MS-21 June, 2008
MS-21 : SOCIAL PROCESSES AND BEHAVIOURAL ISSUES
1. Review and describe Herzberg's work motivation theory and discuss its relevance for organizational processes.
2. Describe the importance of counselling process in organisations and discuss the ethical issues involved in counselling. Discuss how an organization can handle them.
3. Identify and deliberate on group processes. Discuss the measures ons could adapt to improve group productivity.
4. Describe different types of organisational culture and their significance in the Indian context.
5. Write short notes on any three of the following :
(a) Interpersonal Perception
(b) Importance of persuasion
(c) Sociometry
(d) Leadership effectiveness
(e) Barriers to communication
6. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end :
Hari Iyer; the Vice President (Marketing) of Victor Computer Systems Ltd., was immersed in thoughts, about the happenings, taking him few years (1999) down the
memory lane. This was when George (the Marketing Manager) had proudly walked down the aisle to shake hands with the founder and chairman Victor at the latter's residence in England and all the company's employees and special invitees standing and cheering him. There were another 49 employees along with George, to have dinner with the founder chairman at his home in England. This dinner was a part of the 'Quality performance circle programme' in which the chairman rewards quality top performers, who are exceeding their quarterly targets by more than 15 per cent for the entire year. All winners were given a cash award, a certificate and also had their pictures taken with the chairman and printed and published in the company's inhouse magazine.
Victor Computer Systems Ltd. is a 20 year old global company, having set up base in I99I and has a sound product range of computer peripherals. Right from the beginning, the company has been able to build up a goodwill for its quality products. Very soon, it was selling its products at a higher price in the market. George had joined the company in 1997 and his immediate boss Gaurav Patei was thoroughly satisfied with him an,C also liked him. Because of his excellent track record and performance, George was not only liked by his superior but also enjoyed many company benefits.
George had earned the reputation of a go-getter, who enjoyed working on challenging customers (or clients) though he doesn't believe in wasting much time on trying to please very hard to please customers. He was very focussed on the targets set for the month for all his teams. He tries to instill in his teams (executives and managers) the idea of always being ahead in the race of hard core selling and also put it into practice by working hard himself. He was also very smart at closing sales with institutional buyers thereby bring in a lot of sales in terms of volume for the firm. Seeing George's potential, Gaurav always tried to provide enough scope to explore the potential of bis customers on his own. Inspite of all this, Gaurav was a little worried about George's attitude towards those Area and Regional Managers who made efforts to sell to small customers. Even though he had heard rumours about George's belittling attitude towards few of such Regional Managers, he had ignored them because of George's performance.
However, from 2000 onwards, the recession world over was having its impact on the Indian IT industry. This slack also affected Victor Computer Systems in business with a noticeable dip in corporate customers demand for its products. The company also had redesigned its marketing strategies and reallocated its targets to its marketing teams. But keeping in mind George's obsession for big customers and a person of strong likes and dislikes, Gaurav thought it right to bring up this matter with the Vice President, Hari lyer. After hearing Gaurav, Hari was in a dilemma because he knew people like George were always in demand and chased by head hunters.
Questions :
(a) Which aspects of goal setting model have gone wrong in George's case ?
(b) What strategy should be adopted by Gaurav and Hari to motivate George ?
(c) Suggest how you would chann elize the social processes to avoid attitude problems.
