USN 1 P E C S

PESIT Bangalore South Campus

Hosur road, 1km before Electronic City, Bengaluru -100
Department of Computer Science and Engineering

INTERNAL ASSESSMENT TEST 1

Date : 03/10//2018 Max Marks: 40
Subject & Code: Management and Entrepreneurship for IT 15CS51 Section: A B C
Name of Faculty: Shankar Gopal Time: 11:30 – 13:00 PM
Note: Answer FIVE full questions. Selecting One question from each part.
Part I

Q1 Explain Maslow’s Need-Hierarchy Theory and the criticisms surrounding this Theory 8
An unsatisfied need is the starting point in the motivation process. It begins the chain of events
leading to behavior
Needs are arranged in a hierarchy of five successive categories.

Physiological needs are at the lowest level followed by security, social, esteem and self-
fulfillment
Physiological needs are those that arise out of basic physiology of life, the need for food, water
Security needs are needs to feel both economically secure and psychologically secure
Social needs are needs to associate with other people and be accepted
Esteem needs are those which relate to respect and prestige
Self fulfilment needs are for realizing one’s potential, the need for realizing one’s capabilities

Criticisms
Hierarchy of basic needs is not always fixed, it varies between individuals
Difficult to know about the needs and motives of an individual from the analysis of behavior,
behavior is multi-motivated.
Motives of all types and intensities influence one another to accomplish a particular need and
this makes the search for the motive very complex

OR
Q2 Motivation theories are broadly classified as Content, Process or Reinforcement theories. Pick a 8
theory from each of these categories and explain their key features

Content theories tell what motivates an individual, Process theories answer the question on how
behavior is caused, Reinforcement theory explains the ways in which behavior is learned, shaped
or modified

Choice of content theories include Maslow’s Need hierarchy, Alderfer’s ERG theory, Herzberg’s
Two factor Theory, McCelland’s Need for Achievement theory

Herzberg’s Theory
According to Herzberg, the absence of certain job factors tend to make workers dissatisfied.
However, the presence of the same factors does not produce high levels of motivation. They
merely help avoid dissatisfaction and the problems it creates such as absenteeism, turnover and
grievances. Herzberg called them maintenance factors since they are necessary to maintain a
reasonable level of satisfaction to serve as a take-off point for motivation. Examples of
maintenance factors are Fair company policies, Supervisor who knows the work, Fair salary, Job
Security etc.

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 To build high levels of motivation, a different set of factors is necessary. However, if these factors
are not present, they do not in themselves lead to strong dissatisfaction. Herzberg called these as
motivators or satisfiers. Examples are Opportunity to accomplish something significant, Chance
for advancement, Opportunity to grow and develop on the job, The job itself.

Choice of process theories include Victor Vroom’s expectancy theory and Adam’s equity theory

Adam’s Equity Theory

This is based on the thesis that a major factor in job motivation, performance and satisfaction is
distributive justice i.e. the individual’s evaluation of the equity or the fairness of the reward he or
she is receiving. Equity is defined as the ratio between the individual’s job inputs and the job
rewards compared to the rewards others are receiving for similar job inputs. The theory suggests
that an individual’s motivation, performance and satisfaction will depend on his or her subjective
evaluation of the relationship between his or her effort/reward ratio and the effort/reward ratio of
others in similar situations. This theory is more externally oriented

Skinner’s Behavior Modification Theory is an example of Reinforcement Theory. According to

this, people behave the way they do because; in past circumstances they have learned that certain
behaviors are associated with pleasant outcomes and certain others with unpleasant outcomes.
Dealing with the behavior itself rather than theorizing about motivations that caused it, is both
more practical and more effective and has led to the development of Behavioral Performance
Management approach for improving employee performance in many areas

Part II
Q3 Explain the challenges in Coordination of Organizational activities in an Indian Software 8
Industry that has its parent organization headquartered in the USA

Differences in Orientation Towards Particular Goals

Differences in Time Orientation
Differences in Interpersonal Orientation
Differences in Formality of structure
Differences in Culture
Differences in Project and Life Priorities
Differences in maturity of local vs parent organization
Challenges in communication w.r.t. talking the same lingo
Differences in depth of technical and managerial skills
Reluctance of HQ to work in harmony

OR
Q4 Explain the kind of controls that would need to be implemented in a Product based Organization. 8
Choose the Product of your choice

These control techniques would apply to any Product or Service (Generic)

Broadly classified under 4 areas

Operations Controls
Inventory Control
Statistical Quality Control
Internal/External Quality Audits
Project Tracking and Control

Marketing Controls
Sales Revenue Budgets
Brand Recall surveys
Customer Satisfaction surveys

Financial Controls
Break even analysis
Financial Ratios
Financial Audits
Budgetary Control
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 Human Resource Controls
Employee Turnover
Employee Performance Appraisal
Employee Satisfaction Surveys

Part III
Q5 You are a Technical Manager at an MNC and manage several global teams across the world 8
Explain the challenges you face at managing Global Teams
Explain how you would address each one of your challenges
Explain the criteria you would use to measure performance of each of your global teams
Would your style of management differ from one global team to another? If so, why?

Challenges
Vertical Depth of knowledge, knowledge transition, hesitation to coordinate activities, cultural
barrier, language barrier, time barrier

Addressing each of the challenges is not a one size fits all. It depends on the ability of a manager
to understand how to work through language and cultural barriers. This could be based on being
sensitive to one’s culture and language and making the employees feel at home. Time barriers
could be worked out by having a conducive time to hold meetings or conference calls or even
respecting the local cultures w.r.t. private time. Coordinating activities is based on helping teams
understand the common mission and objectives of the department as a whole and the mutual
advantages of working towards common goals. Vertical depth of knowledge can be achieved
through cross training and team building methodologies.

Criteria to measure performance would depend on the type of work, skill levels, depth of work,
local protocol followed. However, the standards to evaluate performance could be somewhat
dependent on demographics and maturity of groups. Tools and applications used to monitor and
measure performance could be standard across all teams. The incentives and promotional growth
could again be somewhat driven at the team level and not as a global team with a one size fits all

Style of management would differ based on the culture, depth of work, the type of direction and
hand holding needed. It could be an application of a combination of motivational theories from
Maslow’s to Adam’s equity (Distributive justice) to Reinforcement theories. The style of
management could be directional, delegatory or a combination of the two based on the team needs

OR
Q6 Explain the barriers to Communication in the context of a Corporate Environment 8
Badly expressed message
Faulty Organizational structure
Distrust of communicator
Restricting communication
Hesitation to communicate
Unhealthy business relationship between supervisors and peers or peer-peer
Poor retention of material
Different backgrounds in terms of technical knowledge, vertical depth of knowledge, cultural
barriers, language barriers

Part IV
Q7 Who would you consider as your role model Indian Entrepreneur? 8
What characteristics of this Entrepreneur influenced your decision?
What style of Leadership of this Entrepreneur are you impressed about?
How has this Entrepreneur played a key role in the Economic Development of India?

Students can pick their choice. What we are looking for are characteristics that include

Role of Economic Development in their region

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 Employment opportunities created

Value add to society

Their culture of profit sharing and modern management thought process

Their success in breeding other entrepreneurs to open up startups

The innovation of something new or customization of an existing product or a process

improvement

OR
Q8 Explain the role of Entrepreneurs in Economic Development 8
Create Employment Opportunities

Inspire others towards Entrepreneurship

Create knowledge spillovers

Augment the number of enterprises

Produce diversity in firms

Results in Higher competition on niche products

Higher level of innovation and competition since different entrepreneurs look at the same
concept in different perspectives

Part V
Q9 Explain the steps in a Control Process b
Set the objectives at the Executive, Mid manager, Line Manager and Individual levels

On the basis of objectives, standards or benchmarks are identified during the planning process.
These standards are the specific objectives against which progress can be measured against
various parameters

Select suitable measuring instruments to measure each parameter

Measure actual performance for a parameter

Compare actual performance with the benchmark

Check if there is a gap between actual and desired

If the gap is within acceptable limits, continue as is

If the gap is not within acceptable limits, check if the standards used are valid and acceptable
(leads to the below 2 conditions)

a. If the standards used are not valid, revisit and evolve the standards or benchmarks
b. If the standards are valid and the gap is not acceptable, identify assignable causes of
variation and rectify the causes of variation
OR
Q 10 Do you think there is a general hesitation amongst young Indians to turning Entrepreneurs? 8
Explain your stand

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 There is a hesitation amongst Indians in general to turning Entrepreneurs. I should say that is
somewhat changing, however there needs to be a solid eco-system to promote and nurture
entrepreneurs in India. The hesitation stems out of many factors that start off with the way our
DNA’s are programmed around risk-taking and facing failures. Social, Economic, Political and
Financial situations make it hard for young Indians to venture into the unknown. There is pressure
on the home front to not risk but to secure a job that grows one organically. The questionable
stability of the political system makes it even tougher to turn into being entrepreneurs. The lack
of Economic promotion whether in terms of a streamlined process to start a venture or high
collaterals w.r.t. finance are no fun either. I think in general, young Indians have to understand
the meaning of entrepreneurship given the demographics, it doesn’t have to be something new, it
could be a process improvement or customization of something that already exists or a different
way of looking at things

Some of the other procedural challenges are

Macroeconomic Environment
Macroeconomic Environment conducive to entrepreneurship is dependent upon the policies of
the government in supporting private participation in business. Macroeconomic policies affect
the entrepreneur’s decision to invest, especially in projects that require a longer time to produce
a return

Legal and regulatory Environment

This environment is formed by registration and licensing procedures, commercial and
contractual laws, property rights, bankruptcy and collateral law, real estate regulations, labor
laws. If the administrative procedures and laws are unclear, time-consuming and cumbersome,
they would pose barriers to entrepreneurship

Corruption and unfair competition

Excessive regulations and approvals from the government required by entrepreneurs may make
the government officials corrupt. Honest entrepreneurs suffer due to unfair competition from
other entrepreneurs who get early approvals due to ‘under the table’ payments to government
officials

Financial obstacles
Banks are often reluctant to give loans to small startup firms, they seek high collateral amounts
or charge high interest rates which pose a major obstacle to entrepreneurs

Tax burden
High taxes add to the cost of operations for a startup weakening its competitive position for
survival and growth. Governments would need to have rational tax structures with easy tax
submission procedures

Challenges in attracting talent

Tendency for the best of talent to work in MNCs rather than startups. There is a dire need to
create an ecosystem for entrepreneurship so that budding professionals start valuing their
association with startups

Expensive to access proprietary technology

Big companies invent breakthrough technologies which have the potential of applications in many
fields. However, their licenses tend to be expensive and pose as potential barriers for
entrepreneurs to survive and compete

BE(CSE), V&VII Semester