Organizational Behavior Question bank

1. What is Organizational Behavior? Discuss the goals of OB

Keith Davis defines organizational behavior as the study and application of the
knowledge of how people as individuals and as groups act within an organization.
Goals of OB (DUPC)
● Describe – The first goal is to describe, systematically how people behave under
various circumstances. Achieving this goal enables managers to communicate
about human behavior at work in a common language.
● Understand – The second goal is to understand why people behave the way they
do.
● Predict – The managers by now would have the capacity to understand and
differentiate between the productive, dedicated and unproductive, absent problem
employees. This would help them in taking preventive measures.
● Control – The final goal of OB is to control and develop some human activity at
work. Since the managers are held responsible and accountable for the final
results, they are vitally interested in being able to make an impact on employee
behavior, skill development, team effort and productivity. Managers need to be
able to improve results through the actions of their own and that of their
employees and organizational behavior can aid them in the pursuit of this goal.

2. What are the elements of OB?

● People – People make up the internal social system in the organization. They can
be individuals or groups. The groups may be large or small, formal or informal,
official or unofficial. Human organization changes every day. People are living,
thinking, feeling beings that create the organization and try to achieve the goals
and objectives.
● Structure – Structure defines the formal relationship and use of people in an
organization. Every person has a role in an organization and has certain
relationships with others. Those people have to be related in the organization in
some way for the work to be well coordinated. The structure shows the
organizational hierarchy. The structure can be a tall structure going up till various
levels of hierarchy or it can be a flat structure.
● Technology – The technology refers to the physical and economic conditions
within which people work. Technology varies depending on the nature of the
organization. It also influences the work or working conditions.
● Processes – This includes the code and conduct, rules and regulations and day-to-
day activities of an organization.

3. Discuss the basic concepts of OB based on the Nature of individual employee and
nature of organization.
Based on the nature of Individual Employee
● Individual differences – The concept of individual differences suggests that each
person varies with other in numerous ways. These differences can be the result of
different personality traits: Personality refers to the overall profile or combination
of various stable characteristics which defines the unique nature of a person.
These are a combination of physical and mental characteristics.
People are united by a number of emotions and common behaviors like feeling
sad on the loss of a loved one or happy on receiving a promotion, but amidst these
common behaviors, people bring in their unique traits as well. This leads to a
differences to work, emotions, moods etc. The individual differences is
scientifically proven as well as every person has different DNA, making them
unique since the birth. People are born on different dates (impact of nature) and
they different experiences after birth (influence of nurture) which makes them
different person altogether.
Individual difference means that a manager can motivate the employees best by
treating them differently. If individual differences did not exist, an across the
board general guidelines could have been formulated and minimum judgement
would be required. But manager should be employees individually and not
statistically.
● Perception – Perception is he process by which people select, organize, interpret
and respond to the information. People look at world and see things differently.
Even if the same object is shown, two people may look at it differently.
Perceptual selection is the process by which people filter out most of the
information so that they can deal with the most important ones. This screening is
affected by various external and internal factors.
External factors:
⮚ Size- Large things tend to get noticed first.
⮚ Motion- Moving things grab attention better than stationery things.
⮚ Repetition- Things that are repeated gets perceived more.
⮚ Contrast- Things that stand out from the background or are not common
gets perceived more.
⮚ Intensity- Things with more intensity tends to get noticed more.
Internal Factors:
⮚ Personality
⮚ Learnings
⮚ Past experience
Having unique views is a way through which organizations make sure that they
have people working as human beings and not rational machines. There are reasons why
people see their work worlds differently. They may be personality traits, experiences or
demographic needs. Management needs to accept the differences in perception and treat
them as emotional beings and manage them as individuals.
 ● A whole person – Although organizations would want employee only a single
skill or the brain of a person but that is not possible. Management employees an
entire individual whose emotional aspects cannot be detached from physical and
home-life does affect the work-life. An employee is taken with the background
and knowledge. For example, a woman who attends office at 8.30 a.m. is always
anxious about her children which visibly shows in her performance at work.
For example, a manager wanted to employee a telemarketer, Ankita. She was
willing to work, talented and worthy. But she would come half an hour late in the
morning on Wednesdays as that is when her child care service is available. Also
as she is handicapped she needs a little adjustments in her desk. The supervisor
had to consider all her needs as a whole person and not just a worker.
Jobs shape people in some way, hence it is the duty of managers to take care
about the job’s effect on the whole person.
● Motivated behavior – It is the behavior implanted or a motivation by an
individual, a group or even an incident. There can be seen two type of motivated
employees.
⮚ Positive motivation – encouraging people to change their behavior or say
do a task for an incentive.
⮚ Negative motivation – Using punishments, threats or warnings for getting
the task done or changing one’s behavior.
An employee has so many needs within him/her that needs to be fulfilled and
hence, motivation helps in enrich their work and fulfill the needs. Motivation is essential
for organization’s operation. An organization with sophisticated technology and
equipments can’t work if the employees are not motivated.

Based on the nature of Organization

● Social systems – All organizations are social systems and governed by social and
psychological laws. They have social roles and status. The behavior is influenced
by individual’s drives. The organizational environment in social system is
dynamic. All parts of the system are inter-related.
● Mutual interest – There needs to be an understanding that organization and people
have mutual interest with each other. People satisfy their needs through
organization and organization accomplishes its goals through people.
● Ethics – In order to attract and retain valuable employees, setup of ethical fashion
is required. Every company is required to publish code of ethics, publicized
statements of ethical values, provide ethics training and have an internal setup to
deal with misconduct in the organization.

4. With the help of examples discuss the following models of OB

- Autocratic Model –
 The autocratic model depends on power. Those who are in command must have the
power to demand “you do this-or else,” meaning that an employee who does not
follow orders will be penalized. In an autocratic organization, the people
(management/owners) who manage the tasks in an organization have formal authority
for controlling the employees who work under them. These lower-level employees
have little control over the work function.
Their ideas and innovations are not generally welcomed, as the key decisions are
made at the top management level. In an autocratic environment the managerial
orientation is formal, official authority. This authority is delegated by right of
command over the people to it applies. The guiding principle behind this model is
that management/owners have enormous business expertise, and the average
employee has relatively low levels of skill and needs to be fully directed and guided.
The major drawbacks of this model are people are easily frustrated, insecurity,
dependency on the superiors, minimum performance because of minimum wage.

The root level of this model is power with a managerial orientation of authority. The
employees in this model are oriented towards obedience and discipline. They are
dependent on their boss. The employee requirement that is met is subsistence. The
performance result is less.

Example –

- Custodial Model –
A successful custodial approach depends on economic resources. The custodial model
is based around the concept of providing economic security for employees – through
wages and other benefits – that will create employee loyalty and motivation. The
resulting managerial orientation is toward money to pay wages and benefits.
In some countries, many professional companies provide health benefits, corporate
cars, financial packaging of salary, and so on – these are incentives designed to attract
and retain quality staff. Since employees’ physical needs are already reasonably met,
the employer looks to security needs as a motivating force. If an organization does
not have the wealth to provide pensions and pay other benefits, it cannot follow a
custodial approach. One of the downsides with the custodial model is that it also
attracts and retains low performance staff as well. Or perhaps even deliver a lower
level of motivation from some staff who feel that they are “trapped” in an
organization because the benefits are too good to leave.

The root level of this model is economic resources with a managerial orientation of
money. The employees in this model are oriented towards security and benefits
provided to them. They are dependent on the organization. The employee requirement
that is met is security.
 Example - The welfare programs for employees started by the Indira Gandhi National
Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi are worth citing in this context, IGNOU, in
the beginning provided its employees facilities like house-lease facility, subsidized
transport facility, day-time child care center in the campus, etc. These made
employees dependent on IGNOU which, in turn, became custodian of its employees.

- Collegial Model –
The collegial model is based around teamwork – everybody working as colleagues
(hence the name of the model).The overall environment and corporate culture need to
be aligned to this model, where everybody is actively participating – is not about
status and job titles everybody is encouraged to work together to build a better
organization. The role of the manager is to foster this teamwork and create positive
and energetic workplaces. In much regard, the manager can be considered to be the
“coach” of the team. And as coach, the goal is to make the team perform well overall,
rather than focus on their own performance, or the performance of key individuals.
The collegial model is quite effective in organizations that need to find new
approaches – marketing teams, research and development, technology/software –
indeed anywhere the competitive landscape is constantly changing and ideas and
innovation are key competitive success factors. For example employees produce
quality work not because management tells them to do so or because the inspector
will catch them if they do not, but because they feel inside themselves an obligation
to provide others with high quality. They also feel an obligation to uphold quality
standards that will bring credit to their jobs and company.

The root level of this model is partnership with a managerial orientation of teamwork.
The employees in this model are oriented towards responsible behavior and self-
discipline. The employee requirement that is met is self-actualization. The
performance result is moderate zeal.

- Supportive Model –
The supportive model is focused around aspiring leadership. It is not based upon
control and authority (the autocratic model) or upon incentives (the custodial model),
but instead tries to motivate staff through the manager-employee relationship and
how employees are treated on a day-to-day basis. Quite opposite to the autocratic
model, this approach states that employees are self- motivated and have value and
insight to contribute to the organization, beyond just their day-to-day role. The intent
of this model is to motivate employees through a positive workplace where their ideas
are encouraged and often adapted. Therefore, the employees have some form of “buy-
in” to the organization and its direction. Management orientation, therefore, is to
support the employee’s job performance rather than to simply support employee
 benefit payments as in the custodial approach. Since management supports employees
in their work, the psychological result is a feeling of participation and task
involvement in the organization. Employee may say “we” instead of “they” when
referring to their organization. Employees are more strongly motivated than by earlier
models because of their status and recognition needs are better met. Thus they have
awakened drives for work.

The root level of this model is leadership with a managerial orientation of support.
The employees in this model are oriented towards their job performance and
participation. The employee requirement that is met is status and recognition. The
performance result is awakened drives.

- Systems Model –
This is the most contemporary model of the five models discussed. In the system
model, the organization looks at the overall structure and team environment, and
considers that individuals have different goals, talents and potential. An emerging
model of organization behavior is the system model. It is the result of a strong search
for higher meaning at work by many of today’s employees; they want more than just
a paycheck and job security from their jobs. Since they are being asked to spend
many hours of their day at work, they want a work context there that is ethical,
infused with integrity and trust, and provides an opportunity to experience a growing
sense of community among coworkers.

To accomplish this, managers must increasingly demonstrate a sense of caring and

compassion, being sensitive to the needs of a diverse workforce with rapidly
changing needs and complex personal and family needs. In response, many
employees embrace the goal of organizational effectiveness, and reorganize the
mutuality of company-employee obligations in a system viewpoint. They experience
a sense of psychological ownership for the organization and its product and services.
They go beyond the self-discipline of the collegial approach until they reach a state of
self-motivation, in which they take responsibility for their own goals and actions. As
a result, the employee needs that are met are wide-ranging but often include the
highest-order needs (e.g., social, status, esteem, autonomy, and self-actualization).
Because it provides employees an opportunity to meet these needs through their work
as their work as well as understand the organization’s perspectives, this new model
can engender employees’ passion and commitment to organizational goals. They are
inspired; they feel important; they believe in the usefulness and viability of their
system for the common good. This model considers the internal environment and
external environment of the organization. The aim is to work for the mutual benefit of
the organization and employees.
5. Differentiate between the different models of OB.

6. Discuss the history of OB w.r.t. FW Taylor and Elton Mayo’s contribution.

The classical period –
Most managers and writers on management in early 20 th century focused mainly on
controlling the employees and manipulating their environment so as to maximize
efficiency and productivity. From the earlier perspective, people were just an extension to
tools and machine. For example, motivation if at all considered was based on
compensations (rewards) and also fear of physical or economic abuse (punishments).
FW Taylor, considered the father of scientific management was behind these principles
of human behavior. His main motive was to make the workers who he considered to be
naturally lazy, more productive. Using the analogy of baseball teams, he argued “you
need to recognize the utter impossibility of winning without the players abiding by the
commands of the coach and also obey them at once as soon as the coach gives the
command.” Basically he referred to employees as finding work unpleasant and they were
not capable of doing tasks autonomously, hence they needed to be commanded and told
what to do at all times. This usually works for shop-floor level and workers in the current
times.

The humanistic period –

 In 1927, Elton Mayo and F.J. Roethlisberger of Harvard University conducted an
experiment on Hawthorne works of the western electric company in Chicago. The results
showed a huge shift on the understanding of worker behavior. A series of earlier
conducted tests to measure the effects of lighting on efficiency found no direct relation
between illumination and productivity. So much so that even when the lights were as low
as almost dark, the level of productivity showed no change. The workers were
interviewed and observed for 5 years and two conclusions were found. First is called the
Hawthorne effect is when people change their behavior because they know they are being
observed. Hence the observation made them work even at worse conditions. Secondly,
they concluded that human relationships affect the worker’s behaviors. This experiment
showed that human behavior and motivation are complex.

7. Write a note on the Hawthorne studies. Discuss the different experiments conducted
by Elton Mayo and the findings of the study.
(https://www.businessmanagementideas.com/management/classification-of-hawthorne-
studies-3-categories/4701)
A. Test Room Studies:
(i) Illumination experiment:
The effect of lighting was studied on productivity of two groups; one, whose
lighting conditions were changed and the other, whose lighting conditions
remained constant. For the first group of workers when lighting conditions
improved, productivity went up but surprisingly, even when the lighting
conditions declined, productivity went up. Productivity declined only when the
light fell below the normal level.

For the second group of workers also the output increased as lighting conditions
of the first group were altered though there was no change in lighting conditions
of this group. This made Mayo conclude that there was something more than just
the lighting conditions that contributed to industrial productivity.
Human factor was considered important in affecting productivity but the exact
factors could not be known. Mayo conducted further experiments to know the
factors that affected productivity.
(ii) Relay assembly test room experiment:

In this experiment, a small group of six girls was asked to work in a test room.
Changes in working conditions were tried on them as, less working hours,
improved working conditions, better wages, rest periods, free interaction amongst
group members etc. The supervisor acted as their friend and provided friendly and
informal supervision.
 This increased productivity but surprisingly, once again, when these conditions
were withdrawn, productivity did not go down. It was concluded that something
other than these factors was important and Mayo attributed this to social and
psychological needs of the workers, such as, sense of acceptance, recognition,
participation in decision-making, freedom to work, interaction amongst group
members, informal relationships etc.

B. Interviewing Studies:
Thousands of workers were interviewed to know about their superiors, jobs and job
conditions. Responses revealed that if employees were allowed to represent their views
and problems openly to managers, their morale and productivity went up. The importance
of social factors was again validated through this interview.
C. Observation Studies:
These studies comprised of the Bank Wiring Observation Room Experiment. A group of
14 workers was selected to attach wire to switches for some equipment that was used in
telephone exchange. No changes were made in their working conditions as in earlier
experiments. Impact of social pressure was studied on working of this group.

Management declared an hourly wage rate based on average output of each worker and
bonus based on average output of the group. They thought that workers would produce
more to earn more wages and would help each other as a group to earn bonus. However,
this system of wage payment did not work.

It was observed that without formally declaring the day’s work, the group members laid
their standard target which was less than the company’s target. Social pressures were
created by group members to ensure that no member exceeded the group target. In case
they did, they were socially boycotted by their co-members.

The experiment concluded that:

1. Informal and social groups are important complements to formal groups.

2. Social pressures are more important than financial incentives to motivate the workers.
3. There is no direct relationship between worker productivity and physical factors.
Productivity increased because workers received attention from the researchers.

8. What is Individual Behavior? How do various biographical characteristics such as

Age, gender, marital status, tenure affect performance, absenteeism, turnover,
citizenship and job satisfaction?
Individual behavior can be defined as a mix of responses to external and internal stimuli.
It is the way a person reacts in different situations and the way someone expresses
different emotions like anger, happiness, love, etc.

AGE – Age is one the most important biographical characteristic to differentiate among
employees. Most of the countries apart from India have their working age group lying
above the age of 35 and whereas in India this composition is different as we have
workforce lying in the age group of 25-35.
With older employees comes experience, maturity, judgement, strong work ethics,
unavoidable absenteeism and commitment to quality. But with pros are the cons; they are
rigid when it comes to bringing change, they tend to get grumpy and are not very keen to
learn new things.
In the case of younger employees there are surely a number of cons such as avoidable
absenteeism, job hopping, less experience etc. But on the bright side, they are keen on
learning new things, willing to adapt to changes.
From the above points we can say that there is no relationship between age and
productivity.

GENDER - Few issues initiate more debates, misconceptions, and unsupported opinions
than whether women perform as well on jobs as men. The best place to begin to consider
this is with the recognition that few, if any, differences between men and women affect
job performance. Though men may have slightly higher math ability and women slightly
higher verbal ability, the differences are fairly small, and there are no consistent male–
female differences in problem-solving ability, analytical skills, or learning ability. One
meta-analysis of job performance studies found that women scored slightly higher than
men on performance measures. A separate meta-analysis of 95 leadership studies
indicated that women and men are rated equally effective as leaders.

MARITAL STATUS – Research indicates that married employees have fewer absences,

although unavoidable absenteeism could be on the higher side, less turnover. There is no
relation between marital status and job satisfaction.
Marriage imposes increased responsibilities that may make a steady job more valuable
and important.

TENURE - Tenure can be defined as time/work experience on a particular job. Based on

research, we can say that there is a positive relationship between seniority and job
productivity. Also, research studies demonstrate that there is no relation between tenure
and absenteeism. The research also indicates that tenure and satisfaction are positively
related. Employees who have been associated with the organization for a long period of
time tend to be more stable and jobs hop less as compared to fresher.
9. Define Ability. What is Intellectual ability? Discuss Intellectual ability and Job Fit.
Ability is an individual’s current capacity to perform the various tasks in a job. Overall
abilities are essentially made up of two sets of factors: intellectual and physical.
Intellectual abilities are abilities needed to perform mental activities—thinking,
reasoning, and problem solving. Most societies place a high value on intelligence, and for
good reason. Smart people generally earn more money and attain higher levels of
education. They are also more likely to emerge as leaders of groups.
The seven most frequently cited dimensions making up intellectual abilities are number
aptitude, verbal comprehension, perceptual speed, inductive reasoning, deductive
reasoning, spatial visualization, and memory. IQ tests are designed to ascertain a person’s
general intellectual abilities, but the origins, influence factors, and testing of intelligence
quotient (IQ) are controversial.

INTELLECTUAL ABILITY AND JOB FIT

10. What is attitude? Discuss the dimensions of attitude.

Attitude influences an individual’s choice of action, and responses to challenges,
incentives, and rewards .Attitude is the way that you think and feel about it, especially
 when this shows in the way you behave. It is the Positive or negative orientation
(favorable or unfavorable feeling, opinion and resulting action) specific about
something/somebody, or in general.

Dimensions of attitude –
i. Cognitive component – This is the description or belief in the way the things are.
“My pay is low.”
ii. Affective component – This is the emotion that ignites due to the situation. “I’m
angry on how little I’m paid.”
iii. Behavioral component – Due to the affect, the behavior or the action thereafter
takes place. “I will start looking for a job that pays more.”

11. What is the theory of cognitive dissonance? Discuss the Factors affecting strength of
the dissonance. How can dissonance be reduced?
At times there are incidences of conflicts between attitudes, beliefs and behavior. This
creates a feeling of discomfort leading to an alliteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs and
behavior to reduce the discomfort and restore the balance. This is the theory of cognitive
dissonance. For example, perhaps a friend of yours consistently argued that her apartment
complex was better than yours until another friend in your complex asked her to move in
with him; once she moved to your complex, you noticed her attitude toward her former
apartment became more critical.

There are three factors affecting strength of dissonance –

(i) Importance of the elements creating dissonance.
(ii) Influence of the elements on each other.
(iii) Rewards of dissonance.

One can reduce the dissonance in one of the three ways –

(i) Change one or more of the attitudes, behavior, belief etc. Changing one can help
bring the relation between them to a consonant one. When one of the elements is
behavior, it is the best option to change but is not always easy. For example,
quitting smoking.
(ii) Acquiring new information – This may lead to outweighing the dissonant belief.
For example, passive smokers are also at similar risk as active smokers.
(iii) Reducing the importance of the cognition – A person could convince
themselves to “Live for today” and continue smoking as now the belief is not that
conflicting with the behavior.

12. Define Values. With the help of examples explain terminal and instrumental values.
Values are the conviction of what is right, good or desirable. It is a basic conviction that a
specific mode of conduct or final value is personally/socially desirable as compared to its
opposite.
 Terminal Values refer to desirable end-states of existence. These are the goals that a
person would like to achieve during his or her lifetime. These values vary among
different groups of people in different cultures.
The terminal values are:
1. True Friendship
2. Mature Love
3. Self-Respect
4. Happiness
5. Inner Harmony
6. Equality

Instrumental Values refer to preferable modes of behavior. These are preferable modes of

behavior, or means of achieving the terminal values.
The Instrumental Values are:
1. Cheerfulness
2. Ambition
3. Love
4. Cleanliness
5. Self-Control
6. Capability

13. Explain the different dimensions of the Hofstede model. What are its business
implications? What are the applications of the model? Discuss limitations.
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory is a framework for cross-cultural communication,
developed by Geert Hofstede. It describes the effects of a society’s culture on
the values of its members, and how these values relate to behavior, using a structure
derived from facto-analysis.
i. Power distance index – It is the extent to which the less powerful members of an
organization or a society accept and expect that the power is distributed
unequally. Lower the index means that people do not follow inequality and
believe in distributing power. High value index indicates that there is a clear
hierarchy established in the society without any doubt.
 ii. Individualism vs Collectivism (IDV) – It is degree to which people are integrated
in a society. Individualistic societies generally have loose ties and are concerned
about oneself and his/her family. They use ‘I’ in place of ‘We’. On the contrary,
collective societies are more than just his/her family. There exists support, trust
and loyalty when conflicts with other groups arise.

iii. Uncertainty avoidance Index – It is the degree to which people can tolerate
ambiguity. A low index brings the need to make code and conducts, rules, strict
 hierarchy and guidelines. A high index shows that people are willing to welcome
everybody’s perspective. Societies tend to impose fewer regulations.

iv. Masculinity vs Femininity (MAS) – Masculine society is defined is, “a preference

in society for achievement, heroism, assertiveness and material reward for
success.” On the counterpart, feminine society is defined as, “a preference for
modesty, cooperation and equality.” The values of women differ in the two types
of societies. In feminine societies, they share modest and caring views with men.
In more masculine society, women tend to be more emphatic and competitive but
let emphatic than men.
v. Long-term orientation vs short-term orientation – This dimension deals with the
degree of impact of past actions on current and future actions. This typology
measures a society’s devotion to traditional values. People in a culture with long-
term orientation look to the future and value thrift, persistence, and tradition. In a
short-term orientation, people value the here and now; they also accept change
more readily and don’t see commitments as impediments to change.

vi. Indulgence vs restraint – It is the measure of how liberal people are to be happy.
An indulgent society is defined as “a society which allows relatively free
gratification of basic and natural human desires related to enjoying life and having
fun.” Whereas its counterpart is defined as, “a society which controls the
gratification of needs and desires by the means of strict social norms.”
APPLICATION OF HOFSTEDE MODEL
● International communication - In business it is commonly agreed that
communication is one of the primary concerns. So, for professionals who work
internationally; people who interact daily with other people from different
countries within their company or with other companies abroad; Hofstede’s model
gives insights into other cultures. In fact, cross-cultural communication requires
being aware of cultural differences because what may be considered perfectly
acceptable and natural in one country, can be confusing or even offensive in
another. All the levels in communication are affected by cultural dimensions:
verbal (words and language itself), non-verbal (body language, gestures) and
etiquette dos and don’ts (clothing, gift-giving, dining, customs and protocol).
● International negotiations - In international negotiations, communication style,
expectation, issue ranking and goals will change according to the negotiators’
countries of origin. If applied properly, the understanding of cultural dimensions
should increase success in negotiations and reduce frustration and conflicts.
For example, in a negotiation between Chinese and Canadian, Canadian
negotiators may want to reach an agreement and sign a contract, whereas Chinese
negotiators may want to spend more time for non-business activities, small talks
and hospitality with preferences for protocol and form in order to first establish
the relationship.
● International management - These considerations are also true in international
management and cross-cultural leadership. Decisions taken have to be based on
the country’s customs and values. When working in international companies,
 managers may provide training to their employees to make them sensitive to
cultural differences, develop nuanced business practices, with protocols across
countries. Hofstede’s dimensions offer guidelines for defining culturally
acceptable approaches to corporate organizations.
● International Marketing - For example, if you want to market cars in a country
where the uncertainty avoidance is high, you should emphasize on their safety,
whereas in other countries you may base your advertisement on the social image
they give you.

14. Discuss the Globe model.

Begun in 1993, the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness
(GLOBE) research program is an ongoing cross-cultural investigation of leadership and
national culture. Using data from 825 organizations in 62 countries, the GLOBE team
identified nine dimensions on which national cultures differ. Some dimensions—such as
power distance, individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, gender differentiation
(similar to masculinity versus femininity), and future orientation (similar to long-term
versus short-term orientation)—resemble the Hofstede dimensions. The main difference
is that the GLOBE framework added dimensions, such as humane orientation (the degree
to which a society rewards individuals for being altruistic, generous, and kind to others)
and performance orientation (the degree to which a society encourages and rewards group
members for performance improvement and excellence).

15. Define Personality. Write a note on the Big 5 personality traits. Discuss its
implications in an organization. Discuss the right personality for a global workforce.
Personality is the combination of various characteristics and qualities that form an
individual’s distinctive character.

BIG 5 PERSONALITY TEST

This consist of 5 basic dimensions that underlie all other characteristics and encompass
most of the significant variations in personality.
i. Conscientiousness – This is the dimension which tests the reliability. A person
with high conscience is reliable, dependable, honest and organized. A person with
low score in this dimension is disorganized, easily distracted and unreliable.
ii. Emotional stability – This dimension measures the ability of a person to withstand
stress. An emotionally stable person is calm, self-confident and secure. A person
with high score tends to be optimistic and happier than low-scorers. Whereas a
low scorer (high neuroticism) tends be anxious, stressful, insecure and depressed.
iii. Extraversion – This dimension captures the comfort level of the person with
relationships. An extrovert is someone who is gregarious, sociable, and assertive.
They are generally happy and ambitious. They experience more positive emotions
 than introverts. Introverts (low extraversion) are people who are timid, more
thoughtful, quiet and reserved.
iv. Openness to experience – The openness to experience dimension addresses the
range of interests and fascination with novelty. Open people tend to be creative,
artistic and curious. Those at the low end of the category are more comfortable
with familiar and conventional ways of living.
v. Agreeableness – This dimension refers to individual’s propensity to differ from
others. An agreeable person is warm, trusting and cooperative. They are happier
than disagreeable people; the difference maybe only little. In an organizational
team, they are the ones to be selected first. On the other hand disagreeable people
and cold and antagonistic.

16. Discus Locus of Control, Machiavellianism, Narcissism, type A and B personality.

1. Locus of control – It is about the perception of the individual on the underlying
cause of the events happening in his/her life. In simple words: Do you believe that
it happened because of yourself or some external force (like god, fate etc.)?
The people who believe that they are responsible for the events happening in their
lives, they are called internals. They believe in putting efforts to achieve their
goals. They believe in hard-work, don’t leave things for chance and blame others
for their results.
On the other hand, externals are people who believe external forces are the
reasons to the events happening in their lives. They believe the whole world is
plotting against them and fate is unfavorable to them. The only reason they
believe in luck is to define how others are ahead of them and succeeding while he
can’t.
2. Machiavellianism – An individual high in Machiavellianism (Mach) is maintain
emotional distance and believes in ends can justify means. A high Mach
manipulates more, wins more, and persuades more but gets persuaded less as
compared to low Machs.
SIGNS OF MACHIAVELLIANISM
 only focused on their own ambition and interests
 prioritize money and power over relationships
 come across as charming and confident
 exploit and manipulate others to get ahead
 lie and deceive when required
 Use flattery often
3. Narcissism – People who are high in this attribute feel that they are superior to
others and expect extreme appreciation devotion form others. However narcissists
can be hypersensitive and fragile people. They experience anger quite often.
On brighter side, narcissists are more charismatic than others. They are usually
found in businesses. A medium rating narcissist (neither high nor low on
 narcissism) is positively related to leadership effectiveness. Some say narcissists
are more adaptable and make better business decisions than others at times of
complex issues.
4. Type A personality – These personalities are impatient and aggressive to achieve
more in more time. They reemphasize quantity over quality, working for long
hours, making quick decisions, working too much are few qualities of Type A
personalities. They are always moving, walking or talking. They keep on counting
their achievements in terms of number or quality. They cannot cope with leisure
time
5. Type B personality – These personalities are usually the ones sitting at senior
posts since they are calm, patient and composed. Never sense the urgency of time,
can relax without guilt, and play for fun and relaxation.

17. Differentiate between Groups and Teams. In what context is a team more effective
than groups? Give examples.
A group is defined is two or more individuals interacting and interdependent, who work
together to achieve particular objectives. A workgroup interacts primarily to share
information and make decisions to help other members perform in his or her area of
responsibility.
A work-team on the other hand creates positive synergy through coordination.
Individuals efforts results more to the productivity as compared to sum of individual
inputs.

BASIS GROUPS TEAMS

Goal Share information Collective performance

Synergy Neutral (sometimes negative) Positive

Accountability Individual Individual and mutual

Skills Random and varied Complementary

Leadership One leader Multiple leaders

Teams can sometimes achieve feats an individual could never accomplish. Teams are
more flexible and responsive to changing events than traditional departments or other
forms of permanent groupings. They can quickly assemble, deploy, refocus, and disband.
They are an effective means to democratize organizations and increase employee
involvement. And finally, research indicates that our involvement in teams positively
shapes the way we think as individuals, introducing a collaborative mindset about even
our personal decision making.
 For example, Jerry Schranz of public-relations agency Beckerman personally learned an
important job skill while captain of the softball team. He observed, “It is very difficult to
give up the ball as a starting pitcher, where you think that no one can pitch as well as you.
It was something I had to learn to do: delegate to others and let it unfold.”

18. Discuss the type of teams. How do you create virtual teams? How do such teams
function?
i. Problem solving teams – Members of roughly same level and same department
come together to overcome a problem or challenge. For example, quality control
teams have been present since a long a time who meet at regular intervals to keep
a check on the quality. Similar teams are also formed in medical sector to improve
the services for patient care.
ii. Self-managed teams – These teams basically have employees whose work is
closely related or interdependent and they take some supervisory functions. These
may include planning and scheduling work, assigning tasks to members, making
operating decisions, taking action on problems, and working with suppliers and
customers. Fully self-managed work teams even select their own members who
evaluate each other’s performance.
iii. Cross-functional teams – These teams are made up of employees from about the
same hierarchical level but different work areas who come together to accomplish
a task. Cross-functional teams are an effective means of allowing people from
diverse areas within or even between organizations to exchange information,
develop new ideas, solve problems, and coordinate complex projects.
iv. Virtual teams - The teams described before do their work face-to-face, whereas
virtual teams use computer technology to unite physically dispersed members and
achieve a common goal. They collaborate online—using communication links
such as wide-area networks, corporate social media, videoconferencing, and e-
mail—whether members are nearby or continents apart. Nearly all teams do at
least some of their work remotely.
Virtual teams should be managed differently than face-to-face teams in an office,
partially because virtual team members may not interact along traditional
hierarchical patterns. Because of the complexity of interactions, research indicates
that shared leadership of virtual teams may significantly enhance team
performance, although the concept is still in development. For virtual teams to be
effective, management should ensure that (1) trust is established among members
(one inflammatory remark in an e-mail can severely undermine team trust), (2)
progress is monitored closely (so the team doesn’t lose sight of its goals and no
team member “disappears”), and (3) the efforts and products of the team are
publicized throughout the organization (so the team does not become invisible).

19. How to create effective teams?

Team effectiveness consists of three parts –
i) Context (What factors determine whether teams are successful)
a) Adequate resources – Teams are part of large organizations and they need
resources outside of the group to function effectively. The support they require
from the organization may include staffing, proper equipment, encouragement etc.
b) Leadership and structure – Every team should also have well defined structure
and members should know and agree to what each person’s task is. Workload
should be shared and everyone should discuss the specifics of each task and how
they fit together.
c) Trust – Trust is the foundation for any group to work efficiently. Every member
should be able to trust each other and most importantly, they should be able to
trust their leader. Leadership cannot happen without members trusting their
leaders.
d) Performance evaluation and reward system – Individual performance appraisals
and rewards can be a boon and bane to the team. It may motivate the individual
but bring a sense of competition among others. Hence, a hybrid performance
evaluation and reward system should be adopted where individuals are valued on
their individual performance but the team is also rewarded for group efforts.
ii) Composition
a) Member’s abilities – A team functions best when the abilities of the members are
complimentary to each other’s. Abilities set limits on what members are capable
to do and how effectively they will perform in the team.
b) Personalities of members – As personalities majorly define the way people
behave, it is important for the personalities of members to match with each other.
In teams personalities play a big role. For instance, conscientiousness is a good
dimension for teams as it depicts how members will have other member’s
support.
c) Allocation of roles – Every team has certain roles to perform and while selecting
the members, people should make sure these roles are being allotted. The roles
may include organizer, producer, controller, advisor etc.
d) Diversity of members – People working in an organization maybe from different
caste, sex, religion, age, region which defines the organizational demography. The
lesser the diversity amongst members the better for the team. However, there are
exceptions when the leader can lead a diverse team effectively as well.
e) Cultural differences - In general, cultural diversity seems to be an asset for tasks
that call for a variety of viewpoints. But culturally heterogeneous teams have
more difficulty learning to work with each other and solving problems. The good
news is that these difficulties seem to dissipate with time.
f) Size of teams – Experts say that less members is the key to effective teams. The
size should be seven plus or minus two.
 g) Member preferences – Not every person in an organization is a team player.
When such people are selected for team it leads to morale destruction of the team.
Hence, a manager should consider individual preferences before adding someone
to the group.
iii) Processes
a) Common plan and purpose – Effective teams begins by analyzing team’s mission,
sets goals and strategizes their actions. Teams should know what to do and how to
do it. As obvious as it may sound, many teams ignore it.
b) Specific goals – successful teams translate their common purpose into specific,
realistic and measurable performance goals.
c) Team efficacy – Effective teams have confidence in themselves, they believe that
they can do it. We call this team efficacy. The successful teams had belief in
future success which lead them to it.
d) Team identity - By recognizing individuals’ specific skills and abilities, as well as
creating a climate of respect and inclusion, leaders and members can foster
positive team identity and improved team outcomes.
e) Team cohesion - The term team cohesion means members are emotionally
attached to one another and motivated toward the team because of their
attachment. Team cohesion is a useful tool to predict team outcomes.
f) Mental models - Effective teams share accurate mental models—organized
mental representations of the key elements within a team’s environment that team
members share.
g) Conflict levels – Conflict are of two types; relationship conflict (interpersonal
incompatibility) and task conflicts (related to non-routine tasks). Moderate level
of conflicts is a positive sign for the organization whereas too little or too much is
dangerous.
h) Social loafing – It is the tendency of people to work less when working
collectively with other people.

20. Discuss group think, group shift and social loafing. How does group think affect
group performance?
Group think relates to norms and describes situations in which group pressures for
conformity deter the group from critically appraising unusual, minority, or unpopular
views. Groupthink attacks many groups and can dramatically hinder their performance.
Individuals who hold a position different from that of the dominant majority are under
pressure to suppress, withhold, or modify their true feelings and beliefs. As members of a
group, we find it more pleasant to be in agreement—to be a positive part of the group—
than to be a disruptive force, even if disruption would improve effectiveness. Groups that
are more focused on performance than learning are especially likely to fall victim to
groupthink and to suppress the opinions of those who do not agree with the majority
 Group shift describes the way group members tend to exaggerate their initial positions
when discussing a given set of alternatives to arrive at a solution. In some situations,
caution dominates and there is a conservative shift, while in other situations groups tend
toward a risky shift.

Social loafing is the tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working
collectively than when alone. Social loafing directly challenges the assumption that the
productivity of the group as a whole should at least equal the sum of the productivity of
the individuals in it, no matter what the group size

21. Discuss the stages of group development.

i. At the first meeting, the group’s general purpose and direction is established, and
then a framework of behavioral patterns and assumptions through which the
group will approach its project emerges, sometimes in the first few seconds of the
group’s existence.
ii. Once set, the group’s direction is solidified and is unlikely to be reexamined
throughout the first half of its life. This is a period of inertia—the group tends to
stand still or become locked into a fixed course of action even if it gains new
insights that challenge initial patterns and assumptions.
iii. Groups experience a transition precisely halfway between the first meeting and
the official deadline—whether members spent an hour on their project or 6
months. The midpoint appears to work like an alarm clock, heightening members’
awareness that their time is limited and they need to get moving. This transition
ends phase 1 and is characterized by a concentrated burst of changes, dropping of
old patterns, and adoption of new perspectives.
iv. The transition sets a revised direction for phase 2, a new equilibrium or period of
inertia in which the group executes plans created during the transition period.
v. The group’s last meeting is characterized by a final burst of activity to finish its
work.

22. Write a note on the following traditional theories of motivation

- Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Assumptions –
● A satisfied need does not motivate. When one need is satisfied another need
emerges to take its place, so people are always striving to satisfy some need.
● The needs network for most people is complex, with several affecting the
behavior of each person at any one time.
● In general, lower level needs must be satisfied before higher level needs are
activated sufficiently to drive behavior.
● There are more ways to satisfy higher level needs than lower level needs.
Theory –
The best-known theory of motivation is Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which
hypothesizes that within every human being there is a hierarchy of five needs.
1. Physiological. Includes hunger, thirst, shelter, sex, and other bodily
needs.
2. Safety-security. Security and protection from physical and emotional
harm.
3. Social-belongingness. Affection, belongingness, acceptance, and
friendship.
4. Esteem. Internal factors such as self-respect, autonomy, and
achievement, and external factors such as status, recognition, and
attention.
5. Self-actualization. Drive to become what we are capable of becoming;
includes growth, achieving our potential, and self-fulfillment.
Advantages –
i) Easy to understand
ii) It takes into account human nature
iii) Relevant in all fields whether it is office or home
Disadvantages –
i) Not all individuals think the same way i.e. for some social affection is more important
than esteem needs
ii) Cultural differences
iii) Difficult to measure

- Herzberg’s Model
Herzberg’s theory of motivation is also called two-factor theory or motivation-
hygiene theory.
● Hygiene Factors- These factors when present make employees satisfied. But
they are not necessarily motivated to perform higher. Examples are Salary,
Relationship with Superior, Colleagues, Working Conditions, Perks, Job
Security, Work-Life Balance, Company policies
● Motivational Factor- These factors when present motivate an employee to put
more efforts and give higher performance. Examples are- Work itself
(interesting & challenging), Responsibility, Recognition, Advancement
Opportunity, Personal Growth, achievement.
Advantages –
⮚ Emphasis on motivation from within
⮚ Money is treated secondary
⮚ Office can focus on their employees’ problems
Disadvantages –
⮚ Job productivity and job satisfaction are not directly related
⮚ Ignores external factors like what competitive firm pay salary to their employees
 - MC Gregors theory –

Merits

(i) Theory ‘X’ and theory ‘Y’ are a good guide to management, to not only developing
motivational techniques; but also attuning entire managerial systems around these assumptions
about human behaviour.

(ii) McGregor’s assumptions about human behaviour are rather realistic; as in practice we
usually find people corresponding to Theory ‘X’ or Theory ‘Y’ ideologies. This is the common
observation of many of us.

Demerits

(i) It tends to over-generalise and over simplify people as being one way or the other. People
cannot be put on two extremes. No enterprising man belongs either to Theory X or Theory Y.

(ii) McGregor’s theory squeezes managerial styles and philosophies into two extremes of
conduct which is devoid of reality.
(iii) McGregor suggests that job itself is the key to motivation. But all people do not see
motivation in the job. The management has to motivate people to work.

(iv) People who follow Theory Y still find that they have to behave in a very directive and
controlling manner.

23. Discuss Vrooms expectancy theory.

Expectancy theory argues that the strength of our tendency to act a certain way depends
on the strength of our expectation of a given outcome and its attractiveness. In practical
terms, employees will be motivated to exert a high level of effort when they believe that
it will lead to a good performance appraisal, that a good appraisal will lead to
organizational rewards such as salary increases and/or intrinsic rewards, and that the
rewards will satisfy their personal goals. The theory, therefore, focuses on three
relationships:
i) Effort–performance relationship. The probability perceived by the individual that
exerting a given amount of effort will lead to performance.
ii) Performance–reward relationship. The degree to which the individual believes
performing at a particular level will lead to the attainment of a desired outcome.
iii) Rewards–personal goals relationship. The degree to which organizational rewards
satisfy an individual’s personal goals or needs and the attractiveness of those potential
rewards for the individual.

24. Write a note on the equity model.

According to equity theory, employees compare what they get from their job (their
“Outcomes,” such as pay, promotions, recognition, or a bigger office) to what they put
into it (their “Inputs,” such as effort, experience, and education). They take the ratio of
their outcomes to their inputs and compare it to the ratio of others, usually someone
similar like a coworker or someone doing the same job.
Based on equity theory, employees who perceive inequity will make one of six choices:
1. Change inputs (exert less effort if underpaid or more if overpaid).
2. Change outcomes (individuals paid on a piece-rate basis can increase their pay by
producing a higher quantity of units of lower quality).
3. Distort perceptions of self (“I used to think I worked at a moderate pace, but now
I realize I work a lot harder than everyone else”).
4. Distort perceptions of others (“Mike’s job isn’t as desirable as I thought”).
5. Choose a different referent (“I may not make as much as my brother-in-law, but
I’m doing a lot better than my Dad did when he was my age”).
6. Leave the field (quit the job).
Drawbacks –
 1. Inequities created by overpayment do not seem to significantly affect behavior in
most work situations. So don’t expect an employee who feels overpaid to give
back part of his salary or put in more hours to make up for the inequity. Although
individuals may sometimes perceive that they are over rewarded, they restore
equity by rationalizing their situation (“I’m worth it because I work harder than
everyone else”).
2. Not everyone is equally equity-sensitive, for various reasons, including feelings of
entitlement. Others actually prefer outcome–input ratios lower than the referent
comparisons. Predictions from equity theory are not likely to be very accurate
about these “benevolent types.”

25. Discuss MBO, variable pay, flexible benefits.

Management by Objectives (MBO) - MBO emphasizes participatively setting goals that
are tangible, verifiable, and measurable. The organization’s overall objectives are
translated into specific cascading objectives for each level (divisional, departmental,
individual). But because lower-unit managers jointly participate in setting their own
goals, MBO works from the bottom up as well as from the top down. The result is a
hierarchy that links objectives at one level to those at the next. For the individual
employee, MBO provides specific personal performance objectives.

Variable Pay - Piece-rate, merit-based, bonus, profit-sharing, and employee stock

ownership plans are all forms of a variable-pay program (also known as pay-for-
performance), which bases a portion of an employee’s pay on some individual and/or
organizational measure of performance. The variable portion may be all or part of the
paycheck, and it may be paid annually or upon attainment of benchmarks. It can also be
either optional for the employee or an accepted condition of employment. Variable-pay
plans have long been used to compensate salespeople and executives, but the scope of
variable-pay jobs has broadened.

Flexible Benefits – Flexible benefits are the perks over and above salary and pay of an
individual. For example, cafeteria plans which gives the employees an option to choose
the benefits they want from the company like insurance etc. These help organizations by
increasing employee engagement, improving recruitment and reduced employment
turnover.