Managing Individuals & Organizations

 Section – A (20 Marks)

Note : Write short notes on any 4 (Four) topics. Each question carries 5 marks

Q-1 Functions of management.

Q-2 Achievement need

Q-3 Super Ego

Q-4 MBTI Profile

Q-5 Jo-Hari Window profiling

Section – B (30 Marks)

Note : Attempt any 3 (Three) questions. Each question carries 10 marks

Q-6 "Managing individuals and organizations is a science as well as an art." Comment.

Q-7 Explain Maslow's need hierarchy theory. Explain the limitations in this theory.

Q-8 Give the salient features of Hershy & Blanchard situational theory of leadership. What are the applications of this theory?

Q-9 Differentiate "Perception" from "Understanding". What are the various factors determining perception?

Section – C (50 Marks)

Note. Go through the case given herewith and answer the questions that follow

Case:

Nordstrom's the upscale Seattle-based clothing store, built a nationwide reputation by providing exceptional service to customers, and successfully expanded at a time when other retail stores were experiencing poor sales and dwindling profits.

The extraordinary personal attention that is the cornerstone of Nordstrom's reputation is, of course, a welcome relief to shoppers accustomed to service in many stores that ranges from surly to nonexistent. It is the result of an unusual highly intensive system of employee motivation based on generous salary and commission sales. "Nordies" are encouraged to do whatever is necessary to make a sale: Customers can expect to receive a personal thank-you note after a purchase, and returns are accepted without question, even after use and without a sales slip.

The original Nordstrom's was a Seattle shoe store founded in 1901 by John W.Nordstrom, who, according to company lore, arrived from Sweden with $5 in his pocket and made his first fortune panning for gold. Management has been kept in the family for three generations, and a fourth is being groomed. This continuity has provided a strong, stable management environment, though company executives insist that they don't interfere with store operations, whose day-to-day functioning is highly decentralized. They describe the structure of the company as an inverted pyramid, with the executives on the bottom supporting the widening levels of managers and workers. Customers are at the top.

The employee environment is intensely competitive, with awards, cash prizes, and in-store discounts given for exceptional service and sales. Awards also go to individual stores having the largest scrap books of laudatory notes from customers. Sales-people are rated on a sales-per-hour (SPH). system, and a consistently low SPH rating is grounds for dismissal.

This incense competitiveness has not been without problems. Some former employees say the company environment is intimidating, and report almost cultlike atmosphere prevails in the mandatory "motivation seminars." Serious difficulties arose for the company when the workers union complained that employees were being coerced into performing into many nonsales duties "off-the-clock." The extra touches Nordstrom's is famous for - the personal deliveries and thank-you notes - are commonly done on the employee'stime, that no sales time is lost and the SPH rating stays high Nordstrom management insists that it has never bee company policy to illegally force employees work without compensation, but employees report that they feel this is expected of them - and that the SPH system demands it.

Nonetheless, competing retail stores have begun imitating Nordstrom's practice of paying commissions to sales-people. An alternative approach to incentives selling that tries to avoid the more troublesome aspects of the Nordstrom system is practiced by lower-priced Wal-Mart retail chain. At Wal-Mart employees are stockholders in the company and earn bonuses based on the profits of their store as a whole

Questions

Q-10 What is responsible for the unusual motivation found among Nordstrom's employees?

Q-11 What aspects of the "company culture" at Nordstrom's have contributed to corporate and employee well-being? What aspects have created problems?

Q-12 How could Nordstrom's have avoided problems with its employees? What measures should the company take to prevent such difficulties in the futute?

Q-13 Suggest areas of improvement to Nordstrom keeping in mind the alignment of Organization's strategy with the management of employees strategy

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