1. Where and which level of managers use 3 types of skills?

Ans: Technical skills - As the name of these skills tells us, they give the manager knowledge
and ability to use different techniques to achieve what they want to achieve. They are skills that
will be required to increase sales, design different types of products and services, market the
products and services, etc. Technical skills are most important for first-level managers. When it
comes to the top managers, these skills are not something with high significance level. As we go
through a hierarchy from the bottom to higher levels, the technical skills lose their importance.

Conceptual skills - Conceptual skills present knowledge or ability of a manager for more
abstract thinking. That means he can easily see the whole through analysis and diagnosis of
different states. In such a way they can predict the future of the business or department as a
whole. Conceptual skills are vital for top managers, less critical for mid-level managers and not
required for first-level managers. As we go from the bottom of the managerial hierarchy to the
top, the importance of these skills will rise.

Human or interpersonal managerial skills - Human or interpersonal management skills

present a manager’s knowledge and ability to work with people. One of the most critical
management tasks is to work with people. Without people, there will not be a need for the
existence of management and managers. These skills enable managers to become leaders and
motivate employees for better accomplishments. Additionally, they help them to make more
effective use of human potential in the company. Simply, they are essential skills for all
hierarchical levels in the company.

2. Describe the managerial roles.

Ans: There are 10 managerial roles that are divided into three categories. They are:

Interpersonal roles: This category covers behaviors and responsibilities related to interactions
with employees and other stakeholders. Through these interactions, the manager can achieve
organizational goals. The managerial roles included in this category are figurehead, leader and
liaison.
 Figurehead: This role refers to their responsibility as a manager to perform tasks related to
social, symbolic or legal matters. In these situations, managers are not making decisions but
serving as a representative of the organization.
 Liaison: In the liaison role, managers create and maintain internal and external relationships.
Managers serve as a connection between different groups of people to ensure work runs
smoothly.
 Leader: The leader managerial role refers to their duty as a manager to oversee the
performance of their staff. Overall, managers aim to manage the team and the responsibilities
of each member to ensure managers reach objectives effectively.

Informational roles: This category represents situations when a manager generates, receives or
shares knowledge with employees and higher-level colleagues to accomplish objectives. The
managerial roles included in this category are monitor, disseminator and spokesperson.

 Monitor: In the monitor role, managers seek information related to their organization, such as
potentially impactful industry changes. Once managers gather all the relevant information,
managers will analyze it to identify and solve potential problems. Monitoring responsibilities
also include assessing the current operations of the organization and identifying potential
opportunities for improvement.

 Disseminator: As a disseminator, managers receive messages from internal and external

sources that they convey to the appropriate individuals. Managers can transmit this
information in both verbal and written formats.
 Spokesperson: In the spokesperson role, managers represent their organization and convey
information, such as goals or policies, to external stakeholders

Decisional roles: This category describes a manager's responsibility to use the information they
gain to form business and strategic decisions. The managerial roles included in this category are
entrepreneur, disturbance-handler, resource-allocator and negotiator.

 Entrepreneur: The entrepreneur role involves responsibilities related to organizing and

running business processes. These responsibilities may include solving problems and
developing and implementing new ideas or strategies. As an entrepreneur, their ideas or
 decisions often promote innovative solutions that move the organization forward. If
managers notice slow sales on one of their organization's key offerings, for example,
managers may decide to develop a new marketing strategy using social media to solve the
issue.
 Disturbance handler: When an organization or team faces unexpected challenges, managers
take the role of a disturbance handler to help manage the issue. These challenges can be both
external or internal—whether a client backs out of a contract or they discover a conflict
between colleagues. In these situations, employees will expect the manager to take charge to
solve the issue and maintain productivity.
 Resource allocator: In the resource allocator role, you are responsible for managing and
distributing resources. You make the decisions on how those materials will best be used or
applied throughout the organization or team. These resources will vary, from funding to
equipment to staff members. For example, if you control the organization's budget, you will
determine how to divide funding amongst your departments based on their needs or goals.
 Negotiator: In the negotiator role, you participate in or direct negotiation situations. These
negotiations may occur with external parties, where you will represent the interests of your
organization. You may also host negotiations with internal parties, such as other departments
or your team members. Successful negotiations will require you to gain buy-in by appealing
to the interests and needs of the other party.
3. What are the differences between traditional goal setting theory and MBO? How to
implement MBO in organizations?

Ans: In MBO, there are multiple objectives covering a range of organizational activities(b) In
traditional objective setting the objectives, once formulated, provide direction for management
decisions(c) In traditional objective setting the objectives, once established, form the criteria
against which actual accomplishments can be measured(d) In MBO, organization members may
actually pursue objectives other than the formal organizational objectives(e) Traditional
objective setting is ‘top down’ only, while MBO is both a ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ process.

MBO outlines five steps that organizations should use to put the management technique into
practice.
 Either determine or revise organizational objectives for the entire company. This broad
overview should be derived from the firm’s mission and vision.
 Translate the organizational objectives to employees. In 1981, George T. Doran used the
acronym SMART (specific, measurable, acceptable, realistic, time-bound) to express the
concept.
 Stimulate the participation of employees in setting individual objectives. After the
organization’s objectives are shared with employees from the top to the bottom, employees
should be encouraged to help set their own objectives to achieve these larger organizational
objectives. This gives employees greater motivation since they have greater empowerment.
 Monitor the progress of employees. In step two, a key component of the objectives was that
they are measurable for employees and managers to determine how well they are met.
 Evaluate and reward employee progress. This step includes honest feedback on what was
achieved and not achieved for each employee.
4. Challenges and opportunities in OB.

Ans: Organizational behavior (often abbreviated OB) is a field of study that investigates the

impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations, for

the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness.

Challenges and Opportunities for OB:

 Responding to Economic Pressures: During difficult economic times, effective management

is often at a premium. When times are bad, though, managers are on the front lines with
employees who must be fired, who are asked to make do with less, and who worry about
their futures.
 During difficult economic times, effective management is often at a premium. When times
are bad, though, managers are on the front lines with employees who must be fired, who are
asked to make do with less, and who worry about their futures.
 Managing Workforce Diversity: Workforce diversity acknowledges a workforce of women
and men; many racial and ethnic groups; individuals with a variety of physical or
 psychological abilities; and people who differ in age and sexual orientation. Managing this
diversity is a global concern.
 Improving Customer Service: Service jobs include technical support representatives, fast-
food counter workers, sales clerks, waiters and waitresses, nurses, automobile repair
technicians, consultants, credit representatives, financial planners, and flight attendants. The
common characteristic of these jobs is substantial interaction with an organization’s
customers.
 Improving People Skills: From OB, you’ll learn ways to design motivating jobs, techniques
for improving your listening skills, and how to create more effective teams.
 Stimulating Innovation and Change: Today’s successful organizations must foster innovation
and master the art of change, or they’ll become candidates for extinction.

5. What is job-fit and person-organization job fit? Why is it important for organizations?

Ans: Person–Job Fit: The effort to match job requirements with personality characteristics is

best articulated in John Holland’s personality–job fit theory.

Adjacent categories are quite similar, whereas diagonally opposite ones are highly dissimilar.
The theory argues that satisfaction is highest and turnover lowest when personality and
occupation is in agreement. A realistic person in a realistic job is in a more congruent situation
than a realistic person in an investigative job. A realistic person in a social job is in the most
incongruent situation possible. The key points of this model are that
(1) there do appear to be intrinsic differences in personality among individuals,

(2) there are different types of jobs, and

(3) people in jobs congruent with their personality should be more satisfied and less likely to
voluntarily resign than people in incongruent jobs.

Person–Organization Fit: We’ve noted that researchers have looked at matching people to
organizations as well as to jobs. If an organization faces a dynamic and changing environment
and requires employees able to readily change tasks and move easily between teams, it’s more
important that employees’ personalities fit with the overall organization’s culture than with the
characteristics of any specific job.

The person–organization fit essentially argues that people are attracted to and selected by
organizations that match their values, and they leave organizations that are not compatible with
their personalities.

6. Decision making biases and errors.

 Overconfidence Bias: Overconfidence of one’s “correctness” can lead to poor decision

making. Individuals with the weakest intelligence and interpersonal skills are the most likely
to exhibit overconfidence in their decision making, so managers should watch for
overconfidence as a bias when they’re trying to make decisions or solve problems outside
their areas of expertise.
 Anchoring Bias: The anchoring bias is the tendency to fix on the initial information as the
starting point for making a decision, and the failure to adjust for subsequent information as
it’s collected. For example, a manager may be interviewing a candidate for a job, and that
candidate asks for a $100,000 starting salary. As soon as that number is stated, the manager’s
ability to ignore that number is compromised, and subsequent information suggesting the
average salary for that type of job is $80,000 will not hold as much strength. Similarly, if a
manager asks you for an expected starting salary, your answer will likely anchor the
manager’s impending offer. Anchors are a common issue in negotiations and interviews.
 Confirmation Bias: The rational decision making process assumes that we gather information
and data objectively, but confirmation bias represents the gathering of information that
supports one’s initial conclusions. We seek out information that reaffirms our past choices
and tend to put little weight on those things that challenge our views. For example, two
people on social media may be arguing the existence of climate change. In the instance of
confirmation bias, each of those people would look to find scientific papers and evidence that
supports their theories, rather than making a full examination of the situation.
 Hindsight Bias: Hindsight bias is the tendency we have to believe that we’d have accurately
predicted a particular event after the outcome of that event is known. Because we construct a
situation where we fool ourselves into thinking we knew more about an event before it
happened, hindsight bias restricts our ability to learn from the past and makes us
overconfident about future predictions.
 Representative Bias: Representative bias is when a decision maker wrongly compares two
situations because of a perceived similarity, or, conversely, when he or she evaluates an
event without comparing it to similar situations. Either way, the problem is not put in the
proper context.In the workplace, employees might assume a bias against white males when
they see that several women and minorities have been hired recently. They may see the last
five or six hires as representative of the company’s policy, without looking at the last five to
ten years of hires.
 Availability Bias: Availability bias suggests that decision makers use the information that is
most readily available to them when making a decision. We hear about terrorism all the time
on the news, and in fictional media. It’s blown out of proportion, making it seem like a
bigger threat than it is, so people invest their time and efforts to combat it. Cancer, however,
kills 2,000 times more people. We don’t invest in that, it doesn’t get enough news coverage,
and it’s not as “available” in our mind as information. Hence, the availability bias.
 Commitment Errors: This is an increased commitment to a previous decision in spite of
negative information. A business owner may put some money down on a storefront location
to rent DVDs and Blu-rays, start purchasing stock for his or her shelves and hire a few people
to help him or her watch the cash register. The owner may review some data and stats that
indicate people don’t go out and rent videos too much anymore, but, because he or she is
 committed to the location, the stock, the people, the owner is going to continue down that
path and open a movie rental location.
 Randomness Errors: If you are certain your lucky tie will help you earn a client’s business at
a meeting later today, you’re committing a randomness error. A tie does not bring you luck,
even if you once wore it on a day when you closed a big deal. Decisions can become
impaired when we try to create meaning out of random events. Consider stock prices.
Financial advisors feel they can predict the flow of stock prices based on past performance,
but on any given day, those stock prices are completely random. In reality, these advisors
were able to predict the direction of stock prices about 49 percent of the time, or about as
well as if they’d just guessed. In the case of the lucky tie, that’s more a superstition. Decision
makers who are controlled by their superstitions can find it difficult or impossible to change
routines or objectively process new information.
7. Describe personality, the way it is measured and the factors that shape it.

Ans: Personality as the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with
others. The most important reason managers need to know how to measure personality is that
research has shown personality tests are useful in hiring decisions and help managers forecast
who is best for a job. The most common means of measuring personality is through self-report
surveys, with which individuals evaluate themselves on a series of factors, such as “I worry a lot
about the future.” One weakness is that the respondent might lie or practice impression
management to create a good impression. When people know their personality scores are going
to be used for hiring decisions, they rate themselves as about half a standard deviation more
conscientious and emotionally stable than if they are taking the test just to learn more about
themselves. Another problem is accuracy. A perfectly good candidate could have been in a bad
mood when taking the survey, and that will make the scores less accurate.

Observer-ratings surveys provide an independent assessment of personality. Here, a co-worker or

another observer does the rating. A combination of self-report and observer-reports predicts
performance better than any one type of information. The implication is clear: use both observer
ratings and self-report ratings of personality when making important employment decisions. An
early debate in personality research centered on whether an individual’s personality was the
result of heredity or of environment.
8. ‘Perception may not be the reality but it creates reality.’ Explain this statement.

Ans: Perception is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory
impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. However, what we perceive can be
substantially different from objective reality. For example, all employees in a firm may view it as
a great place to work—favorable working conditions, interesting job assignments, good pay,
excellent benefits, understanding and responsible management—but, as most of us know, it’s
very unusual to find such agreement.

9. What are the shortcuts in judgement?

Ans: 1. Selective Perception Any characteristic that makes a person, an object, or an event stand
out will increase the probability we will perceive it.

2. Halo Effect When we draw a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single
characteristic, such as intelligence, sociability, or appearance, a halo effect is operating.

3. Contrast Effects: We don’t evaluate a person in isolation. Our reaction is influenced by other
persons we have recently encountered.

4. Stereotyping When we judge someone on the basis of our perception of the group to which

he or she belongs, we are using the shortcut called stereotyping.