aiou-assignment no1 code5569 spring2014

8/10/2019 AIOU-Assignment No1 Code5569 Spring2014

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ALLAMA IQBALOPENUNIVERSITY, ISLAMABAD

(Commonwealth MBA/MPA Programme)

Course: Management & Organization (5569) Semester: Spring, 2014

Level: COL MBA/MPA Programme Total Marks: 100

ASSIGNMENT No. 1

by

FAISAL SAFDAR KHAN

ROLL NO. AW565146


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Assignment #1 Roll No. 565146

Code 5569 (Faisal Safdar Khan)

Management & Organization Page 1 of 21

Q.1 Perception can influence employee performance in organizations. Link the two

stated attributes and support the statement with examples. (20)

Answer

PERCEPTION

We attach meanings, interpretations and values to our actions as humans. What we do

in the world depends on:

how we understand our place in it,

how we perceive ourselves and our social and physical environment,

How we perceive our circumstances.

Behaviour can be described with terms like reason, motive, intention, purpose,

desire and so on.

Every person perceives the world around him in different ways. The personal

perception of the facts and actions shapes and directs the behaviours. For example, if a

person in an air-conditioned room perceives that it is cold, he will reach for his warm

clothes or wishes to increase the temperature of the thermostat. On the other hand, if

the person standing next to him perceives that it is warm, he will do otherwise /

opposite to the first person. These opposing behaviours can be observed happening at

the same time, irrespective of the actual ambient temperature as measured by a

thermometer. Therefore, it is clear that human behaviour is a function of the way in

which the world around us is perceived.

We often find ourselves unable to understand other people's behaviour. To understand

each other's behaviour, we need to be able to understand each others perceptions.

FACTORS INFLUENCING PERCEPTION

We can classify the factors that influence perception into three main categories:

1. The Perceiver

Following factors in the perceiver affect perception process:


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Attitudes

Motives

Expectations

Interests

Experience

2. Situation / Conditions

Time

Work Setup or conditions

Social Setup or conditions

3. The Target

Uniqueness

Motion

Sound

Size

Proximity

Background

Similarity


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Rationalized resistance:

Group members rationalize any resistance to the assumptions they have made. No

matter how strongly the evidence may contradict their basic assumptions, members

behave so as to reinforce those assumptions continually.

Peer pressure:

Members apply direct pressures on those who momentarily express doubts about

any of the groups shared views or who question the validity of arguments

supporting the alternative favored by the majority.

Suppression of Innovation

Groupthink suppresses individual thought, and innovation is often a casualty. As a

result, organizations often fail to see or respond to developing market trends or

adopt emerging technologies. A larger danger of groupthink occurs with companies

that are dealing with stressful internal or external conditions or have faced failure in

the past, especially as the result of deviating from standard procedure.

Organizations with a homogeneous work force are also more subject to groupthink

than companies that embrace multiculturalism, a balance between men and

women, and a range of age groups.

Combating Risks / Disadvantages of Groupthink

After Irving Janis discovered groupthink in the early 1970s, extensive efforts sprang up

to combat it, leading to some strategies and tactics still in use. Group members, for

instance, should implement safeguards intended to make effective decisions instead of

decisions protecting the group's cohesiveness. Dissenting opinions should be

encouraged, as groupthink leads members to prematurely commit without considering

objections. Group leaders should encourage rather than punish dissent. Separating the

group into smaller ones may also improve the validity of decisions if all separate groups

reach the same decision. To combat groupthink, acknowledge that the group isn't

perfect. Allow time for decisions to sit with the group before making them permanent.

However, there are some preventative measures that can be taken to reduce the

chances of risk of wrong decisions taken by groupthink, including:

Define rules and processes for decision making and uphold them.

Encourage full participation of every group member.


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Divide group members up into smaller brainstorming groups before sharing ideas

with the larger group.

Support debate and productive conflict in the group.

Make it a priority to examine all alternatives before making a decision.

Invite outside experts in to share their perspectives and insights with the group.

Ask leaders to hold their opinions or ideas until after the group has had a chance

to express their opinion.

Have a designated evaluator or 'devil's advocate' in the group to challenge ideas

and decisions.

Real World Examples of Disadvantages of Group Think

Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

Perhaps one of the most well-known examples of groupthink can be found in the Space

Shuttle Challenger disaster, which occurred just after liftoff on January 28, 1986. It is

important to note that the Challenger explosion was caused by the hardware failure of

a solid rocket booster (SRB) O-ring, but the decision made by NASA on that day was also

flawed. The decision was simple (to launch or not to launch), the decision was flawed,

and the decision was final.

On the day before the launch, NASA had received a warning from Thiokol - the

subcontractor directly responsible for the development of the SRB O-rings - concerning

the abnormally cold temperatures expected for the day of the launch and the potential

threat to performance it would bring to the O-ring. Because NASA had already delayed

the launch for weather, it was not entertaining the idea of postponing it a second time

for inclement weather conditions. NASA chose to rely on test results on the O-rings

despite Thiokol's warning that the system was also unreliable. Pressures were put on

Thiokol engineers to conform to NASA's desire to launch, so they asked to hold aprivate meeting. Within five minutes, Thiokol agreed, without any further objections, to

proceed with the launch.

Groupthink Examples in Business

The Flying Bank is one of the prime entrepreneurial examples of groupthink in business.

This refers to the collapse of Swissair, a Swiss airline company that believed itself to be

so financially stable that it became known as the Flying Bank. Authors Aaron Hermann

and Hussain Rammal described two symptoms of groupthink in their article "The

Grounding of the 'Flying Bank.'" These symptoms were the belief that the group was

invulnerable and its morality superior. Before its collapse, Swissair reduced its company


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board, losing much of its industrial expertise in the process. Experts attribute the

resizing as a factor in groupthink.

Group Think Example in US Govt. Administration

The decision for both US military deployments in the Gulf region helps to prove that

groupthink is not confined to a presidential era and can very well transcend the

boundaries of time so long the needed antecedents exist. Steve Yetiv attempts to

explain this in an analysis of the 1990 decision to deploy troops to the Gulf region to

oust Iraqi forces from Kuwait. He argues that the antecedents of groupthink present in

George H. W. Bushs administration heavily influenced this path to war


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Q.3 Select an FMCG and analyze its decision making models in detail. (20)

Answer

AN FMCG COMPANY

1. Likely to produce greatest ROI (Return On Investment)

2. Likely to be quickest and easiest to implement.

3. Probably justifying immediate action planning or feasibility study.

4. Likely to produce good returns if capability and implementation are viable.

5. Potentially more exciting, stimulating, and rewarding due to challenge, surprise

tactics, and benefits from addressing and achieving improvements.

6. Only basic awareness, planning, and implementation required to meet these

challenges.

7. Investment in these issues is generally safe and necessary.

8. There are advantages of proposition?

Capabilities?

Competitive advantages?

USP's (unique selling points)?

Resources, Assets, People?

Experience, knowledge, data?

Financial reserves, likely returns?

Marketing - reach, distribution, awareness?

Innovative aspects?

Location and geographical?

Price, value, quality?

Accreditations, qualifications, certifications?

Processes, systems, IT, communications?


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Cultural, attitudinal, behavioral?

Management cover, succession?

9. Advantages of opportunities:

Speedy Market developments?

Exploit Competitors' vulnerabilities?

Exploit Industry or lifestyle trends?

Seek new markets, vertical, horizontal?

Exploit Niche target markets?

Seek Geographical, export, import?

Exploit Market need for new USP's?

Opportunity for Major contracts, tenders?

Available Information and research?

Opportunity Partnerships, agencies, distribution?

Exploit Market volume demand trends?

Opportunity in Seasonal, weather, fashion influences?

End-user sales control and direction.

Right products, quality and reliability.

Superior product performance vs competitors.

Better product life and durability.

Spare manufacturing capacity.

Some staff has experience of end-user sector.

Have customer lists.

Direct delivery capability.

Product innovations ongoing.

Can serve from existing sites.


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Products have required accreditations.

Processes and IT should cope.

Management is committed and confident

Local competitors have poor products.

Profit margins will be good.

End-users respond to new ideas.

Could extend to overseas.

New specialist applications.

Can surprise competitors.

Support core business economies.

Could seek better supplier deals.

Summary

Application of the three decision-making models, the seven decision-making strategies,

and the two marketing theories can be seen in current efforts by marketing

practitioners and academicians to tease apart the complex decisions made by

consumers. For example, choice models and conjoint models are multivariate analysis

techniques based on these understandings. Consumers are provided with choices in

controlled environments that, hopefully, control for other difficult variables, and then

the choices are decomposed to understand both the conscious and unconscious

elements driving the consumers' choices.

One limitation for practitioners is important to address at this point. When one is

attempting to manipulate marketing variables such as price or promotion, or even

conduct research into consumer decision-making, it is critical that a solid theoretical

base be used. Without this base, the surveys have the potential of producing


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contradictory or misleading answers, and the attempts to manipulate the variables at

hand may produce less than satisfying results.

In summary, this area of investigation is complex and uncertain, though extremely

promising. The fields of economics, psychology, sociology, and marketing are all deeply

involved in trying to move this research forward, with often-conflicting research

streams and terminology. However, the end resultgaining a better understanding of

how consumers make decisionsis of great theoretical and practical value to all

involved. As such, it will continue to be a major research area in all the above fields.

Note: Both information and insights were provided for this paper by Dr. Daniel Levine,

Professor of Psychology, University of Texas at Arlington.


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vision and personality, transformational leaders are able to inspire followers to change

expectations, perceptions, and motivations to work towards common goals.

Later, researcher Bernard M. Bass expanded upon Burns' original ideas to develop what

is today referred to as Bass Transformational Leadership Theory. According to Bass,

transformational leadership can be defined based on the impact that it has on

followers. Bass suggested that the Transformational leaders gain trust, respect, and

admiration from their followers.

COMPONENTS / QUALITIES OF TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP

Bass also suggested that there were four different components of transformational

leadership, also known as Four Is:

1. Intellectual Stimulation

Transformational leaders not only challenge the status quo; they also

encourage creativity among followers. The leader encourages followers to explore

new ways of doing things and new opportunities to learn.

2. Individualized Consideration

Transformational leadership also involves offering support and encouragement to

individual followers. In order to foster supportive relationships, transformational

leaders keep lines of communication open so that followers feel free to share

ideas and so that leaders can offer direct recognition of the unique contributions

of each follower.

3. Inspirational Motivation

Transformational leaders have a clear vision that they are able to articulate to

followers. These leaders are also able to help followers experience the same

passion and motivation to fulfill these goals.

4. Idealized Influence

The transformational leader serves as a role model for followers. Because

followers trust and respect the leader, they emulate this individual and internalize

his or her ideals.


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The abilities and skills, given above, represent the crux of transformational leadership.

Therefore, the conclusion is that qualities of transformational leadership make the

essence of transformational management and the key to successful management of

transformational organizational changes.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that the full integration of ethical standards into

business practice is not only preferable, but also necessary for long-term organizational

survival. Indeed, ethical behaviours are difficult to legislate for. Minkes et al. (1999)

assert that ethical behaviour is concerned with ought and ought not, not just 'must'

and 'must not'. Therefore it means that there are standards which may extend beyond

what is required by law or which are commercially profitable.

"Transformational leaders...are those who stimulate and inspire followers to both

achieve extraordinary outcomes and, in the process, develop their own leadership

capacity. (Bass and Riggio)

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Transformational leaders help followers grow and develop into leaders by responding

to individual followers' needs by:

empowering them

aligning the objectives and goals of the individual followers, the leader, the

group, and the larger organization."

Researchers have found that this style of leadership can have a positive effect on the

group. In Transformational Leadership, leaders and followers raise each other to higher

levels of morality and motivation.

Goals have been determined to help staff members develop a professional organization

culture, foster employee development and solve problems more effectively. To

accomplish these goals there are a few strategies to consider. It is very important to

get everyone involved in determining organization goals, beliefs and visions at the

beginning of the year. As long as communication lines are open and the employees

work together there will be consistency among them in their performance and in

handling situations. The Management must have high expectations of the employees


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and expect their efforts and commitment to be excessive, but also give this effort

him/herself.

It is important to let them share ideas and experiment with new ideas, posing questions

for others to think about. The needs and wants of the staff should be considered. Also,

their attitudes and philosophies should be heard. Using active listening will show them

that they are cared about. When they feel this, they will likely be more productive.

Bringing workshops to the organization that can involve staff participation gives the

employees an opportunity to share ideas. The management might also hold his or her

own workshop and share new information from other conferences he/she attended

with staff members. When new staff are hired they should be encouraged to

participate in decision-making. They should be informed of this type of leadership for

the organization and what it involves.

Reflective thinking is a process that employees and administrators can use for problem

solving and decision-making. Also, employees who are not happy with this style should

be given the chance to transfer. This helps establish an environment where all those

present are willing to commit fully to the organizations purpose. The management

might also help employees work smarter by placing individual problems in a larger

perspective of the whole organization, therefore they can work together to find

solutions, and avoiding preconceived solutions. The management should not impose

his or her opinion or perspective but support this group effort and guide them by

summarizing key points at meetings.

Also, action research teams or organization improvement teams are a way of sharing

power. This gives everyone responsibilities and involves the staff in governance

functions. Those who do not participate might be asked to be in charge of the

committee.


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Q.5 Process Re-engineering can result in organizational optimization; support this

statement with real life examples. (20)

ANSWER

PROCESS

A business process is a set of related work activities that are performed by employees

to achieve business goals. Individual processes are combined to increase efficiencies

and productivity. Workers are allowed to make on the spot decisions to eliminate

process roadblocks. This is useful for overall business performance, as well as it can also

increase employee satisfaction and loyalty. Employees can expand their skill and

knowledge into other areas, and have the ability to make decisions that affect their

individual performance.

PROCESS RE-ENGINEERING

Process re-engineering is a method for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of

business processes within and across organisations. Process Reengineering is not

reorganizing, restructuring, downsizing, automation or cost cutting. All of these things

may be a result of a well thought out, well planned and well-executed reengineering

project. However, the individual goals listed should not be the sole reason for a

company to choose to do a process reengineering effort (Carr and Johansson, 1995).

It may appear that process reengineering could be the solution to many of the

performance issues facing businesses today; however, it's time for a reality check.

Basically, a business process is the way we perform our work and business process

reengineering is the process of changing the way we do our work so we do it better to

accomplish the goals of our business.

IMPORTANCE OF BPR

The idea behind business process reengineering is to make your company more flexible,

responsive, efficient and effective for all stakeholders including customers, employees

and owners. In order for BPR to work, the business must be willing to make the

following changes:


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Change the focus from a management focus to a customer focus - the boss is

not the boss, the customer is the boss.

Empower workers that are involved in each process to have decision-making

and ownership in the process.

Change focus from managing activities to focusing on results.

Get away from 'score keeping' and focus on leading and teaching, so employees

can measure their own results.

Change the company's orientation from a functional to a process or cross-

functional orientation. This allows for an increase in organizational knowledge

among its members and a greater degree of flexibility in completing tasks.

Move from serial operations to concurrent operations - in other words,

multitask instead of just doing one thing at a time.

Get rid of overly complex and complicated processes in favor of simple,

streamlined processes. Use the KISS Principle - keep it simple, stupid.

Stop trying to build an empire and protect the status quo, rather invent new

systems and processes that look towards the future.

ORGANIZATIONAL OPTIMIZATION THROUGH PROCESS RE-ENGINEERING

Businesses facing performance issues often find it difficult to differentiate the symptom

from the cause. Many businesses therefore suffer cash flow and profitability losses. Our

Re-Engineering professionals have experience in steering distressed businesses towards

a stronger position. The objective is to assist management to work through periods of

significant financial and operational stress without having to resort to formal

liquidation arrangements. D.R.L Solutions will optimize business process lifecycle to

increase value-added activities and decrease revenue leakage.

Our BPR projects involve modern methodologies, notations and technologies (i.e.

modeling tools) that are designed to facilitate, maximize expected results and enable

process maintenance and adjustment. Such projects can also address any horizontal

(department) or vertical (end-to-end process) subset of an organization, according to

business goals. Additionally, they can extend to IT implementations (i.e. Business

Process Management) and/or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) definition and

monitoring.


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Greater analytical tools and capabilities give us a broader, farther reaching view of

whats happening, and what might happen. We can better analyze the business impact

of decisions we make.

Our technology solutions include profitability systems, management information

systems and reporting tools that can help:

Produce more accurate P&L forecasts

Implement customer profitability systems

Create the financial reports required for business purposes

Spot trends that will affect business

Understand the impact of changing variables Apply strategy models

D.R.L builds solutions that take advantage of our understanding of boardroom needs

and technological capabilities. We blend business and technological expertise with data

streams, to create strategic solutions.

Smart businesses view an ERP implementation as an opportunity to optimize

performance through improved business processes and operational governance.

Offering various levels and services to give organizations the flexibility to pick the level

of improvement they want to achieve; D.R.Ls business process reengineering practice

can be deployed at any point throughout software selection or implementation. For

instance, a company can choose to simply gain a baseline understanding of its current

business process (and associated time and waste), it can make improvements and

optimize key business processes, or it can choose to improve and optimize every

business process within its entire organization.

At its core, business process reengineering helps organizations fundamentally rethink

and radically redesign their existing business processes to improve both efficiency and

flexibility. D.R.Ls business blueprinting drives ERP software configuration and

customization specifications via use cases to deliver optimal benefits realization.

We have based our business process reengineering and performance management

service offering by combining approach and principles of improvement with our

methodology. The result is a comprehensive and holistic analysis of the current


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business state and, as requested, a detailed recommendation for improved efficiency

and operational excellence aligned with the organizations overall executive and

operational strategy.

BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING FOCUS AREAS:

Benchmark Assessment

Process Mapping

Change Impact Analysis

Organizational Structure Redesign

Financial Impact Assessment

Business Case and Return on Investment

Continuous Process Improvement

End-user and Executive Training

Leadership and Organizational Change Management Support and Services

BENEFITS OF BPR

A few of the benefits include:

Increased Customer Satisfaction:

Customer satisfaction should improve when an organization employs the use of

BPR. As mentioned in previous programmes when an organization utilizes this

process it is geared towards the customer. As processes are re-engineered and

employees deliver a high quality service the customer seeks to benefit. This is due

to a reduction in the time and cost associated with BPR as those processes that

added no value would have been eliminated.

Increased Employee Satisfaction:

Due to the way business process re-engineering is made it allows the employees

of an organization to have a greater sense of responsibility and accountability.

Employees are driven to deliver a higher quality service to its customers and at

the same time important tasks are performed at the highest standards.

Employees get motivated as BPR reduces the length of time at a task; thus

allowing fewer tasks to be performed in delivering service of a high standard.


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Increased flexibility of the organization:

Traditionally, organizations can be rigid in structure but by the application of BPR

a different environment is created and resultantly the organizational structure is

forced to change. Organizations therefore have to be flexible and adapt to the

changes that will come as a result of the BPR.

An organization and by extension its employees will experience growth as new

ideas emerge to break old assumptions. Thus, it is important to be flexible and

open when incorporating the use of technology in the new environment. This

leads to more productive and willing employees and an organization that opens

up itself to new ventures.

EXAMPLE

One very simple and a short example of BPR at Benazir Bhutto International Airport

(BBIAP) Islamabad is that previously international passengers travelling from Islamabad

to any International destination (departing passengers) had to face long queues in car

parking areas, drop lanes, briefing area entry point, Airport Security Force (ASF)

scanning area, customs clearance area and Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) checking areas

due to:

Number of international flights operating at very close intervals

Single entry at airport main entry gate

Separate scannings at ASF, Customs and ANF

The problems were identified the CAA airport management and re-engineering of the

processes was recommended which was carried out after obtaining the approval from

the competent authority as follows:

Flights were staggered as far as practicable

More than two additional gates / lanes introduced for entry of vehicles

Integrated scanning system is introduced and implemented for all the three

agencies.

Thus the BRP improved over-all performance of the passenger facilitation system at

BBIAP Islamabad by facilitating the passengers as well as the employees of the various

agencies / functionaries performing duties at the airport.


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SUMMARY

In short, once the organization successfully implements BPR it will see a transformation

in many areas, i.e., reduced costs and time, increased efficiency and effectiveness,

which leads to overall customer satisfaction.

An empowered organization is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill,

desire, and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective

organizational success." (Stephen Covey)

CONCLUSION

Business processes are the lifeline of any organization. These are the work activities

required to provide products and services to customers, end-users, or client groups. An

organization must optimize its business processes in line with its mission and strategic

priorities, to be highly effective. For most organizations, achieving this optimization

requires major changes in policies, procedures, organization structure, management

viewpoint and use of technology.

Most managers are familiar to functional units and activities which can virtually stand

alone. BPR demands for a much different view. The process orientation crosses the

boundaries between organizational sub-units or functions and often crosses

organizational boundaries as well. Under this orientation, a vertical view of an

organization is replaced by a horizontal view of many interlocking processes. Together,

all of the processes in an organization form a total delivery system for services and

products. Real value-added comes from the integration of activities across processes.


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References

Lectures / Presentations by Mrs Javeria, AIOU Islamabad.

Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and Performance. N. Y: Free Press.

Bass, B. M. & Riggio, R. E. (2008). Transformational Leadership. Mahwah, New

Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. N.Y: Harper and Raw.

Riggio, R.E. (2009, March 24). Are you a transformational leader? Psychology

Today. Found online at http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-

leadership/200903/are-you-transformational-leader

http://www.mun.ca/educ

Business Process Reengineering Online Learning Center. Business Process

Reengineering. Retrieved January 28, 2004 from

http://www.prosci.com/reengineering.htm

http://www.reconciliation.gov.vc

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