–East West University

Final Examination-2020
Course: Management and Organizational Behavior (MOB); Code: MBA503
Total Marks: 30; Date: 30 September 2020
Online Evaluation

Name Zubaer Amin

ID 2020-2-95-024

Rules for online evaluation

 Last date of submission: 30 September 2020 on or before 11pm
 Give Color for the right answer.
 For the analytical questions and assignment write-up, students cannot copy others’ answers
(Maximum similarity 20% is allowed). If any similarity is found more than that, both answer
scripts will be cancelled.
 You can write the answer on this script or you can write on a page then take image of the pages.

Section-A: Answer the following CASES/Questions 1x6 = 6

1. In addition to the organizational culture at Rogue Vogue Corp., the finance department
emphasizes attention to detail. In this example, attention to detail is a part of the ________ of the
organization.
A) core values
B) significant traits
C) dominant culture
D) foundational values
E) subculture

2. Grace works for a pet store where everyone is committed to the happiness of the animals.
Often employees, bosses, and hourly workers alike come into the store "off the clock" and spend
time training the animals. Everyone loves the store, the animals, and their jobs. This attitude of
her co-workers inspires Grace to do her best. Based on this information, we can say that Grace is
experiencing the effects of ________.
A) decentralization
B) organizational climate
C) high departmentalization
D) low formalization
E) high work specialization

3. Elena is the senior manager of a scientific operations team at a well-known clinical research
organization. The organization delivers more than 4,000 solutions across more than 18
therapeutic areas. Being a perfectionist, Elena has reached her present position through hard
work and dedication. Given that she has also worked effectively with teams in the past, she has
recently been assigned to lead a team working on a new project which is critical to the company.
Elena refuses to allocate any tasks to her team and decides to put in extra hours and weekends to
complete the groundwork herself. Based on the information presented here, which of the
following would best explain this contradiction?
A) Elena feels she will not be able to guide her team well on the project.
B) Elena is not very sociable with her colleagues.
C) Elena feels that by delegating work, she will complicate her working relationship with the
team.
D) Elena feels that this project is vital to the team's success.
E) Elena is reluctant to delegate work as she lacks confidence in her team's abilities.

4. In the last one week, May and Phyllis have been putting in extra hours at work so that the
project assigned to them is completed on time. Though the manager was due to assign two more
people to this project, he had not done so and, instead, was emphasizing to employees the
importance of adhering to the needs of the department in regard to workload. As a result, May
and Phyllis, who had double their routine workload, complained to the division manager. May
was promptly suspended from work for complaining about her immediate supervisor. This
scenario describes ________ power.
A) reward
B) legitimate
C) coercive
D) expert
E) referent

5. Levin and Co. is a group of oil refineries that has been in the news recently. The company had
to stop production for over two weeks because their key supplier refused to sell them crude oil at
the old prices. Even after rounds of negotiations, the supplier refused to give in to the demands
of Levin and Co., and finally, the company had to acquire the raw material from the same
supplier because alternative suppliers, though abundant, could not provide the quantities the
company demanded at such short notice. This shows the role of ________ in increasing the
power one enjoys.
A) alternatives
B) dependence
C) abundance
D) substitutability
E) exchange

6. The supervisors of the production division of one of the branches of Georgia Mills have been
informed of some irregularities noticed in inventory of raw materials by some trusted
subordinates. To get a clearer picture, the supervisors had a quick meeting with the subordinates
who reported the matter over lunch. The subordinates recommended rotating the schedule of
employees who account for the incoming and used up stock so as to pinpoint the defaulting
employee. The supervisors agreed that this was a good strategy but admitted that the matter must
be escalated to the production manager before such a change can be implemented. They followed
up this meeting with subsequent sessions to evaluate how the change worked. The supervisors
and subordinates form a(n) ________ team in this scenario.
A) cross-functional
B) independent
C) problem-solving
D) virtual
E) self-managed

Section-B: Short Questions 3x4 = 12

(Answer the following questions)

1. "Formalization and culture are two different roads to a common destination." Explain this
statement in brief.

2. How does reward power contribute to sexual harassment? Explain.

3. “Leadership is a choice not chances” explain this statement.

4. How economies and diseconomies of work specialization effect organizational

productivity? Explain in brief.

Section-C: Analytical Questions 2x6 = 12

(Answer the following questions)

1. a. How does team composition in an organization affect team productivity and effect
organizational productivity? Explain in brief.

2. Consider that employees who have poor political skills or are unwilling to play the politics game
generally relate perceived organizational politics to lower job satisfaction and self-reported
performance, increased anxiety, and higher turnover. Therefore, if you are adept at organizational
politics, how do you help your employees understand the importance of becoming politically
savvy? Explain.

Section - B
 Answer to the question no. 1

Formalization refers to an organizational structure that strictly set standard precedence for
policies, practices, rules, regulations and ways of performing various tasks. Highly formalized
organizations follow rules for expected behavior in a designed and well-articulated set of
instructions. Goal of a highly formalization in an organization is to bring predictability,
orderliness, and consistency. On the other hand, organizations that display low levels of
formalization have few standardized practices or rules. Employees often engage in alternative
behaviors and exercise excessive freedom.

In a strong cultured organization, core values are both intensely followed and widely shared.
The more employees who accept the core values and the greater their commitment to those
values is the stronger the culture is.

Therefore, a strong organizational culture establishes behavioral consistency. In this sense, we

can say that a strong culture can achieve the same goals as formalization. Because we already
mentioned that formalization’s rules and regulations act to regulate employee behavior. So, it is
clear that a strong cultured and a highly formalized organization achieve the same goals even
though exercising different methods.

For example, Government Organizations such as Bangladesh Bank is a highly formalized

organization. As a result, they achieve consistent result. Grameenphone Limited, on the other
hand, follow strong cultural values. Thus, they achieve reliable output from their employees.
Both of the organizations achieve the same goals using different approaches.

Answer to the question no. 2

Unwanted sexual advances towards individual employees can create a hostile and unproductive
work environment. One of the ways sexual harassment in workplace occur is through reward
power. Before exploring the correlation between sexual harassment and reward power let’s
explain what reward power means.

Reward power indicates rewarding individuals for compliance with one’s wishes. This is usually
done through providing bonuses, raises, a promotion, extra time off from work, etc. Reward
power can be positive sometimes as it can work as a motivation tool for the employees. But it
can be used negative and harmful way too. In this instance, sexual harassment.

For example, a supervisor may use his/her reward power to compel fellow male or female
subordinates to perform sexual activities. In exchange of the sexual activities, the supervisor
may offer bonuses, raise, extra leaves or a promotion. In this case, reward power is used as a
instrument of sexual harassment in workplace.

Answer to the question no. 3

Leadership is a choice not a chance- is related closely to the debate if the leaders are born or
are they made. According to famous author Lolly Daskal, “A leader is not born; a leader makes
the conscious decision to lead.”

According to many scholars, leaders try to be the best person they can be by making the best
choices they can to bring the best of their talents to the aid of the world. Everybody at one
point in their life has the chance to be a leader and lead a team of individuals, whether it is at
work, in the community. Here are three things a leader must do to be a good leader: Direction,
Focus, and Motivation.

Everything about leadership begins with a choice – even accepting a leadership role. Whether
leaders are elected, appointed, anointed, or self-proclaimed, and regardless of whether it is by
design or default, at some level, you make a choice to be a leader. Once a person makes that
choice, he/she then must choose whether or not to lead.

It’s not unusual for leaders to feel compelled into making certain decisions due to personal,
professional, positional, cultural, or political circumstances. That said, leaders are never forced
into anything – they make a choice. failed leaders often blame fate as the reason for poor
outcomes, but it’s their choices that deserve examination when searching for the root cause of
the problems.

Answer to the question no. 4

Economies of scale describe a cost advantage achieved by a company when production

becomes efficient. Increasing production and lowering costs results in economies of scale
because the costs are spread out over a larger number of goods. In another perspective,
producing additional goods does not require a significant increase in costs. Reducing the cost of
units per production is the main benefit of economies of scale.
Larger companies are more likely to achieve economies of scale than smaller companies
because they are able to produce more goods and therefore can spread out costs over a larger
number of goods.

Diseconomies of work specialization in a rapidly growing company administrative problems as

well as coordinating problems may emerge due to the growth of bureaucracy or a minute
division of managerial labor. In a company, managerial functions become increasingly difficult
to perform effectively since more and more layers of administrators and executives are
included with the expansion in size.

Section – C

Answer to the question no. 1

In teams, some combinations of people work together better than others. Academics suggest
that the configuration of team member attributes, called team composition, has a significant
influence on teamwork. Team composition shapes the development of affective states,
behavioral patterns, and cognitive states, which ultimately affect how teams complete their
tasks.

Team Composition:

Team composition, or the configuration of team member attributes, is a key enabling

requirement for productive teamwork. A well-composed team has the required supplement of
knowledge and skills, while also analyzing how the individual differences of team members,
such as personality traits, values, and demographics, combine to shape teamwork and,
ultimately, team performance.

When determining composition, a manager should consider the following factors:

 Abilities of the members of the team

 Personalities of team members
 Roles that will be allocated
 Diversity of team members
 Size of the team

Team abilities: For the team to be successful, they’ll need to have three different skills among
them. They are technical expertise, problem-solving skills, and decision-making skills. A perfect
balance of the three is crucial and too much of one and not enough of another will diminish a
team’s performance. It also helps if the team members have good interpersonal skills.
Team Personalities: Where personalities of team members are concerned, teams function well
if the members possess traits like agreeableness and conscientiousness, extraversion and
emotional stability. Studies have shown that it’s more important for the performance of the
team to include people who all have tendencies toward those characteristics.

Team Roles: Members of a team should be selected to fill all the roles that need to be
allocated. There are about nine different roles that are needed on a team and, while members
can participate in more than one of these roles, members should be matched to those roles the
team requires. Those roles are:

 The Plant: Creative, imaginative, Solves problems.

 The Resource Investigator: Communicative, explores opportunities and develops
contacts.
 The Coordinator: Clarifies goals, and promotes decision-making.
 The Shaper: Dynamic, challenging, thrives on pressure. Overcomes obstacles.
 The Monitor-Evaluator: Strategic and discerning. Sees all options and judges accurately.
 The Team worker: Co-operative and perceptive. Listens, builds, averts conflict.
 The Implementer: Conservative and efficient. Turns ideas into practical actions.
 The Finisher: Conscientious. Searches out errors, meets deadlines.
 The Specialist: Self-starting and dedicated. Provides knowledge/skills in rare supply.

The
The Plant
Plant

The
The resource
resource
The specialist
The specialist investigor
investigor

The
The
The
The finisher
finisher Coordinator
Tea Coordinator

The
The The Shaper
The Shaper
implementer
implementer

The
The team
team The
The monitor
monitor
worker
worker

Figure 1: Roles of team members

Team Diversity: The diversity of a team also plays a crucial factor in how productive and
successful the team is. There needs to be a diversity of skills, but if a team also includes
members of diverse age, gender, education, functional background, and experience, this
creates a potential for the team. However, having a team with individuals from various cultures
on a single team often does not warrant immediate success, as team members need a longer
learning curve to understand how to work with one another.

Team Size: Lastly, the size of the team makes a difference in a team’s success. Studies suggest
that a team should consist of no more than ten people, and optimally, no more than the exact
number of team members that are needed to do the work. When teams have more members
than they need, cohesiveness and mutual accountability suffer, and social loafing can occur.

These are the factors that can affect team efficiency as well as contribute to overall
organization’s productivity.

Answer to the question no. 2

Organizational politics are informal, unofficial, and sometimes behind-the-scenes attempts to

sell ideas, influence an organization, increase power, or achieve other targeted goals.

“The ability to effectively understand others at work, and to use such knowledge to influence
others to act in ways that enhance one’s personal and/or organizational objectives” - Ferris
Treadway

Today, jobs in organizations require skill in handling conflicting agendas and shifting power
bases. Effective politics isn’t about winning at all costs but about maintaining relationships
while achieving results. Although often defined negatively, organizational politics are not
innately bad. On the contrary, it’s important to be aware of the potentially destructive aspects
of organizational politics in order to minimize their negative effect.

In order to convince the employees or individuals in an organization who are not adept at
political skills or who have poor political skills, following five benefits of political skills can be
presented to them:

Impulse control:

First, politically skilled individuals think before they speak and demonstrate impulse control.
They choose to engage in organizational conflict that is important and they evaluate situations
before presenting their ideas to team members. Moreover, this skill of considering whether to
voice an opinion and be mindful of timing and presentation of ideas is typical of successful
employees and they are less likely to hinder in their careers.

Better communication:

Second, politically skilled individuals are skilled in communicating with their superiors.
However, it is important that politically skilled individuals maintain effective relationships with
individuals at all levels in the organization. This is especially true for those in a managerial
position. If the manager places too much emphasis on fulfilling their superiors’ needs then they
tend to neglect the needs of their subordinates.

Interpersonal influence:

Third, politically skilled individuals demonstrate interpersonal influence through building strong
relationships with other. They establish good rapport with organizational members and
demonstrate good judgment on when to be assertive, resulting in more cooperative
relationships. They influence other but are not overtly political. They play the political game in a
fair manner and are effortless at doing so. Moreover, politically skilled individuals are successful
in the long term because they are not manipulative in their actions but are cooperative in
ensuring that all parties win. Ultimately, their actions are aligned with the mission of the
organization.

Social astuteness:

Fourth, politically skilled individuals demonstrate social astuteness through being perceptive
observers of others and of social situations. They understand the dynamics of social
interactions and they accurately self-assess their own behavior as well as others so show strong
intrapersonal and interpersonal skills.

Networking ability:

Fifth, politically skilled individuals demonstrate networking ability. Employees who possess this
skill build friendships and generate effective working relationships by garnering support,
negotiating and managing conflict. They appreciate the value of quality relationships rather
than garnering acquaintances. Employees who are skilled in networking understand when to
ask for favors and are also perceived as willing to reciprocate.

Finally, it can be said that political skill is linked to several favorable organizational outcomes,
such as job performance. The research also suggests that employees can learn political skills so
it is important that organizations provide training interventions that help employees learn and
cultivate their political skills.