IGNOU MBA MS-21 Free Solved Assignment 2012IGNOU MBA MS-21 Free Solved Assignment 2012

Course Code              :           MS - 21

Course Title               :           Social Processes and Behavioral Issues

Assignment Code      :           MS-21/TMA/SEM - I/2012

Coverage                    :           All Blocks

Q1.Discuss the paradigm shift of work culture and the related issues in the present day context.  Briefly describe the factors of organizational relevance.

Solution:  Work culture in Indian organizations has assumed a far greater significance in the context of the emerging business scenario. In order to gain and retain competitive advantage, it is imperative for organizations to develop a responsive work culture based on the new paradigm. An attempt has been made here to discern the direction of change, specify cultural imperatives, identify dimensions of responsive work culture and highlight their implications for organizations. Shifts in paradigm and corresponding changes in various dimensions of work culture have been suggested. In order to develop and reinforce responsive work culture in organizations, design and process imperatives have been outlined in brief.

Paradigm shifts tend to be most dramatic in sciences that appear to be stable and mature, as in physics at the end of the 19th century. At that time, a statement generally attributed to physicist Lord Kelvin famously claimed. In this case, the new paradigm reduces the old to a special case in the sense that Newtonian mechanics is still a good model for approximation for speeds that are slow compared to the speed of light. Philosophers and historians of science, including Kuhn himself, ultimately accepted a modified version of Kuhn's model, which synthesizes his original view with the gradualist model that preceded it. Kuhn's original model is now generally seen as too limited.

Kuhn's idea was itself revolutionary in its time, as it caused a major change in the way that academics talk about science. Thus, it could be argued that it caused or was itself part of a "paradigm shift" in the history and sociology of science. However, Kuhn would not recognize such a paradigm shift. Being in the social sciences, people can still use earlier ideas to discuss the history of science.

The Factors of Organizational Relevance

Organizations are collections of interacting  and inter related human and non-human resources working toward a common goal or set of goals within the framework of structured relationships. Organizational behavior is concerned with all aspects of how organizations influence the behavior  of individuals and how individuals in turn influence organizations.  Oranizational behavior is an inter-disciplinary field that  draws freely from a number of the  behavioral sciences, including anthropology, psychology, sociology, and many others.  The  unique mission of organizational behavior is to apply the concepts of behavioral sciences to the pressing problems of management, and, more generally, to administrative theory and practice.  In approaching the problems of organizational behavior, there are a number of available strategies  we can utilize.  Historically, the study of management and organizations took a closed-systems view.  The preoccupation of this view is to maximize the efficiency of internal operations.  In

doing so, the uncertainty of uncontrollable and  external environmental factors often were   assumed away or denied.  This traditional closed-systems view of organizations made substantial contributions to the theory of organizational design.  At the same time, for analytical reasons,

Organizations came to be viewed as precise and complex machines.  In this framework, human beings were reduced to components of the organizational machine. More recently, the study of organizations and the behavior of human beings within them have assumed a more open-systems perspective.  Factors such as human sentiments and attitudes, as well as technological and sociological forces originating outside the organizations, have assumed greater importance in analyzing organizational behavior. 

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Q2. Why is it important to understand human behavior and the implications to the organization? Discuss. Briefly describe the models to understand human behavior and their relevance.

Solution: There are five basic models in the understanding of human behavior. These models include: The Biological Model, The Psychoanalytic Model, The Behaviorist  Model,The Cognitive-Behavioral Model, and The Humanistic Model.

1.Biological: Concerned with the activity of the nervous system, especially the brain, action of hormones & genetics

2.Psychodynamic: Emphasizes internal conflicts, mostly unconscious

3.Behavioral: Concerned with learning, especially each person's experience with rewards and punishments

4.Cognitive: Studies the mechanisms through which people receive, store, retrieve, and otherwise process information

5.Humanistic: Emphasizes individual potential for growth and the role of unique perceptions in guiding behavior and mental processes.

The Psychodynamic Approach

The Interpretation of Dreams was a landmark for the science of psychology. Freud's ideas about dreaming and other mental processes were often controversial. Whether one accepts or rejects Freud's theory, there is little doubt that psychoanalysis had significant impact. Terms like unconsciousness, ego, defense mechanism were introduced by Freud.

Freud's Structural Models of Personality (Psychoanalysis)

Sigmund Freud's Theory is quite complex and although his writings on psycho sexual development set the groundwork for how our personalities developed, it was only

One of five parts to his overall theory of personality. He also believed that different driving forces develop during these stages which play an important role in how we interact with the world. which contains our primitive impulses such as sex, anger, and hunger. The id is an important part of our personality because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met. Freud believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle. In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation. When a child is hungry, the id wants food, and therefore the child cries. The id doesn't care about reality, about the needs of anyone else, only its own satisfaction .If you think about it, babies are not real considerate of their parents' wishes. They have no care for time, whether their parents are sleeping, relaxing, eating dinner, or bathing. When the id wants something, nothing else is important.

The Ego:

Within the next three years, as the child interacts more and more with the world, thesecond part of the personality begins to develop. Freud called this part the Ego.It is the part of the personality which maintains a balance between our impulses (id) and our conscience (superego). The ego is based on the reality principle

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Q3. Briefly describe the salient features of counseling and possible outcomes. Discuss the ethical issues in counseling in organizations.

Solution: Salient Features of Counseling

1.Understanding

To be truly effective, the  counselor must have a thorough understanding of human

behaviour in its social and cultural context and be able to apply that understanding to

the particular set of problems or circumstances of each client.

2.Change in the Client

It is often  difficult to  document the change in the  client. Behaviour change, if it

occurs, is probably the easiest to observe because it is the most tangible. However,

clients  may also change their views about certain  behaviours that they previously

regarded as  undesirable, they may change  in the extent to which they experience

stress related to an unwanted situation, or may reduce their general levels of

emotional distress or their values as they progress through counseling. For example, a

person may come to value family relationships more and work achievement less or

may become more tolerant of persons with different political, religious, or social

philosophies. It is thus quite difficult to conclude about change.

3.The Quality of the Relationship

The quality of the relationship not only provides a safe and comforting context from

which interventions that  may help the  client are introduced but can also be

therapeutic in itself. The experience  of a genuine and immediate relationship can

itself sometimes be transforming even if there is no other counseling intervention.

Ethical Issues in counseling in Organizations

A number of ethical dilemmas arising from counseling in organizations have been raised in the literature: confidentiality the incompatibility between the organization's  aims and the aims of counseling loyalty of the counselor and managing different roles  with the same client.  Workplace counselors face not only a barrage of possible ethical dilemmas, but do so

without clear and helpful frameworks for ethical decision-making in work contexts.

Sugarman, 1992 stresses five focal points for the counselor where ethical concerns

need to be tackled:

Identifying the extent to which the aims of an organization over and above the aims of counseling compromise counseling ethical foundation.  Identifying the points at which the counseling provision benefits the organization at the individual's expense.  Identifying any points at which the organization exceeds its right to control  aspects of the employee's behaviour.  Negotiating what is implied by the term `confidentiality' and the conditions  under which it will and will not be maintained.  Identifying whether the resource are sufficient and appropriate to doing more  good than hard, and in what ways the origins of the resource  compromise the  aims of the service.

It would be extremely difficult to prioritize ethical issues. However, there is some validity in presenting confidentiality as one of the  most crucial factors that can  determine the credibility of counseling within organizations. Failure in this area will destroy the reputation of  a counseling service and yet it is not easy to maintain  confidentiality when there are a host of factors within organizations. Failure in this area  will destroy the reputation of a counseling service. And yet it is not easy to maintain confidentiality when there are a host of factors within industry vying with one another to compromise it -  managers wanting information on employees,  personal asking to  be involved, individual  clients sharing material detrimental to  organizational policy, etc. Because of its complexity there have been calls for  specific codes geared to each counseling service within each company

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Q4. Describe the importance of teams in organizations. Briefly discuss the factors in building effective teams and how team sustenance is a critical issue.

Solution: Team work is essential in corporate for better output and a better bonding among employees.

No organization runs for charity. Targets must be met and revenues have to be generated. Tasks must not be kept pending for a long time and ought to be completed within the desired timeframe. A single brain can’t always come with solutions or take decisions alone. He needs someone with whom he can discuss his ideas. In a team, every team member has an equal contribution and each team member comes out with a solution best suited to the problem. All the alternatives can be explored to come out with the best possible solution. Thoughts can be discussed among the team members and the pros and cons can be evaluated.

Tasks are accomplished at a faster pace when it is done by a team rather than an individual. An individual will definitely take more time to perform if he is single handedly responsible for everything. When employees work together, they start helping each other and responsibilities are shared and thus it reduces the work load and work pressure. Every team member is assigned one or the other responsibility according to his specialization, level of interest and thus the output is much more efficient and faster.

Work never suffers or takes a backseat in a team. Mike was taking care of an important client and was the only one coordinating with them. Mike took a long leave and there was no one else who could handle the client in his absence. When he joined back after a long vacation, the organization had already lost the client. Had Mike worked in a team, others could have taken the charge when he was not there. In a team, the other team members can perform and manage the work in the absence of any member and hence work is not affected much.

There is always a healthy competition among the team members. Competition is always good for the employee as well as the organization as every individual feels motivated to perform better than his other team member and in a way contributing to his team and the organization.

Team work is also important to improve the relations among the employees. Individuals work in close coordination with each other and thus come to know each other better. Team work also reduces the chances of unnecessary conflicts among the employees and every individual tries his level best to support his team member. The level of bonding increases as a result of team work.

Team members can also gain from each other. Every individual is different and has some qualities. One can always benefit something or the other from his team members which would help him in the long run. Everyone is hungry for recognitions and praises. One feels motivated to work hard in a team and to live up to the expectations of the other members. Each member is a critic of the other and can correct him whenever the other person is wrong. One always has someone to fall back on at the time of crisis.

Team and team work must be encouraged at workplace as it strengthens the bond among the employees and the targets can be met at a faster pace. Workload is shared and individuals feel motivated to perform better than his team members.

The Factors in Building Effective Teams:

Team building skills are essential for every aspect of life. Whether your a manager, entrepreneur or just setting up a neighborhood park clean up, basic team building skills can determine the success of any project. Needless to say, many projects and events have failed because team collaboration and team work was sacrificed for individual grand standing and personal achievements.

Belonging to a team sets you up for greater effectiveness that you never could accomplish on your own. Organizations and groups that promote teamwork create environments that lead to greater productivity, creativity not to mention a feeling of ownership. Here are 8 basic strategies for effective team building:

Common Goal

The success of any group project is that there must be a clear single goal. Many teams fail when there are multiple agendas. Teams and organizations that succeed are those that have communicated a common purpose and goal.

Clarity Goal

With all communication clarity is a must. Great communication keeps team members from aborting the core of the project due to lack of understanding of the overall purpose. Frequent communication of the project purpose can be vital in keeping the team on track.

Commitment From Each Team Member

For a group a people to function as a productive team, there has to be a commitment from each team member to the team. This can be the fall of many team projects when there is a lack of commitment.

Do What You Do Best

The purpose of assembling a team, is to group together individuals that have specific skills to accomplish a specific project. The purpose in which an individual is selected is based on their skills that they bring to the task. When putting a team together, there are two ways to look at this approach. You can select those that you can guarantee their performance or mingle in new members to set the tone for productive team collaboration.

It’s Not About YOU!

The hardest attitude to grasp in playing a role on a team is that “it’s not about you.” It not about your resume, what others will think, it’s about playing a role to accomplish the goal or task that has been given. The hardest challenge to any project lead or manager is getting a group on individuals to function as a team and place their personal ambitions to the side.

You’ve Got to Talk to Each Other

Not only is communication of the project goal vital, but frequent updates of the task is important. With multiple tools at our fingertips like email, mobile phones, wiki’s, and project management software, to not communicate is a sure sign of lack of commitment from team members.

Work as a Team, Play as a Team

You can tell when teams have spent time together both in a working and social environment. Successful teams can anticipate what others will do and how they will respond. This can only happen by being together. Any person that is responsible for building teams will factor in the importance of spending time together both on projects and in non-working events.

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Q5.Briefly discuss the dynamics of power and politics in organizations. Describe the ethical issues involved in politics and power in organizations. 

Solution: To help us understand organizations, we might consider them as political systems. The political  metaphor helps us understand power relationships in day-to-day organizational relationships. If  we accept that power relations exist in organizations, then politics and politicking are an essential  part of organizational life.  Politics is a means of recognizing and, ultimately,  reconciling competing interests within the  organization. Competing interests can be reconciled by any number of means. For example,  resorting to "rule by the manager" might be seen as an example of totalitarian rule. On the other  hand, politics may be a means of creating a noncoercive, or a democratic work environment. Organizations need mechanisms whereby they reconcile conflicting interests. Systems of rule... each represent a political orientation with respect to how power is... distributed  throughout the organization.

 To help us understand organizations, we might consider them as political systems. The political

metaphor helps us understand power relationships in day-to-day organizational relationships. If

we accept that power relations exist in organizations, then politics and politicking are an essential  part of organizational life.   Politics is a means of recognizing and, ultimately, reconciling competing interests within the  organization. Competing interests can be reconciled by any number of means. For example,  resorting to "rule by the manager" might be seen as an example of totalitarian rule. On the other  hand, politics may be a means of creating a no coercive, or a democratic work environment.   As mentioned, organizations need mechanisms whereby they reconcile conflicting interests.  Hence, organizations, like governments, tend to "rule" by some sort of "system". This "system" is employed to create and maintain "order" among the organization's members.   Systems of rule within organizations range from autocratic to democratic at the extremes.  Between these extremes we find bureaucratic and technocratic systems. Whatever the system, each represents a political orientation with respect to how power is applied and distributed throughout the organization. Each type of organizational "rule" simply draws on different principles of legitimacy.

...politics stems from a diversity of interests...  Organizational actors seek to satisfy not only organizational interests, but also their own... needs; driven by self-interest...

 According to Aristotle, politics stems from a diversity of interests. To fully understand the

Politics of the organization, it is necessary to explore the processes by which people engage in politics. Consistent with Aristotle's conceptualization, it is a given that, within the organization,

all employees bring their own interests, wants, desires, and needs to the workplace. 

Organizational decision-making and problem- solving, while seemingly a rational process, is also a political process. Organizational actors seek to satisfy not only organizational interests, but also their own wants and needs; driven by self-interest.