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Organisational Behavior
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I I N N D D U U S S T T R R I I A A L L M M A A N N A A G G E E M M E E N N T T
ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR


Organizational behaviour is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and
organizational structure have on behaviour within the organization, for the purpose of applying such
knowledge towards improving an organizational effectiveness. The above definition has three main
elements;
1. Organizational behaviour is an investigative study of individuals and groups,
2. The impact of organizational structure on human behaviour and the
3. The application of knowledge to achieve organizational effectiveness.
These factors are interactive in nature and the impact of such behaviour is applied to various systems so
that the goals are achieved. The nature of study of organizational behaviour is investigative to establish
cause and effect relationship.

Contributing Fields to Organizational Behaviour
Psychology: Psychology is an applied science, which attempts to explain human behaviour in a particular
situation and predicts actions of individuals. It has contributed towards various theories on learning,
motivation, personality, training, individual decision making, leadership, job satisfaction, attitude, job
design, work stress and conflict management. Various psychological tests are conducted in the
organizations for selection of employees, measuring personality attributes and aptitude. Studies of these
theories can improve personal skills, bring change in attitude and develop positive approach to
organizational systems.
Sociology: Science of Sociology studies the impact of culture on group behaviour and has contributed to
a large extent to the field of group-dynamics, roles that individual plays in the organization,
communication, norms, status, power, conflict management, formal organization theory, group processes
and group decision-making.
Political science: Political science has contributed to the field of Organizational behaviour. Stability of
government at national level is one major factor for promotion of international business, financial
investments, expansion and employment. All organizations have to abide by the rules of the government
of the day which also play a very decisive role in growth of the organization.
Social psychology: Working organizations are formal assembly of people who are assigned specific jobs
and play a vital role in formulating human behaviour. It is a subject where concept of psychology and
sociology are blend to achieve better human behaviour in organization. The field has contributed to
manage change, group decision-making, communication and ability of people in the organization, to
maintain social norms.
Anthropology: It is a field of study relating to human activities in various cultural and environmental
frameworks. It understands difference in behaviour based on value system of different cultures of various
countries. The study is more relevant to organizational behaviour today due to globalization, mergers and
acquisitions of various industries. Managers will have to deal with individuals and groups belonging to
different ethnic cultures and exercise adequate control or even channelize behaviour in the desired
direction by appropriately manipulating various cultural factors.

Perception
Perception is defined as a process by which individuals organise and interpret their sensory impressions
in order to give meaning to their environment.
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Individual differs in the way he sees, interprets and understands a particular event. A manager may
perceive non-attendance of duty by the subordinate in a different way. Individuals also differ in their
opinion though the event or situation may be the same. For example, in an organization where lunch is
served in a subsidised manner may be interpreted by the employees in a different way. An employee may
perceive it as right to get a subsidized lunch, the other may feel that it is being given out of surplus of
profits achieved by the organization while the third individual may state that it is mandatory for the
management to provide lunch free of cost and that the management is not doing any favour to them by
providing the lunch.
There is often disagreement among the individuals in the organization in relation to pay and
allowances, administrative back up, policies and procedures and the place of work itself. An individual
who displays a positive attitude may perceive above factors as good and conducive to work environment
while the others may consider them inadequate. Employees also compare themselves on job assignment.
If a job is assigned to one individual who may consider the assignment in excess to his job entitlement on
the contrary if he is not given the job, he may consider it as neglecting him in allocation of
responsibilities.
The study of perception is very important in the organization because it is necessary for the manager
to perceive individuals correctly irrespective of their status and perceive each of the situations as close to
the real fact or as it exists by interpreting the sensory reflects in correct way. No two individuals can
perceive an employee in the same manner, for one he may be efficient while for the other he may be
perceived as useless.

Factors Influencing Perception: Following three factors influence the perception
Perceiver Situation Object/Target
Attitude Time Shape
Motives Work setting Size
Interests Social setting Shade
Experience Sound
Expectations Silhouette
Movement
Background

Perceiver: When an individual looks at the object and attempts to interpret the same, what he or she sees
it is largely influenced by the personal characteristics. Perception is a matter of attitude that can be
positive or negative. Some workers would feel and perceive that the prevailing working conditions in the
organizations are congenial for work and it contributes positively while for others, it would be inadequate
and demand improvement. Motive is another factor that plays an important role in perception. Motive is
nothing but unsatisfied needs. This exerts considerable influence on perception. Interest is persons liking
for a particular thing in an individual. It has been observed in the work places that workers would display
interest as per their liking. Past experience also plays an important role in perception. Just as interest
narrows down ones perception so does past experience. In contrast past experience nullifies an object
interest. For example second or subsequent visit to a historic place. Object or events that have not been
experienced before are more noticeable and creates an interest. Expectations can distort ones perception
in what one sees and what one expects to see. For example power hungry police officer to be strict
regardless of his actual traits.

The Situation: Change in situation leads to incorrect perception about a person. Time is one factor,
which influences the perception. Time is related to work setting and social setting. What is important to
remember is the perception should be done in a correct manner not to be led due to work setting or social
setting and that the situation is not allowed to perceive wrongly.

The Target: An object can be identified by its size, shade, shape, sound it makes and background. It can
be distinguished based on its movement. In darkness it may be identified by its silhouette, for example
caravan moving on skyline at the dawn. Objects, events that are similar to each other tend to group
together and have a tendency of perceiving them as common group for example. Blacks, Whites or
Indians etc irrespective of their different characteristics. Physical and time proximity also leads us to
perceiving a situation in a different form than actual reality. Increase in the sales volume may be
attributed to newly posted sales manager. In actuality the increase in sales may have been the outcome of
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hard work done in the past by sales representatives and public contact. It is therefore important to analyse
the event, situation, or an object in its correct perspective.

Common Errors While Judging Others
1. Selective Perception: People selectively interpret what they see based on their attitude, interest,
background and experience. An individual might have been appointed on a key position on the
day of the visit of CEO and the appointment may be incidental but we may perceive
appointments as a consequence of CEOs visit. It is important that when we read others, we make
a mistake reading with speed and putting seal of what has been selectively seen by a perceiver.
For correct perception an individual must be observed, studied, tried and later perceived without
an individual bias.
2. Halo Effect: Halo effect refers to judging an individual based on single characteristics, such as
intellectual ability, sociability and appearance. Sales Managers visit to sales territory and
consequent increase in sales volume may be attributed to the visit of the sales manager to a
particular sales territory. Perceiver in this situation did not notice the cause of increased sales to
probably higher demand, change in market forces, subordinate sales employees past efforts to
woo customers to buy the product and host of other factors that go with increase in the sales
volume. This type of perception is quite common in any organization, which is called halo effect
in perceiving an individual or situation.
3. Projection: You assume a person based on your own traits and not what he actually possesses. If
you were hard working and dependable you would expect others to be so. If a person projects the
above characteristics in his dealings he is rated high or perceived in a different way than what he
actually is. It is commonly found that subordinates do or exhibit the same behaviour as desired
by the boss. This phenomenon is called the projection, an error that is common in any
organization.
4. Contrast Effect: We do not evaluate a person in isolation. Our reaction to one person is relative
to the other. During selection process, interviewer selects a particular person for a particular job
not because he fulfils all requirements but he is generally selected in relation to the other
candidates. So it is a comparative or contrast phenomenon of perception.
5. Stereotyping: In order to simplify matters, we often tend to classify people and events into
already known categories. In our mind we have established certain categories with certain
attributes. For example, category of teenagers would generally be independent, undisciplined and
so on. In reality this may not be true. Similarly we attach positive attribute to judges, professors
and doctors and negative attributes to school dropouts, addicts although they may not be really
so.

Motivation
Introduction:
It is the duty of every manager to ensure that the employees have a high degree of motivation. While
machines, processes, technology of high order can be made available to the individuals, but high
productivity can only be achieved if workers are highly skilled and adequately motivated. This means
giving close attention to how individuals can best be motivated through such means as incentives,
rewards, leadership and, importantly, the work they do and the organization context within which they
carry out that work. The aim is to develop motivation processes and a work environment that will help to
ensure that individuals deliver results in accordance with the expectations of management

Motivation: is defined as a process of stimulating people to action to accomplish desired goals. Motive
is defined as an inner state that energises, activates (or moves) and directs (or channelizes) the
behaviour towards certain goals. A motive is a reason for doing something. Motivation is concerned
with the factors that influence people to behave in certain ways. Work Motivation is defined as the
psychological forces that determine the direction of a persons efforts, level of those efforts, and
persistence in face of obstacles.

Importance of Motivation
1. High level of performance: Highly motivated workers would be regular for work, and have a
sense of belonging for the organization. Quality of product will be improved, wastage will be
minimum and there will be increase in productivity, and performance level will be high.
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2. Low employee turnover and absenteeism. When dissatisfaction is increased employees do not
enjoy the work assigned to them. Employee turnover and absenteeism is caused due to low level
of motivation and causes low level of efficiency, wastages, and poor quality. Increased turnover
puts strain on financial position of the organization due to additional recruitment, training and
development. Motivation is therefore a very important management tool to achieve
organizational excellence.
3. Acceptance of organization change. There has been a great impact of. Social change and
technology evolution on the motivation level of employees. Management must ensure that the
changes are introduced in the organization and its benefits explained to the employees so that
there is no resistance to change and organizational growth is achieved.
4. Organizational image: Employees are the mirrors of any organization. Managers must lay down
high performance standards coupled with high monetary and non-monetary rewards. Training &
development programmes will have a positive impact on the employees. It will also reduce
employee turnover and better employee will look forward to join the organization. High
organizational image will contribute towards brand image of the product and services the
organization is marketing.

Extrinsic & Intrinsic Motivation: Motivation at work can take place in two ways. First, people can
motivate themselves by seeking, finding and carrying out work (or being given work) that satisfies their
needs or at least leads them to expect that their goals will be achieved. This is called intrinsic motivation.
Secondly, people can be motivated by management through such methods as pay, promotion, praise, etc.
this is called extrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic motivators can have an immediate and powerful effect, but it will not necessarily last long. The
intrinsic motivators, which are concerned with the quality of working life, are likely to have a deeper
and longer-term effect because they are inherent in individuals and not imposed from outside.

Motivation theories of management
Maslows Theory of Hierarchy of Needs.
Herzbergs Two Factor Theory
McGregors Theory X & Theory Y
Alderfers ERG Theory
Vrooms Theory of Motivation (Performance Satisfaction).

Maslows Theory of Need Hierarchy:


Maslows Motivational Theory covers the following:
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(a) There are five levels of human needs.
1. Physiological Needs: Include need for food, water shelter, air, rest etc.
2. Safety Needs: Need for protection against thread, danger, job security, insurance etc.
3. Social Needs: Need to associate with others, to belong to a group, to be accepted by
others, family affection, friendship etc.
4. Esteem Needs: Need for self-respect, achievement, recognition, prestige, status etc.
5. Self actualization Needs: Need for self-fulfilment, realizing ones highest potential,
creativity, self-expression.
(b) These needs are hierarchical in nature.
(c) A satisfied need is no longer a need. The next level need becomes stronger.
(d) Needs do not diminish. It is the gravity that changes. Individual strives to satisfy the
need that has a strong appeal at any point of time.
The level of motivation of a person depends on the level of needs he is experiencing at any given time.

Alderfers ERG Theory: This is a modification & simplification of Maslows theory. The idea is if an
employee faces frustration with respect to a higher order need, and if that frustration is not resolved, then
he may gradually start transferring that frustration to an already satisfied lower order need.


Herzbergs Two-Factors Theory: Herzberg interviewed hundreds of workers about situations where
they were highly motivated to work and where they were de-motivated. He concluded that there are two
types of needs, independent of each other.
1. Motivational Factors: Set of job conditions, which build strong motivation and job satisfaction.
They are intrinsic in nature and include Achievement, Possibility of Growth, Recognition, Work
Itself, and Responsibility. These factors have positive effect on morale, productivity, and job
satisfaction and over all efficiency of the organization.
2. Maintenance Factors or Hygiene Factors: These are the basic minimum job conditions
necessary for work. When present they do not motivate in a strong way, but when absent they
cause employee dissatisfaction. These factors include reasonable Company Policy and
administration, Technical supervision, Interpersonal relationship, Salary and Job security,
Personal Life, Working condition.
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McClellands theory: focuses on three needs: achievement, power, and affiliation.
Need for achievement: The drive to excel in relation to a set of standards, to strive to succeed.
Need for power: The need to make others behave in a way that they would not have otherwise.
Need for affiliation. The desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationship

McGregors Theory X & Theory Y
McGregor suggested that management tends to view employee- nature in two different ways:


It is unusual to find exclusively Theory X people or Theory Y people in any organization. There would
always be a mix of both types of employees in varying proportions. Managers therefore will have to
tailor their motivational application in appropriate manner suiting behavioural patterns. Hence in our
opinion, there is no particular category in which an employee can be placed; rather, these two categories
help us in dealing with employees under different situations.

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Vrooms Expectancy Theory: He believes that employee is motivated to exert high level of efforts
when he believes that efforts will lead to good performance and therefore organizational rewards that will
satisfy achievement of personal goals. The focus of the theory has three elements.
(a) Efforts - Performance relationship. It is related to the probability perceived by individual that
exerting a given amount of efforts will lead to performance (Expectancy).
(b) Performance - Reward Relationship. The degree to which the individual believes that performing a
particular level will lead to attainment of desired outcome (I nstrumentality).
(c) Reward-personal goal relationship. The degree to which an organizational reward will satisfy
individual needs and its attractiveness for the individual (Valence).

Motivating Force or Effort = Expectancy * Instrumentality * Valence


Morale
Morale is a state of happiness, optimism, good relationship among the members of a group or
association. Management is concerned with good employee morale, a mental state of an individual or
group enabling the employee or group to realize maximum satisfaction in achieving the organizational
objectives.
Morale is a degree of enthusiasm and willingness towards the performance of work. Morale is an
individual matter and is reflected in the attitude of an employee towards enterprise. It is aggregate
satisfaction derived by an employee through his job and as a member of a group. Thus morale is an
indication of group motivation. A group with high morale requires less supervision, has greater
productivity, and lesser grievances.

Leadership can be defined the process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly,
enthusiastically and with confidence towards achievement of group goals.

Leadership Styles:
Autocratic Democratic Laissez-faire
1 Policy is determined by leader Policy is decided by group, assisted
by leader
Policy decided by individuals or
group without assistance by leader.
2 Activity & method of working are
dictated by leader. Instructions
are given one at a time. Whole
plan is not explained.
Activity & method of working
decided during group discussion.
Leader may suggest many options
and group selects any one.
Activity & method of working are
decided by individuals based on
inputs by leader. But each
individual may choose a different
option.
3 Tasks are dictated. Groups are
formed by leader himself.
Members of groups too are
selected by leader.
Tasks are informed to groups by
leader. Groups are formed by
mutual choice of members.
No part is played by leader in
determining task or who is to
accomplish that.
4 Leader maintains distance from
subordinates. He is whimsical in
dealings with them.
Leader is objective and tries to be a
group member.
Leader is defunct. He makes no
personal contribution to the work at
all.


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Personal Traits of a Leader:
1. Intelligence: Leaders tend to have higher degree of intelligence than their subordinates.
2. Social maturity & breadth: Leaders have a tendency to be emotionally mature. They have a
broad range of interests.
3. Inner motivation & achievement drive: Leaders want to accomplish things. When they achieve
one goal, they seek out another goal. They are inner motivated and do not depend on outside
forces for their motivation.
4. Human relations attitude: Leaders are able to work effectively with other persons. They
understand that to accomplish any task, they must be considerate to others.

Managerial Grid Leadership:
Managerial Grid style of leadership was developed by Robert Blake & Jane Mouton (1969). This
model explains concern of a manager for production and people. Blake & Moutons model helps to
measure a managers relative concern for people and task and reflects bi-directional nature of leadership.
The managerial grid shown identifies a range of management behaviour based on the various ways that
the task oriented and employee oriented styles, which have been explained as a continuum on a scale of 1
to 9.


Team, Groups & Committees:
A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose,
set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.
In organisations, functional teams called Groups & Committees are set up with specific goals, objectives,
responsibilities and powers.
Formal and informal groups and committees can be seen in organisations. Formal groups & committees
have permanence. Informal groups are formed without specific delegation of authority, usually by some
person interested in group thinking or a group decision on a problem.

Reasons for using groups & committees:
(a) Group deliberation & judgment
(b) Fear of too much authority in a single person.
(c) Representation of interested groups
(d) Coordination of departments
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(e) Transmission & sharing of information
(f) Consolidation of authority
(g) Motivation through participation
(h) Avoidance of action

Disadvantages of groups & committees:
(a) They are costly
(b) They could result in compromise
(c) They may lead to indecision
(d) They could split responsibility
(e) The voice of minority may get stifled

Communication:
Communication is the process by which information is shared / exchanged and understood by two or
more people, usually with the intent to motivate or influence behaviour.

Importance of Communication:
Effective communication is most important in organizations since it affects practically every aspect of
Organisational Behaviour. Employees understand each others and the management only when
communication is effective. Likewise, employees are motivated to work only when someone
communicates clearly what is expected from them. Finally leaders can influence and persuade followers
only through effective communication.
Good communication serves several important functions such as providing knowledge, motivating
the employees, controlling and coordinating group activities, and expressing feelings and emotions.

Objectives of Communication
1) To keep employees abreast with external and internal environment.
2) Develop understanding and cordial relationship with management.
3) Development of team spirit, group task resolution and psychological bent of mind.
4) Promote creativity and innovativeness.
5) Develop social commitment among employees.
6) Make them aware of their rights, entitlements, and responsibilities.
7) Prepare employees to accept and implement change.
8) Prevent mis-information and counter rumours.
9) Promote participative type of leadership model.
10) Motivate employees by displaying an attitude of commitment.
11) Knowledge management.

Communication Process

Source: Source is an initiator of a message. He may be an individual or group or even an organization.
Message is required to be encoded that will depend upon distance, the receiver, time available (urgency)
and availability of channel.

Message: Message is an information and is essence of communication. Encoding is a process of selecting
an appropriate channel.

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Medium: Medium is also called channels through which a message is transmitted. It is the path through
which the message is physically sent to the receiver. It may be face to face communication, Telephone,
tele-printer, computer network, Mobile phones and radio sets. What is important is the compatibility of
the sender and the receiver to use the medium.



Channel richness is the amount of information that can be transmitted during a communication episode.
Capacity of a channel depends on ability to 1) establish multiple cues simultaneously 2) facilitate rapid
two-way feedback, and 3) establish personal focus. Channel selection depends on whether a message is
routine or non-routine.

Receiver: The message is received by a person called a receiver. Receiver is also responsible to decode
the message and interpret it in an appropriate manner. He must assign correct meaning to various
symbols, gestures, words as is intended by the sender.

Effect: Effect is the change in behaviour of receiver. Action messages are acted upon and information
messages are acted upon for wide circulation as information only. It is further stated that the principle of
need to know must be kept in mind while transmitting.

Feedback: Once the message is received by the receiver, he has to either act upon it or prepare a reply
message to the originator. Feedback is essential to know whether the message is clearly understood and
action taken.

Means of Communication
There are three primary methods of communication. These are written, verbal and non verbal form of
communication. The choice as to which method to adopt would largely depend upon the location of the
sender and receiver, ability, the nature of the message, urgency with which the information is required to
be passed on and the cost involved in passing or receiving the information.

1) Written Communication
Written communication contains information of a permanent nature is generally in the form of
standing orders, policy documents, orders, instructions, notes, memos, formal letters, demi
official letters etc. Written communication is important to ensure the uniformity of action and
future plans. Written documents can be saved and stored. Written communication is lengthy,
time consuming and has a high probability of leakage in respect of confidential documents.

2) Oral Communication
Oral communication is the most common form of communication. It is face to face or by in
public address system or electronic media like audio-visual conferencing. It is a direct, simple
form of communication which is the least expensive and yet the most effective. Feedback is
spontaneous and any error in the message is corrected immediately. It is more effective than
written communication because the receiver not only hears the contents of the message but also
is influenced by the tone, pitch, gestures, speed and even volume of conversation. Oral
communication promotes better relationship due to its personalized nature. However oral
communication suffers from various disadvantages like lack of records, mis-interpretation of
message by the receiver, filtration, distortions and giving the meaning to the communication
which suits the receiver best. Oral communication, to be effective, must be specific, short, to the
point and devoid of ambiguity of any sort.
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Grapevine is a very powerful informal medium of communication where messages are passed
by word of month to maximum number of employees in a minimum possible time. Grapevine
travels like a wild fire. Management can use grapevine in a productive manner to convey a
particular message. The greater the quantity of information that passes through the grapevine the
less accurate it usually is.

3) Non Verbal Communication
Nonverbal messages are transmitted through gestures, facial expressions and through body
language. It can also be expressed how one designs ones office and through official protocols.
Body language is known a Kinesics. A handshake is probably the most common form of body
language which conveys a lot about a persons personality and can characteristics of a person
that cannot be expressed through written or oral communication.

Structure of Communication
Communication has a structure that is based on two things. First, the organizational structure and second
the purpose the communication is intended to achieve.
(a) 1. Downward Communication
In hierarchical structure where there are various organizational levels the communication
is from top to bottom. In this pattern the communication flows from superior to
subordinates. It is in the written form like policy letters, standing orders, staff
regulations, handbooks, procedure, manuals and the like. When it is verbal, it pertains to
passing information about day to day functioning and operations.
(b) Upward Communication
Upward communication relates to communication being made by junior person to senior.
This generally follows the reporting channel of command. The communication relates to
reporting production levels, sales performance, reaction to certain orders and
instructions. The communication reflects motivational condition of the employees. The
flow of information from bottom to top helps the top management to know the actions,
attitude, opinion and feelings of people. Management must evolve an Open door
system and employees should feel that their superiors are always available to share their
opinion, ideas and views that can be effectively used for decision making.
(c) Horizontal or Lateral Communication
This type of communication refers to communication across departments or between
people within different departments. It is more informal in nature and is necessary in
promoting a supportive organizational climate. It provides the means by which
supervisors, grass root level workers and managers organize and coordinate their
activities without referring the matters to their respective seniors. Generally, people
prefer accomplishment of work smoothly and therefore like to refer laterally.


Types of Communication
1) Formal Communication
Formal communication takes place within the chain of command or task responsibility defined
by the organization, in the form of upward, downward and lateral communication. It may take
the form of written or verbal communication that will depend upon the relationship, time
available, importance of the issue etc. Main problem is drop-off or information loss/distortion.

2) Informal Communication
Informal communication is not planned by the organization, hence no lines of communication
exist. This type of communication takes place due to sheer desire of an individual to
communicate with others. Two of the main channels of informal communication are:
Management by Wandering Around, and grapevine. This type of communication takes place
during lunch, or coffee/tea breaks and during social gatherings. There is a likelihood of rumours
being spread in the organization through informal communication channels, which should be
guarded against.

Barriers to Effective Communication
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Communication made by a sender, must be received and interpreted correctly by the receiver.
Communication noise means problems such as, message not reaching the receiver, faulty encoding and
decoding, faulty channel selection, wrong language or the interpretation of the message. These problems
can be classified as various barriers to effective communication.

Physical Barrier
1) Poor Timing: A person must evaluate the timing of sending a message. Receiver must get
adequate time to implement the instruction given. Last minute communication and very advance
communication are likely to be ineffective.
2) Choice of Channel: Routine messages should be passed on verbally to subordinates and boss.
Important messages should be followed in writing as a confirmation to verbal conversation.
Extraordinary situations demand Face to face communication.
3) Inadequate Information: Too much or too little information is dangerous. Information must be
of value, meaningful and related to the job of the receiver.
4) Organizational Structure: Unclear lines of command cause confusion in communication. Every
individual in the organization must know the channels of command and communication.
Authority and responsibility must be clearly defined so that the communication is directed
towards the correct person and quick decision making is achieved.
5) Information Overload: Information may be passed to concerning individuals as it is needed.
Excessive information causes information overload.

Interpersonal Barriers
Effective communication largely depends upon the sender and receiver and their personal bent of mind,
commitment to organizational effectiveness and the relationship they enjoy. Some of the important
interpersonal barriers are discussed in the succeeding paragraphs.
1) Filtration: Filtration is a process when sender deliberately wants to withhold information from
reaching the receiver. It takes place when subordinates send information to superiors based on
the liking of the latter. Therefore the information may be far from the truth.
2) Perception: It is human tendency to hear what one wants to hear and ignore all else. This totally
distorts the intent and contents of the message.
3) Semantic Barriers: Semantic barriers refer to the misinterpretation of words, abbreviations and
symbols. Choice of wrong word or a comma at wrong place can change the meaning.
4) Power Position: While authority makes communication more authentic but may create social
distance and therefore restrict communication due to gap that may be created.
5) Cultural Barriers: Cultural differences can adversely affect the communication effectiveness. It
is necessary to understand ethnic backgrounds and cultures of various employees working in the
organization.
6) Sender Credibility: If a senders credibility is high, the receiver will take and interpret message
favourably. Conversely, if sender is not trusted receiver may try and interpret the message
wrongly by deliberately giving hidden meaning to various words and may even distort the
complete message.

Overcoming Communication Barriers
1. Improve Listening Skills: An individual must be a good listener. Listening is half of
whole communication. Important points for good listener are as under:
a. Do not have preconceived ideas about a subject matter.
b. Pay full attention to what the sender is saying.
c. Think as the sender thinks.
d. Check back as to what you have received.
e. Give time to take feedback on action taken on the message received.
f. Keep in mind the principle of need to know to avoid information overload.
2. Improve Written Skills: A well written communication in simple language has negligible
chances of misinterpretation. The text of the message should be simple and should clearly
indicate as to what actions are required to be taken by the receiver. Writing good message is
an art and it must be practiced overtime. Basic principles of good written message are
brevity, clarity and simplicity.
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3. Maintain Unity of Command Principle: Most of communication problems arise when
channels of command and control are not followed strictly. One must receive orders from a
specific authority and should be answerable to the same authority. The object of
communication is not only to carryout assigned task but create an atmosphere of trust and
understanding among all members of the organization.

Module 2 Questions
1. Elucidate the measures to be taken to overcome the major barriers to Communications. (14) 2010
2. Write short notes on a) Leadership & Team-building b) Ethics in Management. (7+7) 2010
3. Write short notes on a) Organizational Culture & Work Culture b) Modes of Recruitment. (7+7) 2010
4. Write short notes on a) Motivation & Productivity b) Human Resource Planning. (7+7) 2009
5. Short notes on a) Role of Communications in managerial function b) Leadership style. (7+7) 2009
6. Write short notes on a) Maslows hierarchy of needs b) Two-factor theory of motivation. (7+7) 2008
7. Account for the importance of Communication in organizational Management. (14) 2008,2012 (N)
8. Explain McGregors Theory X and Theory Y of motivation. Which theory, in your opinion, would work better in
most situations and why? (8+6) 2007
9. Discuss various leadership styles? What factors should a manager consider in adapting his leadership style in a
particular situation? (8+6) 2007
10. Write short notes on a) Theory X and Theory Y of motivation b) Leadership styles. c) Communications Process
(7+7) 2006
11 a) Discuss the factors which influence the behaviour of a worker or a manager in the work place. b) What is a
Team? How teams are formed and sustained (8+6) 2003
12 a) Define leadership style. What is managerial grid? b) How would you develop interpersonal relationship in an
organization? (8+7) 2003
13. b) ii) Two-factor theory of motivation. (3) 2011
14. Explain Mc Gregors theory of motivation. Which theory in your opinion would work better in most situations?
(6+4) 2011
15. Briefly discuss Maslows hierarchy of needs (7) 2010 Nov
16. a) Write notes on Motivation and Productivity b) Leadership Style Explain (7+7) 2010 Nov