Fall 2013

MBA Semester 1

MB0038 Management Process and Organisational Behaviour


Q1. (a) A vision statement is a formal statement of what a business wants to be.
According to Collins and Porras, a vision statement should have four parts. What are
those four parts?
(b) Differentiate between process and tasks

a) The vision statement has to have four parts namely:

Core values,
Core purposes,
The Big Hairy Audacious Goal or BHAG (pronounced as Beehag)
vivid description.

The core values are those things very close to your heart that you will not give up at any
cost.

Core purpose is the purpose of the organisation, for example, to make furniture. This is
something that you want to achieve within the framework of our core values.

The BHAG is about having a goal which qualifies the purpose. For example, to be the best
furniture maker in the town in five years or to be the most well known furniture supplier in
India by 2025, etc.

The vivid description should make the entire vision statement very inspiring to all
stakeholders. It should be simple and easily understandable. For example, Quit India is a
very simple statement, but it is very vivid and easily understandable by all. Let us be very
clear that the vision statement is meant for the stakeholders and therefore, the importance of
the vivid and simple statement. We say that your grandmother should be able to understand
it or a twelve-year-old child should be able to understand it and you should test it on them.
This is also called The Grandmas Test or the 12-Year-Old Test.

b) Processes

Process is a set of logical activities that lead to some final or interim output. For example,
taking pieces of wood, making it smooth, cutting it, making grooves, connecting them,
finishing them, and polishing them are processes to create a table. These have to be done in
some logical sequence. This is what a process is. Let us now look at Rajus business itself.
He has to manage things and for this, he will have to plan the number of pieces to be made,
how much wood to buy, which furniture to make, how to organize these, where to get
manpower, etc. These too have to be done in some logical sequence.




Tasks (activi ties)

This is perhaps the most basic unit in an organisation. In the example given above, teaching
can be a task, cutting wood can be a task, and making grooves in the wood can be a task.

Thus, we have learnt that ever organisation has a vision and mission. To execute the
organizational vision we create strategies. Structures, systems and processes help the
organisation execute the strategies.

Q2. Planning is called as the cornerstone of management. Define planning and
describe the importance of planning. Explain the types of planning.

Planning can be defined as a basic management function which enables one to select the
purpose of the business, and how the resources should be mustered to achieve that purpose
to include using the available resources optimally to do that. Planning implies goal setting for
the organization keeping in mind the constraints, opportunities, and threats as much as what
the person or business which is planning wants to do. Thus, a plan is a blueprint for goal
achievement, a blue print that specifies the necessary resource allocations, schedules,
tasks, and other actions to achieve the purpose.

Planning is important for the following reasons:

It helps the management to clarify, focus, and research their businesses or project's
development and prospects.
It provides a considered and logical framework within which a business can develop
and pursue business.
It offers a benchmark against which the actual performance can be measured and
reviewed.
It plays a vital role in helping to avoid mistakes or recognise hidden opportunities.
In the business context, it guides the development of products, management,
finances, and most importantly, markets and competition.
It helps in forecasting the future and makes the future visible to some extent.
It bridges between where we are and where we want to go.

Types of Planning

Planning can be classified from different perspectives.

Based on level (corporate, business and functional plans)

They cover long-term objectives of various businesses and the ways to do these. They are
integrated and future oriented. Sambhavi may consider that they could enter into long-life-
packaged bakery products, production of bakery raw materials, a chain food retail, etc.
These are corporate plans.

Based on importance (strategic and operational plan)




A plan that is important and future oriented and forms the hub of fulfilling the vision is, of
course, very important and such plans are called strategic plans.

Based on formal process (formal and informal)

When planning is done as per the steps and documented in a structured way, it is called
formal plan and when this is missing it is called informal plan.

Based on approach (proactive and reacti ve)

The plans that we make anticipating an incident is called proactive plans and something that
we make as a consequence of an event or action of the competition is called reactive plans.
Reactive plans bring us back to the balance after we have lost it while the proactive plans
give us initiative. In other words, we can say that reactive plans are about survival while
proactive is about growth.


Q3. What is meant by span of control? Differentiate between narrow span of control
and wide span of control. What are the factors that influence the span of control?

Q4. Define Organisational behaviour. What are the various approaches to
Organisational behaviour?

Q5. Perception is the way we see and interpret things. Explain the importance of such
perception. What are the factors affecting perception?

Q6. Give the definition and importance of moti vation. Describe Maslows hierarchy of
needs theory.


Remaining answers are available in the full assignments.


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