TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT

COURSE CODE: MCO-01

COURSE TITLE: ORGANIZATION THEORY AND BEHAVIOUR
ASSIGNMENT CODE: MCO-01/2009-10

1. What are various responsibilities of various level of

management in an organization? Explain various function
and roles of managers

The term “Levels of Management’ refers to a line of demarcation

between various managerial positions in an organization. The number
of levels in management increases when the size of the business and
work force increases and vice versa. The level of management
determines a chain of command, the amount of authority & status
enjoyed by any managerial position. The levels of management can be
classified in three broad categories: -
 Top level / Administrative level
 Middle level / Executors
 Low level / Supervisory / Operative / First-line
managers
Managers at all these levels perform different functions. The
responsibilities of managers at all the three levels are discussed below:

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LEVELS OF MANAGEMENT

1. Top Level of Management

It consists of board of directors, chief executive or managing director
and general Managers like production, marketing, finance, and human
resource management. The top level management gets involved in all
activities like planning, organizing, directing and controlling, however it
is focuses more on planning and organizing than the other levels of
management. The prime concerns of top management include:
enhancing shareholder values, providing vision and mission to
organization, upholding overall objectives of organization, taking policy
decisions, review of budget and keeping organization financially sound,
maintaining progress, profit, and sustainability of the organization,
communicating goal of organization to all members, protecting
integrity, and guiding the organization through sound leadership.
There is more requirement of conceptual skill than human skills or
technical skills at level of top management. The top management is
the ultimate source of authority and it manages goals and policies for
an enterprise. It devotes more time on planning and coordinating
functions.

The responsibility /role/ of the top management can be summarized as

follows:-
a. Top management lays down the objectives and broad policies
of the enterprise.
b. It issues necessary instructions for preparation of department
budgets, procedures, schedules etc.
c. It prepares strategic plans & policies for the enterprise.
d. It appoints the executive for middle level i.e. departmental
managers.
e. It controls & coordinates the activities of all the departments.
f. It is also responsible for maintaining a contact with the
outside world.

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 g. It provides guidance and direction.
h. The top management is also responsible towards the
shareholders for the performance of the enterprise.

2. Middle Level of Management

Middle-level managers’ are acts with guidance of top management to
accomplish the objectives of the organization. The branch managers
and departmental managers constitute middle level. They are
responsible to the top management for the functioning of their
department. The prime concern of the middle level management is
carry out organizing function in more detail, in order to keep top
management free for doing planning level activities. They devote more
time to organizational and directional functions. In small organization,
there is only one layer of middle level of management but in big
enterprises, there may be senior and junior middle level management.
Some of the functions of middle level management include creating
coordination and cooperation among various departments of the
organization, to design and operate upon a system in organization
which would keep various resources in smooth flow as well as which
would ensure motivation and morale of people working in the
organization, to develop staff at various levels through training and
development activities, and to creatively control and guided the
personnel at junior level in order to achieve bottom line results. There
are more requirements of human skills than conceptual skills at the
level of middle level management.

Their responsibilities /roles/ can be emphasized as –

a. They execute the plans of the organization in accordance with
the policies and directives of the top management.
b. They make plans for the sub-units of the organization.
c. They participate in employment & training of lower level
management.

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 d. They interpret and explain policies from top level
management to lower level.
e. They are responsible for coordinating the activities within the
division or department.
f. It also sends important reports and other important data to
top level management.
g. They evaluate performance of junior managers.
h. They are also responsible for inspiring lower level managers
towards better performance.
3. Lower Level of Management

Lower level is also known as supervisory / operative level of

management. At supervisory level, there are more requirements of
technical skills than conceptual or human skills. However, in the
modern era when role of services sector is increasing in the economy,
the importance of human skills is increasing at the level of middle
management also. It consists of supervisors, foreman, section officers,
superintendent etc. According to R.C. Davis, “Supervisory
management refers to those executives whose work has to be largely
with personal oversight and direction of operative employees”. In other
words, they are concerned with direction and controlling function of
management. Their responsibilities include:-
a. Assigning of jobs and tasks to various workers.
b. They guide and instruct workers for day to day activities.
c. They are responsible for the quality as well as quantity of
production.
d. They are also entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining
good relation in the organization.
e. They communicate workers problems, suggestions, and
recommendatory appeals etc to the higher level and higher
level goals and objectives to the workers.

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 f. They help to solve the grievances of the workers.
g. They supervise & guide the sub-ordinates.
h. They are responsible for providing training to the workers.
i. They arrange necessary materials, machines, tools etc for
getting the things done.
j. They prepare periodical reports about the performance of the
workers.
k. They ensure discipline in the enterprise.
l. They motivate workers.
m. They are the image builders of the enterprise because they
are in direct contact with the workers.
All the three level management: top, middle, and junior play crucial
roles in achieving the organizational goal. The three differ only in terms
of emphasis on certain responsibilities. Top management is more
concerned with planning and overall organizing, middle level
management is more concerned with detailed out organizing, and
junior levels are more concerned with directing and controlling.

 Explain various function and roles of managers

Functions of Managers
The functions of management uniquely describe managers' jobs. The
most commonly cited functions of management are planning,
organizing, leading, and controlling, although some identify additional
functions. The functions of management define the process of
management as distinct from accounting, finance, marketing, and
other business functions. These functions provide a useful way of
classifying information about management, and most basic
management texts since the 1950s have been organized around a
functional framework.

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Managers perform certain functions and certain roles. Though the
terms function and role are used interchangeably, there is technical
difference between these two terms. Functions of manager include the
assigned tasks according to authority level as well according to the job
description of the position of the manager. On the other hand roles
indicate what a manager is expected to do as a person of
conscientiousness. Let us learn some important functions of managers.

Main functions of managers include the following activities:

 Planning ( including creating vision, mission, goal setting,
setting objectives);
 Organizing;
 Staffing
 Directing
 Communicating
 Decision making
 Controlling
Let us see them briefly
Planning: the planning function includes those activities, which lead
to the definition of ends and determination of appropriate means to
achieve the defined ends. Planning is the process by which a manager
anticipates the future and discovers alternative courses of action open
to him.

Vision refers creating and articulating a realistic, credible, attractive

position of the future of an organization or organizational unit that
grows out of and improves upon the present situation. Mission refers to
the broad purpose that the society expects the organization to serve.
Mission statements are broad and value-driven

Goals refer to a future state or condition which contributes to

fulfillment of mission of the organization; when they are realized. The

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goal is relatively more concrete than mission yet less concrete than
objectives.
Objectives are derived from goals and are ordinary short-run, specific
miscellaneous towards goals.

Generally, Planning encompasses looking forward and developing

things in advance. An example of a common planning tool is a budget.
A budget allows a company to best plan for the way that money should
be spent and points out problem areas where costs are too high. It is
up to the management to be able to make the plan and have firm
decisions. Sometimes it is difficult to plan, but it provides an important
focus for any business. Plans should and always can be revised. Other
examples of planning are assigning deadlines, scheduling employees,
and establishing when to reorder goods or supplies.

Organizing: organizing is the process by which the structure and

allocation of jobs are determined. The organizing function includes all
managerial activities, which are undertaken to translate the required
activities of plans into a structure of tasks and authority. The
organizing function involves four sub- functions:
 Define the nature and content of each job in the organizations
 Determining the bases for grouping the jobs together
 Deciding the size of the group
 Delegating the authority to assigned manager

The basics here are to consider what resources are needed and what
activities are needed. It is the manager’s job to assign responsibility of
objectives to employees. It is also important to give employees the
necessary authority to accomplish tasks. A manager that can
successfully assign tasks to others ensures that everyone has
adequate things to do, work is reasonably spread among employees,
and everything gets done. A manager can delegate some work to

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others in an effort to decrease their own large work requirements. They
usually delegate work that is more general and does not have to be done
by someone in a management position.

Staffing: it is the process by which mangers select, train, promote,

and retire subordinates, staffing is concerned with entire human
resource planning activities done by managers. It is the function of
manning the organization structure and keeping it manned. Staffing
has assumed greater importance in the recent years due to
advancement of technology, increase in size of business, complexity of
human behavior etc. The main purpose o staffing is to put right man on
right job i.e. square pegs in square holes and round pegs in round
holes. According to Kootz & O’Donnell, “Managerial function of staffing
involves manning the organization structure through proper and
effective selection; appraisal & development of personnel to fill the
roles designed un the structure”. Staffing involves:
 Manpower Planning (estimating man power in terms of
searching, choose the person and giving the right place).
 Recruitment, selection & placement.
 Training & development.
 Remuneration.
 Performance appraisal.
 Promotions & transfer.

Directing: it is the process by which actual performance of

subordinates is guided toward common goals. Supervising is one
aspect of this function at lower levels of management.

Communicating: it is the process by which ideas are transmitted to

others for the purpose of achieving a desired result.

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Decision Making: it is a process by which a course of action is
consciously chosen from available alternatives for the purpose of
achieving a desired result.

Controlling: it is a process that measures current performance and

guides it toward some predetermined goal. The controlling function
includes activities, which managers undertake to assure that actual
outcomes are consistent with planned outcomes. Three basic
conditions must exist to undertake control:
 Standards
 Information
 Corrective action
As explained earlier, functions of a manager directly emerge from the
authority of his position as well as from the job description of position
held by managers. Controlling is devising ways to ensure that plans are
being achieved. As a manager you need to constantly check on things for
yourself to ensure that correct measures are being taken. Employee
personal values need to fit with the organizational values. Administrative
work such as paperwork and policies need to be kept up with. A manager
must control the business by being a leader, figurehead, and liaison all at
the same time.

Roles of Managers
Henry Mintberg has identified ten roles (clubbed under three broad
categories) of managers. The roles of managers are as follow:

A. Interpersonal Role
 Leading
 Liaison
 Symbol/ figurehead
In their interpersonal roles, managers act as figured, lead, and interact
with members of the organization, within the department or outside

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the department. Now let us understand the three roles: leading,
liaison, and symbol/ figurehead

Leading is one of the important roles of a manager. A manager

supervises a number of persons reporting to him/her. The manager is
responsible for motivating and directing the subordinates. Through the
role of leading, a manager helps subordinates to visualize the plan of
action, and helps them to achieve the result through committed
performance.

Liaison is another role of a manager. Liaison means mainating a

network of interaction with outsiders who matter. For example a
manager heading a production unit needs to maintain relationship with
external members of board, regulating authorities, government
officials, police force, civil authorities etc. Through this role a manager
establishes contact with those who matter in managing the activities at
hand.

A manager is the symbolic head of a firm, or of a unit, or of a

department. You are aware of the role of the head of family. In the
same way, a manger symbolizes the role of figurehead because he/she
has to perform a number of duties of legal or social nature.

B. Informational Role
 Monitoring
 Sharing information
 Spokesperson
In the informational roles managers seeks information from others,
provide information to others, and provide information to people
outside organization, in the capacity of representative of the
organization. Now let understand the three roles: monitoring, sharing
information and spokesperson.

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A manager acts as nerve center for receiving all the external and
internal information through the role of monitoring, a manager
receives information. A manager utilizes such information
appropriately.

Once mangers gathered information, he/she needs to share

information among internal employees for proper execution of work.
Through meeting, e-mail, circular, notice, office order etc. A manger
acts as disseminator of information particularly to sub ordinate.

As spokesperson, a manager is authorized to share information about

the organization to outsiders. A manager may share information with
the outsiders about plans, strategies and future direction of the
organization. The sharing of information may be through conference,
meeting the press, board meeting, interview etc.

C. Decisional Roles
 Taking initiatives
 Handling disagreement
 Allocating resource
 Negotiating
In there decisional roles, managers take proactive actions, sort out
differences in opinion amicably, allocate resources to various
departments in optimum way, and negotiate implementation of new
projects. Now let us understand the four roles: taking initiatives,
handling disagreement, allocating resources and negotiating.

A manger is required to take initiatives and should lead from the front.
A manger analyzes the future opportunities in the business, evaluates
on the alternative opportunities, analyzes internal strength and
weakness of the organization, and also calculates risks before

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implementing a new idea. In a way a manger need to explore business
opportunity through entrepreneurial skills.

Always going is not smooth in an organization. At times due to various

dissatisfaction among the subordinate, conflict may arise. A manger is
responsible or handling conflict and disturbances in the way that would
we establish the confidence of subordinate as well as good productive
cultures. Disagreements are handled through periodical meeting,
review sessions, collative bargaining, grievance handling machinery
etc.

Manager is custodian of organizational resource. S/he has to allocate

resources to various departments in optimum way. For allocating
resources the manager has to do budgeting, scheduling of tasks,
authorization and sanctioning of resource, and approving of significant
organizational decision.

Negotiating is also an important role of a manager. Some times

manager has to negotiate with internal employees on the matter
related to right, benefit and sharing of revenue. This is done through
internal bargaining. Some times negotiation is trying partite including
the management, employee and the appropriate government (central
or state government). Negotiation is also done on matter related to
contract assignment, purchase of materials etc. A manager plays an
important role in these activities.

Q2. Discuss the operant condition theory of learning. How does

it differ with classical conditioning theory of learning?

What Is Operant Conditioning?

Operant conditioning (sometimes referred to as instrumental
conditioning) is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and
punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an

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association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that
behavior.

Operant conditioning was coined by behaviorist B.F. Skinner, which is

why you may occasionally hear it referred to as Skinnerian
conditioning. As a behaviorist, Skinner believed that internal thoughts
and motivations could not be used to explain behavior. Instead, he
suggested, we should look only at the external, observable causes of
human behavior.

Skinner used the term operant to refer to any "active behavior that
operates upon the environment to generate consequences" (1953). In
other words, Skinner's theory explained how we acquire the range of
learned behaviors we exhibit each and every day.

Skinner gave the theory of operant conditioning. This theory advocates

that a learner’s response is instrumental in producing a reinforcing
stimulus. This means that the response which produces the
reinforcement becomes stronger and the response which does not
produce reinforcement becomes weaker.

Skinner box was used for demonstrating the operant learning. It is a

simple box having a liver fitted at the end of the box. The liver is a
switch which operates as a food- delivery mechanism. A hungry rat is
placed inside the box. Initially the rat sits idle in the box, gradually it
starts exploring inside the box to search for food. While exploring
inside the box all on a sudden it presses the liver. As the liver is
pressed it releases a piece of food. After pressing the liver a number of
times, realizes that it releases the piece of food and the rat start eating
them. Now the rat presses the liver and eats the food. The delivery of
food constitutes the reinforcement and reinforcement is contingent
upon the operation of the lever.

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The box can be arranged in such a way that every response i.e.,
pressing of liver may not release the food. Some response may release
the food and some may not release. This is termed as partial
reinforcement. It may also be arranged in such a way that pressing of
lever may result in a shock to the rat. This is termed as negative
reinforcement. Thus the response which fulfills the desired need of the
rat is known a positive reinforcement. At the same time, the response
may also lead to escape from the painful situation which is known as
negative reinforcement. The focus of this theory is the reinforcement
follows a response. So the response becomes instrumental in achieving
the appropriate goal. The manipulation of response and reinforcement
may increase, reduce or lead to extinction of the behavior.

You must be aware of Thorndike’s law of effect which states that

responses which are accompanied or closely followed by reinforcement
will be more likely to occur. At the same time, the responses which are
accompanied or closely followed by discomfort will be less likely to
occur. This means that the behavior which leads to positive outcome
will be likely to be repeated whereas behavior which leads to negative
outcome will be avoided.

Hull proposed three components of learning theory i.e., drive habit and
reinforcement. A drive refers to the internal states of disequilibrium
which becomes a motive for learning. A drive stimulates the person to
perform the desired act. Habit refers to the association between
stimulus and response. The appropriate link is formed between
environmental stimulus and behavior of person. The formation of this
connection play very important role in learning. Reinforcement refers
to the feedback received by the person as a result of his behavior

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The appropriate understanding of connection between behavior and
consequences by the person makes him to learn about the situation.
The focus of operant theory is to make the learner to operate in the
environment to acquire reinforcement. This means that the behavior
may be directed by appropriate reinforcement. For example when ever
you perform well in the office, your boss appreciates you. This
appreciation helps you in strengthening the behavior of performing
well in the office.

Examples of Operant Conditioning

We can find examples of operant conditioning at work all around us.
Consider the case of children completing homework to earn a reward
from a parent or teacher, or employees finishing projects to receive
praise or promotions. In these examples, the promise or possibility of
rewards causes an increase in behavior, but operant conditioning can
also be used to decrease a behavior. The removal of an undesirable
outcome or the use of punishment can be used to decrease or prevent
undesirable behaviors. For example, a child may be told they will lose
recess privileges if they talk out of turn in class. This potential for
punishment may lead to a decrease in disruptive behaviors.

Finally, the most important aspect of Skinner's contribution to training

is the significance attached to the organism, which is essentially active
in the environment in the emitting behavior. According to Skinner, the
job of the trainer is to ensure the right behavior is reinforced. Thus, the
trainer should have the clear idea about the terminal behavior of the
trainees, and the trainer should closely follow the trainees to
appropriately reinforce correct responses. This is the purpose of
programmed instruction. Burns (1995) notes that much Competency
based Training are based on this theory.

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 How operant condition is differing with classical
conditioning theory of learning?
Classical conditioning and operant conditioning are different learning
methods. The two methods have the word conditioning in common.
What is conditioning? Conditioning is the acquisition of specific
patterns of behavior in the presence of well-defined stimuli. Both
classical and operant conditioning is basic forms of learning. Classical
conditioning is a type of learning in which an organism learns to
transfer a natural response from one stimulus to another, previously
neutral stimulus. Manipulating reflexes does this. Operant conditioning
is a type of learning in which the likelihood of a behavior is increased
or decreased by the use of reinforcement or punishment. Operant
conditioning deals with more cognitive thought process. These two
forms of learning have similarities and differences. Their similarities
are that they both produce basic phenomena. One such phenomenon
is acquisition. Both types of conditioning result in the inheritance of a
behavior. One of the most famous of experiments that illustrates
classical conditioning is Pavlov's Dogs. In this experiment, Pavlov sat
behind a one-way mirror and controlled the presentation of a bell. The
bell was the conditioned stimulus. A conditioned stimulus was an
originally neutral stimulus that could eventually produce a desired
response when presented alone.

Directly after the ringing of the bell, Pavlov gave the dog food. The
food was the unconditioned stimulus. This means that the food caused
an uncontrollable response whenever it was presented alone. That
response would be the salivation of the dog. A tube that was in the
dog's mouth then measured the saliva. When the unconditioned
stimulus (US) was paired with a conditioned stimulus (CS), it eventually
resulted in a conditioned response. Extinction results if there is a
decrease in frequency or strength of a learned response due to the

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failure to continue to pair the US and the CS. Extinction can also occur
in operant conditioning. The key to operant conditioning is
reinforcement.

Reinforcement is when a stimulus is presented that increases the

probability that the preceding response will recur in the future. If
reinforcement is withheld, extinction will occur in operant conditioning.
Another factor that is involved in conditioning is spontaneous recovery.
That is the reappearance of an extinguished response after the
passage of time, without further training. If Pavlov's dogs did not hear
the bell for a few years, and if when they heard it later they drooled, it
would be an example of spontaneous recovery. Something similar
occurs with operant conditioning. If an animal was conditioned to
behave in a certain manor, but then their reinforcement was stopped,
that animal may still have a reaction to the stimulus at a much later
date. Organisms that are being conditioned through operant or
classical conditioning can go through something that is known as
stimulus generalization. This is when there is a transfer of a learned
response to different but similar stimuli.

An example would be if one of Pavlov's dogs salivated to the sound of

a bell that was different from the one that they were originally
conditioned with. Stimulus discrimination is another phenomena that
occurs with classical and operant conditioning. Discrimination is when
an organism learns to respond to only one stimulus and inhibit the
response to all other stimuli. It is the reverse of generalization. If an
organism hears many different sounds, but is only given reinforcement
for responding to only one of the sounds, it learns to discriminate
between the sounds. Some of the differences between operant and
classical conditioning lie in the extent to which reinforcement depends
on the behavior of the learner. In classical conditioning, the learner is

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automatically reinforced. That is how it learns to respond to a once
neutral stimulus.

In operant conditioning, the learner must provide a correct response in

order to receive the reinforcement. Another difference between the
two forms of conditioning is the type of behavior to which each method
applies. Classical conditioning applies to a behavior that is always
wanted. It was Pavlov’s purpose to have the dogs salivates on
command. In operant conditioning, a behavior can be learned or
extinguished. If you wanted to train a dog not to do something, you
would use a form of punishment. Classical and operant conditioning
are similar, but they do differ in a few ways. Both are fairly reliable
ways to teach an organism to act in a specific manor.

Let us summarized the difference between operant condition and

classic condition learning in the following table here:

Operant Condition Learning Classic Condition Learning

 Classical conditioning is  Operant conditioning relies on
passive on the part of the
the learner to actively
learner.
participate in the learning
process
 Classical conditioning, on the  In operant conditioning
other hand, does not provide reinforcers act as incentives for
incentives. learning.
 An involuntary response  A voluntary response (R) is
(UCR) is preceded by a stimuli followed by a reinforcing
(UCS), or stimulus (SRF)
 A stimulus (UCS)  The voluntary response is more
automatically triggers an
likely to be emitted by the
involuntary response (UCR)
organism.
 A neutral stimulus (NS)  A reinforcer is any stimulus that
associated with UCS

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 automatically triggers a increases the frequency of a
conditioned response.
behavior
 The NS becomes a  To be a reinforcer stimuli must
conditioned stimulus (CS). immediately follow the
response and must be
perceived

Q3. Examine various job redesign strategies. Do you think that

they help in improving the organizational efficiency?
Discuss
There are various job re-design strategies or techniques. Let us see
one by one the various techniques which are helps for improving the
organizational efficiency.
A. Job enrichment
Job enrichment is vertical expansion of jobs. According to Hickman and
Oldham an enriched job organizes tasks to allow the worker to do a
complete activity, increase the employee’s freedom and
independence, increases responsibility and provides feed back.
Hertzberg has suggested the concept of job enrichment. Fred Luthans
defined that job enrichment is concerned with designing jobs that
include a greater variety of work content; require a higher level of
knowledge and skill; give workers more autonomy and responsibility in
terms of planning, directing and controlling their own performance;
and provide the opportunity for personal growth and a meaningful
work experience.

The jobs should be designed to provide opportunity for achievement,

recognition, responsibility, advancement and growth. The following are
the characteristics of enriched jobs.
 Decision making power
 Relationships

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  Opportunity for learning
 Freedom
 Uniqueness
 Resource control
 Communication
 Achievement orientation
 Responsibility
 Accountability
 Opportunity for personal growth and development
 Feed back
Job enrichment is not a single time activity. It is a process containing
certain activities. They are combining tasks, creating natural work
units, establishing relationships among personnel, expanding job
vertically and providing feedback channels. The advantages of jobs
enrichment are:
 Increase in quality and productivity
 Enhanced motivation and job satisfaction
 Development of additional skills
 Less work load on employees
 Enhanced creativity in employees
 Increase in pay and perquisites
 Decreased absenteeism and turn over
 Less number of grievances
 Optimum use of human energy
 Increased social benefits due to increases in quality and
productivity
So from the point mentioned above the advantages of job enrichment
which indicates improve the productivity of the organization.

B. Job Enlargement

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Job enlargement refers to making the jobs with a variety of tasks. In
the recent past, there has been an increase in number and variety of
jobs performed by the employees in the organizations. When the
employee feels that the job he is currently performing is less
challenging, oversimplified, lack diversity and less meaningful, the
answer is perhaps job enlargement. Thus job enlargement is horizontal
expansion of jobs to include more variety of tasks within the scope of
the job. For instance, a worker is assigned with job of counting the
finished product, finds it boring and repetitive; the job of counting the
finished products, finds it boring and repetitive; the job can be enlarge
by including certain tasks connected to the job. They are checking the
products before counting, packing and delivering the products at
finished goods warehouse, etc. The following are the potential
benefits of job enlargement.
 Reduction in level of Boredom: Job enlargement provides
scope of increasing the number of tasks performed by
employee. It reduces employee’s monotony
 Utilization of Skills: Job enlargement enhances the scope of
use of employee’s skills and abilities. A feeling of proper
utilization of employee’s skills provides greater satisfaction and
consequent motivation to the employees.
 Quality and efficiency: Job enlargement leads to increased
efficiency of employees as they receive training to do all the
newly added jobs. This result in the increase in quality of
production and overall effectiveness.
 Job enjoyment: In an enlarge job, employee feels less
fatigued. Employees try to enjoy the enlarged work because of
the greater variety of the job tasks.
 Feedback: Job enlargement provides for feedback to the
employee. Thus he can know where he stands in the

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 performance. This enables him to develop his career and
provides right motivation.
However, job enlargement has some drawbacks. The drawbacks are:
 Job enlargement enhances the training costs
 Job enlargements needs introduction of new system. This may
considerably reduce the productivity of employees
 It creates a feeling of overburden of tasks among employees
 Job enlargement requires retrenchment of redundant employees.
In spite of certain drawbacks, job enlargement is one of the best
techniques of job design.

C. Rob Rotation
Job rotation refers to the periodical shifting of an employee from the
existing job to another job at the same level of skill requirements. It is
also known as cross training. The need for job rotation arises out of
over-routinised jobs, boring, boring jobs, non-challenging jobs and jobs
with poor achievement orientation. If an employee is performing one
aspect of the job, job rotation helps him to perform all tasks in the job.
The benefits of job rotation are:
 Reduction of boredom and employee turnover
 Better diversification and development of wide range of skills
that helps building competent employees.
 Greater challenges in the job leading to variety of jobs.
 Increased flexibility of jobs providing scope for better job
scheduling
 Greater adaptability to change
 Increased motivation and job satisfaction

Some of the drawbacks of job rotation are:

 Increase cost of training in all related jobs
 Cost of time overruns in performing the job increases

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  Decrease in the productivity because of rotation of the jobs
 Greater disruptions in social contacts as frequent rotation require
adjustment to social groups
 Increased monitoring and controlling of employees require
additional costs of supervision
Inspite of certain drawbacks jobs rotation is considered as a
motivational process and a technique for human resource
development.

D. Job Reengineering
Job reengineering is another technique of job redesign. It refers to
redesigning jobs based on feedback. Jobs are performed continuously.
The reactions, level of satisfaction and contribution to the goals are
evaluated continuously. There may be discrepancies in the
organizational objectives, jobs goals and finally outcomes of the jobs.
Thus, jobs should be reengineered to make them suitable to
employees. Job reengineering is defined as reallocation of jobs to
achieve congruence of goals of individual and organization.

Michel Hammer defined job reengineering as the fundamental

rethinking and radical redesign of business process by application of
variety of tools and techniques focusing on related customers oriented
core business process to achieve dramatic improvements in critical
and contemporary measures of performance such as cost, quality,
service and speed. He considered that though job reengineering can
be applied to any level of management, customer oriented designed
and reengineering are more important for the survival and growth of
the company. Job reengineering involves use of new technology and
changes in the process of work. The basic objective of job
reengineering is attaining corporate goals through increased employee
satisfaction. Some of corporate goals achieved through job

23
reengineering are customer satisfaction, profit maximization, growth
and enhancing corporate image.

The nature of job, personality, experience of employees, job

performance and satisfaction are some of factors which are considered
in reengineering the jobs. Ti varies from person to person, job to job,
and company to company. Thus, it depends on different levels and
nature of job. Edward E Lawler advocated that organizations must
recognize the importance of treating people differently and placing
them in environments and work situations that fit their unique needs,
skills and abilities. Job reengineering leads to job enrichment.

The following points are the principles of job reengineering.

 Allocation of jobs according to employees’ interest
 Employees preferring routine jobs are allowed to perform routine
jobs.
 Low skilled employees are given jobs requiring low skills.
 Achievement oriented employees are given challenging jobs.
Several factors are considered in the process of job reengineering.
They are information system, government policies, technology, and
competition, appraisal of costs and benefits and prospective
challenges.

Job reengineering is an important techniques of jobs redesigned in

modern organizations. It has a number of potential benefits. Some of
them are: improved customer service, increased growth opportunities,
improved decision making, and learning skills, easy and comfortable
attainment of tasks, effective inter personal interaction, inter personal
communication and improved inter personal relationships.

24
Finally, it should be noted that changes brought by globalization,
liberalization and privatization have forced organization to go for jobs
reengineering. This is because of the fact successful redesigning of
managerial practices and organization structure adds value to the
product and service of the organization. Moreover, reengineering
dispenses with traditional methods of work process.

In general, job redesign is one of the strategies to motivate employees

in organizations. Some redesign techniques include job enlargement
job enrichment and job rotation. Job enlargement is adding more tasks
and responsibilities. Thus, providing an opportunity to spend more time
on job and still fell comfortable. Job enlargement motivates employees
as they are aloud to perform variety of tasks. The work modules are
made meaningful. Job redesign allows scope for utilization of abilities
and provides feedback. Job enrichment is enriching the job by adding
motivators’ such as challenging goals, creativity and innovative
process, making it more exiting and incorporating gross opportunities
in the job . These motivate employees and provide satisfaction. Job
rotation is another strategy. It involves changing the employees from
one job to another job.

Q4. Explain various level of conflict. How do these levels

influence the organizational efficiency? Discuss with
examples
Conflict can be a serious problem in any organization. Conflict come
and does create such situation that it makes nearly impossible for
people to work together before we conclude that conflict is all bad, it
must be stated that conflict also a positive side. Also conflict is often
considered armful, it can have some benefit. A total absence of conflict
can lead apathy and lethargy. A moderate degree of conflict is
stimulating new ideas, promote healthy competition and energies

25
behavior. In organization live conflict can distinguish three level of
conflict
 intra- personal conflict
 Inter-personal conflict and
 Inter-group and organizational conflict

A. INTRA-PERSONAL CONFLICT
Intra-personal conflict is conflict within the individual. This arrives from
frustration, numerous roles which demand equal attention and goals
having both negative and positive aspects. Of this goal conflict assume
significant.

Goal conflict occurs when the attainment of one goal exclude the
possibility of attaining another. Three forms are identified approach-
approach conflict, approach-avoidance conflict and avoidance-
avoidance conflict.

 Approach–Approach conflict arises when the individual is

caught between two or more positions but mutually exclusive
goals. Approach-Approach conflict is hardly a conflict at all;
because which ever choice the individual makes he will attain a
positive outcome.

 Approach Avoidance Conflict occurs when an individual is

simultaneously attracted to and repelled by a single goal object.
Generally, approach avoidance conflicts are most pervasive and
difficult to resolve.

 Avoidance- Avoidance conflict occurs when an individual is

forced to choose between two mutual exclusive, each of which
possesses unattractive qualities. Two kind of behavior are likely
on this conflict; vacillation and attempt to leave the conflict

26
 situation. The forces of attraction and repulsion of the goals,
makes the individual vacillate. Another common behavior on this
situation is an attempt to escape

Role Conflict: The final reason for intrapersonal conflict is the need of
in individual to play several roles simultaneously but finding time and
recourses inadequate to do so. Role conflict involves very real
differences in role definitions, expectations or responsibilities between
individuals who are interdependent in a social system. If there are
ambiguities in role definitions in an organization or unclear boundaries
of responsibilities, then the stage is set for interpersonal friction
between the persons involved. Unfortunately, the conflict is often
misdiagnosed as interpersonal conflict rather than role conflict, and
resolution is then complicated and misdirected. The emotional
intensity is often quite high in role conflict since people are directly
involved as individuals and there is a strong tendency to personalize
the conflict.
B. INTER-PERSONAL CONFLICT
Interpersonal conflict occurs between two or more individuals in an
organization. It arises manly because of differences in perception,
temperament, personality, value systems, socio cultural factors and
role ambiguities. Most managers who have conflict with other
members of organizations most often attribute the cause to a
personality problem or defect in the other. Research study (Whetten
and Cameron, 1991) proposes that there are four sources of
interpersonal conflicts. They are:
 Personal differences: individual differences contribute to
uniqueness in people. These differences can be a major source
of conflict. Disagreements stemming from the differences often
become highly emotional and take on moral overtones. A

27
 disagreement about who is factually correct easily turns in to
better argument over who is morally right.
 Information deficiency: the source of conflict results from
communication breakdown in the organization. It may be
possible that two people in conflict are using different
information or that one or both have miss information. Unlike
personal differences, this source is not emotionally charged and
ones corrected, there is little resentment.
 Role Incompatibility: This type of conflict from both intra
individual role conflict and inter-group role conflict. In the
present organization, many managers have functions and tasks
that are interdependent. However, the individual roles of these
managers may be incompatible.
 Environmental Stress: A stressful environment can amplify
the above types of conflict. When scarce resources, downsizing,
competitive pressures or high degrees of uncertainty
characterized the environment, conflict of all kinds will be more
probable.

Interpersonal conflict may be understood and analyzed with the help of

Johari window frame work, developed by Joe Luft and Harrington
Ingham in the 1960s and transactional analysis of Eric Berne and
Thomas Harris.

Finally, Interpersonal conflict occurs when two people have

incompatible needs, goals, or approaches in their relationship.
Communication breakdown is often an important source of
interpersonal conflict and learning communication skills is valuable in
preventing and resolving such difficulties. At the same time, very real
differences occur between people that cannot be resolved by any
amount of improved communication. “Personality conflict” refers to

28
very strong differences in motives, values or styles in dealing with
people that are not resolvable. For example, if both parties in a
relationship have a high need for power and both want to be dominant
in the relationship, there is no way for both to be satisfied, and a power
struggle ensues. Common tactics used in interpersonal power
struggles include the exaggerated use of rewards and punishments,
deception and evasion, threats and emotional blackmail, and flattery
or ingratiation. Unresolved power conflict usually recycles and
escalates to the point of relationship breakdown and termination.

C. Inter- Group and organizational conflict

Inter-personal conflict, which is also referred to organizational conflict,
refers to conflict between two groups, departments or sections in an
organization. Conflict between groups is frequent and highly visible.
Many reasons exist for inter group conflict; the most important of them
are discussed below.

Task Inter- Dependence: it refers to the extent to which two

departments depend on each other for assistance, information,
compliance or other co-coordinative acts in the performance of their
respective tasks. Tasks dependence exists when two groups function
with relative independence but their combined output contributes to
the overall performance. Sequential dependence occurs when one
group’s performance depends on another group’s prior performance. In
reciprocal inter dependent in accomplishing their tasks. In all the three,
conflict arises from differences in performance expectations. Generally,
conflict will worsen when:
a. The more the activities of one group affect the performance of
other groups,
b. The wider the range of activities in a group that are affected by
another, and

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 c. Work flow is more unstructured

Task Ambiguity: when it is not clear which group is responsible for

performing certain activities, it becomes a source of inter-group
conflict, leading to the point where both groups are upset with each
other for the task left undone. Task ambiguity arises when the
organization is growing or its environment is changing fast. Task
ambiguity can also occur from unstructured and non-directive
leadership.

Goal Incompatibility: this often to inter-group conflict. Even with

positive managerial efforts to avoid incompatibility for different
organizational units, they do exist leading to conflict.

Competition for limited resources: when resources are limited,

inter group conflict arises in competition.

Competitive reward system: A common belief is that better

performance can be achieved through competition and this belief is
reflected in the reward systems. Competition does increase
performance, where the tasks are independent of one another.
However, when tasks require high levels of inter-dependence,
competition can hurt cooperation among members and work groups.

Line and staff: the traditional organizational structure that has line
officers being assisted officers at different levels has inherent potential
for conflict.

Generally, Inter-group conflict occurs between collections of people

such as ethnic or racial groups, departments or levels of decision
making in the same organization, and union and management.
Competition for scarce resources is a common source of inter-group
conflict, and societies have developed numerous regulatory

30
mechanisms, such as collective bargaining and mediation, for dealing
with inter-group conflict in less disruptive ways. Social-psychological
processes are very important in inter-group conflict (Fisher, 1990).
Group members tend to develop stereotypes (oversimplified negative
beliefs) of the opposing group, tend to blame them for their own
problems (scapegoat), and practice discrimination against them. These
classic symptoms of inter-group conflict can be just as evident in
organizations as in race relations in community settings. Inter-group
conflict is especially tense and prone to escalation and intractability
when group identities are threatened. The costs of destructive inter-
group conflict can be extremely high for a society in both economic
and social terms.

Q5. Write short notes on:-

A. Departmentalization
Departmentalization: Departmentalization is a logical grouping of
work activities based on expertise, services, products, markets,
customers, or projects to enhance planning, leading, and controlling. It
is classifying organizational functions and responsibilities into distinct
administrative units. We cannot discuss the types of organization
structure without the types of departmentalization.
Departmentalization is the clustering of individuals into units and of
units into departments and larger units in order to facilitate achieving
organizational goals. Differing overall patterns of departmentalization
are often referred to as organizational designs.

By determining how individuals will be grouped, departmentalization

influences the way an organization operates in several ways. For one
thing, the pattern of departmentalization has a direct bearing on the
need for supervisors and their linkage into the chain of command. For
another, grouping created by departmentalization usually exert a

31
major influence on how resources are shared. For example, members
of the same unit often have a common budget, as well as shared
facilities (eg., office space) and equipment (such as photocopy
machines). Yet another influence of departmentalization is that
individuals are evaluated to some degree as a unit (e.g. by their overall
sales or service record) and, hence, have a structural incentive to
coordinate their activities. Finally, members of groups created by
departmentalization often interact frequently and, as a result, may
begin to adopt the perspective of their particular group and view
others as outsiders. This group perspective often helps members
synchronize their productive efforts within their group. Yet this same
group perspective may make it more difficult for members to work
effectively across units, often necessitating managerial action to
encourage coordination.

According to Holt (1993), there are four approaches to

departmentalization each based on a different way of grouping
specialists. These approaches are: functional, product, geographic, and
customer patterns of organization. Other approaches are divisional,
hybrid, and matrix (Bartol and Martin 1991: 345):

 Functional Departmentalization: Bringing people with

similar skills and expertise, and then giving them authority for
those expert activities create a functional pattern in an
organization. For example, employees in an accounting
department are all responsible for keeping financial records and
balancing of the books. The functional departmentalization
groups positions into units on the basis of similarity of expertise,
skills, and work activities (eg., marketing, accounting, production
or operations, and human resources);

32
 Product Departmentalization: An approach to departmen
talization based on grouping people according to an
organization’s products or services, with functional activities
relocated under product or service divisions;
 Geographic Departmentalization: An approach to departme
ntalization based on geography or territory. For example, the
Federal Police in Ethiopia have offices on regional basis;
 Customer Departmentalization: This is grouping
activities based on customers’ need. Here organizations organize
their employees and functions according to the type of
customers they are going to serve. For example, a hospital might
be organized by separating pediatrics, maternity, male and
female wards;
 Process/Equipment Departmentalization: This form of
organization may be used by manufacturing organizations. In a
textile factory process like ginning, spinning, weaving, dying etc.
may be grouped as departments at a secondary level to enjoy
the benefits of specialized equipment or process;
 Divisional Departmentalization: This groups positions
into units according to the similarity of service or products (eg., a
separate division for each of several products);
 Hybrid Departmentalization: This combines aspects of
both the functional and divisional forms, with some jobs grouped
into departments by function and others grouped by services or
markets;
 Matrix Departmentalization: This type of structure
superimposes, or overlays, a horizontal set of divisional reporting
relationships onto a hierarchical functional structure.

B. Role of reinforcement

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If you recall the theory of effect which stresses that the repetition of
behavior depends on its consequences. This means if the behavior is
followed by pleasant consequences, the behavior tends to be repeated.
On the other hands, if behavior is allowed by unpleasant consequence
the behavior may be avoided. Let us see about the role of
reinforcement.

1. Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement refers to providing favorable outcome of a
desired behavior. If a person’s behavior matches the expectation of the
organization, the person rewarded. Here, the favorable outcome helps
in repeating the behavior of the person. For example, if you perform
job well, your boss appreciates you. As a result of the appreciation you
try to perform well so that you get appreciation. This means that
positive reinforcement reinforces you to do the job in the best possible
way.

This is possibly the easiest, most effective consequence for a trainer to

control (and easy to understand, too!). Positive reinforcement means
starting or adding Something Good, something the animal likes or
enjoys. Because the animal wants to gain that Good Thing again, it will
repeat the behavior that seems to cause that consequence.

Examples of positive reinforcement:

The dolphin gets a fish for doing a trick. The worker gets a paycheck
for working. The dog gets a piece of liver for returning when called.
The cat gets comfort for sleeping on the bed. The wolf gets a meal for
hunting the deer. The child gets dessert for eating her vegetables. The
dog gets attention from his people when he barks. The elephant seal
gets a chance to mate for fighting off rivals. The child gets ice cream
for begging incessantly. The toddler gets picked up and comforted for
screaming. The dog gets to play in the park for pulling her owner there.

34
A primary positive reinforcer is something that the animal does not
have to learn to like. It comes naturally, no experience necessary.
Primary R+S usually include food, water, often include sex (the chance
to mate), the chance to engage in instinctive behaviors, and for social
animals, the chance to interact with others.

A secondary positive reinforcer is something that the animal has to

learn to like. The learning can be accomplished through Classical
Conditioning or through some other method. A paycheck is a
secondary reinforcer - just try writing a check to reward a young child
for potty training!

2. Negative reinforcement
In negative reinforcement, an unpleasant outcome is introduced after
performing a desired behaviour so that the person avoids performing
the behaviour. The person learns to avoid un pleasant outcomes by
behaving in a desired way. For example, if an employee follows the
order of his boss and completes his work in time he may not be
harassed or criticized by his boss and completes his work in time he
may not be harassed or criticized by his boss. Here harassment or
criticism works as a negative reinforcement which the employee learns
to avoid by completing his task and following the order of his boss.

Negative reinforcement increases a behavior by ending or taking away

Something Bad or aversive. By making the animal's circumstances
better, you are rewarding it and increasing the likelihood that it will
repeat the behavior that was occurring when you ended the Bad Thing.
In order to use negative reinforcement, the trainer must be able to
control the Bad Thing that is being taken away. This often means that
the trainer must also apply the Bad Thing. And applying a Bad Thing
might reduce whatever behavior was going on when the Bad Thing was

35
applied. And reducing a behavior by applying a Bad Thing is positive
punishment. So when you start your Bad Thing that you're going to
end as a negative reinforcer, you run the risk of punishing some other
behavior.

One of the major results of taking away Something Bad is often relief.
So another way to think of negative reinforcement is that you are
providing relief to the animal but of course, this makes it an example
of positive reinforcement - you are providing Something Good - relief.
Confusing?

Examples
The choke collar is loosened when the dog moves closer to the trainer.
The ear pinch stops when the dog takes the dumbbell. The reins are
loosened when the horse slows down. The car buzzer turns off when
you put on your seatbelt. Dad continues driving towards Disneyland
when the kids are quiet. "I'm not talking to you until you apologize!"
The hostage is released when the ransom is paid. The torture is
stopped when the victim confesses. "Why do I keep hitting my head
against the wall?” Cause it feels so good when I stop!" The baby stops
crying when his mom feeds him.

3. Extinction
If reinforcement fails to occur after a behavior that has been reinforced
in the past, the behavior might extinguish. This process is called
extinction. A variable ratio schedule of reinforcement makes the
behavior less vulnerable to extinction. If you're not expecting to gain a
reward every time you accomplish a behavior, you are not likely to
stop the first few times your action fails to generate the desired
consequence. This is the principle that slot machines are based on.
"OK, I didn't win this time, but next time I'm almost sure to win!"

36
When a behavior that has been strongly reinforced in the past no
longer gains reinforcement, you might experience what's call
extinction burst. This is when the animal performs the behavior over
and over again, in a burst of activity. Extinction bursts are something
for trainers to watch out for!

4. Punishment
In punishment, an undesired behaviour is followed by an unpleasant
outcome. It decreases the occurrence of behaviour. For example, if a
sales person does not complete his target, his boss withdraws bonus or
perks or demotes him. The fear of withdrawal or demotion makes the
salespersons to complete their tasks.

C. Concept of organizational Culture

Organizational culture refers to a system of shared meaning held by its
members. It is expressed in terms of norms, values, attitudes and
beliefs shard by organizational members. The organizational culture
must be created and sustained in such a way that it develops the
congenial environment in the organization. On the other hand,
organizational climate consists of a set of characteristics and factors
thata are perceived by the employees about their organization.
Organizations must create favorable organizational climate for
improving organizational effectiveness.

Culture is a pivot of any group or society. It determines the way

members interact with one another and with outsiders.
Stoner ,freeman and Gilbert have describe culture, as the complex
mixture of assumptions, behaviours, stories, myths, metaphors, and
other ideas that fit together to define what it means to be members of
particular society.

37
Organizational culture refers to the general culture within a company
or organization, and is often also referred to as corporate culture,
though that isn't the best description since a large non-profit
organization or charity could also have its own organizational culture
even though they are definitely not corporations. Here are some of the
many definitions of organizational culture that can be found.

When an organization takes on a life of its own, apart from any its
members, and acquires immortality, the organization is said to be
institutionalized. When an organizations takes on institutional
performance, acceptable modes of behaviour become largely self
evident to its members. So an understanding of what makes up an
organization’s culture, and how is created, sustained, and learnt will
enhance our ability to explain and predict the behaviour of people at
work. Organizational culture is described as the set of important
understandings, such as norms, values, attitudes, and beliefs, shared
by organizational members. According to the recent understanding
about organizational culture, ‘system of shared meaning among
members’ is the essential core of organizational culture.

Gareth Morgan has described organizational culture as: "The set of the
set of beliefs, values, and norms, together with symbols like
dramatized events and personalities that represents the unique
character of an organization, and provides the context for action in it
and by it." Beliefs and values are words that will pop up frequently in
other definitions, as well. Norms might be described as traditions,
structure of authority, or routines.

Edgar Schein, another of the most famous and most respected

theorists dealing with organizational culture says that the definition of
organizational culture has to be general, or else you start to eliminate
factors that actually are part of corporate culture.

38
Schein's definition of organizational culture is: "A pattern of shared
basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems that
has worked well enough to be considered valid and is passed on to
new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation
to those problems." Although the words are different, the two
definitions are nearly the same in terms of content.

According to Elliott Jacques, an organizational culture is customary or

traditional ways of thinking and doing things, which are shared to
greater or lesser extent by all members of the organizations, which
new members must learn and at least partially accept in order to be
accepted in to the service of the firm.

The other aspect of organizational culture that is often true is that it

becomes very deeply rooted. It is the identity of a company, and
because of that, in some ways it becomes an identity of those who
work there, as well. This is always important to remember, as culture
becomes like a circular argument. The people end up affecting the
culture as much as the culture is affecting them.

Because culture is so deeply rooted in an organizations history of

success or failure, and because of its collective experience, any
organization that needs to work to change it will be facing an uphill
battle and a huge investment in time, resources, and work. In these
situations, it is often best to find some professional outsiders to at least
help out, people who haven't been exposed and sucked into the bad
habits of a dysfunctional organizational culture.

So while there are many definitions of organizational culture, all of

them focus on the same points: collective experience, routine, beliefs,
values, goals, and system. These are learned and re-learned, passed

39
on to new employees, and continues on as part of a company's core
identity.

According to various studies, followings are the primary characteristics

of an organization’s culture:
 Innovation and risk taking: the degree o to which employees
are encouraged to take innovative steps and to take calculated
risk.
 Attention to detail: The degree to which employees are
expected to pay attention to detail;
 Outcome Orientation: the degree to which management
focuses outcome rather than on process to achieve outcome;
 People Orientation: the degree to which management gives
attentions to effect of decisions on people working in an
organization and on its shareholders;
 Team Orientation: the degree to which works are organized
around team rather than individuals;
 Aggressiveness: the degree to which people are aggressive or
competitive rather than easygoing
 Stability: the degree to which maintaining status quo is
emphasized in contrast to growth.
 Individual Autonomy: the degree of responsibility,
independence, and opportunities for exercising initiatives that
individuals an organizational have;
 Structure: The degree of rules and regulations and the amount
of indirect supervision that is used to oversees and control
behavior.
 Support: The degree of assistance and warmth manager
provide for their subordinates;

40
  Identity: The degree to which members identify with
organization as a whole rather than with their particular work
groups or field of professional expertise;
 Performance Reward: The degree to which reward in the
organization are based on employee work performance
 Conflict Tolerance: The degree of conflict present in
relationships between peers and work groups as well as the
willingness to be honest and open about differences;
 Attitudes towards change: the response given to new
methods, ways and values;
 Focus: The vision of the goal and objectives of an organization’s
operations as communicated by those in control;
 Standard and Values: The level of performance and behaviour
considered to be accepted by formal and informal criteria;
 Rituals: Expressive events that support and reinforce
organizational standards and values.
 Openness, communication, and supervision: The amount
and type of interchange permitted; the communication flows can
be down, upward, across the organization, and in other directions
as spelled out by the culture;
 Market and customer orientation: The extent to which
organizations is responsive to its markets and customers;
 Excitement, Pride, and esprit de corps : A tangibly good
feeling about the organization an its activities ;
 Commitment: the willingness of individuals to work toward
goals on a continuing basis.

D. Resistance to change
Resistance to change is an attitude or behavior that shows
unwillingness to approve a particular change. The resistance to
become for successful change serves as a feedback to consider the

41
proposed change. Thus resistance to change can also be used for the
benefit of the organization.

The essence of constructive approach to resistance is to consider

objections raised and make suitable elements and educate the
employees about the proposed change. Resistance can be overt,
implicit, immediate and differed. When it is overt and immediate, the
management can take immediate remedial steps to deal with such
resistance. Implicit resistance may result in loss of loyalty, loss of
motivation, increased mistakes; increased absenteeism etc. in course
of time, similarly differed resistance creates problems to management
particularly when substantial amounts have already been invested in
carrying out change. Resistance to change may be introduced by the
organization, the individual or both.

The different sources of resistance are either from organization or from

individuals.

Organizational Resistance
The following six major’s sources of organizational resistance have
been identified.
1. Structural Inertia: every organization has built in mechanism
or system to maintain stability. It may be training and other
socialized techniques or formulation procedures. The people
are recruited; they are trained and they are shaped to behave
in certain ways. When change is proposed in any of these
systems and procedures, they existing employees may not
accept it.
2. Limited focus of change: Organizations consist of
interdependent sub- systems. We can’t change one without
affecting the other. If management desires to change the

42
 technological process without simultaneously modifying the
organizational structure, the change in technology is not likely
to be accepted.
3. Group inertia: some times even if individuals want to change
their behavior, group norms may act as a constraint.
4. Threat to expertise: A change in the organization may
threaten specialized expertise developed by the individuals and
groups over the year. Hence they are likely to oppose the
change.
5. Resources allocation: the groups in the organizations, which
control resources often, consider change as a threat.

Individual Resistance
The reasons for resistance from individuals can be traced to basic
human characteristics such as personalities and needs. The following
are the six reasons for individual’s resistance to change.
I. Habit: The human beings prefer to carry out their daily jobs in
the same way. Introduction of any new steps in carrying out the
jobs makes them feel that the job has become difficult. So they
resist this change.
II. Security: People with high need of job security are likely to
resist the change which is likely to affect their feelings of safety.
Introduction of new technological changes in an organization
may makes the employees feel that their jobs are in jeopardy.
III. Economic Factors: employees may feel that the proposed
changes may reduce their monthly pay. Hence they oppose such
changes.
IV. Fear of Unknown: when the change is proposed, a known
situation is sought to be replaced by an ambiguous and
uncertain situation, which may not be liked by the employees. As

43
 a result, they develop a negative attitude towards the proposed
change.
V. Lack of Awareness: People may be aware of benefits of the
proposed changes and consequently they resist those changes
due to ignorance.
VI. Social Factors: Individual employee may resist changes either
because of influence of the group or the union to which they
belong. They may feel that if those changes are accepted, they
may be ridiculed by their colleagues or the union officials.

Most people don't like change because they don't like being changed.
When change comes into view, fear and resistance to change follow
often despite its obvious benefits.

People fight against change because they:

 Fear to lose something they value, or
 Don't understand the change and its implications, or
 Don't think that the change makes sense, or
 Find it difficult to cope with either the level or pace of the
change.
Resistance emerges when there s a threat to something the individual
values. The threat may be real or it may be just a perception. It may
arise from a genuine understanding of the change or from
misunderstanding, or even almost total ignorance about it.

44