OB-Test 3-Guidelines

MBA Program (Class of 2022)

Semester I
Organizational Behavior
Test 3: Individual Assignment
The assignment in Organizational Behavior (OB) is an individual assignment where a student will work
independently on a particular topic of his/her choice and submit the report adhering to these guidelines. The
assignment has a weightage of 10% in the aggregate marks. It is evaluated for 20 marks and the weightage is
applied. The guidelines are detailed below:
1. This is an individual assignment.
2. A student can select a topic from the list of topics given in Annexure I. Since these topics are not
exhaustive, a student can propose any other topic of his/her liking from the syllabus.
3. The assignment would be evaluated in two phases as detailed below:
Phase 1: Selection and submission of Topic. This involves finalization of topic and submission of a brief
description of an example or a scenario aligned to the topic. Word limit – 100.
Phase 2: This involves submission of a Report. The report would describe the example or the scenario in
detail. This is an extension to the write-up submitted in Phase 1. The report should demonstrate the
concepts in OB through the example/scenario by critical analysis and discuss the implications thereof.
Word limit – 2,000 to 2,500.
4. Students are expected to ensure that the assignment is original and is not plagiarized from any source.
Plagiarized assignments would be rejected.
5. Even when the topic is same, an example or a scenario should not be selected by more than one student.
6. All reports should be submitted in word document format only. Use Times New Roman 12-size font. The
first page of the report should have the title of the report on the top of the page, name of the student and
enrolment number in the middle and date of submission at the bottom.
7. Save your file in the format - Section_Seat_no_Short_Name. (Ex. D_29_AAA)
8. Timelines for submission:

Submissions Due Date

Submission of topic and brief description of the situation. 04.08.2020
Submission of Report 08.09.2020
9. Evaluation components and marks:

Phase 1: Submission of Topic and Brief description of the example/situation. 5 marks

Phase 2: Report 15 marks

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i. Example/Scenario
a. Originality – 3 marks
b. Detailed narration of the example/scenario - 5 marks
ii. Critical analysis and mapping to the theoretical concepts in the example/scenario
Identifying and relating relevant concepts to the example/situation - 4 marks
iii. Implications
Conclusions drawn by the student that critically evaluates the consequences of the example/
scenario. - 3 marks

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Annexure I
Organizational Behaviour
Test 3: Assignment
Indicative List of Topics for Assignment
Management thought & OB
1 Identify the management practices followed by any company of your choice. Discuss the importance of
Fayol's 14 principles in today's world.
2 Identify a multinational corporation and elaborate on their diversity management practices

3 Compare and contrast two managers on their managerial roles suggested by Mintzberg. Discuss their
effectiveness in the organization on basis of their skills.
4 Identify the opportunities and challenges in OB, from interviews and speeches of business leaders.

5 Provide detailed time and motion study of any contemporary job.

6 Find an organization that directly addresses the cost of absenteeism or turnover. Discuss the strategies
the organization is using.
7 Citing an example in the Indian context, discuss and elaborate the applications of Scientific
Management Approach in that particular organization.
8 Citing an example in the Indian context, discuss and elaborate the effectiveness and drawback of
Weber's Bureaucracy.
Individual Learning & Behaviour
9 Give an example from your own life/organization in which you have learned through modelling

10 What relatively inexpensive steps might a company take to promote informal learning among
employees? Support your answer with a relevant example.
11 Cite a recent example of an organization to explain how mobile learning can be made more impactful.

12 If e-learning is so effective, why haven’t most organizations shifted almost entirely to distance
learning? Can you give some examples of the organizations where e-learning has yielded best results?
13 A tea plantation in Jorhat has just brought in an automatic machine for cutting tea leaves. The workers
are resisting its use. Suggest a method to change their attitude using operant conditioning.
14 You are manager of a large retail store. What social reinforcers can you use to increase the sale of the
outlet?
15 Learning methods should suit the learning style. If you were a trainer and conducting a team training
program for engineers, business graduates, a group of psychologists, and some chemistry researchers,
what would be your preferred method? (Assume that the training is not combined and is independent of
each other)
16 In a call centre with 100 employees the management is concerned about unpunctuality of employees.
Discuss ideas from operant conditioning, behaviour modification, and social learning theory would you
use to reduce this problem.
Attitudes, Values & Job Satisfaction
17 Using any job position in Telangana, illustrate job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job
involvement.
18 Taking an example of an organization, identify and elaborate the factors that lead to favourable job

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attitude of employees. Discuss the consequences of favourable job attitude in employees of that
organization.
19 Citing an example of an organization that has in the past been identified as one of 'the best places to
work in' critically examine the practices of the organization that contribute to different job attitudes..
20 Citing an example of an organization, analyse how they manage and get the best out of their
generational diversity
21 Citing recent examples write an essay on why organizations today focus on employee engagement and
how do organizations foster employee engagement?
Perception
22 Describe the strategies organizations use to minimize the negative impact of stereotypes and other
barriers to accurate social perception giving specific organizational examples.
23 If you wanted to buy a new car, what research would you do to increase the likelihood of making a
good decision? Discuss relevant concepts and describe the decision making process in this context.
24 Multigenerational teams can pose advantages as well as challenges for organizations. Discuss the
strategy that any one company considers when attracting new employees of all generations.
25 Implications of perceptual errors for interpersonal interaction with specific organizational examples

26 Should multinational companies have an ethics code that they enforce around the world? Why or why
not?
Personality & Emotions
27 Person-Job fit : Take 3 examples at different levels (Top, Middle and Junior) from organization and
discuss for each job role what type of personality characteristics will be most suitable, using MBTI
model
28 The manager of a distribution centre for an organization—says, “I like to use the results of the Myers-
Briggs Types Indicator assessment to screen applicants for this position, and since sales managers
should be extroverts and should possess sensing, thinking, and judging skills, we should only consider
ESTJ types.” Write a report on this test for the hiring team and discuss whether the selection process
should only consider ESTJ types.
29 Citing examples, describe the methods that companies use to assess personality.

30 Write a detailed description of the personality traits relevant for expatriate assignments

31 Identify an individual who has demonstrated high emotional intelligence in a given situation and
critically analyse the components of emotional intelligence.
Motivation
32 Motivation, job satisfaction and effective work performance are related. In the evolving context of
‘home office’, some organizations are contemplating to keep certain percentage of employees to work
from home on a longer term basis. Critically analyse and explain motivation of such employees from
the perspectives of job satisfaction and work performance.
33 When we make employees dependent on rewards for outcomes rather than behaviours, there is
evidence that employees will take the shortest route to those outcomes, thus engaging in negative or
unproductive behaviours. From your experience or those of others identify and narrate three such
instances.
34 Discuss employee motivation processes and challenges in any organization e.g., Amazon, Uber.

35 Select one motivation theory that you think has application to a previous job you were at, and write a
description of the job and how the theory was applied.

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Groups & Teams

36 Work group cohesiveness enhances productivity - greater loyalty towards organization and reduces
employee turnover. Develop this argument using the example of an organization where we could
observe this phenomenon
37 Groupthink may lead to taking unwise decisions because members of the group tend to ignore possible
problems with the group's decisions and discount the opinions of outsiders. Relate this with a real
world example and then come up with possible ways to address this
38 Discuss with three examples how the collective effort of a group can be better than excellence of
individuals. Elaborate the ways to ensure there is no social loafing in the work group with an example.
39 With the help of examples from organizations explain the concept of Formal and informal groups (two
in each category) which accomplished the tasks successfully, clearly bringing out the way they went
about in excelling
Communication
40 Describe, discuss, and give examples of the organizational factors that can create communication
breakdown.
41 Does channel richness in communication have implications when organizations that is going virtual, or
the employees working remotely? Support your answer with suitable examples.
42 With the help of an example, describe and explain the importance of selecting the right communication
channel for effective communication.
43 With the help of examples describe and discuss the role of organizational structure on the
communication network in an organization.
Leadership
44 What type of leadership styles suit best in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world? Support
your answer with example.
45 Citing a recent example in the Indian context, discuss and explain the role of a leader in helping the
organization bounce back/recover from the crisis.
46 Cite examples of managers who are not leaders and of leaders who are not managers. What makes them
one and not the other?
47 Identify an individual who could serve as an example of a transformational leader. How successful or
unsuccessful has this person been? (Recent example)
48 Citing a recent example explain and discuss the role of a leader in change management. Discuss the
leadership styles and the roles of the leader in detail in enabling the change process.
49 Taking any movie that you have recently seen, note points where the leadership abilities of the
individual are demonstrated. Discuss leadership dimensions, elements, or behaviours as seen in the
movie and whether those are traits, behaviours, etc., and whether or not someone could be trained to
duplicate them.
50 “Leaders are the primary determinant of an organization’s success or failure.” Identify any one leader
you have read about/know and describe how he/she demonstrates leadership that supports this
statement.
51 “Leaders do not really matter because most of the things that affect an organization’s success or failure
are outside a leader’s control.” .” Identify any one leader you have read about/know and describe how
he/she demonstrates leadership that supports this statement.
52 Do women’s leadership styles differ from men’s? Justify using examples.

53 If leadership is a skill that can be learned, then it presupposes that one can make mistakes.

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Discuss with organizational examples, mistakes that any new leader made and how to remedy them.

54 Find 2 companies whose CEOs have left (for reasons other than normal retirement) in the past 12
months. Assess the company’s profit performance against the average for their industry group. Write an
assignment paper on what you learned.
55 Describe the effects of national culture on leadership style, giving examples.

56 Link between charismatic leadership and impression management

Power, Authority & Politics

57 Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, is widely regarded as one of the most powerful people in
business. What are a few sources of his power?
58 What might be the negative consequences to a manager if he or she ignored power, politics, and
influence tactics? Give some examples
59 What can you do today to start increasing your power? Compare your observations with those of your
friends and colleagues in the organizations
Conflict & Collaboration
60 Cite a recent example of organizational conflict and its impact on organization

61 Cite and discuss in detail a recent example of an organization that resolved organizational conflict
using one or more conflict resolution techniques.
62 Citing an example describe in detail a situation of negotiation between management and labour union
in the Indian context.
63 Report series of real life events which led to the conflict in organization.

Organizational Structure
64 Taking an example of one particular organization in the Indian context, explain the different elements
that form the structure of that organization.
65 Citing a recent example in the Indian context, identify and explain the factors that led to a change in the
structure of the organization.
66 "The structure of the firm should follow the strategy of the firm", citing and elaborating on a recent
example of an organization, support or oppose the above statement.
67 Compare and contrast the processes and performance outcome of two organizations that have differing
organizational structures, however are similar in terms of the sector they belong to and its core
business.
Organizational Culture
68 Take a company from top 10 of Fortune 500 companies. Take another company from top 10 companies
in India. Compare and contrast their workplace cultures.
69 Take a company each in India – one professionally managed and the other a family managed. Compare
and contrast their workplace cultures.
70 Reflect on the experiences of the company where you have worked for at least a year. Do you think
your organizational culture influenced your behaviour? Provide at least three instances to illustrate your
experience.
71 Analyse the culture of the university or institute where you have pursued your undergraduate degree
program. Provide evidences appropriately.
72 New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern sacked Lees-Galloway, a senior cabinet minister, on July
22, 2020 over an affair with an ex-staffer, amid heightened scrutiny on lawmakers' behaviour. Ardern

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said she was not passing moral judgement on Lees-Galloway but added: "He has not modelled the
behaviour I expect as a minister that is in charge of setting a standard and culture in work places".
Taking this example, elucidate what managers can do to create a more ethical culture.
73 In 2017, the Chairman of the Rs.50,000-crore diversified conglomerate, ITC Ltd., which has interests
in FMCG, tobacco and hospitality, announced its decision to set up a multi-specialty hospital to mark
its foray into the healthcare sector. Its core business, tobacco and cigarettes, is carcinogenic. How
would this foray impact the employee behaviour within ITC Ltd. given that it would be dealing health
care and health harm businesses? Analyse this from organizational culture perspective.
74 Identify a company that you want to work in and give a detailed description of the culture of the
organization. Critically describe the elements of the organization's culture.
Organizational Change
75 Select an Organization which has implemented the Change and transformed into a more efficient and
more relevant entity and explain how they went about implementing the change successfully. What
approaches they have followed in managing the resistance to change? Relate the change process in that
organization to Lewin's to Lewin's three step model.
76 With the help of a recent example describe how Leadership has been instrumental to driving a change
in the organization.
77 Citing an organization that recently underwent change explain the process and importance of planned
change. State the approaches they have followed in managing the resistance to change? Relate the
change process in that organization to Lewin's to Lewin's three step model.
78 Explain forced change taking the example of an organization which implemented the change and why
and how organizational change becomes inevitable. What approaches they have followed in managing
such forced change? Relate the change process that was followed in that organization with the help of
Lewin's to Lewin's three step model.
79 Identify an organization in the Indian context that failed to adapt to change. Critically evaluate the
resistance to change factors of the organization.

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