operations in 1995, and $5.3 billion
overall. Trotman continues to have the support of the Ford family, two still controls 40
percent of the voting stock in the company.

Part of the new plan is a top-secret strategic document that outlines every new car and
truck Ford will design, produce, and sell around the world through 2003. The plan calls for
reducing the basic design platforms from 24 to 16 and increasing the total number of
models by 50 percent, while saving billions of dollars, For example, the new 1996 Taurus
serves as the platform for several other models, both in the United States and around the
world.

In structure, the new system is really a matrix. Rather than working in a functional
organization with traditional hierarchies and centralized decision making, employees are
assigned to a design centre, such as small cars, and then to a group according to their
specialities, such as drive trains. Managers then mediate the disputes that occur between
the design centres and the specialities. Employees will have to change their ways of doing
their work as they design cars and trucks to fit global markets rather than a single,
relatively homogeneous one. Management knows that employees feel a great deal of
insecurity and uncertainity about the company and their jobs as they make the shift.
Carrying the message to all employees has been a constant Job for Trotman and
Hagenlacker since the original announcement.

Management also knows that Ford tried a similar design integration with their "World Car" in
the late 1970s, which failed primarily due to turf battles among designers and engineenrs.
The cars that resulted were rarely the cost savers Ford hoped for and were so dull in their
design that no one bought them. Trotman expects different results this time because of the
consolidation of the design centres, the new organisation structure, and because advances
in technology have made the inner working of cars so similar that only the outer, visible
portions of the cars need to be different to satisfy regional tastes.

By mid-1996, however, the reorganisation was not going so well. The transition had left
many employees still wondering whom they worked for and with a feeling that everything
was out of control. The culprit seems to have been a reorganization of the reorganisation !
Trotman now plans to reduce the number of design centres from five to three. People are
moving and reporting relationships are changing once again. Group Vice President Jacques
A. Nasser, who may succeed Trotman by 1998 or so, has promised $11 billion in savings
under the new system. Some have claimed that the "new" reorganisation really puts things
back the way they were before the first reorganisation. However, three design centres is a
lot fewer than the dozens that existed before. But this second reorganisation, before
employees really got settled into the first one, may have devastating effects. Suppliers and
employees do not know whom to contact to get questions answered or disputes resolved. All
they get on the phone is voice mail, since everyone is in meetings trying to work out the
new reorganisation. Top management claims that these problems are inherent trying to turn
aroundd such a big organisation that has been relatively successful through the years. They
say that the organisation needs to evolve to meet their ambitious goals and the
competition.

Questions:

(a) Describe the changes in structure that Ford expects from the Ford 2000.

(b) How do you explain the continuing problem that employees are having with adapting to
the new structure of Ford 2000 ?

(c) Is a matrix structure the proper structure for Ford 2000 ?

3. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end :

Mr. Anand occupies No. 2 position in the Corporate Planning Department of multi-product
company having a turnover of more than Rs. 900 crores and operating in a high technology
(hi-tech) industry. For the last five years, Anand has been associated with strategic planning
of the company and recently he has been deputed to a task force to reorganise the
company to cope up with the changing technology and environment.

At the last meeting of the Board of Directors of the company, the members expressed their
concern about the falling competitive position of the company in the industry. The main
reason cited by the Chief Executive was the outdated organisation structure which has not
undergone any change for the last 10 years though the size, technology and environment of
the company have changed tremendously. It was on the advice of the Chief Executive that
the Board of Directors decided to set up a task force for the company's reorganisation.

At the first meeting of the task force, Anand, who is an expert in planning, convinced the
other members to adopt the following procedure :
(i) Determine exactly what type of structure the company has at present.
(ii) Determine the type of environment the company faces now and the weaknesses of the
present structure.
(iii) Forecast the environmental changes in the future and the type of technology to be used
by the company.
(iv) Design the organisation structure to meet the future challenges.

It was discovered that the company is currently structured along classical lines and the
company is operating in a highly dynamic environment. The environment in future is likely
to be more uncertain because of fast changes in technology and requirements of customers
and competition by MNCS. The task force came to the conclusion that the structural design
must be responsive to change and if this is not done, the company's survival in the market
would be made more difficult.

Questions :

(a) How far do you agree with the procedure adopted by the task force ?

(b) Explain how the system and contingency approaches can contribute to the analysis of
this case.

(c) What type of organisation design should the task force recommend ? Explain its broad
features.

HUMAN RESOURCES CASE STUDIES

1. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end.

Training for Whom ?

Microelectronics, a California-based electronics defense contractor, has enjoyed a smooth growth

curve over the past five years, primarily because of favourable defense funding during the Reagan
administration's build-up of U.S. military defenses. Microelectronics has had numerous contacts to
design and develop guidance and radar systems for military weaponry.

Although the favourable funding cycle has enabled. Microelectronics to grow at a steady rate, the
company is finding it increasingly difficult to keep its really good engineers, Based on extensive
turnover analyses conducted by Ned Jackson, the human resources planning manager,
Microelectronics problem seems to be its inability to keep engineers beyond the "critical" five year
point. Apparently, the probability of turnover drops dramatically after five years of service. Ned's
conclusion is that Microelectronics has been essentially serving as an industry college. Their staffing
strategy has always been to hire the best and brightest engineers from the best engineering schools in
the United States.

Ned believes that these engineers often get lost in the shuffle at the time they join the firm. For
example, most (if not all) of the new hires must work on non-classified projects until cleared by
security to join a designated major project. Security clearance usually takes anywhere from six to ten
months. In the meantime the major project has started, and these young engineers frequently miss
out on its design phase, considered the most creative and challenging segment of the program.
Because of the nature of project work, new engineering often have difficulty learning the
organizational culture - such as who to ask when you have a problem, what the general dos and
don'ts are, and why the organization does things in a certain way.
After heading a task force of human resource professionals within Microelectronics, Ned has been
designated to present to top management a proposal designed to reduce turnover among young
engineering recruits. The essence of his plan is to create a mentor program, except that in this plan
the mentors will not be the seasoned graybeards of Microelectronics, but rather those engineers in the
critical three-to-five year service window, the period of highest turnover, These engineers will be
paired with new engineering recruits before the recruits actually report to Microelectronics for work.

According to the task force, the programme is twofold : (1) it benefits the newcomer by easing the
transition into the company, and (2) it helps the three-to-five-year service engineers by enabling them
to serve an important role for the company. By performing the mentor role, these engineers will
become more committed and hence less likely to leave. As Ned prepared his fifteen-minute
presentation for top management, he wondered it he had adequately anticipated the possible
objections to the program in order to make an intelligent defense of it. Only time would tell.

Questions :

(a) Identify the salient issues from HR point of view for this case.

(b) lf you were to study this turnover problem, how would you conduct a needs analysis or evolve a
counselling programme ?

(c) What are the causes of dissatisfaction and turnover in Microelectronics ?

(d) Do you find the mentoring programme suitable to reduce turnover ? Justify your answer .

2. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the
end.

The eleven workers whose annual increments were stopped made a representation to the
management of XYZ Limited that the action taken was not justified and that they wanted to
know what was their fault. The management which acted upon the recommendation of the
department head concerned, Mr. Rog, felt guilty because such an action was taken for the
first time in the history of the company.

XYZ Limited was a large paper manufacturing company in South India. The major
departrnents of the factory were :

1. Chemical processing : The raw material was mixed with certain chemicals for making
pulp.

2. Pulp department : Pulp was mixed with other ingredients according to specifications for
each order of paper.

3. Paper machine department : This was the heart of the factory where processed pulp was
fed into the paper machines. Act first, a wet weak paper was formed which was
subsequently dried and rolled.

4. Finishing department : The paper rolls were then moved to the processing department
where the required coating was given.
5. Grading, winding and packing departments.

6. Quality control department.

Twenty eight workers worked in the paper machine department in four groups - each group
attending one machine. The nature of the work on each machine was such that all the seven
workers had to work in cooperation. Because no individual tasks could be specified, the
group was made responsible for the work turned out by them. All the workers working in
the paper machine department had been with the company for over ten years.

The company did not have any incentive wage system for any class of its employees. They
were all given straight salaries with normal annual increments. The annual increments were
sanctioned each year in a routine way. It was the policy of the company that the increments
should not be stopped unless the department head concerned recommended such an action.

Mr. Rog was placed in charge of the paper machine department a year ago. Though Mr. Rog
was a newcomer in the organisation, he proved himself to be a very competent man. The
management noted that he was very aggressive and enthusiastic and that he know his job
well. At the end of the year when increments were due to be sanctioned, he recommended
to the management that the increments due to eleven men in his department should be
stopped, for, in his opinion they were lazy and inefficient. The eleven men concerned
belonged to all the four groups operating in the department.

The management, though puzzled about the action recommended by Mr. Rog, acted upon it
and sropped the increments due to the eleven men concerned. The management were
aware that such an action was the first of its kind in the history of the company. Most of the
employees were with the company for a fairly long period and there was never an instance
of strained relations between the management and the employees.

Soon after the action was taken, the eleven employees concerned made a representation to
the management requesting them to let them know whatr was wrong with their work as to
warrant stopping of their increments. The management were in a fix because they did not
have specific reasons to give except Mr. Rog's report in which he simply mentioned that the
eleven men concerned were "lazy and inefficient".

The management were naturally concerned about the representation and therefore, they
tried to ascertain from Mr. Rog the detailed circumstances under which he recommended
the stoppage of increments. When Mr. Rog could not pin-point the reasons, the
management suspected that Mr. Rog's recommendation was based on his "impressions"
rather than on facts. They, therefore, advised Mr. Rog to maintain a register from then on
noting the details of day to day incidents of "lazy and inefficient" workers and obtain the
signatures of the workers concerned. Mr. Rog was to make the final appraisal of each
worker in his department on the basis of this register and recommend each case giving
specific reasons why increments should be stopped.

Mr. Rog started maintaining a register as suggested by the management; but he found it
difficult to report satisfactorily any case of laziness or inefficiency for want of specific
reasons.

The management were convinced that their action of stopping increments of eleven men on
the strength of Mr. Rog's report was not a proper one. They realised that no similar action in
future would be taken based on inadequate information. But, they were wondering whether
the suggestion made to Mr. Rog was the proper course of action to prevent occurrence of
similar situations.

Questions :

(a) Identify and discuss the core issue in the case.

(b) Was management of the company justified in implementing the recommendations of Mr.
Rog, in the absence of proper report ?

(c) How would you view the action of Mr. Rog, if you were the M.D. of the company ?

(d) Do you think the reward system instituted by the company needs to be reviewed ?
Substantiate your answer with logic.

3. Read the case and answer the questions given at the end.

SEWA - The purposeful beginning

SEWA (Self Employed Women's Association) was started in 1972, by Ela Bhatt, in the form
of a union of the unogranised sector, which was to be incorporated into the mainstream. It
was observed that most of the production of goods and services in the country was, at that
time, done through the informal sector, and hence the decision was taken io unionise this
informal sector.

SEWA was not like a typical union i.e., unlike the usual union of workers, it (SEWA) spoke
about the solidarity of the workers themselves. It's purpose was fight for the mega system
which exploited the vast working force through its labour contract systems. The whole
system typically involves the middlemen and money lenders and the mindsets of the urban
middle class, the educated, the upper castes, their perceptions of development. Thus,
through SEWA, efforts were made to question the whole system of policy making, the
census (which had not recorded them as workers), the definition and purpose of a trade
union and the definition of 'worker'.

After the registration of SEWA as a trade union, it was found that the union activity stopped
at a certain level and the informal sector workers were hardly covered by any protective
labour legislation. Added to this, profit making, handling of cash etc., even sometimes
caused conflicts of interest in the union. Hence, over a period of time, a strategy of joint
action by union and cooperative - a member based, democratic organisation, beneficial to
the unprivileged of society with networks at the state level, national level and international
level was chosen.

It was felt that through a cooperative presence, SEWA would be able to obiatn bargaining
power for all those who are members as well as for those who were not a part of the co-
operative. On the one hand, the producer's labour value goes up and she enjoys a better
bargaining power. Alongside, the other workers in the villages also have wider choices in
taking decisions related to who and how many have to go for work on the farms, whether
the workers should migrate or concentrate on home-based crafts and so on. And, on the
other hand, for all those who were not a part of SEWA, their wage structure (for both men
and women) goes up. For instance, in case of the agricultural workers : the new jobs create
a shortage of labour in the region, so they also get higher wages. Similarly, artisans also get
higher wages. In this way SEWA is able to bring about economic changes in the villages
through the joint action of the union and cooperative.

'SEWA Bank' - A subsidiary

Inspite of unionising the self employed workers, it was found they faced two common
problems :

Shortage of capital, forcing the workers to pay a heavy interest (often paying 10% interest
per day). 
Absence of owning their own means of productions (like handlooms, push carts etc.). They
had to pay rent on these from their own meagre income.

These two reasons prompted the decision at SEWA to have their own bank. In a period of
six months, the necessary share capital was collected, and SEWA tried for registration. But
many objections were raised - How can SEWA have cooperatives and a bank ? How to form
a bank for workers who were women, undependable, unreliable and who cannot even sign ?

Inspite of these inhibitions, the strongest point in their favour was that the workers were all
economically independent and generating cash every day. Thus, it was necessary for them
to save money and also be able to avail of credit, whenever necessary, rather than
depending upon private money lenders. This necessity finally led to the birth of the SEWA
Bank.

The SEWA Bank is about one of the 10 co-operatives in SEWA with five kinds of primary co-
operatives - dairy, artisans, traders, services and labour. The SEWA Bank has a working
capital of about Rs. 26 crores, while, the other co-operatives registered under SEWA
together have a working capital of Rs. 20 crores. When SEWA discovered that many of its
workers were unable to absorb more loans because of the many risks and outside forces
which did not allow them to expand their business, it decided to offer another form of
financial services like insurance schemes - against maternity risk, group insurance scheme
to link all member workers with their deposits and integrated social insurance bank service
covering a wide range of services.

Other Activities and Vision for the Future

SEWA has attempted to create co-operatives of various services provided by the labour
community especially in the areas of domestic labour, health care, child care and video
production. So as to enable these persons' to market their services, efforts are being made
to provide them training on a continuous basic.

Another effort on the pari of SEWA is to build a management system which wil help the
labour force to stand firm in the market. Such a system should not only help these people to
have access to credit but also help them to be literate enough to have a basic
understanding of accounting, the interest rates and accessibility to market infrastructure.
Another attempt of SEWA has been at coming together of women on a common platform,
on the basis of work in the form of co-operatives/union/federations or as workers or
producers or economic agents, cutting across barriers of caste, region and language.

SEWA's Attempt at Empowering Employees

The vision of Ela Bhatt, who started SEWA has always been to ensure that the informal
sector is in the mainstream of labour movement with a leading role to be played by the
rural women. SEWA'S aim has been to empower such women who are poor and illiterate to
become economically active through the process of empowerment. This view is slowly
becoming a reality, when, after joining SEWA and attending formal training programmers,
such women have become bold, realized their sense of self through participating, facing,
managing situations and other people and thus learning to become 'leaders' in the true
sense. Thus process of empowerment has enabled them to develop an inbuilt strength to do
liaison with the police, take up the causes of fellow workers, actively participate in the
decision making process especially while sitting on committees, travelling and meeting
people for the growth of the organization.

At SEWA, there is no formal organisation structure as such. In the words of Ela Bhatt,
"SEWA is like a banyan tree, it grows and takes root, then these roots grow and take
root...." i.e.. SEWA's growth is totally dependent on its mernbers who become owners,
managers, beneficiaries and a truely empowered organisation in the long run.

Questions :

(a) What are the unique features of SEWA ?

(b) Discuss the worker oriented development approach of SEWA affecting the performance.

Can you suggest ways in which private corporate organisations can also be involved in
developing management programmes along with SEWA for the upliftment of the rural
people ?
 PART B
Answer any Five Questions .Answer to the point and briefly with examples ( 5Qx4M=20)
1.  Define, what is Organizational Behaviour and state why it is importance to study
Organizational Behaviour?

2. Describe three level of organization and discuss ethical behavior of formal and informal
organization with examples?

3. Define HRM Function in Business Organization? What are the various challenges faced
by H R Managers in managing employees in today’s Industrial Organization

4. Explain the Process of Communication and its significance in an organization.

5. Explain how personality influences behavior in organizations either using Big Five
personality traits or MBTI Instrument?

6. Identify steps in decision making process in an organization and explain with example?

7. Distinguish between Attitude and Aptitude and how will you explain this with reference to
organization?

8. Define motivation? Explain motivation with either Maslow’s Need Hierarchy theory or
Herzbergs Two Factor Theory?

9. What is difference between a Leader and a Manager? Explain basic difference between
the trait ,behavioral and contingencies types or categories of leadership theory?

10. Define group and work team. Explain the benefits organization and individuals derive
from working in team

11. Define conflict and negotiation in organization and explain the nature of conflicts in
organizations?

12. Describe the steps involved in selection process and explain the challenges when using
social media for recruitment purpose?

13. What is fundamental goal of Training and Development? Explain how training aids
organization to achieve that goal /Explain how development aids organization in
achieving that goal?

14. What is performance appraisal and Management? Explain briefly how compensation and
rewards are integrated with performance appraisal?

15. What is Industrial relations and labour laws? Discuss India’s growth in industrial
relations under five phases (From 1950 to 2020)? .