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 ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS GUIDE (2020-2021)
MCO-01: ORGANISATIONAL THEORY AND BEHAVIOUR
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given in the Assignments. These Sample Answers/Solutions are prepared by Private
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Q1. How does learning influence the performance of an individual? Discuss the different theories
of learning.
Ans. LEARNING AND PERFORMANCE
Performance is the most important outcome of learning. It refers to the action made by an individual
in a particular situation. All over the world managers have been struggling with the idea that how to
make employees perform better on the job? BT – Hewitt Study the Best Employers in India (Business
Today, January 21, 2001 p 227 –234) found that:
• Almost all surveyed company positioned themselves above market compensation levels; 78%
positioned themselves in the fourth quartile (75% -100%).
• 80% of companies preferred to pay as per internal pay scales and bands and not on the basis
of Pay the person.
• All companies used some method of variable pay.
• All companies conducted formal performance planning and feedback; 80% used multi-source
feedback.
• All linked performance management directly to employee development; 90% linked it to pay
decisions.
• Individual performance was rewarded to every 12 months at all companies; typically, 25% of
base pay was the average payment amount; typical increase for the top performers could be
2-3 times the overall performers increase.
• 50% companies used broad based option plan.
All companies recognized achievements of employees; 70% awarded cash. The above study shows
how performance is related to reward. Moreover, the performance is directly related to learning and
upgrading of knowledge and skills. There are several factors which forces the employees to perform
their jobs. Steven and Mary Annvon identified four factors i.e., ability, role perceptions, motivation
and situational contingencies; which influence employee’s voluntary behaviour and their
performance. Let us discuss them in detail:
Ability: This refers to capability of a person to perform the job. It involves aptitudes and skills
required for completion of the work. For example, when you appear in the competitive examination,
you are tested for your aptitude, skill, comprehension, knowledge, etc. These tests are meant for
assessing your capability which is required for the completion of the Job. Thus, the ability of the

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person must match the performance requirement of the Job. Therefore as a learner you must keep on
trying to develop your ability for meeting the challenges of the changing environment.
Role Perceptions: Every task involves appropriate behaviour for successful completion. This
appropriate behaviour is termed as role perception. The identification and learning of this
appropriate behaviour is a great challenge for the employees. This means that what are you expected
to do in a given situation? You must understand them in such a way that your behaviour satisfies the
requirement of the situations. For example, communication strategy and convincing power of
salespersons may result in successful completion of sale. This appropriate behaviour of sales persons
is known as role perceptions. In order to introduce role perceptions, the manager requires defining
the jobs clearly and providing adequate training and appropriate feedback to the employees. The
proper understanding of role perceptions certainly facilitates the performance of the job.
Motivation: This is the most important aspect of performance. Robbins has defined motivation as the
process that account for an individual’s intensity, direction and persistence of effort toward attaining
a goal. Here, intensity refers to how much effort a person makes to perform the job. Moreover, the
effort must be made in a proper direction. If the effort produces desired result, the person tends to
sustain his behaviour. The manager requires identifying the reinforcing factors which encourages the
employees to make strong effort for the completion of the job and sustain them over a longer period.
Thus the effort in a right direction and desired result motivate the employees to perform well.
Situational Contingencies: Every Job is performed in a particular situation. The situation may be
favourable or unfavourable for the completion of the task. If the manager provides favourable
environmental condition, the employee may perform better. Favourable working condition, well-
structured task, better resources, good marketing strategy, etc. may facilitate the performance of the
employees. These factors are important determinants of performance. If they are favourable, the
action of the persons leads to success. Moreover, except the inherent capabilities, other factors may be
learnt. Learning facilitates the performance. Therefore, the managers must explore the ways and
means of making the employees learn. Learning theories may provide good insight in this direction.
THEORIES OF LEARNING
Classical Conditioning: In classical conditioning, learning takes place through the connection
between unconditioned stimulus and conditioned stimulus. These two stimuli are paired to elicit the
desired response. Let us take an example of food which elicits the response of salivation. The food is
termed as unconditioned stimulus and the salivation is known as unconditioned response. A
conditioned stimulus is a mental stimulus that does not elicit the response. A response which is
elicited by the conditioned stimulus is termed as conditioned response. When conditioned stimulus is
paired with unconditioned stimulus, the conditioned stimulus also starts eliciting the response. In this
process a stimulus – response bond is developed between a conditioned stimulus and a conditioned
response through the repeated linking of a conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus.
Pavlov conducted this experiment on the dog. He presented the food to the dog and the dog
salivated. Here the food is the unconditioned stimulus and the salivation of the dog is the
unconditioned response. Pavlov used a bell as conditioned stimulus. When he rang the bell, the dog
did not do anything. Pavlov started paring of the conditioned stimulus (bell) with the unconditioned
stimulus (food). He presented the food to the dog and rung the bell. This was repeated several times.
After some time, he found that the bell also elicited the same response as the food. Here the
conditioned stimulus (bell) elicited the response of salivation even when the unconditioned stimulus
(food) was not present. He rings the bell and the dog salivates without the presentation of food as
well. Thus the dog learnt the ringing of the bell with the salivation. The focus of this theory is
building up an association between an unconditioned stimulus and a conditioned stimulus.
Operant Conditioning: Skinner gave the theory of operant conditioning. This theory advocates that a
learner’s response is instrumental in producing a reinforcing stimulus. This means that the response
which produces the reinforcement becomes stronger and the response which does not produce
reinforcement becomes weaker.

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Skinner box was used for demonstrating the operant learning. It is a simple box having a liver fitted
at the end of the box. The liver is a switch which operates as a food-delivery mechanism. A hungry rat
is placed inside the box. Initially the rat sits idle in the box, gradually it starts exploring inside the box
to search for food. While exploring inside the box all on a sudden it presses the liver. As the liver is
pressed it releases a piece of food. After pressing the liver a number of times, the rat realises that it
releases the pieces of food and the rat starts eating them. Now the rat presses the liver and eats the
food. The delivery of food constitutes the reinforcement and reinforcement is contingent upon the
operation of the lever.
The box can be arranged in such a way that every response i.e., pressing of liver may not release the
food. Some response may release the food and some may not release. This is termed as partial
reinforcement. It may also be arranged in such a way that pressing of lever may result in a shock to
the rat. This is termed as negative reinforcement. Thus the response which fulfils the desired need of
the rat is known as positive reinforcement. At the same time, the response may also lead to escape
from the painful situation which is known as negative reinforcement. The focus of this theory is the
reinforcement follows a response. So the response becomes instrumental in achieving the appropriate
goal. The manipulation of response and reinforcement may increase, reduce or lead to the extinction
of the behaviour. You must be aware of Thorndike’s law of effect which states that the responses
which are accompanied or closely followed by reinforcement will be more likely to occur. At the same
time, the responses which are accompanied or closely followed by discomfort will be less likely to
occur. This means that the behaviour which leads to positive outcome will be likely to be repeated
whereas behaviour which leads to negative outcome will be avoided.
Cognitive Learning: The cognitive theory was given by Tolman. It focuses on the fact that learning
takes place by thinking about the problem, from insight of the individual and from integrating
different cues or pieces of information. Acquisition of information plays important role in the learning
process. The cognitive theory advocates that the association between cognitive environmental cues
and expectations lead to learning. According to cognitive theory, learning takes place as a result of
stimulus –stimulus association. Here, two stimuli are repeatedly paired. The presentation of one
stimulus arouses an image, idea or some process representing the second stimulus, even when it is
not presented. When more than two stimuli are presented, whole stimuli may become associated. The
process of association leads to formation of cognitive map. This cognitive map is especially applicable
to the learning of spatial relationships of objects in the environment. Tolman tested the cognitive
learning phenomenon on rats through a complicated maze structure in the laboratory. He found the
rats ran through the maze structure towards the food. Rats developed expectations at every point of
the maze and reached to the goal. Thus the relationship between cues and expectancy got
strengthened and cognitive map was formed. The formation of cognitive map was the result of the
learning. In day to day life also you form a cognitive map of the way you go to the college, market
and other places or about the persons, things etc.
Social Learning: This theory advocates that the people learn through observation and direct
experience. It emphasizes an interaction among cognitive, behavioural and environmental
determinants of behaviour. People learn by observing others behaviour. They model those behaviours
that lead to favourable outcomes. At the same time, they try to avoid those behaviours that lead to
unfavourable outcomes. If you analyse your behaviour, you will find that your behaviours are
influenced by your parents, friends, teachers, movies, television, achievers, successful persons, etc.
you try to imbibe their behaviour because their behaviour lead to positive consequences. This theory
focuses on learning the consequences of behaviour and self reinforcement.
Q2. ‘A host of factors influence the personality development’ Discuss and explain the different
personality types.
Ans. Personality is an intangible concept. It is complex as it is related to the cognitive and
psychological process. It is believed that a man is born with certain physical and mental qualities but
the environment in which he is brought up shapes his personality. A number of factors determine the

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personality of individual i.e., biological factors, family factors, environmental factors and situational
factors. Let us learn them in detail.
Biological Factors: Biological factors are related to human body. Three factors: heredity, brain and
physical features are considered as relevant. They are explained below.
i) Heredity: Heredity refers to those qualities transmitted by the parents to the next generation. These
factors are determined at conception. Certain factors of personality inherited are: physical stature,
facial attractiveness, gender, colour of skin, hair and eye balls, temperament, muscle composition,
sensitivity, skills and abilities, intelligence, energy level and biological rhythms.
ii) Brain: Brain is influenced by biological factors. Structure and composition of brain plays an
important role in shaping personality. There are few empirical findings to state that the brain
influences the personality.
iii) Physical Features: The physical features and rate of maturation influence personality. The rate of
maturity is related to the physical stature. It is believed that an individual’s external appearance has a
tremendous effect on personality. For instance height, colour, facial attraction, muscle strength
influences ones’ self-concept.
Family Factors: The family factors are also important in determining personality of an individual.
Three major factors: viz., the socialisation process, identification process and birth order influence the
personality.
i) Socialisation Process: Socialisation is a process of acquiring wide range of behaviour by an infant
from the enormously wide range of behavioural potentialities that are open to him at birth. Those
behaviour patterns are customary and acceptable according to the standards of his family and social
groups. Members of the family compel the infant to conform to certain acceptable behaviour.
ii) Identification Process: Shaping of personality starts from the time the identification process
commences. Identification Process occurs when a person tries to identify himself with some person
whom he feels ideal in the family. Normally a child tries to behave as his father or mother.
iii) Birth Order: Birth order is another significant variable influencing the personality of an
individual. For instance first born are likely to be more dependent, more rational, ambitious,
hardworking, cooperative, and more prone to guilt, anxiety and are less aggressive.
Environmental Factors: Environmental factors are those, which exists in and around the individual.
They are social and cultural factors. Culture determines human decision-making, attitudes,
independence: dependence, soberness: aggression, competition, co-operation and shyness. There are
two vital aspects of culture. Firstly, conformity by the individual and secondly, acceptance by the
larger group. Culture establishes norms, values and attitudes, which are enforced by different social
groups. Individuals are compelled to behave in conformity to the culture established by the society.
Thus, culture and society exert greater influence in shaping the personality of an individual.
Situational Factors: In recent years, the influence of situational factors on personality is increasingly
recognised. Generally an individual’s personality is stable and consistent, it changes in different
situations. A study conducted by Milgram suggested that actions of an individual are determined by
the situation. He states that situation exerts an important influence on the individual. It exercises
constraints and may provide push to the individual.
PERSONALITY TYPES
Personality traits provide an understanding of the personality types. Certain personality types
identified are described below:
1) The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: This is called MBTI framework. Sixteen personality types are
identified with the help of answers to 100 questions provided in the test. Some of them are
Extroverted vs. introverted, sensing vs. intuitive, thinking vs. feeling, and perceiving vs. judging etc.
Qualities of a personality type ‘introverted, intuitive, thinking and judging’ possess certain qualities.
They are:
• Possess vision,
• Thinks with original mind,
• Have original ideas,

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 • Have great drive,
• Skeptical, critical, independent, determined and stubborn
2) The Big Five Personality Types: Personality dimension is identified in terms of the big five factors.
The types of personality are:
• Extraversion: Giving importance to relationships.
• Agreeableness: Thinking in a different manner.
• Conscientiousness: Possession of reliability.
• Emotional stability: Ability to withstand stress.
• Openness to experience: Interested and fascinated by novelty
3) Physiognomy Personality Types: William Sheldon has propounded three types of personality
based on the human anatomical or physical structure of persons and psychological characteristics.
Physical size of the body influences the human behaviour and temperaments. The personality types
are.
a) Endomorph: Certain characteristics of personality and behaviour associated with the body type are
friendly, concern to people, helping others in troubles, very slow reaction to stimuli. They seek
comfort, have strong inclination to delicious food, etc. The persons who possess these personality
characteristics, are liked by all.
b) Mesomorph: Persons having moderate physical characteristics are known as Mesomorph. The
body is strong and tough. Some of the personality characteristics of this type are: seeks physical
adventure, enjoys body building, feels restless, shows high aggression and self-assertiveness, likes to
take risk and develops competitive spirit. The person is liked by virtue of his physique.
c) Ectomorph: Ectomorph body type is characterised by a thin and flat chest. The person is intelligent,
feels shy and avoids social contacts. However, he is typically anxious, ambitious, and dedicated to his
work. He is quick to react and hypersensitive to pain and pleasure.
4) Extrovert-Introvert Personality Types: Carl Jung is the proponent of the theory. The theory used
analytical psychology approach. According to the theory, personality is developed as a process of
creativity. It consists of four phases: thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition. Individual personality
is a mixture of these factors. The theory proposed two personality characteristics on two extreme
ends. They are extrovert and introvert type personality. While extrovert persons are more sociable,
introvert persons are more self-confident and they are guided by their own individual thinking.
Extroverts are sociable and reality oriented individuals. They are performers. On the other hand,
introverts are less risk taking and directive oriented. They require strong motivation and specific
directions. While extroverts think in terms of objective and interactive relationships, the own
philosophy and ideology guide the thinking of introverts.
5) Type A and Type B Personality : Type A personality is defined by Friedman and Rosenman as
aggressively involved in a chronic, incessant struggle to achieve more and more in less and less time,
and, if required to do so, against the opposing efforts of other things or other persons. They have
defined Type B personality as rarely harried by the desire to obtain a wildly increasing number of
things or participate in an endless growing series of events in an ever decreasing amount of time.
Q3. Write short notes on the following:
(a) System theory
Ans. Systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of systems. A system is a cohesive conglomeration
of interrelated and interdependent parts which can be natural or man-made. Every system is
bounded by space and time, influenced by its environment, defined by its structure and purpose, and
expressed through its functioning. A system may be more than the sum of its parts if it
expresses synergy or emergent behaviour.
Changing one part of a system may affect other parts or the whole system. It may be possible to
predict these changes in patterns of behaviour. For systems that learn and adapt, the growth and the
degree of adaptation depend upon how well the system is engaged with its environment. Some
systems support other systems, maintaining the other system to prevent failure. The goals of systems
theory are to model a system's dynamics, constraints, conditions, and to elucidate principles (such as

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purpose, measure, methods, tools) that can be discerned and applied to other systems at every level
of nesting, and in a wide range of fields for achieving optimized equifinality.
(b) Process of perception
Ans. Stage 1: It describes perceptual inputs. Perceptual inputs encompass all stimuli that exist in our
environment including information, objects, events, people etc. The perceiver receives these inputs.
Stage 2: It describes perceptual mechanisms or throughputs. This is the transformation of perceptual
inputs to outputs. It involves the three processes of selecting, organising, and interpreting the stimuli
that are in the environment. Though all individuals go through the same three steps, while
transforming the perceptual inputs to outputs, they differ in how do they select, organise and
interpret stimuli based on their own personality predispositions and biases.
Stage 3: Perceptual outputs are derived through the processing of perceptual throughputs. These
include one’s attitudes, opinions, feelings, values, and actions. Perceptual errors may adversely affect
the outputs. Hence, managers should enhance their perceptual skills.
Stage 4: Behaviour is a resultant factor. The perceiver’s behaviour, in turn, generates responses and
these reactions give rise to a new set of inputs.
(c) Work related attitudes
Ans.
• Job Satisfaction: The various attitudes people hold towards their jobs are referred to as job
satisfaction. It is individuals’ cognitive, affective, and evaluative reactions towards their jobs.
• Job Involvement: It indicates how far individuals identify themselves with the job, and
whether outcome of the work is attached to self-worth.
• Organisational Commitment: It explains how people feel toward their organisations. It is an
attitude, which reflect the extent to which people identify with and are involved with their
organisations and are unwilling to leave them.
Organisations should attempt to continuously gauge the attitudes of personnel at work place, so that
corrective measures may be taken in proactive manner, for ensuring desirable behaviour at work
place. It is important to study attitudes, as attitudes influence behaviour. Now we shall focus our
attention toward another issue -values- that influences attitudes, and in turn also determine choice of
action as well as behaviour.
(d) Team Building
Ans. Team building refers to shaping of the team for smooth functioning. Steven and Mary Ann Von
have defined team building as any formal intervention directed toward improving the development
and functioning of a work team. Thus, the process of team building aims at enhancing the
effectiveness of a team. Pareek Udai has suggested following approaches for team building.
The Johari Window Approach: This approach aims at helping members to express their feelings,
opinions reactions and accept feedback from team members. This enhances their sensitivity towards
the team members.
The Role Negotiation Approach: This approach focuses on understanding the expectations of the
team members and accommodating their behaviour according to the expectations. This enhances the
collaborative effort of the team members.
The Team Roles Approach: This approach advocates that there are certain roles which each team
members are expected to perform. Belbin has identified eight roles. They are: Chairman/coordinator,
shaper, plant, monitor/evaluator, company worker, resource investigator, team worker and
completer/finisher. Smooth performance of these roles brings harmony in the effort of the team
members.

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The Behaviour Modification Approach: This approach focuses on examining member behaviour
towards the team. The individual member evaluates his/her own behaviour and finds out the most
suitable behaviour. Now he/she adopts the most suitable behaviour for the performance of the team.
Q4. Differentiate between the following:
(a) Project and Matrix structure of organisation
Ans.

(b) Rational economic man model and Organisational man model

Ans.

7
(c) Maslow’s and Herzberg’s motivation theory
Ans.

(d) Job enrichment and Job enlargement

Ans.

8
Q5. Comment briefly on the following statement:
(a) The impact of depart mentation is a delineation of executive responsibilities and a grouping of
operating activities.
Ans. A department is a work group combined together for performing certain functions of similar
nature. The process of division of the enterprise into different parts is broadly called
departmentalization. Depart mentation leads to grouping of both functions and personnel who are
assigned to carry out allocated functions.
Departmentalization describes the manner in which divided tasks are combined and allocated to
work groups. The impact of depart mentation is a delineation of executive responsibilities and a
grouping of operating activities. Grouping of activities into manageable units is necessary at all levels
in the enterprise. Their work must be so coordinated as to ensure contribution to the welfare of the
organisation.
The job functions of employees need to be divided among them and combined in a logical way.
Workers with related functions usually share a common work area and constitute a work unit.
Departmentalization is the process of dividing the work of the organisation into various units or
departments.
(b) Attribution is an important concept for understanding perception.
Ans. Attribution is what happens when a person takes the information they perceived and
determines a reason as to what happened. What you attribute things like success to depends on your
own perception and behaviours, which may be wrong due to being unrealistic or having the incorrect
information for the situation. Things like bias and misconceptions can cloud that reasoning, which
can interfere with a person's proficiency in the workplace and may contribute to issues with diversity.
One of the concepts used in organizational behaviour to help improve perception and attribution is
attribution theory. The theory was first brought forth by psychologist Fritz Heider in the 1950s and
stated that people had a desire to explain the reasoning behind their actions and the actions of
others. 4 It was expanded upon over the years by fellow psychologists Bernard Weiner and Harold
Kelley, both of whom looked at the factors in a person's life that can impact their perception and their
validity. They also looked at what impact certain attributions can have when a person acts upon
them. Today, the theory is used to help people explain the causes behind human behaviours and
largely make sense of them.
(c) Stress is both negative and positive
Ans. Stress is both positive and negative. Mild to moderate levels of stress helps in developing
positive behaviour in the organisation and it is good for the organisational health. However negative
consequences of stress always overweigh the positive ones. Thus, it is generally agreed that stress
reduction is a serious concern to the management and individuals. The individual’s responsibility
should always be greater than organisational responsibility. This is because of the dictum that
protecting ones health is their responsibility alone. Organisations perhaps help in developing certain
programmes for stress reduction. It is not out of context to mention that theoretical management of
stress should be distinguished from practical management. Most of the individual techniques relate to
the personality of the individuals. Certain techniques require the individuals to sacrifice the self-
concept and comfortable levels. Thus, it is difficult to promote the individuals to adapt the strategies
of stress reduction. Nevertheless, it should be understood that it is not an impossible task. Creating a
stress free environment requires a thorough investigation of the stressors, understanding, analysing
the implications, appraising the costs and benefits and above all bring commitment to the
programmes by changing the attitude.

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(d) When there is a resistance to change, the management has to take appropriate steps to
overcome the resistance.
Ans. Resistance to change is an attitude or behaviour that shows unwillingness to approve a
particular change. This resistance is to be overcome for successful change. Sometimes resistance to
change serves as a feedback to reconsider the proposed change. Thus resistance to change can also be
used for the benefit of the organisation. The essence of constructive approach to resistance is to
consider objections raised and make suitable amendments and educate the employees about the
proposed change. Resistance can be overt, implicit, immediate and differed. When it is overt and
immediate, the management can take immediate remedial steps to deal with such resistance. Implicit
resistance may result in loss of loyalty, loss of motivation, increased mistakes, increased absenteeism
etc. In course of time, similarly differed resistance creates problem to the management particularly
when substantial amounts have already been invested in carrying out the change. Resistance to
change may be introduced by the organisation, the individual or both.

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