KATHMANDU UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

Balkumari, Lalitpur

Mid Semester Individual Examination

Fundamentals of Organization Behavior

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Ms. Rachana Negi Group 8, Section A
Faculty of Organizational Behavior Bandana Shrestha (197096)
Sh
(1970

Date of Submission: June 2 ,2021

Introduction to the organization
The District Forest Office, Kavrepalanchowk was established in 2040 BS. There
were few forest offices that represented many places before, and in 2040 BS, District
Forest Offices were established in each of the 75 districts of Nepal with a vision of
sustainable management, conservation and restoration(reforestation) of wildlife
fauna and flora, maximum optimization of biodiversity and watershed for national
propensity.

The goal the organization is conserving the forest and its wildlife flora and fauna,
controlling and handling forest and wildlife related crimes, coordinating with local
government and related organizations to develop and promote ecotourism,
promoting forest entrepreneurship in an environmental conscious way by
coordinating with different timber and non-timber product based industries,
conducting various workshop to increase awareness about forest and wildlife
conservation etc. among many other things.

Short background about the incumbent

We interviewed Mr. Nhuchhey Krishna Shrestha, Assistant Forest Officer, AFO (also
called Forest Officer8th) at District Forest Office, Kavrepalanchowk. He is currently 54
years old and has been working in the forestry field for around 33 years and as an
assistant forest officer for 13 years. He completed his Intermediate in Forestry
Science (ISC Forestry) on 2043 B.S from Institute of Forestry- Hetauda Campus.
Being an assistant forest officer, he also has to work as a planning officer, forest and
wildlife crime control officer, information officer. 

Job Description
As a planning officer he has to:
 Formulate plans, strategies and budget for the development of the forests
inside the district of Kavrepalanchowk given a budget.
 Assisting and coordinating with other forest officers to implement the
formulated plans 
 Conducting various workshops and training programs to raise awareness
about forest conservation and its importance.

As an Information Officer, he has to:

 Help design, make and distribute brochures which include vital information
about DFO and relevant goals and objectives of the DFO.
 Coordinating with various departments and key authority figures in said
departments like Regional Director, Central Director and assisting them by
giving relevant information.

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As a crime control officer, he has to:
 To assist in investigation, handing out the verdict on forest related crimes
committed in the district. 
 Providing technical and legal support for harvesting and supply of forest
related products to various industries and business houses alike.

Personality Test
For the Personality trait analysis of our interviewee as, The Big Five Personality
Trait Test is used where the questions regarding the test are asked and calculated
the scale from the answers that they provided us. Then we classified them into
different traits on the basis of those scales. The traits are: 
 Extroversion (E)
 Agreeableness (A)
 Conscientiousness (C)
 Neuroticism (N)
 Openness (O)
BFI Scoring/ Scaling Total
1 6R 11 16 21R 26 31R 36    
Extraversion 34
5 1 4 5 4 5 5 5    
2R 7 12R 17 22 27R 32 37R 42  
Agreeableness 38
3 4 5 5 5 3 4 5 4  
Conscientiousnes 3 8R 13 18R 23R 28 33 38 43R  
42
s 3 5 5 5 5 4 5 5 5  
4 9R 14 19 24R 29 34R 39    
Neuroticism 18
1 1 4 3 1 4 3 1    
5 10 15 20 25 30 35R 40 41R 44
Openness 31
4 4 3 4 5 3 1 4 2 1
Given below is the score obtained from the interviewing the Big Five Personality Test
and the calculation of each trait.

According to the Personality trait test score, we obtained after interviewing our
subject, we found out that our interviewee scored high on extraversion,
agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness and scored low on the dimension
neuroticism. It seems that he is a lively, talkative and social (extrovert), outgoing
person who is polite, less tolerant. His score shows that he is self-disciplined and
follows the rules. He is self-conscious, calm and is open to new experiences.

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 ‘Job Diagnostic Survey’ questionnaire based on Job Characteristics Model,
Calculating the ‘Motivating Potential Score’
The questionnaire for the "Job Diagnostic Survey" is based on the self-report
instrument for managers to use in diagnosing their work environment developed by
Hackman and Oldham. The questionnaire was based to acknowledge the Job
characteristic of our interviewee that describes jobs in terms of five core job
dimensions that are:
i. Skill variety
ii. Task identity
iii. Task significance
iv. Autonomy
v. Feedback

While taking the survey questionnaire, the scale applied was:

 Very nondescriptive = 1
 Mostly nondescriptive = 2
 Somewhat descriptive = 3
 Mostly descriptive = 4
 Very descriptive = 5

The table below provides the score based on the scales of the survey:

Job Dimension Scoring/ Scaling Total Calculation

2 8 11* 14 18*  
Skill variety 20 20/5
4 4 4 5 3  
3 7* 16* 22    
Task identity 14 14/4
3 4 3 4    
4 13* 20* 23    
Task significance 17 17/4
4 4 5 4    
1 9* 17* 21    
Autonomy 13 13/4
1 4 5 3    
5 6 10 12* 15 19*
Feedback 29 29/6
5 5 4 5 5 5

Note: For the questions with asterisks (*), the score is subtracted from 6
Calculation
i. Skill variety = 4
ii. Task identity = 3.5
iii. Task significance = 4.25
iv. Autonomy = 3.25
v. Feedback = 4.83

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Calculating Motivating Potential Score (MPS):
Motivation potential score (MPS) is a unique index to predict an individual’s behavior
and includes the main elements of the job, such as skill variety, identity, significance,
autonomy, and feedback.

Skill Variety+ Task Identity+Task Significance

MPS= ∗Autonomy∗Feedback
3

4+ 3.5+4.25
MPS= ∗3.25∗4.83
3

= 3.92* 3.25 * 4.83

= 61.53

From the calculation above the MPS lies somewhat in between the MPS range of 1
and 125.We can also say that there is average motivating potential in the job of the
interviewee.

Reward system, management technique used in the organization.

The District Forest Office, Kavrepalanchowk is a government organization. The
reward system that is used by the organization is mostly:
Monetary Reward System, such as promotion of the employees, Dashain bonus,
pension, etc.
Non-monetary Reward System, such as flexible working hours, training to the
employees, etc.

The organization set guidelines for the project, focuses on the performance of the
employees, provide trainings, and manages conflict internally using problem solving
technique where the employees conduct meeting face to face for the purpose of
identifying the problem and resolving it through open discussion and sometimes
using superordinate goals technique where a shared goal is created that cannot be
attained without the cooperation of each of the members of the organization. As
management technique, there is job rotation, telecommuting in the organization.

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Analysis Question based on the collected information.

Question No. 1
Identify the personality type of the incumbent, elucidate its implication with
regards to job fit.

Answer:
In the Big Five Personality Test, openness describes a person’s tendency to think in
abstract, complex ways, conscientiousness describes a person’s ability to exercise
self-discipline and control in order to pursue their goals, extraversion describes a
person’s inclination to seek stimulation from the outside world, agreeableness
describes a person’s tendency to put others’ needs ahead of their own, and to
cooperate rather than compete with others, neuroticism describes a person’s
tendency to experience negative emotions, including fear, sadness, anxiety, guilt,
and shame.

From the test, we can see that the incumbent has scored high on openness,
agreeableness, conscientiousness and extraversion, however, his score on
neuroticism seems to be low. The incumbent's high score on openness shows that
he is creative, adventurous, and intellectual and enjoys playing with ideas and
discovering novel experiences. His high score on conscientiousness shows that he is
organized, responsible and determined and is able to forego immediate gratification
for the sake of long-term achievement. His extraversion score shows that he is an
extrovert who is actively engaged with others, is lively, talkative as well as social.
The incumbent with his agreeableness score shows that he cares about others, is
trusting as well as forgiving. And, having a low score in neuroticism shows that he is
relaxed person who doesn't worry much and is emotionally stable.

Moreover, comparing the personality trait of the incumbent with other personality
attributes relevant to OB, we can say that the incumbent has high core self-
evaluations (CSEs) as the ones with high CSEs are better at coping stress, like
themselves as capable and effective. The incumbent having low neuroticism shows
that he is calm, emotionally stable, doesn't worry much, is confident about himself
which makes him lean towards having high CSEs. His high score in openness to
experience can be taken as an indicator of him being a risk taker because he is
outgoing and experimental to new changes. The openness acts as a motivator for
the individual to be risk takers. Also, the incumbent's high score on openness,
extroversion reflects that he leans towards being a proactive personality. The test
score shows he is open to new experiences, changes, is active, enjoys being the
center of attention and proactive personality are receptive to changes in job
demands, show initiative, take action. His personality trait and the attributes of a
proactive personality shows some positive correlation.

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For the job of an Assistant Forest Officer (AFO), one needs a high degree of
communication, coordination with the employees of each and every department, high
emotional stability, low impulsiveness, decisiveness to pass the verdict of the forest
and wildlife remated crimes. Being in the forestry sector, one should be able to
engage with many people, be sociable, adventurous, enthusiastic, outgoing person
as there is need of going to different places as a field work. In his job, he should be
active, careful, polite, forgiving person. Since the AFO has to assist the District
Forest Officer (DFO) with various activities in the organization from making planning
the forest development, to assisting in passing out verdict to forest and wildlife
related crimes, it is essential to be organized, disciplined, creative who can bring
new and efficient ideas to carry out all the activities in the organization and forest.
Being in a higher position, he should be able to teach the employees in the forest
department who are less experienced with a forgiving, empathetic and helpful
nature.

On the basis of the job performance needs and the personality trait of the incumbent
calculated using the Big Five Personality Tests, he is best fit as his personality
matches the job requirement. We can see a positive correlation between the job
requirement and personality of the incumbent. In short, the job of an Assistant Forest
Officer is best fit for his personality.

Question No. 2
Describe how the age, gender, race and tenure can affect the job performance
of the incumbent in the given case.

Answer:
The age, gender, race and tenure are the biological characteristics of individuals that
can influence the job performance in an organization. The increasing age of workers
affects their job performance. Older people are more committed than new ones.
They are less likely to shift their place if they are dissatisfied with their work. The
older workers are more regular and productive than the newer ones in the
organization. The differences in the abilities and behavior of men and women such
as analytical skills, problem solving skills, motivation, learning ability, sociability can
show that gender can also influence the behavior. Psychological studies have found
that women are generally polite and gentle, men are more aggressive than women.
In Nepal, age, gender, tenure of the individual can be the biological characteristics
that affect the job performance. But race may not affect the job performance in the
organization. Tenure is the biological characteristic that indicates work experience. It
shows a positive relationship between work experience(seniority) and productivity.  A
senior person is hardly absent from his work. The longer a person is in a job, the less
likely he or she is to quit.

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The incumbent is 54-year-old male who has been working in the forestry field for
around 33 years and was promoted as Assistant Forest Officers. He is working as an
AFO for 13 years. He has gained enough experience in his job regarding the tasks
that are performed in the organization and how it is performed which can help him
perform well in the current situation. He can be considered old by looking at his age,
and viewing his personality that matches his job, he is more likely to stick to his job
and be more committed than his co-workers who are younger than him resulting to
the minimum presence of absenteeism and turnover. However, coping with the
newest technology and software to perform the tasks can be a problem to hum. Also,
according to the incumbent, in his field of job, after crossing certain age, individual
cannot apply for the job, so, age can affect the job of individuals who want to be in
this field.

Gender can also play a significant role to the job performance due to the prevalence
of gender discrimination at workplace. But the incumbent is a male, and according to
the stereotype we have, male don't get affected by the differences in the gender in
his workplace and his job performance is not affected by his gender. In Nepal, there
is barely any difference in the race of the people, thus the incumbent's job
performance is also not affected by his race. However, ethnic background of people
can create problem to perform the job at the level of Mr. Shrestha. He belongs to
Newar community. His job requires him to go to fields as well as villages and stay at
other people houses. And, in the rural, villages of Nepal there is still prevalence of
discriminating people on the basis of their ethnicity. Although the race of the people
in this job may not affect the job performance, ethnicity can highly influence the work.

The incumbent has been working as an AFO for 13 years, i.e., he has spent
significant period of his life in this job. We can say that he has a high organizational
citizenship, is committed to his job, is loyal, more productive in the organization.
Moreover, the tenure of the individual can also have an impact on the promotion in
the job where individuals with higher job experience can have high chance of getting
promoted in this field.

In short, the biological characteristics of the individuals can influence the job and the
work performance in the organization.

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Question No. 3
Explain the MPS ‘Motivating Potential Score’ with regards to motivation and
satisfaction level of the incumbent and its implication based on Job
Characteristic Model.

Answer:
Motivating Potential Score (MPS) is an equation that the Job Characteristics Theory
uses to estimate the overall motivation inherent in a job design based upon the five
dimensions of the job which are skill variety, task identity, task significance,
autonomy and feedback. The five core job characteristics can be combined to form a
motivating potential score for a job that can be used as an index of how likely a job is
to affect an employee’s attitudes and behaviors.

Skill variety provides the degree to which a job requires different activities using
individual's skills. Task identity shows the degree to which the job requires that the
work done by the individual is identifiable in the completed work. Task significance
gives the degree to which the work done by the individual has an impact on the lives
of other people. These three dimensions combine to create the work meaningful as
in important, valuable and worthwhile to the employee. Autonomy is the degree to
which the job provides freedom and discretion to the individual. Jobs with high
autonomy give employees a feeling of personal responsibility for results. Feedback is
the degree to which the individuals receive direct and clear information about the
effectiveness of his or her performance in the organization.

In this case, the incumbent has the following degrees in the dimensions of the work
that was calculated using the questionnaire based on the Job Characteristics Model.
 Skill variety = 4
 Task identity = 3.5
 Task significance = 4.25
 Autonomy = 3.25
 Feedback = 4.83

The MPS of the job of the incumbent is 61.53, which lies in the middle of the MPS
range which is 1 to 125. Looking at the degrees of the job dimensions individually,
the scores are more than average. The skill variety is 4 shows that the incumbent
has to do different tasks using a variety of skills and talents. He has to perform his
job as a planning officer, information officer and also a crime control officer. This
shows the variety of tasks he has to do as an AFO with his different skills. The
incumbent makes significant contribution to the projects of the organization that are
identifiable. His degree of task identity also can be interpreted as his work, efforts
being visible in the end result of any project that he is a part of. His degree in task
significance is 4.25, meaning his work has highly impact on the work and lives of the

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other people. Being a planning officer, his work will impact on other employees of the
organization as every other work is based on the plan and budget that were initially
made. His work as an information officer will have an impact on the people who
depends on the information of the forest and wildlife that can be for an example,
news reporter. The degree of autonomy is low compared to other dimensions. It can
be because he has to work under the district forest officer and he doesn't have full
freedom and complete responsibility in deciding how and when the work or the
project is to be done. The high degree on feedback reflects that in his organization
he is provided with feedback about how well he is doing in the organization and his
work itself provides information about how well he is doing in the organization.

If a job has high MPS, the job characteristic model predicts that the motivation,
performance and job satisfaction will be positively affected and the chances of
absenteeism, turnover will be reduced. Overall, the average level of MPS can be
interpreted by saying that the job provides him motivation and satisfaction to work in
the organization. This can be implemented in the organization to achieve the set
goals and objectives, because for achieving the goals and objectives that are set, the
employee needs to be highly motivated and satisfies with their work. People often
will focus on how well they are motivated in achieving the set objectives, and high
productivity and input is correlated to better balance and satisfaction of employees.
However, when there is less MPS in the job of the individuals of the organization it
can be predicted that there is no motivation and satisfaction level in the job that may
cause problems in achieving the set goals.

Question No. 4
Which motivation theory befits the given case and how to improve the
motivation level of the incumbent? Give recommendations based upon your
academic understanding.

Answer:

The District Forest Office being a government organization has less reward system
to increase the motivation of the employees compared to other organization. After
interviewing the incumbent, Herzberg's two factor theory also called as motivation-
hygiene theory befits the given case. The theory states that there are some job
factors that result in satisfaction while there are other job factors that prevent
dissatisfaction. As the name of the theory says the two factors are hygiene factors
and motivational factors. Hygiene factors prevent dissatisfaction and the motivational
factors result in satisfaction. In this case, this theory of motivation seems to be
appropriate because being a government organization, the employees are barely
provided with the incentive to improve their work performance. The incumbent during

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the interview mentioned that the employees are provide with a good working
environment, healthy food, good working condition as the working place is made
comfortable fulfilling the needs of the employees in the workplace. The employees'
works are identifiable in the organization and they are provided recognition as well
as feedback of their work. According to Fedrick Herzberg- when hygiene factors are
felt inadequate by employees they function as dissatisfiers, but the presence of
these factors do not necessarily motivate employees to greater productivity, also,
when the motivational factors are present in the organization, they create the
conditions for motivation to employees and higher productivity.

Being in District Forest Office, the employees have to perform their job which have
significant impact on other people as well as the environment. Even though they are
not provided with the incentives to improve their performance, the employees in the
organization are motivated enough as the MPS of the incumbent was around the
average of the range. From the job dimensions of the Job Characteristics Model, we
can see that the individual scale of the job dimensions of the incumbent is high. The
score suggests that they are motivated as well as are satisfied and as per the
incumbent, their work itself of conserving the forest, wildlife and environment
satisfies them. As per him, if the workplace is not in good condition, then they
couldn't work properly, so certain amount of the budget is planned for the
maintenance of the office, furniture, devices of the organization so that the
employees are not dissatisfied with their work. Moreover, the employees are
provided feedback, recognition to provide them the sense of achievement. The work
of the employees is interesting, meaningful and challenging at the same time. The
incumbent being an AFO says that the feedback that his colleagues provide and the
job itself provides him growth and advancement opportunities to motivate him to
perform well in each task. Due to all these reasons, I think that the Two Factor
Theory befits this case.

In the case of the incumbent, we have seen that he is provided adequate feedback
to motivate him to improve his job performance. He has chances of growth by
performing his job using different talents and skills, also his work has high impact on
other people that can motivate him to perform well in his work. However, compared
to these three dimensions, the task identity and autonomy has less score. Therefore,
to improve the motivation level of the incumbent, he should be given enough
recognition for the work that he has done. To motivate the incumbent to push his
performance in the organization, Goal setting theory of motivation can be used. The
goals of the organization should be clear, specific so that it can be understandable
properly. As the incumbent is open to new experience and is risk taking person,
challenging goals will give him pride once done that will motivate him for
accomplishing the next goal. Feedback is a crucial part of this theory and is already
provided in the organization to the incumbent to motivate and influence his behavior
for his better performance. Moreover, his personality as well as biological

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characteristics shows that he is committed towards his job. Thus, the proper use of
goal setting theory can improve the motivation of Mr. Shrestha.

Question No. 5
Analyze if the organizations background is aligned with its reward system and
management technique and is the incumbent benefiting from the same, if no,
give recommendations and if yes, explain.

Answer:
The District Forest Office where Mr. Shrestha works is a government organization
that falls under the Ministry of Forest and Environment. The reward system in
government organization is comparatively less than the modern private organization.
The reward system in government organization is mostly not adequate to motivate
the employees. However, the job in government organization is secured, and this
may be one of the reasons why people prefer the job. Besides job security, the
employees are provided monthly salary, bonus during Dashain and they are also
provided with pension after serving for specific years and retiring from the job.
Classifying the rewards into extrinsic and intrinsic, in this case, the employees
receive wages and salary, fringe benefits, promotions and recognition as extrinsic
rewards whereas they receive feelings of task accomplishment, autonomy, and
personal growth and development that come from the job as intrinsic rewards. In
government jobs social security protection is provided for maternity, sickness,
employment injury, old age and retrenchment in accordance with internationally
accepted principles. Being a civil servant, the incumbent mentioned that he and his
family gets certain percent discount in the Civil Service Hospital. He has been
serving in this field for 33 years and was promoted to AFO 13 years ago on the basis
of his experience and educational level. It seems that the incumbent has been
benefiting from all the rewards system that the government organization provides.

From the interview, it was found that in the organization, there is job rotation and
telecommuting as management technique. Job rotation implies the shift of an
employee from one task to another having similar skill requirements at the same
organizational level without any change in the job. And telecommuting means an
employment arrangement where in employees works outside the office for the
organization. The incumbent provided us with the information that there are 11
employees working as Assistant Forest Officer. While in a project, the team can shift
the task between them. Moreover, he mentioned that he is working as planning
officer, information and crime control officer. He doesn’t have to be all at once, but
he shifts these roles with other employees who have the same organizational level
as him. The AFOs are provides with their personal laptop that they can carry to their
home. This shows the presence of telecommuting in the organization wherein the
employee can work even from home when required. The incumbent is also
benefiting from these management technique as he can rotate the role of work which

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can help in skill variety and he can take leave but also can work from home or any
place when needed.

Although there is some reward system and management technique in the

organization and the incumbent is also benefiting from them, some more intrinsic
motivation such as recognition of his work in the organization and also the
management technique such as job enrichment, flextime can be introduced in the
organization. Job enrichment is that motivational tool which allows more decision-
making power and work-related authority to the employees. For example, the
incumbent being an Assistant Forest Officer has no full authority over the tasks that
he does. He, being a crime control officer, he has to assist his superior i.e., District
Forest Officer in investigation, handing out the verdict on forest related crimes
committed in the district. And to add more value to his job, if he is given the task to
be the one to give verdict, he would be responsible for a very huge task. This
additional responsibility will hold authority, accountability which may make him more
efficient, confident and satisfied with the job.

Although flextime is not possible in government office in Nepal where employees

have to work from 9 to 5, experimenting this management technique could help the
employee have a better work environment with greater satisfaction and motivation,
reduce stress that can arise from problems in work-life balancing. Also, the
organization can have higher productivity, reduced absenteeism and tardiness, and
a more attractive working place with the employees.

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