MANAGEMENT PROCESS AND ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOUR

Assignment Set – 1

Q1. Write a note on the management roles and skills?

The management roles are of three types they are as follow:-

A. Informational roles: It involves the role of assimilating and disseminating
information as and when required. A manager should perform it by monitoring,
collecting information from organisation both from inside and outside of the
organisation. He can also collect information by communicating to organizational
members and the spokesperson representing the organization to the outsider.
B. Decisional roles: It involves the decision making. By the decision making role new
ideas can be taken to improve organizational performance. It also helps in taking
corrective action to cope with worst situation. It also gives the responsibility of
allocating organizational resources make effective, by making all significant decision,
performing any activity that involves budgeting and programming of subordinates
work.
C. Interpersonal roles: This role involves activities with people working in the
organization. This is supportive role for informational and decisional roles.
Interpersonal roles can be done by leading the organization in term of recruiting,
motivating, etc. And by involving with external bodies and public relation activities.

The management skills are of three types they are as follow:-

A. Technical Skill: It is the ability to apply specialized or expertise knowledge. All jobs
require some specialized expertise, and many people develop their technical skills on the
job. Vocational and on-job training programme can be used to develop this type of skills.

B. Human Skill: It is the ability to work with understands and motivates other people.
This requires sensitivity towards others issues and concerns. People, who are proficient in
technical skill, but not with interpersonal skill, may face difficulties to manage their
subordinates. To acquire the human skill, it is pertinent to recognize the feeling and
sentiments of others, ability to motivate others even in adverse situation and
communication own feeling to others in a positive and inspiring way.
 C. Conceptual Skill: It is the ability to critically analyze, diagnose a situation and
forward a feasible solution. It requires creative thinking, generating options and choosing
the best available option.

Q2. Discuss the methods of shaping behaviour in details?

Shaping behaviour is called when a systematic attempt is made to change individual’s

behaviour by directing their learning in graduated steps. It is of four types they are as follow:

A. Positive reinforcement: This is the process of getting something pleasant as a

consequence of a desired behaviour, to strengthen the same behaviour. This help
employee to work hard for a raise or a promotion. It also increases the efforts of
employees to get rewards and bonuses.
B. Negative reinforcement: It is the process of having a reward taken away as a
consequence of an undesired behaviour. Just as people engage in behaviour in order to
get positive reinforces, they also engage in behaviours to avoid or escape unpleasant
conditions. Terminating an unpleasant stimulus in order to strengthen or increase the
probability of a response is called negative reinforcement.
C. Punishment: It’s a kind of practice done by organizations to control an undesirable
behaviour. It is the most common technique of behaviour used to control any kind of
undesirable behaviour.
D. Extinction: An alternative to punish undesirable behaviour is the attempt to weaken
behaviour by attaching no consequences either positive or negative to it, is equivalent
to ignoring the behaviour. The rationale for using extinction is that a behaviour not
followed by any consequence is weakened. However, some patience and time may be
needed for it to be effective.
This type of reinforcement is applied to reduce undesirable behaviour,
especially when such behaviour was previously rewarded. This means that if rewards
were removed from behaviour that were previously reinforced, then such behaviours
would become less frequent and eventually die out. Both positive and negative
reinforcement result in learning. They strengthen a response and increase the
probability of repetition. Both punishment and extinction weaken behaviour and tend
to decrease its subsequent frequency.
Q3. Explain the classification of personality types given by Myers-Briggs?

The personality type given by Myers-Briggs classifies human beings into four opposite pair’s
base on their psychological opposites. These four opposite pairs result into 16 possible
combination. In Myers-Briggs type indicator, individuals are classified as:

A. Extrovert or Introvert (E or I)
B. Sensing or Intuitive (S or N)
C. Thinking or Feeling (T or F)
D. Perceiving or Judging (P or J)

These classifications are then combined into sixteen personality types for e.g.:

 “INTJ” are visionaries, they usually have original minds and great drive for their own
ideas and purposes. They are characterized as sceptical, critical, independent,
determined and often stubborn.
 “ESTJ” are organizers, they are realistic, logical, analytical, decisive, and have a
natural head for business or mechanics. They like to organize and run activities.
 “ENTP” are conceptualizer; he or she is innovative, individualistic, versatile, and
attracted to entrepreneurial ideas. This person tends to be resourceful in solving
challenging problem but may neglect routine assignments.

Q4. What are the factors influencing perception?

Factors influencing perception are of three types, they are as follow:

1. Factors in the perceiver: Several characteristics of the perceiver can affect

perception. When an individual looks at a target and attempts to interpret what he or
she stands for, that interpretation is heavily influenced by personal characteristic of
the individual perceiver. The major characteristic of the perceiver influencing
perception are:
 Attitudes: The perceiver’s attitudes affect perception. Suppose Mr. X is
interviewing candidates for a very important position in his organisation, a
 position that requires negotiation contracts with suppliers, most of whom are
male. Then Mr. X may feel that women are not capable of holding their own
in tough negotiation. This attitude will doubtless affect his perceptions of the
female candidates he interviews.
 Moods: It can have a strong influence on the way we perceive someone. We
think differently when we are happy then we do when we are depressed. In
addition, we remember information that is consistent with our mood state
better than information that is inconsistent with our mood state. When in a
positive mood, we form more positive impression of others. When in a
negative mood, we tend to evaluate others unfavourably.
 Motives: Unsatisfied needs or motives stimulate individuals and may exert a
strong influence on their perceptions. For e.g. in an organization context, a
boss who is insecure perceives a subordinates efforts to do an outstanding job
as a threat to his or her own position. Personal insecurity can be translated into
the perception that others are out to “get my job”, regardless of the intention of
the subordinates.
 Self-Concept: Another factor that can affect social perception is the
perceiver’s self-concept. An individual with a positive self-concept tends to
notice positive attributes in another person. In contrast, a negative self-concept
can lead a perceiver to pick out c traits in another person. Greater
understanding of self allows us to have more accurate perceptions of others.
 Interest: The focus of our attention appears to be influenced by our interests.
Because our individual interests differ considerably, what one person notice in
a situation can differ from what others perceive?
 Cognitive Structure: An individual’s pattern of thinking, also affects
perception. Some people have a tendency to perceive physical traits, such as
height, weight, and appearance, more readily. Others tend to focus more on
central traits, or personality dispositions. Cognitive complexity allows a
person to perceive multiple characteristics of another person rather than
attending to just a few traits.
 Expectations: It can distort your perceptions in that you will see what you
expect to see. Knowing oneself makes it easier to see others accurately. One’s
own characteristic affect the characteristic one is likely to see in others. People
 who accept themselves are more likely to be able to see favourable aspects of
other people. Accuracy in perceiving others is not a single skill.
2. Factors in the target: Physical appearance plays a big role in our perception of
others. Extremely attractive or unattractive individuals are more likely to be noticed in
a group than ordinary looking individuals. Motion, sound, size and other attributes of
a targets shape the way we see it. The perceiver will notice the target’s physical
features like height, weight, estimated age, race and gender. Perceivers tend to notice
physical appearance characteristics that contrast with the norm, that are intense, or
that are new or unusual. Physical attractiveness often colours our entire impression of
another person. Interviewers rate attractive candidates more favourably and attractive
candidates are awarded higher starting salaries. We listen to the topics they speak
about, their voice tone, and their accent and make judgements based on this input.
Non-verbal communication conveys a great deal of information about the target. The
perceiver deciphers eye to form an impression of the target. As a result of physical or
time proximity, we often put together objects or events that are unrelated.
3. Factors in the situation: The situation in which the interaction between the perceiver
and the target takes place, has an influence on the perceiver’s impression of the target.
For e.g. meeting a manager in his or her office affects your impression in a certain
way that may contrast with the impression you would have formed, had you met the
manager in a restaurant. The strength of the situational cues also affects social
perception. Some situation provides strong cues as to appropriate behaviour. In these
situations, we assume that positive individual’s behaviour can be accounted for by the
situation, and that it may not reflect the individual’s disposition. This is the
discounting principal in social perception.
Assignment Set – 2

Q1. Write a note on classical era for evolution of organization behaviour?

The classical era which covers the period between 1900 to mid 1930s, the first general
theories of management began to evolve and the main contribution during this era were
Frederick Taylor, Henri Fayol, & Max Weber.

According to Taylor’s, the management stressed the following principles:

 Managers should do all the thinking relating to the planning and design of work,
leaving the workers with the task of implementation.
 Assign the worker’s task accordingly, specifying the precise way in which the work is
to be done.
 Select the best person to perform the job thus designed.
 Train the worker to do the work efficiently.
 Monitor worker performances to ensure that appropriate work procedures are
followed and that appropriate results are achieved.

According to Fayol’s, the management stressed the following principles:

 Task should be divided up with employees specializing in a limited set of tasks, so
that expertise is developed and productivity increased.
 Authority is the right to give orders and entails enforcing them with rewards and
penalties; authority should be matched with corresponding responsibility.
 This is essential for the smooth running of business and is dependent on good
leadership, clear and fair arguments, and the judicious application of penalties.
 For any action whatsoever, an employee should receive orders from one superior
only; otherwise authority, discipline, order and stability are threatened.
 A group of activities concerned with a single objective should be coordinated by a
single plan under one head.
 Subordination of individual interest to general interest, individual or group goals must
not be allowed to override those of the business.
 Remuneration of personnel may be achieved by various methods but it should be fair,
encourage effort, and not lead to overpayment.
 The extent to which orders should be issued only from the top of the organization is a
problem which should take into account its characteristics, such as size and the
capabilities of the personnel.
 Communication should normally flow up and down the line of authority running from
the top to the bottom of the organization, but sideways communication between those
of equivalent rank in different departments can be desirable so long as superiors are
kept informed.
 Both materials and personnel must always be in their proper place; people must be
suited to their posts so there must be careful organization of work and selection of
personnel.
 Rapid turnover of personnel should be avoided because of the time required for the
development of expertise.
 All employees should be encouraged to exercise initiative within limits imposed by
the requirements of authority and discipline.
 Efforts must be made to promote harmony within the organization and prevent
dissension and divisiveness.

According to Max Weber’s, the management stressed the following principles:

 Jurisdictional areas are clearly specified, activities are distributed as official duties.
 Organization follows hierarchical principle- subordinates follow orders or superiors,
but have right of appeal.
 Intention, abstract rules govern decisions and actions. Rules are stable, exhaustive,
and can be learned. Decisions are recorded in permanent files.
 Means of production or administration belong to office. Personal property separated
from office property.
 Official are selected on basis of technical qualifications, appointed not elected, and
compensated by salary.
  Employment by the organization is a career. The official is a full-time employee and
looks forward to a life-long career. After a trial period they get tenure of position and
are protected from arbitrary dismissal.

Q2. What is groupthink?

Groupthink is a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment

resulting from in-group pressures. Thus the overemphasis on consensus and agreement leads
members to be unwilling to evaluate group member’s ideas critically. This hinders decision
making and become an obstacle to group productivity.

Symptoms of groupthink:

 Group members feel they are above criticism. This symptom leads to excessive
optimism and risk taking.
 Group members feel they are moral in their actions and therefore above reproach.
This symptom leads the group to ignore the ethical implications of their decisions.
 Group members believe there is unanimous agreement on the decisions. Silence is
misconstrued as consent.
 Group members concoct explanations for their decisions to make them appear rational
and correct. The results are that other alternatives are not considered, and there is an
unwillingness to reconsider the group’s assumptions.
 Competitors are stereotyped as evil or stupid. This leads the group to underestimate its
opposition.
 Members do not express their doubts or concerns about the course of action. This
prevents critical analysis of the decisions.
 Any members who express doubts or concerns are pressured by other group members,
who question their loyalty.
 Some members take it upon themselves to protect the group from negative feedback.
Group members are thus shielded from information that might lead them to question
their action.

Guidelines for preventing groupthink:

  Ask each group members to assume the role of a critical evaluator by actively voicing
objections or doubts.
 Have the leader avoid stating his or her position on the issue prior to the group
decision.
 Create several groups that work on the decision simultaneously.
 Bring in outside experts to evaluate the group process.
 Appoint a devil’s advocate to question the group’s course of action consistently.
 Evaluate the competition carefully, posing as many different motivations and
intentions as possible.
 Once consensus is reached, encourage the group to rethink its position by re-
examining the alternatives.

Q3. Explain the process of negotiation?

There are four basic steps in the negotiation process. They are as follow:

 Preparation: Preparation for negotiations should begin long before the formal
negotiation begins. Each party gathers information about the other side, likely
behaviour, previous interactions and previous agreements reached by the parties. Each
party polls its members to determine their wishes, expectations, and preferences
regarding a new agreement.
 Evaluation of alternatives: The two sides attempt to identify the bargaining range,
the range in which both parties would find an agreement acceptable. The bargainers
determine the alternative acceptable to them and also identify their best alternative if a
negotiated settlement is not reached, identifying a set of alternatives, including the
best one, helps individuals determine whether to continue the negotiation or seek
another course of action.
 Identifying interests: Negotiators act to satisfy their own interests, which may
include substantive, relationship, personal or organizational ones. The person or group
must assess the other party’s interests and then decide how to respond to those
interests in their offers. Effective negotiations call for satisfying interests by
identifying and exploring a range of possible position on specific issues.
 Making trade-off and creating joint gains: Bargainers use trade-offs to satisfy their
own and others interests. Either position would meet the interests of maintaining a
certain standard of living. One way to assess tradeoffs is, begin by identifying the best
 and worst possible outcomes. Next, specify what impact trade-off will have on these
outcomes. Finally, consider whether the changed outcomes will better meet the parties
interest.
Negotiators need to overcome the idea that a fixed pie of outcomes exists, avoid non-
rational escalation of conflict, pay attention to others cognitions and avoid devaluating
the others concessions while overvaluing their own.

Q4. The environmental stressors have a great impact on work performance and
adjustment of the individual in an organization. Discuss the different categories of
environmental stressors.

Stress is anything that changes as physical emotional or mental state while

encountering various stimuli in our environment. Low to moderate levels of stress stimulates
the body and increases its ability to react. Individuals then often perform their tasks better
more intensity or more rapidly. But too much stress places unattainable demands or
constrains on a person, which results in lower performance. Even moderate levels of stress
can have a negative influence on performance over a long term as the continued intensity of
the stress wears down the individual and saps his or her energy resources. Two separate terms
have been used to distinguish between the positive and negative effects of stress on the
individual, even though bodily reactions to the two forms of stress are similar “Distress is”
positive stress that accompanies achievement and exhilaration distress is the stress of meeting
challenges such as those found in managerial job.

Distress: occurs when we feel insecure, inadequate helpless or desperate as a result of too
much or too little pressure or tension.

Stress: is a dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity,

constrains or demand related to what he or she desires and for which the outcome is
perceived to be both uncertain an important.

More typically, stress is associated with constrains and demand. The former prevents
one from doing what one desire. The latter refers to the loss of something desired. Two
conditions are necessary for potential stress to become actual stress. There must be
uncertainty over the outcome and the outcome must be important. The stress is highest for
individuals who perceive that they are uncertain as to whether they will win or lose and
lowest for individuals who think that winning or losing is a certainty. But importance is also
critical. If winning or losing is an unimportant outcome, there is no stress.

Three sets of factor that act as potential cause of stress depends on individual differences
such as job experience and personality when stress is experienced an individual, its symptoms
can surface as physiological, psychological and behavioural outcomes are as follow:

1. Environmental factors: Just as environmental uncertainty influences the design of an

Organization’s structure, it also changes in the business cycle create economic
uncertainties. When company B is contractive, for example, people become
increasingly anxious about their job security. Similarly political instability is a cause
of stress. Political crisis like civil war, riots, hostilities with neighbouring countries
etc can lead to stress. Technology uncertainties are a third type of environmental
factor that can cause stress. New innovations can make employee’s skills and
experience obsolete in a very short time, computers, robotics, automation and similar
forms of technology innovations are a threat to many people and cause them stress.
2. Organizational factors: Organizational factors that cause stress include task, role,
and interpersonal demands, organizational structure and organizational leadership.
Task demands are factors related to a person’s job. They include the design of
individual’s job (autonomy task variety, degree of automation), working conditions
and physical work layout. Role demands relate to pressures placed on a person as a
function of the particular role he or she plays in the organization. Role conflicts create
expectations that may be hard to reconcile or satisfy. Role overload is experienced
when the employee is expected to do more than time permits. Interpersonal demands
are pressures created by other employees, lack of social support from colleagues and
poor interpersonal relationships can cause considerable stress, especially among
employees with high social needs. Organizational structure defines the level of
differentiation in the organization, the degree of rules and regulation and where
decisions are made. Excessive rules and lack of participation in decisions might be
potential sources of stress. Organizational leadership represents the managerial style
of the organization’s senior managers. One chief executive officer creates a cultural
characterized by tension, fear and anxiety. They establish unrealistic pressures to
perform in the short run, impose excessively tight controls, and routinely fire
employees for poor performance.
 3. Individual factors: Primarily, these factors are family issues, personal economic
problems and inherent personality characteristics. People hold family and personal
relationships dear. Marital difficulties, the breaking off of relationship and discipline
troubles with children are examples of relationship problems that create stress for
employees. Economic problems created by individuals overextending their financial
resources are another set of personal troubles that can create stress for employees and
distract their attention from their work. Some people may have an inherent tendency
to accentuate negative aspect of the world in general i.e. stress symptoms expressed
on the job may actually originate in the person’s personality.

Business Communication Assignment – 1

Q1. Describe any situation that you experienced where the communication went wrong
because the listening was faulty. Analyze the situation by explaining the type of listening
barrier. How could this barrier be overcome?

It is very important for the management to recognize and overcome barriers to effective
communication for operational optimization and this would involve diagnosing and
annualizing, situations, designing proper messages, selecting appropriate channels for
communicating these messages, assisting receivers of massages in correct decoding and
interpretation and providing an efficient and effective feedback system. Some of the steps
that can be taken in this respect are as follows:

1. Feedback: Feedback helps to reduce misunderstandings. The information is

transferred more accurately when the receiver is given the opportunity to ask for
clarifications and answer to any questions about the message. Two-way
communication, even though more time-consuming, avoids the message. Two-way
communication even though more time-consuming, avoids distrust and leads to trust
and openness which builds a healthy relationship contributing to communications
effectiveness.

2. Improve listening skills: Good listening habits lead to better understanding and good
relationships with the each other. Some guidelines for effective listening are:
 Listening requires full attention to the speaker. Do not let your mind wander or be
preoccupied with something else; otherwise you would not be able to grasp the
meaning of the message in its entirety.

 The language used tone of the voice and emotions should receive proper attention.
Listen for feelings in the message content and respond positively to these feelings.

 Ask questions to clarify any points that you do not understand clearly and reflect back
to the speaker your understanding of what has been said.

 Make sure that there are no outside interruptions and interference during the course of
conversation.

 Do not prejudice or value the importance of the message due to your previous
dealings and experiences with the sender or your perceptions about him, positive or
negative.

 Don’t jump to conclusions before the message is over and is clearly understood.

 Summarize and restate the message after it is over to make sure about the content and
the intent of the message.

3. Develop writing skills: Clearly written messages can help avoid semantic and
perception barriers. A well written communication eliminates the possibility of
misunderstanding and misinterpretation. When writing messages, it is necessary to be
precise thus making the meaning as clear as possible so that it accomplishes the
desired purpose. Some helpful hints in written communication are as follows:

 Keep words simple: This will reduce your thoughts to essentials and the message will
be easier to understand by the receiver. The message will be lost if the words are
complex and do not lend to a clear single meaning.

 Do not be bogged down by rules of composition. While the rules of grammar and
composition must be respected, they should not take priority over the ultimate
purpose of the communication.
  Write concisely: Use a few words as possible. Do not be brief at the cost of
completeness, but express your thoughts, opinions and ideas in the fewest number of
words possible.

 In specific: Vagueness destroys accuracy which leads to misunderstanding of the

meaning or intent of the message. Accordingly, be specific and to the point.

4. Avoid credibility gaps: Communication is a continuing process and the goal of the
communication is complete understanding of the message as well as the creation of
trust among all members of the organisation. Accordingly, the management must be
sincere and should earn the trust of the subordinates. Management should not only be
sensitive to the needs and feelings of works but also its promises should be supported
by actions.

Q2. Select a business article from any business publication. Evaluate it in terms of:

A) Appropriate level of readability

B) Use of jargons, slang and metaphors
C) Use of simple vs. complex words. Is it well or poorly written, in your opinion?

World Markets Rise as Double-Dip Fears Ease: World stock markets advanced
modestly Monday as investors rode momentum from Friday, when an upbeat U.S. jobs
report eased fears that the global economy could slip back into recession. With Wall
Street closed for a holiday, however, trading was expected to remain light. Markets took
heart after official data last week showed private employers in the U.S. added 67,000 jobs
in August, more than analysts expected.

The figure bolstered optimism that the U.S. will maintain a slow but steady recovery
from last year's recession and avoid another economic contraction later this year. By mid-
afternoon in Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 index was up 0.3 percent at 5,446.17, Germany's
DAX was 0.3 percent higher at 6,153.31 and France's CAC-40 was up 0.3 percent at
3,684.20. Asian indexes closed higher and trading on Wall Street was to remain shut for
Labor Day weekend after closing higher on Friday. With most major governments reining
in economic stimulus measures and many pushing through austerity spending cuts to
reduce deficits, investors worry the global economy would be pushed into a double dip
 recession, particularly as the U.S. slows down quickly. Because the U.S. economy is the
world's largest and consumer spending their accounts for a fifth of global economic
activity, the stronger-than-expected jobs data on Friday helped calm investors' frayed
nerves after weeks of worrying indicators.

"As the unexciting, steady and below-trend global recovery continues, it's important not
to confuse it with a double dip recession."

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index climbed 2.1 percent, or 187.19, to 9,301.32
and South Korea's Kospi rose 0.7 percent to 1,792.42.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 1.8 percent to 21,355.77. Australia's S&P/ASX 200
gained 0.8 percent at 4,575.50. Markets in mainland China, Taiwan, India, Indonesia and
Singapore were also higher.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 1.2 percent to close at 10,447.93 on Friday.
The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 1.3 percent to 1,104.51.

Shares in the U.S. ended the week in the positive, the first time that has happened in a
month. The early gains in September mark a stark turnaround from August trade, when
shares fell on doubts about the global economic recovery.

The dollar fell to 84.24 yen from 84.27 yen on Friday. The euro was slightly lower at
$1.2880 from $1.2895.

Benchmark oil for October delivery was down 40 cents at $74.20 a barrel in electronic
trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 42 cents to settle at
$74.60 on Friday.

Jargon refers to technical terms or specialized vocabulary. Some of the technical terms
mentioned above are “rode momentum, Kospi, FTSE, CAC, DAX, calm investors' frayed
nerves, etc.” More complex words and phrases are written in the above article and this
reduces the level of readability when read by a common man. The above article is well
written, however, the reader of the article should have a certain amount of knowledge in
the field of stock trading and world financial markets.

Q3. List out and briefly explain five “do’s and don’ts” for each of participants and
chairperson of a meeting?
Before the Meeting
As pointed out earlier, meetings need to be planned in advance, so that they are
successful. Before any planning can be done however, a basic question to be asked is whether
to hold a meeting at all. The answers to the following questions would help to decide whether
a meeting is necessary in the first place –
-Can the matter be decided or discussed over the telephone?
-Can the matter be expressed in writing, in the form of a memo, or an email message?
-Are key people available to attend the meeting and are they prepared?
-Is the time allotted for the meeting sufficient?
If the answers to the first two questions are yes and the answers to the other two questions are
no, there is no purpose in calling a meeting.
Once the need for a meeting has been determined, the next step is to start planning the
meeting. First of all, the type and number of participants should be decided. A problem
solving meeting should include representatives from all departments, since the decision
would otherwise be incomplete. Shareholders, who are the owners of the company, should
also be included. In terms of numbers, the size of the group could be anywhere between
seven and eleven members. An exception to this is an information sharing meeting, where the
numbers could be larger, so that a maximum number of people benefit from the information.
The second and most important step in planning a meeting is to indicate the purpose
or agenda of the meeting to the participants in advance. An agenda is essentially a list of
topics that will be discussed during a meeting. In the words of Adler and Elmhorst, “A
meeting without an agenda is like a ship at sea without a destination or compass: no one
aboard knows where it is or where it is headed.” An agenda is prepared by the Chairperson of
the meeting, or the person who calls the meeting.
During the Meeting:
The task of conducting and moderating the meeting rests with the chairperson. He or
she must be well versed with the procedures for opening the meeting, encouraging balanced
participation, and solving problems creatively, concluding the meeting and managing time
efficiently. We shall discuss each of these procedures in detail.

1. Opening the Meeting – The manner in which the meeting is opened is important, since a
good opening will ensure that the rest of the meeting will proceed smoothly. There are
different ways of opening a meeting. Generally, it is best to sum up what has been stated in
the agenda – including the goals, background information and expectations of the
participants. It is also a good idea to provide an outline of how the meeting will proceed, as
well as a time budget.
2. Encouraging Balanced Participation – It is also the responsibility of the chairperson to
encourage silent members to contribute to the meeting and to moderate the dominant
members, so that they do not “hijack” the meeting. There are several techniques to encourage
participation:

 Encourage Participation in the Reverse Order of Seniority – This means getting the
junior members to speak or air their opinions first. If the senior people speak first,
they may feel suppressed or be afraid to disagree with their superiors.
 Nominal Group Technique – In this method, the meeting participants are encouraged
to work and contribute their ideas independently

3. Managing Time – There is no prescribed length for a meeting. The duration of a meeting
will depend on the type and purpose of the meeting. Generally, problem-solving meeting will
take longer than other routine meetings. In any case, the chairperson should set a time budget
for the meeting, depending on the agenda and ensure adherence to the time limit.

4. Keeping the Meeting Focused – Often, a lot of time is wasted during meetings by going
off track and by discussing topics that are irrelevant. In such situations, it is the responsibility
of the chairperson, or the person moderating the discussion to make sure that the discussion
remains focused on the topics mentioned in the agenda.

5. Ensuring “Convergence” – Convergence means hearing the points of view of all the
members and then arriving at a decision. It is again the responsibility of the chairperson to
bring the meeting to a point where an opinion emerges on each item of the agenda.

6. Summing Up – This means summing up the different points of view, the decisions and the
actions to be taken. This should be done by the chairperson, identifying the role of each
person on each item of the agenda, along with a specified deadline.
7. Concluding the Meeting – The way a meeting is concluded is as important as the opening,
since it will influence the follow-up action taken on decisions made during the meeting. The
chairperson should know when and how to conclude the meeting.
The meeting should normally be concluded at the scheduled closing time, unless
important issues still remain to be discussed and members are willing to extend the meeting.
Sometimes meetings may be concluded before the closing time, when key decision makers
are not present, or when important information such as cost figures are not available.
8. Keeping “Minutes” of the Meeting – Since meetings are called to take important
decisions concerning the organization, it is important to maintain a permanent written record
of the proceedings, which can be referred to at a later stage, or serve as a guide for action.
Such a record is known as “minutes” of the meeting and may be done in an informal or
formal manner, depending on the type of meeting.
After the Meeting:
A meeting that proceeds smoothly will still not be successful, unless proper follow-up
measures are taken to ensure that the goals are fully accomplished. Follow-up may involve
the following steps –
1. Plan for the Next meeting – Very few meetings is conclusive and cover all the items in
the agenda completely. It is the chairperson’s responsibility to make a note of the items that
have not been discussed and to schedule the next meeting, along with a fresh agenda. All
participants must be informed that a follow-up meeting is being planned.
2. Check Progress on Follow-up Actions – Members of the meeting may have been
assigned different responsibilities and deadlines for completion of tasks. Therefore, it is
important to monitor their progress every now and then, after the meeting is over, to ensure
that the deadlines are met.
3. Do your own Groundwork – Apart from monitoring the progress of meeting participants,
it is also important that you as the chairperson finish any pending work before the next
meeting.

Q4. Evaluate email as a channel of internal communication, explaining its advantages

and disadvantages. Suggest five ways in which to overcome some of the problem
associated with email messages?

The abbreviated form of an Electronic mail is 'E-mail'. E-mail is a system of creating,

sending and storing textual data in digital form over a network. Earlier, the e-mail system was
based on Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) mechanism, a protocol used in sending the
e-mails from one server to another. Today's e-mail technology uses the store-and-forward
model. In this model, the users send and receive information on their own computer terminal.
However, the computer is used only for connecting to the e-mail architecture. The creation,
transmission and storage of e-mail takes place, only when the connection with this e-mail
architecture is established.
E-mail is one of the many technological developments that have influenced our lives. It has
changed the medium of communication. So, it becomes necessary for us to check out the
benefits and harmful effects of this popular tool used on the Internet.

Advantages of Email

 Easy to use: E-mail frees us from the tedious task of managing data of daily use. It
helps us to manage our contacts, send mails quickly, maintain our mail history, store
the required information, etc.
 Speed: The e-mail is delivered instantly, anywhere across the globe. No other service
matches the e-mail in terms of speed.
 Easy to prioritize: Since the mails have subject lines, it is easy to prioritize them and
ignore unwanted mails.
 Reliable and secure: Constant efforts are being taken to improve the security in
electronic mails. Thus, making it one of the secure ways of communication.
 Informal and conversational: The language used in e-mails is generally simple and
thus makes the communication informal. Sending and receiving e-mails takes less
time, so it can be used as a tool for interaction.
 Easier for reference: When one needs to reply to a mail, there is a provision in the
mailing system to attach the previous mails as references. This refreshes the
recipient's knowledge, on what he is reading.
 Automated e-mails: It is possible to send automated e-mails using special programs
like the auto responders. The auto responders reply back to the sender with
generalized pre-written text messages.
 Environment friendly: Postal mails use paper as a medium to send letters. Electronic
mail thus, saves a lot of trees from being axed. It also saves fuel needed in
transportation.
 Use of graphics: Colourful greeting cards and interesting pictures can be sent through
e-mails. This adds value to the e-mail service.
 Advertising tool: Many individuals and companies are using e-mails to advertise their
products, services, etc.

Disadvantages of Email

The e-mails, though beneficial in our day-to-day life, has got its own drawbacks that are off
late coming to the fore.
  Viruses: These are computer programs having the potential to harm a computer
system. These programs copy themselves and further infect the computer. The
recipient needs to scan the mails, as viruses are transmitted through them and have the
potential to harm computer systems.
 Spam: E-mails when used to send unsolicited messages and unwanted advertisements
create nuisance and is termed as Spam. Checking and deleting these unwanted mails
can unnecessarily consume a lot of time, and it has become necessary to block or filter
the unwanted e-mails by means of spam filters. Spamming includes, sending hoax e-
mails. E-mail spoofing is another common practice, used for spamming. Spoofing
involves deceiving the recipient by altering the e-mail headers or the addresses from
which the mail is sent.
 Hacking: The act of breaking into computer security is termed as hacking. After the e-
mail is sent and before it is received by the desired recipient, it "bounces" between
servers located in different parts of the world. Hence, the e-mail can be hacked by a
professional hacker.
 Misinterpretation: One has to be careful while posting any kind of content through an
e-mail. If typed in a hurry, the matter could be misinterpreted.
 Lengthy mails: If the mail is too long and not properly presented the reader may lose
interest in reading it.
 Not suitable for business: Since the content posted via e-mails is considered informal,
there is a chance of business documents going unnoticed. Thus, urgent transactions
and especially those requiring signatures are not managed through e-mails.
 Crowded inbox: Over a period of time, the e-mail inbox may get crowded with mails.
It becomes difficult for the user to manage such a huge chunk of mails.
 Need to check the inbox regularly: In order to be updated, one has to check his e-mail
account regularly.

Every new technology enters the social world with its share of benefits and drawbacks.
Different people interpret and utilize it in different ways. In order to make the most of the
available technology, users should try to understand both, the positive and negative sides of
the tool they use. No technology can be totally perfect!

Business Communication Assignment-2

Q1. Explain with the help of specific examples, four different ways in which positive non
verbal communication can create a better work environment?

Knowledge of non-verbal communication is important managers who serve as leaders

of organizational "teams," for at least two reasons:

To function effectively as a team leader the manager must interact with the other
members successfully. Non-verbal cues, when interpreted correctly, provide him with one
means to do so. The team members project attitudes and feelings through non-verbal
communication. Some personal needs such as approval, growth, achievement, and
recognition may be met in effective teams. The extent to which these needs are met is closely
related to how perceptive the team leader and team members are to non-verbal
communication in themselves and in others on the team.

If the team members show a true awareness to non-verbal cues, the organization will
have a better chance to succeed, for it will be an open, honest, and confronting unit. Argyle
and his associates have been studying the features of nonverbal communication that provide
information to managers and their team members. The following summarizes their findings:

Static Features

Distance: The distance one stands from another frequently conveys a non-verbal message. In
some cultures it is a sign of attraction, while in others it may reflect status or the intensity of
the exchange.

Orientation: People may present themselves in various ways: face-to-face, side-to-side, or

even back-to-back. For example, cooperating people are likely to sit side-by-side while
competitors frequently face one another.

Posture: Obviously one can be lying down, seated, or standing. These are not the elements of
posture that convey messages. Are we slouched or erect? Are our legs crossed or our arms
folded? Such postures convey a degree of formality and the degree of relaxation in the
communication exchange.

Physical Contact: Shaking hands, touching, holding, embracing, pushing, or patting on the
back all convey messages. They reflect an element of intimacy or a feeling of (or lack of)
attraction.

Dynamic Features
Facial Expressions: A smile, frown, raised eyebrow, yawn, and sneer all convey
information. Facial expressions continually change during interaction and are monitored
constantly by the recipient. There is evidence that the meaning of these expressions may be
similar across cultures.

Gestures: One of the most frequently observed, but least understood, cues is a hand
movement. Most people use hand movements regularly when talking. While some gestures
(e.g., a clenched fist) have universal meanings, most of the others are individually learned
and idiosyncratic.

Looking: A major feature of social communication is eye contact. It can convey emotion,
signal when to talk or finish, or aversion. The frequency of contact may suggest either
interest or boredom.

The above list shows that both static features and dynamic features transmit important
information from the sender to the receiver.

The best way to access an executive's managerial potential is not to listen to what he has to
say, but to observe what he does when he is saying it. He calls this new behavioural science
"movement analysis." Some of the movements and gestures he has analyzed follow:

Forward and Backward Movements: If you extend a hand straight forward during an
interview or tend to lean forward, Lamb considers you to be an "operator"- good for an
organization requiring an infusion of energy or dramatic change of course.

Vertical Movements: If you tend to draw yourself up to your tallest during the handshake,
Lamb considers you to be a "presenter." You are a master at selling yourself or the
organization in which you are employed.

Side-to-Side Movements: If you take a lot of space while talking by moving your arms
about, you are a good informer and good listener. You are best suited for an organization
seeking a better sense of direction. Lamb believes there is a relationship between positioning
of the body and movements of the limbs and facial expressions. He has observed harmony
between the two. On the other hand, if certain gestures are rehearsed, such as those made to
impress others, there is a tendency to separate the posture and the movements. The harmony
disappears.

Studies by Lamb also indicate that communication comes about through our degree of body
flexibility. If you begin a movement with considerable force and then decelerate, you are
considered a "gentle-touch." By contrast, if you are a "pressurize," you are firm from
beginning to end, it is important that corporation executives are becoming so sensitive to the
importance of non-verbal messages that they are hiring consultants, to analyze non-verbal
communications in their organizations.

Facial expressions: It usually communicates emotions. The expressions tell the attitudes of
the communicator. Researchers have discovered that certain facial areas reveal our emotional
state better than others. For example, the eyes tend to reveal happiness or sadness, and even
surprise. The lower face also can reveal happiness or surprise; the smile, for example, can
communicate friendliness and cooperation. The lower face, brows, and forehead can also
reveal anger. Mehrabian believes verbal cues provide 7 percent of the meaning of the
message; vocal cues, 38 percent; and facial expressions, 55 percent. This means that, as the
receiver of a message, you can rely heavily on the facial expressions of the sender because
his expressions are a better indicator of the meaning behind the message than his words.

Eye contact: It is a direct and powerful form of non-verbal communication. The superior in
the organization generally maintains eye contact longer than the subordinate. The direct stare
of the sender of the message conveys candour and openness. It elicits a feeling of trust.
Downward glances are generally associated with modesty. Eyes rolled upward are associated
with fatigue.

Tactile Communication: Communication through touch is obviously non-verbal. Used

properly it can create a more direct message than dozens of words; used improperly it can
build barriers and cause mistrust. You can easily invade someone's space through this type of
communication. If it is used reciprocally, it indicates solidarity; if not used reciprocally, it
tends to indicate differences in status. Touch not only facilitates the sending of the message,
but the emotional impact of the message as well.

Personal space: It is your "bubble" - the space you place between yourself and others. This
invisible boundary becomes apparent only when someone bumps or tries to enter your
bubble.

How you identify your personal space and use the environment in which you find
yourself influences your ability to send or receive messages. How close do you stand to the
one with whom you are communicating? Where do you sit in the room? How do you position
yourself with respect to others at a meeting? All of these things affect your level of comfort,
and the level of comfort of those receiving your message.
There are three basic principles that summarize the use of personal space in an organization:
The higher your position (status) in the organization,

(a) The more and better space you will have,

(b) The better protected your territory will be, and

(c) The easier it will be to invade the territory of lower-status personnel.

The impact of use of space on the communication process is related directly to the
environment in which the space is maintained.

Q2. Explain the difference between corporate and product advertising. Give two
examples of corporate advertising with two different objectives?

Kinetic Blaze Introductory Advertisement

The Blaze is part of Kinetic's Italiano series of scooters, comprises seven bestselling true-blue
European scooter designs that Kinetic bought from Italian manufacturer Italjet. With its
aggressive and glamorous Italian design, generous proportions and majestic presence, the
very special Blaze makes an instant celebrity of its rider. The high-spec Blaze also has ample
go to match the show – with a powerful 165cc, 4 valve engine that pumps out 11.6 bhp,
coupled with automatic transmission.

Kinetic Blaze was launched in 2006. The following is an analysis of the introductory
advertisement.

In this advertisement, a group of girls are seen going crazy in front of a house. A guy seeing
the crowd of girls asks a nearby shopkeeper if Abhishek or John were around. The
shopkeeper says it is Rohit Verma. He has Kinetic’s latest scooter and this is the source of all
the commotion.

This advertisement is clearly targeted towards the youth. Not only are the models used in the
age group of 20-30, the entire look and feel of the advertisement is young and “hep”. This
commercial score on some points while it fails at others.
First of all, the advertisement develops attention and generates interest. Viewers are kept in
the dark as to the source of the commotion. Interest is heightened when the shopkeeper
answers in the negative to the names of celebrities. When the name “Rohit Verma” is
mentioned, viewers are all ears (and eyes) to find out more about him.

The presentation of the product, in this case the scooter, is also well done. It looks glamorous,
and the difference in size and shape are also highlighted without words, heightening the
impact. The product and the brand are not lost in the advertisement, and viewers not only
identify the product, but also remember it.

Its market targeting and brand positioning are clearly defined. The target is the middle
income male youth. It is positioned as a scooter for men and the first in ushering in a new
market segment for scooters with its innovative design and target market.

However, the advertisement itself fails to generate a desire for more information or for
purchase. This desire is evoked by the fact that the scooter is new and innovative. If the same
advertisement was broadcast for a scooter that had already been launched in the market, it
would not have done well. So, in a way, this advertisement works for the product since it is
new, but considered solely from the advertising point of view, it does not make a big impact.

The advertisement also fails to answer some of the basic questions that consumers have while
watching the commercial. What sets this scooter apart from the other scooters in the market?
It is obvious that the look and feel of the scooter is definitely innovative. However, all new
products sport a new appearance, in fact, it is imperative that they do so. So in terms of
performance, how does it differ? What is its USP? Why should the consumer choose to buy
this product, when he can be sure of the performance of tried-and-tested scooters?

From the advertising point of view, the commercial lacks originality and creativity. Showing
a crowd of screaming girls to enhance the psychological value of a product is not new. Many
advertisements for motorbikes, furniture, cars etc., showcase models to give the product an
“oomph” factor and increase its appeal. Also, from a logical standpoint, why would the girls
favour a guy based only on the fact that he has this scooter? How does it award him star
status?

The advertising message is vague and unappealing. It is understood that the product is being
positioned as “your Shortcut to Fame”. But, how? Most motorbike advertisements try to
project their product as one that will give the owner an edge with the ladies. The
advertisement says much, but tells little.
Advertisement 2

Gillette’s “Champions” Advertisement

Gillette is a brand of Procter & Gamble currently used for safety razors among other personal

hygiene products. It is one of several brands originally owned by The Gillette Company, a
leading global supplier of products under various brands, which was acquired by P&G in
2005.

The Gillette Fusion is a five-bladed razor released in 2006. There are two different versions
of the Fusion available: the Gillette Fusion, and the Gillette Fusion Power. All share the
characteristic five blades on the front, and a single sixth blade on the rear that acts as a
"precision trimmer". In addition, the Fusion Power is battery powered and emits "gentle
micro pulses" that are claimed to increase razor glide. 

With the release of Gillette Fusion, P&G also launched their new advertising campaign called
“Gillette Champions”. The following is an analysis of the first advertisement broadcast in this
series.

This advertisement features the Gillette champions -- Tiger Woods, Thierry Henry and Roger
Federer. The commercial is called “Today” and all the three Champions explain how
important it is in their professional and personal lives to ‘Be Your Best Today’. 

The advertising campaign exploits the influencing power of brand ambassadors. The Gillette
‘Champions’ are Roger Federer (No.1 Tennis Player), Thierry Henry (No.1 Football Player)
and Tiger Woods (No.1 Golfer). The Indian campaign is varied to include Rahul Dravid to
cater to Indian sensibilities.

The advertisers try to use the concept of transference or association to enhance the image of
their product and brand. The attributes of quality, performance and excellence exuded by
these personalities are projected onto the product and the brand. This builds brand image and
a favorable attitude towards the new product.

A sense of polish and “class” underscores the entire advertisement. It plays on the viewers’
“feel-good” sensations. The advertisement comes across as smooth and urbane.

However, it does feel as if the advertisers are trying to hard by roping in three (or four) brand
ambassadors. Most advertisers feel that having celebrities or stars advertise their product
influences the consumers more than an advertisement that does not feature them. But, there is
something called too much stress on the influence of brand ambassadors.

There seems to be little relevance amongst the slogan, the advertisement and the product.
Gillette may be the best a man can get, but how does that help the ‘Champions’ in their
respective sports? Form a logical standpoint, how does the new razor blade assist the players?

The audio of the advertisement bears little or no relevance to the advertising message. The
advertisement talks about focusing on the present, but says nothing about the new blade.

Nevertheless, overall, the advertisement comes across as suave. The brand image of Gillette
is maintained and even enhanced by this advertisement. The advertisement succeeds in
generating a desire and action to purchase in spite of the drawbacks of the advertisement.

STATISTICS FOR MANAGEMENT:

Assignment – 1

Q1. Why it is necessary to summarise data? Explain the approaches available to

summarize the data distributions?

Graphical representation is a good way to represent summarised data. However, graphs

provide us only an overview and thus may not be used for further analysis. Hence, we use
summary statistics like computing averages, to analyse the data. Mass data, which is
collected, classified, tabulated and presented systematically, is analysed further to bring its
size to a single representative figure. This single figure is the measure which can be found at
central part of the range of all values. It is the one which represents the entire data set. Hence,
this is called the measure of central tendency.
In other words, the tendency of data to cluster around a figure which is in central location is
known as central tendency. Measure of central tendency or average of first order describes
the concentration of large numbers around a particular value. It is a single value which
represents all units.
Statistical Averages: The commonly used statistical averages are arithmetic mean, geometric
mean, harmonic mean.
Arithmetic mean is defined as the sum of all values divided by number of values and is
represented by X.
Before we study how to compute arithmetic mean, we have to be familiar with the terms such
as discrete data, frequency and frequency distribution, which are used in this unit.
If the number of values is finite, then the data is said to be discrete data. The number of
occurrences of each value of the data set is called frequency of that value. A systematic
presentation of the values taken by variable together with corresponding frequencies is called
a frequency distribution of the variable.
Median: Median of a set of values is the value which is the middle most value when they are
arranged in the ascending order of magnitude. Median is denoted by ‘M’.
Mode: Mode is the value which has the highest frequency and is denoted by Z.
Modal value is most useful for business people. For example, shoe and readymade
garment manufacturers will like to know the modal size of the people to plan their operations.
For discrete data with or without frequency, it is that value corresponding to highest
frequency.
Appropriate Situations for the use of Various Averages
1. Arithmetic mean is used when:
a. In depth study of the variable is needed b. The variable is continuous and additive in nature
c. The data are in the interval or ratio scale d. When the distribution is symmetrical
2. Median is used when:
a. The variable is discrete b. There exists abnormal values c. The distribution is skewed d.
The extreme values are missing e. The characteristics studied are qualitative f. The data are
on the ordinal scale
3. Mode is used when:
a. The variable is discrete b. There exists abnormal values c. The distribution is skewed d.
The extreme values are missing e. The characteristics studied are qualitative
4. Geometric mean is used when:
a. The rate of growth, ratios and percentages are to be studied b. The variable is of
multiplicative nature
5. Harmonic mean is used when:
a. The study is related to speed, time b. Average of rates which produce equal effects has to
be found.

Q2. Explain the purpose of tabular presentation of statistical data. Draft a form of
tabulation to show the distribution of population according to (a) community by age, (b)
literacy, (c) sex, and (d) marital status.

Tabulation is an orderly arrangement of data in columns and rows systematically in a

tabular form. It is the logical listing of related quantitative data in vertical columns and
horizontal rows. The presentation of data in tables should be simple, systematic and
unambiguous.
The purpose of tabular presentation of statistical data is to:

 Simplify complex data: Tabulation simplifies the complex data by presenting them
systematically in columns and rows in a condensed form. It avoids all the unnecessary
data that is found in a narrative form.
 Highlight important characteristics:  It also helps to highlight the important characteristics
of the data. As it avoids all the unnecessary data that is usually found in a narrative form.
 Present data in minimum space:  Tabulation achieves economy in using the space for
presenting the data. The textual matter is presented neatly in a short form without
sacrificing utility of the data.
 Facilitate comparison: The data presented in a tabular form is helpful for a comparative
study. The relationship among the various items can be easily understood.
 Bring out trends and tendencies:  Tabulation depicts the data and their significance at first
in the form of figures, which cannot be understood when the same data are in a narrative
form.
 Facilitate further analysis: The Tabulation is analytical in nature and hence it helps in
further analysis.

Marital
Status Sex Educated Non-Educated
Below 20 20 - Above Below 20 20 - Above
  Age yrs 40 40 yrs 40 40
Male            
Femal
Married e            
Unmarried Male            
 Femal
e            

Q3. Give a brief note of the measures of central tendency together with their merits and
demerits. Which is the best measure of central tendency and why?

Condensation of data is necessary for a proper statistical analysis. A large number of big
numbers are not only confusing to mind but also difficult to analyze. After a thorough
scrutiny of collected data, classification which is a process of arranging data into different
homogenous classes according to resemblances and similarities is carried out first. Then of
course tabulation of data is resorted to. The classification and tabulation of the collected data
besides removing the complexity render condensation and comparison.

An average is defined as a value which should represent the whole mass of data. It is a typical
or central value summarizing the whole data. It is also called a measure of central tendency
for the reason that the individual values in the data show some tendency to centre about this
average. It will be located in between the minimum and the maximum of the values in the
data. There are five types of average which are Arithmetic Mean, Median, Mode, Geometric
and Harmonic Mean.

Arithmetic Mean: The Arithmetic mean or simply the mean is the best known easily
understood and most frequently used average in any statistical analysis. It is defined as the
sum of all the values in the data.

Median: Median is another widely known and frequently used average. It is defined as the
most central or the middle most value of the data given in the form of an array. By an array,
we mean an arrangement of the data either in ascending order or descending order of
magnitude. In the case of ungrouped data one has to form an array first and then locate the
middle most value which is the median. For ungrouped data the median is fixed by using,

Median = [n+1/2] the value in the array.

Mode: The word mode seems to have been derived French 'a la mode' which means 'that
which is in fashion'. It is defined as the value in the data which occurs most frequently. In
other words, it is the most frequently occurring value in the data. For ungrouped data we form
the array and then fix the mode as the value which occurs most frequently. If all the values
are distinct from each other, mode cannot be fixed. For a frequency distribution with just one
highest frequency such data are called unimodal or two highest frequencies [such data are
called bimodal],mode is found by using the formula,

Mode=l+cf2/f1+f2
Where l is the lower limit of the model class, c is its class interval f1 is the frequency
preceding the highest frequency and f2 is the frequency succeeding the highest frequency.

Relative merits and demerits of Mean, Median and Mode

Mean: The mean is the most commonly and frequently used average. It is a simple
average, understandable even to a layman. It is based on all the values in a given data. It
is easy to calculate and is basic to the calculation of further statistical measures of
dispersion, correlation etc. Of all the averages, it is the most stable one. However it has
some demerits. It gives undue weightages to extreme value. In other words it is greatly
influenced by extreme values. Moreover; it cannot be calculated for data with open -
ended classes at the extreme. It cannot be fixed graphically unlike the median or the
mode. It is the most useful average of analysis when the analysis is made with full
reference to the nature of individual values of the data. In-spite of a few shortcomings; it
is the most satisfactory average.

Median: The median is another well-known and widely used average. It is well-defined
formula and is easily understood. It is advantageously used as a representative value of
such factors or qualities which cannot be measured. Unlike the mean, median can be
located graphically. It is also possible to find the median for data with open ended classes
at the extreme. It is amenable for further algebraic processes. However, it is an average,
not based on all the values of the given data. It is not as stable as the mean. It has only a
limited use in practice.

Mode: It is a useful measure of central tendency, as a representative of the majority of

values in the data. It is a practical average, easily understood by even laymen. Its
calculations are not difficult. It can be ascertained even for data with open-ended classes
at the extreme. It can be located by graphical means using a frequency curve. The mode is
not based on all the values in the data. It become less useful when the data distribution is
not uni-model of all the averages, it is the most unstable average.

Assignment – 2
Q1. What do you mean by statistical survey? Differentiate between “questionnaire” and
“schedule”.

Statistical surveys are used to collect quantitative information about items in a

population. Surveys of human populations and institutions are common in political polling
and government, health, social science and marketing research. A survey may focus on
opinions or factual information depending on its purpose, and many surveys involve
administering questions to individuals. When the questions are administered by a researcher,
the survey is called a structured interview or a researcher-administered survey. When the
questions are administered by the respondent, the survey is referred to as a questionnaire or a
self-administered survey. Methods used to increase response rates are:

Brevity- single page if possible, financial incentives, paid in advance, paid at

completion, non-monetary incentives, commodity giveaways (pens, notepads), entry into a
lottery, draw or contest, discount coupons, promise of contribution to charity, preliminary
notification, foot-in-the-door techniques - start with a small inconsequential request,
personalization of the request - address specific individuals, follow-up requests - multiple
requests, claimed affiliation with universities, research institutions, or charities, emotional
appeals, bids for sympathy, convince respondent that they can make a difference, guarantee
anonymity, legal compulsion (certain government-run surveys)

Sampling

Main article: Sampling (statistics)

Sample selection is critical to the validity of the information that represents the populations
that are being studied. The approach of the sampling helps to determine the focus of the study
and allows better acceptance of the generalizations that are being made. Careful use of biased
sampling can be used if it is justified and as long as it is noted that the resulting sample may
not be a true representation of the population of the study. There are two different approaches
to sampling in survey research:

There is non-probability sampling approach. In this approach the researcher does not know
each element's probability of selection in the sample. The most commonly used non-
probability sampling method is the convenience sampling approach. With this method, it only
samples those who are available and willing to participate in the survey. The use of this
approach allows for convenience for the researcher while possibly losing data validity due to
the lack of representation.

The probability sampling approach for research methods gives each element a known chance
of being included in the sample. This method is closer to a true representation of the
population. It can be difficult to use due to cost of a rigorous sampling method, and difficulty
in obtaining full coverage of the target population, but the generalizations that come from it
are more likely to be closer to a true representation of the population. Different forms of
probability sampling are designed to achieve various benefits - e.g. theoretical simplicity,
operational simplicity, detailed information on subpopulations, or minimal cost. Some
common forms:

Equal probability of selection designs (EPS), in which each element of the population has an
equal chance of being included in the sample. This uniformity makes EPS surveys relatively
simple to interpret. Forms of EPS include Simple random sampling (SRS) and systematic
sampling.

Probability-proportional-to-size designs (PPS), in which 'larger' elements (according to some

known measure of size) have a higher chance of selection. This approach is common in
business surveys where the object is to determine sector totals (e.g. "total employment in
manufacturing sectors"); compared to EPS, concentrating on larger elements may produce
better accuracy for the same cost/sample size.

Stratified random sampling approach, in which the population is divided into subpopulations
(called strata) and random samples are then drawn separately from each of these strata, using
any probability sampling method (sometimes including further sub-stratification). This may
be done to provide better control over the sample size (and hence, accuracy) within each
subpopulation; when the variable/s of interest are correlated with subpopulation, it can also
improve overall accuracy. Another use for stratification is when different subpopulations
require different sampling methods - for instance, a business survey might use EPS for
businesses whose 'size' is not known and PPS elsewhere.

Q2. Discuss the rule of probability? What is meant by conditional probability?

Conditional probability is the probability of some event A, given the occurrence of some
other event B. Conditional probability is written P(A|B), and is read "the (conditional)
probability of A, given B" or "the probability of A under the condition B". When in a random
experiment the event B is known to have occurred, the possible outcomes of the experiment
are reduced to B, and hence the probability of the occurrence of A is changed from the
unconditional probability into the conditional probability given B.

Joint probability is the probability of two events in conjunction. That is, it is the probability
of both events together. The joint probability of A and B is written or Marginal probability is
then the unconditional probability P (A) of the event A; that is, the probability of A,
regardless of whether event B did or did not occur. If B can be thought of as the event of a
random variable X having a given outcome, the marginal probability of A can be obtained by
summing (or integrating, more generally) the joint probabilities over all outcomes for X. For
example, if there are two possible outcomes for X with corresponding events B and B', this
means that. This is called marginalization. In these definitions, note that there need not be a
causal or temporal relation between A and B. A may precede B or vice versa or they may
happen at the same time. A may cause B or vice versa or they may have no causal relation at
all.

Q3. What is meant by hypothesis testing? Give examples. Differentiate between type-1
and type-2 errors?

A statistical hypothesis is an assumption about a population parameter. This assumption

may or may not be true. The best way to determine whether a statistical hypothesis is true
would be to examine the entire population. Since that is often impractical, researchers
typically examine a random sample from the population. If sample data are not consistent
with the statistical hypothesis, the hypothesis is rejected.

There are two types of statistical hypotheses.

 Null hypothesis. The null hypothesis, denoted by H0, is usually the hypothesis that
sample observations result purely from chance. 

 Alternative hypothesis. The alternative hypothesis, denoted by H1 or Ha, is the

hypothesis that sample observations are influenced by some non-random cause.

For example, suppose we wanted to determine whether a coin was fair and balanced. A null
hypothesis might be that half the flips would result in Heads and half, in Tails. The
alternative hypothesis might be that the number of Heads and Tails would be very different.
Symbolically, these hypotheses would be expressed as

H0:P=0.5 
Ha: P ≠ 0.5

Suppose we flipped the coin 50 times, resulting in 40 Heads and 10 Tails. Given this result,
we would be inclined to reject the null hypothesis. We would conclude, based on the
evidence, that the coin was probably not fair and balanced.

Hypothesis Tests: Statisticians follow a formal process to determine whether to reject a null
hypothesis, based on sample data. This process, called hypothesis testing, consists of four
steps.

 State the hypotheses. This involves stating the null and alternative hypotheses. The
hypotheses are stated in such a way that they are mutually exclusive. That is, if one is
true, the other must be false. 

 Formulate an analysis plan. The analysis plan describes how to use sample data to
evaluate the null hypothesis. The evaluation often focuses around a single test
statistic. 

 Analyze sample data. Find the value of the test statistic (mean score, proportion, t-
score, z-score, etc.) described in the analysis plan. 

 Interpret results. Apply the decision rule described in the analysis plan. If the value of
the test statistic is unlikely, based on the null hypothesis, reject the null hypothesis. 

Two types of errors can result from a hypothesis test.

Type I error. A Type I error occurs when the researcher rejects a null hypothesis when it is
true. The probability of committing a Type I error is called the significance level. This
probability is also called alpha, and is often denoted by α. Type I error, also known as an
"error of the first kind", and α error, or a "false positive": the error of rejecting a null
hypothesis when it is actually true. Plainly speaking, it occurs when we are observing a
difference when in truth there is none, thus indicating a test of poor specificity. An example
of this would be if a test shows that a woman is pregnant when in reality she is not, or telling
a patient he is sick when in fact he is not. Type I error can be viewed as the error of
excessive credulity.

Type II error. A Type II error occurs when the researcher fails to reject a null hypothesis
that is false. The probability of committing a Type II error is called Beta, and is often denoted
by β. The probability of not committing a Type II error is called the Power of the test. Type II
error, also known as an "error of the second kind", a β error, or a "false negative": the error of
failing to reject a null hypothesis when in fact we should have rejected the null hypothesis. In
other words, this is the error of failing to observe a difference when in truth there is one, thus
indicating a test of poor sensitivity. An example of this would be if a test shows that a woman
is not pregnant, when in reality, she is. Type II error can be viewed as the error of excessive
skepticism.

FINANCIAL AND MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING:

Assignment – 1

Q1. Explain the various accounting concepts and principles?

Q2. Explain the various types of errors disclosed by trial balance?

Q3. Differentiate financial accounting and management accounting?

Assignment – 2

Q1. Explain the tools of management accounting?

Q2. Explain the essential features of budgetary control?

MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS:
Assignment – 1

Q1. What is price discrimination? Explain the basis of price discrimination?

Q2. Explain the price output determination under monopoly and oligopoly?

Q3. Give a brief description of (a) total revenue and marginal revenue (b) implicit and
explicit cost?

Q4. Explain the law of variable proportion?

Q5. What is elasticity of demand? Explain the factors determining it?

Elasticity of demand is the economist’s way of talking about how responsive consumers are
to price changes. For some goods, like salt, even a big increase in price will not cause
consumers to cut back very much on consumption. For other goods, like vanilla ice cream
cones, even a modest price increase will cause consumers to cut back a lot on consumption.
Elasticity of demand is an elasticity used to show the responsiveness of the quantity
demanded of a good or service to a change in its price. More precisely, it gives the percentage
change in demand one might expect after a one percent change in price. Elasticity is almost
always negative, although analysts tend to ignore the sign even though this can lead to
ambiguity. Only goods which do not conform to the law of demand, such as Veblen and
Giffen goods have a positive elasticity demand. Goods with a small elasticity demand (less
than one) are said to be inelastic: changes in price do not significantly affect demand e.g.
drinking water. Goods with large elasticity demand’s (greater than one) are said to be elastic:
even a slight change in price may cause a dramatic change in demand. Revenue is maximised
when price is set so as to create a ED of exactly one; elasticity demand‘s can also be used to
predict the incidence of tax. Various research methods are used to calculate price elasticity,
including test markets, analysis of historical sales data and conjoint analysis. There is a neat
way of classifying values of elasticity. When the numerical value of elasticity is less than
one, demand is said to be “inelastic”. When the numerical value of elasticity is greater than
one, demand is “elastic”. So “elastic” demand means that people are relatively responsive to
price changes (remember the vanilla ice cream cone). “Inelastic” demand means that people
are relatively unresponsive to price changes (remember salt). An important relationship exists
between the elasticity of demand for a good and the amount of money consumers want to
spend on it at different prices. Spending is price times quantity, p times Q. In general, a
decrease in price leads to an increase in quantity, so if price falls spending may either
increase or decrease, depending on how much quantity increases. If demand is elastic, then a
drop in price will increase spending, because the percent increase in quantity is larger than
the percent decrease in price. On the other hand, if demand is inelastic a drop in price will
decrease spending because the percent increase in quantity is smaller than the percent
decrease in price.
The price elasticity of demand measures how responsive the quantity demanded of a good is
to a change in its price. The value illustrates if the good is relatively elastic (PED is greater
than 1) or relatively inelastic (PED is less than 1).
A good's PED is determined by numerous factors, these include;
 Number of substitutes: the larger the number of close substitutes for the good then the
easier the household can shift to alternative goods if the price increases. Generally,
the larger the number of close substitutes, the more elastic the price elasticity of
demand.
 Degree of necessity: If the good is a necessity item then the demand is unlikely to
change for a given change in price. This implies that necessity goods have inelastic
price elasticity of demand.
 Price of the good as a proportion of income: It can be argued that goods that account
for a large proportion of disposable income tend to be elastic. This is due to
consumers being more aware of small changes in price of expensive goods compared
to small changes in the price of inexpensive goods.
The following example illustrates how to determine the price elasticity of demand for a good.
The price elasticity of demand for supermarket own produced strawberry jam is likely to be
elastic. This is because there are a very large number of close substitutes (both in jams and
other preserves), and the good is not a necessity item. Therefore, consumers can and will
easily respond to a change in price.

Q6. What is marginal efficiency of capital? Describe the factors determine MEC?
Assignment – 2

Q1. Define pricing policy. Explain the various objective of pricing policy?

Q2. Explain the important feature of long run AC curve?

Q3. Explain the changes in market equilibrium and effects of shifts in supply and demand?

Q4. Describe the trend projection method of demand forecasting with illustration?

Demand forecasting is the activity of estimating the quantity of a product or service

that consumers will purchase. Demand forecasting involves techniques including both
informal methods, such as educated guesses, and quantitative methods, such as the use of
historical sales data or current data from test markets. Demand forecasting may be used in
making pricing decisions, in assessing future capacity requirements, or in making decisions
on whether to enter a new market. Often forecasting demand is confused with forecasting
sales. But, failing to forecast demand ignores two important phenomena [1]. There is a lot of
debate in demand-planning literature about how to measure and represent historical demand,
since the historical demand forms the basis of forecasting. The main question is whether we
should use the history of outbound shipments or customer orders or a combination of the two
as proxy for the demand.
Stock effects: The effects that inventory levels have on sales. In the extreme case of
stock-outs, demand coming into your store is not converted to sales due to a lack of
availability. Demand is also untapped when sales for an item are decreased due to a poor
display location, or because the desired sizes are no longer available. For example, when a
consumer electronics retailer does not display a particular flat-screen TV, sales for that model
are typically lower than the sales for models on display. And in fashion retailing, once the
stock level of a particular sweater falls to the point where standard sizes are no longer
available, sales of that item are diminished.
 Market response effect: The effect of market events, that is within and beyond a
retailer’s control. Demand for an item will likely rise if a competitor increases the price or if
you promote the item in your weekly circular. The resulting sales increase reflects a change
in demand as a result of consumers responding to stimuli that potentially drive additional
sales. Regardless of the stimuli, these forces need to be factored into planning and managed
within the demand forecast.
In this case demand forecasting uses techniques in causal modelling. Demand forecast
modelling considers the size of the market and the dynamics of market share versus
competitors and its effect on firm demand over a period of time. In the manufacturer to
retailer model, promotional events are an important causal factor in influencing demand.
These promotions can be modelled with intervention models or use a consensus to aggregate
intelligence using internal collaboration with the Sales and Marketing functions.

Q5. Discuss any one method of measuring price elasticity of demand?

Q6. Give a brief description of (a) stock and ratio variables (b) equilibrium and
disequilibrium?

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT:

Assignment – 1

Q1. Trace the phases of evolution of human resource management?

Q2. Explain the various techniques and methods used in selecting employees?

Recruitment is the process of generating a pool of qualified applicants for jobs. The first step
of the recruitment process is to get an approval to initiate the search. This is done through a
workforce requisition. Once the workforce requisition has been approved, the next step is to
develop an applicant pool using one or more of the recruitment sources. It’s hard to
overemphasize the importance of effective recruiting. The more applicants you have, the
more selective you can be in your hiring.
Be familiar with what the following mean – Workforce Requisition, Sources of recruitment,
how you choose a source to generate a qualified pool of applicants, Understand the difference
between Recruitment and Selection

Workforce Requisition: The Workforce Requisition is the process through which an

approval is taken to initiate the recruitment process. The workforce plan provide for the
overall estimate of workforce for a year. However it is necessary to take specific approval to
fill vacancies. The Manager in whose team the vacancies have arisen initiates the process
through a Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.. The concerned Department Head as well as
the HR Head must approve the same. The CEO must approve the request for any unbudgeted
positions.

Using sources to generate a qualified pool of applicants: Once the workforce requisition
has been approved, the HR Manager or team initiates the search. Before starting the search
for candidates externally, one should look within the organization for suitable candidates.
First look internally: Organizations may decide to move people into open positions on the
basis of their suitability – qualification, experience & supervisor’s recommendation.
Alternatively, the job can be advertised internally through an Internal Job Posting (IJP). An
IJP entails publicizing the open job to employees – through the managers, e‐mail,
communication meetings, notice boards etc. The employees would then apply for the job and
would go through a selection process. The job posting lists the job attributes and the
eligibility criteria for applying to the position. The merits of sourcing candidates internally
are: ‐

• There is no substitute for knowing the candidate’s performance, strengths and the areas of
development. With internal candidates you are likely to have a more accurate view.

• Commitment levels of internal candidates may be higher

• Internal candidates will have a better understanding of the organization and the industry and
would therefore take less time to settle down in the job. The original philosophy and mission
of the organization is ingrained in them.

• Training & orientation time will therefore be saved

• Employee Morale will rise as they will see opportunities for job enhancement and growth
internal candidates who don’t get the job may get de-motivated.
• Telling unsuccessful candidates why they were rejected and what remedial action they need
to take is critical. This needs to be done conscientiously and requires the managers’ and
interviewers’ time.

• There could be a lot of candidates who apply for the position and interviewing all of them
could be a time – consuming exercise.

• The person who moves into the new role may find it difficult to gain acceptance from a
group of erstwhile peers.

• “Inbreeding” is another potential drawback. When a lot of managers come up through the
ranks, they may have a tendency to maintain status quo, even when a new direction is
required.

Sources of Recruitment: It is not always possible to get all the employees from the current
staff and a search for candidates has to be done externally. There are various sources of hiring
candidates from the external market.

• Advertisement (Choice of publication is critical)

• Placement Agencies/ Consultants

• Campus

• Employee Referrals

• Internet Job posting

• Walk‐ins

• Temping Agencies

• Local Communities where the organization delivers its services

The factors that would impact the choice of the source of recruitment are:-

• Levels – Entry level, mid manager, senior manager

• Scale of recruitment ‐ one or few positions, large scale hiring

• Recurrence – One off, on going

• Time available – immediate, planned time

• Costs – minimal, planned

Q3. Explain Thayer and McGhee “assessment of training requirement” model?

Organizational analysis determines where training emphasis should be placed within the
organization and is based on the objectives of an organization. Concerning what one should
do in analysing an organization, McGhee and Thayer (1961) suggest four steps:

1. Stating the goals and objectives of an organization

2. Analysing the human resources

3. Analysing efficiency indices

4. Analysing the organizational climate

The results of these analyses are then compared with the objectives of the organization. These
comparisons point to specific areas in which training is needed.

Individual analysis aims at identifying specific training needs for an individual or group of
employees so that training can be tailored to their needs. This analysis centres on individuals
and their specific needs concerning the skills, knowledge, or attitudes they must develop to
perform their assigned tasks. The possible methods or techniques for individual analysis
include performance appraisal, interviews, questionnaires, tests, analysis of behaviour,
informal talks, checklist, counselling, critical incidents, recording, surveys, and observations.

Group analysis includes a number of techniques in which a group of well-informed

employees discuss different aspects of the organization, the employees, and the tasks to
identify the major discrepancies in achieving predetermined targets for each of them with a
view to assessing training needs as distinguished from other necessary changes for removing
these discrepancies. The major techniques which are used in this approach are brainstorming,
buzzing, card sorts, advisory committee, conferences, problem clinic, role playing,
simulation, task forces, workshops, and so forth. Many problems exist in an organization, but
some problems cannot be solved by training. After a preliminary needs analysis, which gives
probable causes and solutions, the results should be verified with the concerned personnel of
the organization to determine whether training is an appropriate action to solve that problem.
Curriculum Development: This is the most important part in a training programme after a
need for training has been identified. The curriculum specifies what will be taught and how it
will be taught. It provides the framework and foundation of training. The first phase of
curriculum development determines what will be taught, that is, the training content. Once
training needs have been identified and training activities have been decided as part of the
solution, a needs analysis should be done to determine knowledge, skills, and attitude
requirements and performance deficiencies. The needs analysis procedure involves breaking
down the "training problem" into its basic parts in different successive phases to identify and
understand the important components in each phase. Ultimately it leads to identifying and
understanding the training content. The training needs analysis process can be divided into
three distinct analytical phases: job analysis, task analysis, and knowledge and skill-gap
analysis.

Job analysis: Job analysis is a method of determining major areas of tasks where training
may be needed (see JA Worksheet). It involves the dissecting of a job into its component
events or parts. This analysis allows a trainer to better understand what an employee does in
an organization. Job analysis involves the "task identification" of a particular job. The
techniques used in task identification include job questionnaire, interview, participant
observation, work sampling, job audit, and small-group discussion. The following steps may
provide a guide for completion of job analysis:

1. Identify the job that is to be the subject of the analysis. This involves defining the focal
point for the job analysis. It may include the entire job of a group of employees or only a
specific segment of their job.

2. Prepare a list of tasks which can be done following different approaches and methods. Four
approaches can be used to identify job tasks: (a) experts identify and list critical tasks, (b)
observations and interviews are conducted with employees, (c) meetings are held with group
representatives, and (d) a tentative list of task is reviewed by employees and their supervisors.

3. Verify the tasks. The draft list of tasks should be verified by experts, workers, and
supervisors in the analysis process. This can be done through expert review, small-group
discussions, and inter views. When the tasks are verified, a final list of job tasks is prepared.

4. Determine the frequency. The workers and super visors can fill in a form indicating how
frequently each task in a job is performed. Different scales such as "seldom," "occasionally,"
"weekly to monthly," to weekly and daily" can be used to quantify the intensity of a task
accomplished.

5. Determine the importance. Not all tasks are equally important to a job. An occasionally
performed task may be very important. Therefore, a relative importance rating is useful along
with frequency rating. A scale such as "marginally important," "moderately important," and
"extremely important" may be used to determine the relative importance of the job tasks.

6. Estimate the learning difficulty. An estimate of learning difficulty is another dimension of

the job-task analysis. It shows the trainer the employees' perception of difficulty, which may
be different from the trainer's own perception. A scale such as "easy," "moderately difficult,"
"very difficult," and "extremely difficult" may be used to determine the difficulty indices of
job tasks.

7. Calculate the total score. This can be done by simply adding the scores for frequency,
importance, and learning difficulty for each task. The column for total score in a worksheet
indicates the priority tasks for training if these are training problems.

8. Review the findings. The results of the job-task analysis should be discussed with
significant people in the training system, including government leaders, programme directors,
and others interested in related training.

Q4. Write short notes on (a) Succession Planning (b) Career Planning?

(a) Succession Planning: Succession planning is a process for identifying and developing
internal personnel with the potential to fill key or critical organizational positions. Succession
planning ensures the availability of experienced and capable employees that are prepared to
assume these roles as they become available.

Succession planning accelerates the transition of qualified employees from individual

contributors to managers and leaders. Succession planning:

 Prepares current employees to undertake key roles.

 Develops talent and long-term growth
 Improves workforce capabilities and overall performance
 Improves employee commitment and therefore retention
  Meets the career development requirements of existing employees
 Improves support to employees throughout their employment
 Counters the increasing difficulty of recruiting employees externally
 Focuses on leadership continuity and improved knowledge sharing

Provide more effective monitoring & tracking of employee proficiency levels and skill
gaps. Succession planning is a necessary part of an organization’s ability to reduce risk,
create a proven leadership model, smooth business continuity and improve staff morale.

Q5. Discuss individual evaluation methods used for performance appraisal?

Assignment – 2

Q1. Explain wage administration policy. What are the ways by which wages and
salaries are managed in India?

The term ‘Minimum Wage Fixation’ implies the fixation of the rate or rates of
minimum wages by a process or by invoking the authority of the State. Minimum wage
consists of a basic wage and an allowance linked to the cost of living index and is to be paid
in cash, though payment of wages fully in kind or partly in kind may be allowed in certain
cases. The statutory minimum wages has the force of law and it becomes obligatory on the
part of the employers not to pay below the prescribed minimum wage to its employees. The
obligation of the employer to pay the said wage is absolute. The process helps the employees
in getting fair and reasonable wages more particularly in the unorganised sector and
eliminates exploitation of labour to a large extent. This ensures rapid growth and equitable
distribution of the national income thereby ensuring sound development of the national
economy.

It has been the constant endeavour of the Government to ensure minimum rates of
wages to the workers in the sweated industries and which has been sought to be achieved
through the fixation of minimum wages, which is to be the only solution to this problem.

Fixing of minimum rates of wages:

The appropriate Government may fix the minimum rates of wages payable to
employees employed in an employment specified in Part - I or Part - II of the Schedule and in
an employment subsequently added to the Schedule. The Government may review the
minimum rates of wages and revise the minimum rates at intervals not exceeding five years.

The appropriate Government may fix separate minimum rates of wages for time rate
and for piece rate. Different wage rates may be fixed for different scheduled employments,
different classes of work in the same scheduled employment, for adults, adolescents, children
and apprentices and for different localities and for any one or more of the wage periods, viz.,
by the hour or by the day or by the month or by such larger wage period as may be
prescribed.

Q2. Define competency. How competency is linked to human resource system?

Q3. Think of a situation in which an employee is to be dismissed from the organization,

what will be the fair steps of dismissal followed by the organization?

There are various reasons why your employer might dismiss you. The law distinguishes
between them depending on whether they are considered fair or unfair reasons for dismissal.
You have a right to have a written statement explaining why you have been dismissed.
Regardless of the reason for your dismissal, your employer should act fairly in the procedure
they follow. If they don’t, an employment tribunal can increase any award for unfair
dismissal by up to 25%. Your employer must have a good reason for dismissing you, and has
to show that the reason is genuine and justifies your dismissal. The five potentially fair
reasons for dismissing an employee are:

This usually means you’ve broken one or more of the terms of your employment, e.g.:

 Continually missing work

 Poor discipline
 Drug or alcohol abuse
 Theft or dishonesty

Your employer should follow a fair disciplinary procedure before dismissing you for
misconduct.

Your capability: This means that you can’t do your job properly (including because you
don’t have the right qualifications) or aren’t performing to the required standard, because you
haven’t been able to keep up with technological changes to your job e.g. introduction of
computerized systems.

Long-term or persistent illness makes it impossible for you to do your job. Your employer
should make sure you’re given adequate training to do your job. If you’re performing poorly,
you should usually be warned that your work isn’t satisfactory and given a chance to improve
before any action is taken.

If you are persistently off sick (or long-term sick), your employer should normally look at
any alternatives before deciding to dismiss you. For example, they might have to consider
whether the job itself is making you sick and needs to be changed.

You should be aware that you can still be dismissed if you are off sick. Your employer would
normally be expected to allow a reasonable amount of time for you to recover from your
illness. The actual amount will depend on things like:

How long it will take to recover: How certain it is that you will recover (with some
illnesses, like broken bones, it is clear how long it will take but with something like stress it
can be uncertain)

How easy it is to get cover, whether your job can be kept open. If you have a disability
(which may include long-term illness) your employer has a legal duty to try to find a way
round the problem by making 'reasonable adjustments' to how and/or where you work.
Dismissal because of a disability may be unlawful discrimination.

Redundancy: This means there’s no more, or not enough work for you. It might occur if:

 Your employer closes or restructures

 Your employer relocates
 Your employer needs fewer workers
 Your employer would be expected to select you fairly, consider offering you
alternative work, and to consult you properly before making you redundant.

A statutory restriction: Your employer can dismiss you if continuing to employ you would
break the law – for example, if you’re a driver and you lose your driving license. They would
be expected to try and find other suitable work for you before choosing to dismiss you.
Another substantial reason: The emphasis here is on ‘substantial’- it applies to a situation
where your employer has an overwhelming reason why you must be dismissed. They would
be expected to look at any alternatives before choosing to dismiss. Reasons that have
previously fallen into this category include:

Imprisonment: An irresolvable personality clash between you and a co-worker. If the

business moves to another location, or if it’s taken over, and it isn’t possible to employ you
because of economic, technical or organizational reasons. Unreasonably refusing to accept a
company reorganization that changes your employment terms

Automatically unfair reasons for dismissal: It will be automatically unfair if your employer
sacks you because you exercise your statutory rights, like the right to written particulars of
your terms and conditions are pregnant. Take/ask to take statutory maternity, paternity or
adoption leave. Are or intend to be a trade union member, or refuse to join a union. Exercise
your rights under the National Minimum Wage Act, Complain about a health and safety
problem, Report wrongdoing at work (‘whistle blowing’), Exercise your rights in connection
with a statutory grievance or disciplinary procedure, Take part in official industrial action that
lasts less than 12 weeks, Take time off for jury service, Ask to work flexibly if you’ve a right
to do so, Exercise your rights under the Working Time Regulations.

Q4. Suggest few measures to improve employee morale?

With rising redundancies and greater job insecurity among employees it’s no wonder
that morale is low among many team members as they fear for the future of their current job.
Have you taken the time recently to consider how high the morale of your employees is? You
as a business owner or manager need to know how your employees are feeling at work,
emotionally and mentally. Not knowing how your employees feel can have dire
consequences.

We’ve already talked about the dramatic effect that low morale can have on your
business in the “Growing vs. Contracting in Harsh Economic Times” article. Research shows
a simple business formula behind morale and productivity, that is: low morale leads to low
productivity and high morale leads to high productivity.

The truth is that employees in many small businesses are required to carry out a much
wider range of tasks and carrying a much heavier workload than their corporate counterparts,
due to the low ratio of staff in small business compared to larger firms. If they leave, the
expense to business owners of re-hiring and re-training is a huge burden and contributes to a
disproportionately large chunk in your balance sheet.

One of the key strategies to recession-proof your business is to take leadership of your
staff with vision and courage to get them excited about being at work.

Top Tips for Keeping Morale High:

 Engage with your employees – seek their ideas. Create an environment where
creativity and imagination can flourish.
 Encourage high performance with positive attitudes – optimism, confidence,
happiness and hope.
 Inspire staff – make your staff feel they have something to aim for.
 Be employee-friendly – talk with and listen to your staff.
 Win the hearts and minds of your employees – understand your staff. But you may
ask: how do I keep morale high in an uncertain economic environment?
 Ask employees for their input before making decisions that impact their roles or work.
 Respond to employee questions or requests promptly.
 Employees need to feel that their ideas are listened to and acted upon to feel part of
solving problems.
 Create an open door policy if none exists. Encourage employees to use it once
established.
 Recognize and reward your star employees and those that go the extra mile.
 If cost-cutting measures are necessary, try to do them all at once, rather than dragging
it out bit by bit.
 Create a culture where employees see that their team's work is contributing to making
others' lives better, rather than just a product or service.
 Reaffirm that the challenges are only temporary and create a plan/scenario for your
employers where they can see a brighter future beyond cutbacks

When assessing the morale in your culture, try not to confuse morale with people being
happy. According to the Harvard Business Review, the definition of good morale is that
people’s emotions contribute to, rather than subtract from, the unit achieving its goals. Many
of the best examples of high morale come from situations of great unhappiness and stress -
such as heroic actions in war, etc.
 So, use your current circumstance to rally the troops, build a sense of camaraderie, and
strengthen your team’s focus and dedication.

Q5. Explain Victor Vroom’s expectancy theory of motivation?