Chapter 7 (Part 3) Directing, CBSE, Class 12, Business Studies PDF Download

Chapter 7 (Part 3) Directing

CASE STUDIES
Question 1: Prateek is working in a multinational company in Noida. He was running a temperature for the last many days. When his blood was tested, he was found to be positive for malaria. He was admitted in a hospital and a blood transfusion was advised by the doctors as his condition was very serious. One of his colleagues sent a text message to his superior, Mr. B. Chatterjee. Mr. B. Chatterjee immediately sent a text message to the employees of the organisation requesting them to donate blood for Prateek. When the General Manager came to know about it, he ordered for fumigation in the company premises and cleaning the surroundings. (a) From the above paragraph, quote lines that indicate formal and informal communication. (b) State any two features of informal communication. (c) Identify any two values that are being communicated to society in the above case.
Answer: (a) (i) Informal communication: "One of his colleagues sent a text message to his superior, Mr. B. Chatterjee. Mr. B. Chatterjee immediately sent a text message to the employees of the organisation requesting them to donate blood for Prateek." (ii) Formal communication: "When the general manger came to know about it, he ordered for fumigation in the company premises and cleaning surroundings." (b) The features of informal communication are as follows: (i) The grapevine/ informal communication spreads very fast and sometimes gets distorted. (ii) It is very difficult to detect the source of such communication. (c) The two values that are being communicated to the society are: (i) Humanity (ii) Cleanliness
 

Question 2: Mr. Shubhendu Bose is the owner of Bikmac Enterprises carrying on the business of manufacturing various kinds of biscuits. There was a lot of discontentment in the organisation and the targets were not being met. He asked his son, Naval, who had recently completed his MBA, to find out the reason.
Naval found that all the decision-making of the enterprise were in the hands of his father. His father didn't believe in his employees. As a result, both the employer and the employees were notable to understand each others' messages in the same sense. Thus, the employees were not happy and targets were not met. (a) Identify any two communication barriers because of which Bikmac Enterprises was not able to achieve its target. (b) State one more barrier each of the types identified in (a) above.
 

Answer: (a) The two communication barriers because of which Bikmac Enterprises was not able to achieve its targets are: (i) Organisational barriers: Organisational Policy If the organisational policy, is not supportive to free flow of communication, it may hamper effectiveness of communications. Like in the above case Naval found that all the decision making power of the organisation was highly centralised as it was in hands of his father only. (ii) Psychological barriers: Distrust Sometimes if there is lack of trust between the parties, they cannot understand each other's message in the same sense. Like in the above case Naval found out that his father didn't believe in his employees. (b) Organisational barriers: Status: Sometimes a status conscious manager also may not allow his subordinates to express their feelings freely. This kind of an attitude may create psychological distance between him and his subordinates.
Psychological barriers: Premature evaluation: Sometimes people tend to evaluate the meaning of message even before the sender completes his message on the basis of their own judgment, experience etc.
 

Question 3: Mr. Fernandes is the owner of Unibie Enterprises, carrying on the business of manufacturing electrical appliances. There is a lot of discontentment in the organisation and targets, are not beingmet. He asked his son, Michel, who has recently completed his MBA to find out the reason.
Michel found that all the decision-making of the enterprise were in the hands of his father. Moreover, his father did not have confidence in the competency of the employees. Thus, the employees were not happy. (a) Identify any two communication barriers because of which Unibie Enterprise was not able to achieve its target. (b) State one more barrier each of the types identified in part (a) above.

Answer: (a) The two communication barriers because of which Bikmac Enterprises was not able to achieve its targets are: (i) Organisational barriers: Organisational policy If the organisational policy, is not supportive to free flow of communication, it may hamper effectiveness of communications. Like in the above case Michel found that all the decision making power of the organisation was highly centralised as it was in hands of his father only. (ii) Personal barriers: Lack of confidence of superior in the subordinate: The personal factors of both sender and receiver may exert influence on effective communication and they may not be able to understand each other's message in the same sense. Like in the above case Michel found out that his father didn't have confidence in the competency of the employees. (b)
(i) Organisational barriers: Status: Sometimes a status conscious manager also may not allow his subordinates to express their feelings freely. This kind of an attitude may create psychological distance between him and his subordinates. (ii) Personal barriers: Fear of challenge to authority: If a superior may withhold or suppress the communication that he may perceive is likely to have an adverse affect on his authority.

Question 4: Alfa Ltd. was dealing in renewable energy services. To get the business, the team leader and his team used to travel to different states to give presentations to the clients. As per the policy of the company, the team leader used to travel by air whereas his team travelled by road/train. It was not only time-consuming but also forced the female team members to travel alone at times. As a result, the subordinates were not acting in a desired manner to achieve the organisational goals. The CEO of the company came to know about it. He called the team leader, discussed the matter with him and decided to change the travel policy of the company. It was decided that in future, all the members including the leader would travel together and usefully utilise the travelling time in discussion about the presentation to be given to the clients. This made a positive impact and every member of the team started acting in a manner as desired by the team leader.
State the features of the element of the function of management used by the CEO.
Answer: The CEO Alfa Ltd. has used Motivation, which is an element of directing function of management in order to deal with the situation effectively.
The features of motivation are explained below: (a) Motivation is an internal feeling: An urge, drives, or needs of human being, which are internal, but likely to influence human behaviour. (b) Motivation produces goal directed behaviour. (c) Motivation can be either positive or negative: Positive motivation can be provided through rewards like increase in pay, promotion, recognition etc. Negative motivation involves use of negative means like punishment, stopping increments, threatening etc. which also may prompt a person to act in the desired way.
 

Question 5: Anjali had been working with Tata Enterprises for the last ten years. She was famous for herdedication towards work. When the manager senior to her retired, all her colleagues thought that now Anjali would be promoted. But to everyone's surprise, the vacant post was filled by an outsider, Miss Monika. Anjali felt demoralised and her performance started declining. She would absent herself often and could not meet her targets.
Miss Monika was a good leader who would not only instruct her subordinates, but also guide and inspire them. She noticed Anjali's behaviour and felt that her performance could be improved. She started involving Anjali in the decision-making issues related to the organisation and made her a part of a high-level joint management committee. Anjali was now punctual to office and her performance started improving. (a) Identify the function of management being performed by Monika. (b) Name the element of the above function of management which helped Monika to improve Anjali's behaviour. (c) State any three features of the element identified in (b) above.
OR
Samita had been working as an assistant manager with Johnson Enterprises for the last ten years. She was very popular amongst her colleagues because of her commitment and dedication towards work. When the manager senior to her retired, all her colleagues thought that now Samita would be promoted. But to everyone's surprise, the vacant post was filled by an outsider,

Mrs. Rita. Samita felt demoralised and her performance started declining. She would absent herself often and could not meet her targets.
Mrs. Rita was a good leader who would not only instruct her subordinates but would also guide and inspire them. She notices Samita's behaviour and felt that her performance could be improved. She started involving Samita in the decision-making issues related to the organisation and made her a part of a high level joint-management committee. Samita was now punctual in office and her performance started improving. (a) Identify the function of management being performed by Mrs. Rita. (b) Name the element of the above function of management which helped Rita improve Samita's behaviour. (c) State any three features of the element identified in (b) above.
Answer: (a) Mrs. Rita has performed the directing function of management. (b) Mrs. Rita has been able to improve Samita's behaviour with the help of motivation, which is an element of directing. (c) The features of motivation are explained below: (i) Motivation is an internal feeling: An urge, drives, or needs of human being, which are internal, but are likely to influence human behaviour. (ii) Motivation produces goal directed behaviour. (iii) Motivation can be either positive or negative: Positive motivation can be provided through rewards like increase in pay, promotion, recognition etc., Negative motivation involves use of negative means like punishment, stopping increments, threatening etc. which also may prompt a person to act in the desired way.
 

Question 6: Jaideep recently joined as the Managing Director of Tivori Ltd., an apparel designing company. He observed that the company had a number of experienced fashion designers on its payroll. They regularly offered useful suggestions which were neither appreciated nor rewarded by the company. Instead, the company outsourced its services to some renowned fashion designers and paid them a good compensation for their services. Because of this, the employees felt disheartened and stopped giving useful suggestions. (a) Identify the communication barrier discussed above. (b) State the category of this communication barrier. (c) Explain any other communication barriers of the same category.
Answer: (a) The communication barrier discussed in the above paragraph is Lack of proper incentives (b) It is a type of personal barrier. (c) Some of the types of personal barriers are described below: (i) Fear of challenge to authority: If a superior may withhold or suppress the communication which he perceives is likely to adversely affect his authority. (ii) Lack of confidence of superior on his subordinates: A superior may not seek the advice or opinions of their subordinates if he I she do not have confidence on their competency. (iii) Unwillingness to communicate: Sometimes, subordinates may deliberately with hold any communication with their superiors, if they perceive that it may adversely affect their personal interests.
 

Question 7: Neeraj, a sales representative of Omida Ltd. has changed seven jobs in the last one year. He is a hardworking person but is not able to finalise deals with customers due to his inadequate vocabulary and omission of needed words. Sometimes, he uses wrong words because of which the intended meaning is not conveyed. All this creates a misunderstandings between him and his clients. (a) Identify the communication barrier discussed above. (b) State the category of this communication barrier. (c) Explain any other communication barriers of the same category.
Answer: (a) The communication barrier discussed above is badly expressed message. (b) This kind of barrier falls in the category of semantic barriers. (c) Semantic barriers are concerned with problems and obstructions in the process of encoding and decoding of message into words or impressions. A few of these are discussed below: i) Symbols with different meanings: Sometimes, a word may have several meanings. The communication will be effective only if the receiver perceives it in the same manner as intended by communicator.

ii) Faulty translations: Many a times it has been noted that if the translator is not proficient with both the languages, mistakes may creep in causing different meanings to the communication. (iii) Technical jargon: It is usually seen that specialists use technical jargon while explaining something. If the persons with whom they are communicating are not specialists in the concerned field, they may not be able to understand the actual meaning of many such words. (iv) Body language and gesture decoding: While speaking, one may tend to move his/her body in a certain manner. If there is no match between what is said and what is expressed in body movements, communications may be wrongly perceived by the receiver.
 

Question 8: Pramod was a supervisor at 'Annapuma Aata' factory. The factory was producing 200 quintals of aata every day. His job was to make sure that the work went on smoothly and there was no interruption in production. He was a good leader who would give orders only after consulting his subordinates and work-out the policies with the acceptance of the group. Identify and describe the leadership style being adopted by Pramod.
Answer: As a supervisor of 'Annapuma Atta,' Pramod has adopted the democratic style of leadership. Democratic leadership is also known as participative leadership.
In this type of leadership style, the members of the group take a more participative role in the decision­ making process. Everyone is given the opportunity to participate, ideas are exchanged freely, and discussion is encouraged. It is one of the most effective style of leadership and leads to higher productivity, better contributions from group members, and increased group morale.

Question 9: Rahim was working in an enterprise on a daily wages basis. It was difficult for him to fulfill the basic needs of his family. His daughter fell ill. He had no money for his daughter's treatment. To meet the expenses of her treatment, he participated in a cycle race and won the prize money. The cycle company offered him a permanent pensionable job which he happily accepted. (a) By quoting lines from the above paragraph, identify the needs of Rahim that are satisfied by the offer of the cycle company. (b) Also, explain two other needs of Rahim followed by above that are still to be satisfied.
Answer: (a) The physiological needs and safety needs of Rahim are being satisfied by the offer of the company. (b) The other needs of Rahim followed by the physiological needs and safety needs that still need to be satisfie d are as follows: (i) Affiliation/Belonging Needs: These needs refer to affection, sense of belongingness, acceptance and friendship. The organisation, by encouraging cooperative teamwork and by having accessible and kind superiors, can fulfill these needs of its employees. (ii) Esteem Needs: These include factors such as self-respect, autonomy status, recognition and attention. The organisation by giving praise and recognition when the employees do well, and offering promotions, can fulfill these needs of its employees.
 

Question 10: Ankur is working as a production manager in an organisation. His subordinate, Saurabh, discussed with him a method of production which will reduce the cost of production. But due to some domestic problems and Ankur's mind being pre-occupied, he is not in a position to understand the message. Saurabh got disappointed by this. Identify the factor which acts as communication barrier. Explain three other factors of the same group of communication barriers.
Answer: Ankur is not in a position to understand the message due to lack of attention. It is a type of psychological barrier. The preoccupied mind of the receiver leads to non-listening of a message which acts as a major psychological barrier. Some of the other psychological barriers are described below: (a) Premature evaluation: Sometimes people tend to evaluate the meaning of a message on the basis of their own judgement, experience etc., even before the sender completes his message. This may lead to misinterpretation of the message. (b) Loss by transmission and poor retention: When communication passes through various levels, successive transmissions of the message result in the loss of information or transmission of inaccurate information. Also, sometimes due to poor retention, people cannot retain the information for a long time if they are inattentive or not interested. (c) Distrust: If the communicator and communicator not trust each other, it may act as a barrier. This is because if they do not believe each other, they may not understand each other's message in the desired sense.
 

Question 11: Rakesh is working under his superior Neeraj. He always communicate useful ideas and suggestions to his superior regarding the reduction of cost, improvements in the product, etc. Neeraj implements his suggestions and has always found favourable results but he never appreciates Rakesh for his suggestions. Now, Rakesh decides not to communicate any suggestion or idea to Neeraj. Identify the factor which acts as a communication barrier . Explain three other factors of the same group of communication barriers.
Answer: Due to the lack of proper incentives, Rakesh has decided not to communicate any suggestion or idea to Neeraj. If there is no motivation or incentive for communication, subordinates may not take initiative to communicate.
It is a type of personal barrier. Sometimes the personal factors of both the sender and the receiver may exert influence on effective communication. A few of these are discussed below: (a) Fear of challenge to authority: A superior may withhold or suppress the communication which he perceives is likely to adversely affect his authority. (b) Lack of confidence of superior in his subordinates: A superior may not seek the advice or opinions of his/her subordinates if he/she does not have confidence on their competency. (c) Unwillingness to communicate: Sometimes, subordinates may deliberately with­ hold any communication with their superiors if they perceive that it may adversely affect their personal interests.
 

Question 12: Ayasha Ltd. assured their employees that in spite of the recession, no workers will be retrenched from their jobs. (a) Name and explain the type of incentive offered to the employees. (b) Explain one more incentive of the same category.
Answer: (a) The type of incentive offered to the employees is job security. It is a non-financial incentive. In order to fulfill their safety needs, the employees want certain stability about future income and work. As a result they feel motivated and give better job performance. However, it has been observed many a times that when people feel that they are not likely to lose their jobs, they may become complacent. (b) The other incentive of this category is employee participation. It is a means by which the employees may be involved in the decision making process of the issues related to them. The sense of participation motivates them to contribute positively towards their job performance.
 

Question 13: Rajat, a sales manager, achieved his sales targets one month in advance. This achievement was displayed on the notice board and a certificate for the best performance was awarded to him by the CEO of the company. (a) Name the incentive provided to Rajat. (b) Identify the type of incentive. (c) List two other incentives of the type identified in part (b)
Answer: (a) Recognition is the incentive provided to Rajat. (b) It is a type of non-financial incentive. (c) The two other types of non-financial incentives are job security and status.
 

Question 14: Mohan and Sohan are friends working in Surya Ltd. as Production Manager and Sales Manager respectively. In an interdepartmental meeting, Sohan informed Mohan about a change in the marketing policy of the company. (a) Identify the type of communication used in the above example. (b) Name and explain any two networks of the type of communication identified in part (a).
Answer: (a) Formal communication is being used in the above example. (b) The types of network that can be used in formal communication are explained below: (i) Circular: In circular network, the flow of communication is slow as it moves in a circle. Each person can  communicate with his adjoining two persons. (ii) Free flow: In this network, each person can communicate with others freely. Asa result, the flow of communication is fast in this network.