ENROLMENT NO.

099118644

PROGRAMME TITLE: MBA NAME: PRAKASH BHANDARI

ADDRESS: KATHMANDU, NEPAL
COURSE CODE: MS-21

COURSE TITLE: Social Processes and behavioral issues

ASSIGNMENT CODE: MS-21/SEM – I /2011 SIGNATURE:
STUDY CENTRE: INTERNATIONAL CENTRE DATE:
FOR ACADEMICS (ICA), KTM

1) Briefly describe the importance of work ethics and values in the present day scenario
of industrial organizations. Illustrate with reference to an organization. Briefly describe
the organization you are referring to.

Work ethics and values hold the significant importance in the present day scenario of Industrial
Organisations. Before we go in detail about the importance of ethics and values, we, here
briefly first get identified with what the ethic is and what the value is.

Work ethic is a set of values based on hard work and diligence. It is also a belief in the moral
benefit of work and its ability to enhance character. An example would be the Protestant work
ethic. The protestant movement in Western Europe together with replacement of feudalism by
capitalism highlighted the importance of work ethics with focus on improvement in
productivity and efficiency of employees in formal organizations.

A work ethic may include being reliable, having initiative, or maintaining social skills.
Workers exhibiting a good work ethic in theory (and ideally in practice) should be selected for
better positions, more responsibility and ultimately promotion.

We can visualize the importance of work ethics with the help of decisions taken by the
management of any organization. As ethics influences most of the managerial decisions and
activities both internal external of any organization, its importance is worth noting. Thus work
ethics is highly associated with the managerial roles in any organizations. So it is not merely a
work ethics but also an organizational ethic as well and bears the high importance in present
day scenario of industrial organizations.

Like ethics, values is another important phenomenon in regards to the organizations in the
present day scenario. Rockeach has defined values as ‘a specific mode of conduct or end state
of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or
end state of existence’. By this definition, it can be derived that the values provide a framework
enabling individuals to priorities their actions, make a choice of available options and
determine a preferred ways of responding and distinguishing between desirable and
undesirable response.
In this way, it is clear that values affect decisions and actions. While talking about the values, it
has three levels, i.e individual level, socio-cultural level and organizational level. All the
decisions and actions related with these phenomena are based on their values respectively and
thus it is the matter of great importance in the present day scenario of industrial organizations.

For the values and ethics have high importance in the organizations, any organization always
try to adhere these values to the employees. For this, many organizations may organize in-
house theoretical trainings as well as outdoor practical training sessions. I have one of the
organization as an example to conduct such trainings for big corporate houses. It is called
‘Borderlands’. Borderlands organizes mainly the practical training for professionals of
different organizations to teach and adopt the values and ethics in many ways. It urges the
participants to climb the ‘giant ladder’ in duo so that they can practically understand the
importance of cooperation and the values inherent in. The encouragement from other
participant indirectly shed lights on the importance of outside encouragement for the right
valued job and other technique of pouring a bucket of water from the back side really teaches
the importance of team work with association of great values and ethics.

Borderland is conducting such activities mainly in Nepal and in Srilanka these days. Nepal
Chapter of Borderlands is being managed by Mr G Ghale and comprises the team of different
walk of lives. They mainly participate employees of big corporate houses like Banks, Insurance
companies, Telecom Authority etc and teach the different aspects of organizational values and
ethics with the practical sessions of games (not to be preferred as saying training).

2) What is Perception? Discuss the occurrence of commons errors in Perception and how
to overcome these errors. Give examples.

In simple term perception is what we think about anything else. Or it is a person’s general
understanding about any object which may or may not be true.

The word "perception" comes from the Latin words perceptio, percipio, and means "receiving,
collecting, and action of taking possession, apprehension with the mind or senses."

Perception is one of the oldest fields in psychology. The oldest quantitative law in psychology
is the Weber-Fechner law, which quantifies the relationship between the intensity of physical
stimuli and their perceptual effects. The study of perception gave rise to the Gestalt school of
psychology, with its emphasis on holistic approach

To state more clearly, perception may be defined as the dynamic psychological process
responsible for attending to, organizing and interpreting sensory data. From this it is clear that
we process and interpret the raw data with the aid of our experience, knowledge, interest,
expectation and belief and such our thought is ‘Perception’. What one perceives is a result of
interplays between past experiences, including one’s culture, and the interpretation of the
perceived.
While talking about the perception, this is of two kinds, i.e ‘Bottom-up processing’ and ‘Top
Down Processing’. Bottom Up processing is concerned with the data received by our sensory
organs while the Top Down processing is concerned with the mental processing that allows us
to order, interpret and make sense of the world around us.

Perception Errors And Ways To Overcome Them

From the above discussion on perception it is clear that own’s perception are affected with
many factors like his learning, personality, motivation, experience, belief etc. So since it is
based on these factors and not existed in absolute forms, perception may include some errors
and the main sources of errors in perception include the following:

I. Not collecting enough information about other people.

II. Irrelevant and insignificant information-based judgements
III. Seeing what we expect to see and what we want to see and not investigating further.
IV. Allowing pre-occupied information which affect our judgment
V. Accepting stereotypes uncritically.
VI. Allowing our own characteristics to affect what we see in others and how we judge them.

VII. Attempting to decode non-verbal behavior outside the context in which it appears.
VIII. Basing attributions on flimsy and potentially irrelevant evidence.

In such ways, there may errors in our perception on the grounds mentioned above. However,
these errors can be overcome in following ways:-

Thus, it is clear that errors in perception can be overcome by:

I. Taking more time and avoiding instant or `snap' judgments about others.
II. Collecting and consciously using more information about other people.
III. Developing self-awareness and an understanding of how our personal biases and
preferences affect our perceptions.
IV. Checking our attributions – particularly the links we make between aspects of personality
and appearance on the one hand and behavior on the other.

Therefore, it can be said that if we are to improve our understanding of others, we must first
have a well-developed knowledge of ourselves – our strengths, our preferences, our
weaknesses and our biases. The development of self-knowledge can be an uncomfortable
process. In organizational settings, we are often constrained in the expression of our feelings
(positive and negative) about other people due to social or cultural norms and to the
communication barriers erected by status and power differentials. This may in part explain the
enduring emphasis in recent years on training courses in social and interpersonal skills, self-
awareness and personal growth.

Adrian Furnham (1997) sees some of the common errors while doing evaluations of the
performance of employees. As per him, the most commonly seen errors are:-

• Central tendency: Appraising everyone at the middle of the rating scale.

• Contrast error: Basing an appraisal on comparison with other employees rather than on
established performance criteria.
• Different from me: Giving a poor appraisal because the person has qualities or characteristics
not possessed by the appraiser.
• Halo effect: Appraising an employee undeservedly on one quality (performance, for
example) because s/he is perceived highly by the appraiser on another quality (attractiveness).
• Horn effect: The opposite of the halo effect. Giving someone a poor appraisal on one quality
(attractiveness) influences poor rating on other qualities.(performance).
• Initial impression: Basing an appraisal on first impressions rather than on how the person has
behaved throughout the period to which appraisal relates.
• Latest behavior: Basing an appraisal on the person's recent behavior.
• Lenient or generous rating: Perhaps the most common error, being consistently generous in
appraisal mostly to avoid conflict.
• Performance dimension error: Giving someone a similar appraisal on two distinct but similar
qualities, because they happen to follow each other on the appraisal form.
• Same as me: Giving a good appraisal because the person has qualities or characteristics
possessed by the appraiser. Spillover effect: Basing this appraisal, good or bad, on the results
of the previous appraisal rather than on how the person has behaved during the appraisal
period.
• Status effect: Giving those in higher level positions consistently better appraisals than those
in lower level jobs.
• Strict rating: Being consistently harsh in appraising performance.

So these are the errors in perceptions and the ways to overcome those errors.

3) Explain the relevance of Behaviour modification in organizations and briefly discuss

the role of ethics in behaviour modification.

Behavior modification is also called as operate conditioning and positive reinforcement. It is

based on learning theory and directed towards changing individual behavior rather then that of
group of total organization. The desired behavior of individual can be reinforced by incentives
such as money, social approval and responsibility. Thus the behavior of organizational
participants can be turned towards the results desired including efficient productive efforts. It
has been increasingly applied to a variety of organizations including business firms.

Behavior modification applies thorn dikes law of effect, which asserts that behavior perceived
to lead to a positive result will be repeated, behavior that has a neutral or negative result will
tend not to be repeated. Reinforcement of a person’s behavior can positive or negative. Positive
if a desired behavior is regarded negative if an undesired behavior is punished. Most trainers
push to avoid negative reinforcement and to reply on positive reinforcement. Skinner has
advocated the maximum use of positive reinforcement he opposes negative reinforcement
because of its conceive implication.

Reinforcement proceeds in three stages. First, the superior gives frequent positive
reinforcement based on feedback from subordinate’s performance, shaping their performance
by constructive suggestion is infrequent and the use of praise. In the second stage
reinforcement is infrequent and given at unpredictable times. Finally supervisory reinforcement
is reduced greatly, allowing task accomplishment to become the subordinates primary souses
of reward. All this call for training supervisors in reinforcement methods getting them to accept
the psychology involved. Stages that is ideal, that has proved difficult to reach in May eases.
Organization Behavior Modification is a controversial technique, chiefly because of its
implication of manipulation and control over people. It runs counter to beliefs in freedom and
freewill and makes and environments the basis of control. But skinner believes that the feeling
of freedom is the important thing and that the individual feels free when he can act to avoid a
negative reinforcement or to obtain a positive reinforcement. Indeed the use of this technique
appears to be promising and productive.

Behavior modification is highly relevant in any organization for the manager to achieve
organizational goals he must change his behavior so that it is possible for the employees to
gain something in exchange for competent work. A manager must provide rewards and collect
accurate data so that the rewards follow behaviours that he wants to increase. Thus behavioral
modifications still is a topic of relevant.

Role Of Ethics In Behaviour Modification

There are some of the ethical issues while modifying the behaviour of the employees. Some of
the scholars may raise the issue of ethics on the ground that the modifying individual’s
behaviour is unethical.

The question of whether managers really want to know how to control behavior takes us from
the issue of assumptions of the issue of ethics. If behaviour modification achieves its apparent
potential, managers and psychologists in industrial/organisational settings will encounter
ethical issues they could pretty much ignore in the past.

Effective methods of control are more threatening than ineffective methods. Moreover, as
practically every writer of a behavioral text notes, there exist fairly widespread misconceptions
about what behavior modification is and how it is usually applied. There are numerous past
instances in which application of behaviour principles mental health facilities, prisons, and
schools prompted strong negative reactions and even the banning of funds.

With the help of conception on ethical way of behavior modification, some of the
misconceptions can be corrected and the real issues are taken into consideration rather than
highlighting and involving the ethical issues associated with the behavioral modification.

4) Describe the growing importance of teams as an approach to work. Briefly

discuss how team can be built effectively. Illustrate with reference to an
organization where team played a crucial role in bringing success. Briefly
describe the organization you are referring to.

Team Building refers to a wide range of activities, presented to businesses, schools, sports
teams, religious or nonprofit organizations designed for improving team performance.
Team building is pursued via a variety of practices, and can range from
simple bonding exercises to complex simulations and multi-day team building retreats
designed to develop a team (including group assessment and group-dynamic games),
usually falling somewhere in between. It generally sits within the theory and practice
 of organizational development, but can also be applied to sports teams, school groups, and
other contexts. Team building is not to be confused with "team recreation" that consists of
activities for teams that are strictly recreational. Teambuilding is an important factor in any
environment; its focus is to specialize in bringing out the best in a team to ensure self
development, positive communication, leadership skills and the ability to work closely
together as a team to solve problems.

Work environments tend to focus on individuals and personal goals, with reward &
recognition singling out the achievements of individual employees. "How to create
effective teams is a challenge in every organization"

Team building can also refer to the process of selecting or creating a team from scratch. To
state in detail, for the following reason, team building is necessary:-

a. Improving communication
b. Making the workplace more enjoyable
c. Motivating a team
d. Getting to know each other
e. Getting everyone "onto the same page", including goal setting
f. Teaching the team self-regulation strategies
g. Helping participants to learn more about themselves (strengths and weaknesses)
h. Identifying and utilizing the strengths of team members
i. Improving team productivity
j. Practicing effective collaboration with team members

Team Building Exercises & purpose

Team building exercises consist of a variety of tasks designed to develop group members and
their ability to work together effectively. There are many types of team building activities that
range from kids games to games that involve novel complex tasks and are designed for specific
needs. There are also more complex team building exercises that are composed of multiple
exercises such as ropes courses, corporate drumming and exercises that last over several days.
The purpose of team building exercises is to assist teams in becoming cohesive units of
individuals that can effectively work together to complete tasks.

Types of Team Building Exercises

Communication Exercise: This type of team building exercise is exactly what it sounds like.
Communications exercises are problem solving activities that are geared towards improving
communication skills. The issues teams encounter in these exercises are solved by
communicating effectively with each other.

• Goal: Create an activity which highlights the importance of good communication in team
performance and/or potential problems with communication.

Problem Solving/Decision Making Exercise: Problem Solving/Decision making exercises

focus specifically on groups working together to solve difficult problems or make complex
decisions. These exercises are some of the most common as they appear to have the most direct
link to what employers want their teams to be able to do.

• Goal: Give team a problem in which the solution is not easily apparent or requires the team to
come up with a creative solution
Planning/Adaptability Exercise: These exercises focus on aspects of planning and being
adaptable to change. These are important things for teams to be able to do when they are
assigned complex tasks or decisions.

• Goal: Show the importance of planning before implementing a solution

Trust Exercise: A trust exercise involves engaging team members in a way that will induce
trust between them. They are sometimes difficult exercises to implement as there are varying
degrees of trust between individuals and varying degrees of individual comfort trusting others
in general.

• Goal: Create trust between team members

There are some other sub-groups of team building exercises like:-

i. imple social activities – to encourage team members to spend time together

ii. group bonding sessions – company sponsored fun activities to get to know team
members (sometimes intending also to inspire creativity)
iii. personal development activities – individual programs given to groups (sometimes
physically challenging):
iv. team development activities - group-dynamic games designed to help individuals
discover how they approach a problem, how the team works together, and discover
better methods
v. psychological analysis of team roles, and training in how to work better together
(and combinations of the above)

from the discussion so far, we can come to the conclusion that team plays a vital role in any
organization for its development and an effective team can be build in many ways. Now we
take an example of an organization having succeeded in a critical issue with the help of team as
a whole.

RBB (Rastriya Banijya Bank of Nepal) is a government owned commercial bank in Nepal. At
one point of time, its net worth was negative and the NPL crossed more than 200%. Faith of
the general over this bank was decreasing thus by significantly hampering its growth. With this
given situation, central bank of Nepal (Nepal Rastra Bank) intervene the bank and leased the
management of the bank to the banking expert. With the very good team in hand, new
management took the historical decisions and now the financial health of the Bank is sound. It
has not only made its net worth positive, also earned billions of rupees as profit last year. This,
I think is the sole cause of the effective team-work of the management of that bank.

5) Briefly discuss how organizational culture can be developed and describe the
attributes of work culture and their relevance.

Before we discuss on the process of developing organizational culture, we briefly discuss first
what the organizational culture is. Organizational culture can simply be defined as the shared
assumptions, beliefs, and "norms of behaviors of a group. These are powerful influences on the
way people live and act, and they define what is "normal" and how to sanction those who are
not "normal." To a large degree, what we do is determined by our culture.

Smircich has defined Organisational Culture as a fairly stable set of taken for granted
assumptions, shared beliefs, meanings and values that bring forth a new way of understanding
of organizational life.

Talking about the development of organizational culture, it can be developed in many ways. In
general there are two types mechanism for the development of Organisational Culture. These
two mechanisms are: Primary mechanism and Secondary Mechanism.

Primary Mechanism for developing Organizational Culture (OC)

There are five such mechanism under primary mechanism of the development of OC. These
five mechanisms can be outlined as follows:

a. what leaders pay attention to, measure to and control

b. leaders reactions to critical incidents and organizational crisis
c. deliberate role modeling, teaching and coaching
d. criteria for allocation of rewards and status
e. criteria for recruitment, selection, promotion and retirement employees

Likewise, there are also five secondary mechanisms by which the culture of organization is
developed. They are:

i. design and structure of the organization

ii. systems and procedures of the organization
iii. physical space, facades and buildings of the organization
iv. stories, legends, myths, and parables about important events and people about
organization
v. formally declared philosophy, creeds and charters of the organization

So these al together 10 mechanisms are used for the development of the organizational culture.
Now we will briefly discuss on the attributes of work culture for the organizations.

Work culture can be understood simply as a combination of attitudes, relationships, developed

abilities, habits and other behavioral patterns of the individuals who belong to the
organization. Work ethos is the most important factor while talking about the work culture
among others.

Work culture can attribute in many ways for any organization. In general following attributes
can be outlined as a result of work culture:-

a. timing: it helps to make punctual l. sense of belongingness

b. responsiveness m. team work
c. Communication n. group dynamics
d. Professional work etiquette o. socialization practice
e. House keeping p. decision making
f. Infrastructure q. respect for others
g. Commitment to result r. caring
h. Performance recognition s. interpersonal sensitivity
 i. Quality consciousness t. informal power centre
j. Process orientation u. openness
k. proactivity

In this way, we can clearly say that work culture holds the most important role for the
development of any organization. Its reputation, growth, and multi-dimensional development
can be guaranteed by the proper work culture established inside it. So the work culture always
holds the importance and is highly relevant for modern organizations as well.