MMPC-011 Social Processes and Behavioural Issues Solved Question Paper June 2022

MMPC-011 Social Processes and Behavioural Issues Solved Question Paper June 2022

Social Processes and Behavioural Issues
Course Code: MMPC-011

MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME (MP)
Term-End Examination
June, 2022

MMPC-011 : SOCIAL PROCESSES AND
BEHAVIOURAL ISSUES

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100
Weightage : 70%

Note :
(i) There are two sections – A and B.
(ii) Attempt any three questions from Section A. All
questions carry equal marks.
(iii) Section B is compulsory and carries 40 marks.

SECTION A

1. Briefly discuss the society-environment-organization
interface. How do social processes play an important
role as sources of human behaviour ?
2. What are the determinants of personality ? Discuss
any two theories of personality and their implications
in organization.

3. Distinguish between groups and teams. Briefly
discuss the determinants of group productivity.
4. Discuss the process of conflict and any two
frameworks of conflict management.
5. Write short notes on any three of the following :
(a) Process of Negotiation
(b) Management of Stress
(c) Measuring Empowerment
(d) Benefits of an Inclusive Organization
(e) Emotional Intelligence

SECTION B

6. Read the following case carefully and answer the
questions given at the end :
Ceylon Fertilizer is a urea manufacturing
unit having a capacity of 500 tonnes per day.
The total workforce of the plant is around 2,000.
Being a self-contained plant, it has its own
workshop in order to take care of regular
maintenance work. The workshop functions in
two shifts a day under a shift incharge for each
shift who is in the cadre of AEE. The workers
have been grouped into two groups, i.e., Relay ‘A’
and ‘B’. The shift routine changes once a week,
Sunday being the weekly holiday. Besides the
two shifts, there are a group of people under a
Senior AEE attending in general shift hours.
The Relay ‘A’, consisting of 18 workers is
placed under the charge of Mr. Muthu who is a
graduate in mechanical engineering. After
undergoing training for a period of six months in
various divisions in fertilizers, he had acquired a
thorough knowledge of works to be undertaken
by the workshop. After being a Relay Supervisor
for 3 years, he has been recently promoted to the
post of AEE, who is the shift incharge. When he
joined the workshop, he found that the tasks were done with the application of thumb rules
and higher officers had to be satisfied with such
a quality of work.
Mr. Muthu, on witnessing this, started to
instruct his workers in various theoretical
aspects of welding, machining, etc., which he
had studied in his college. They all highly
appreciated the skills and techniques he had
taught. The workers now learnt to do things in a
better way. Thus, he gained the confidence of the
workers. As he was able to finish his work in
time and in a better way than Relay ‘B’, more
work orders were allotted to his group. A few
workers in this group started to grumble and one
of the Foremen came and told Mr. Muthu that
the ‘‘other Relay workers do not have much work
load and our workers too do not want to strain
much and they are murmuring over getting more
work.’’ Mr. Muthu, however, convinced the
Foreman that extra work should be taken as a
credit and recognition, and they should do their
best. After this had happened some workers
even tried to get transferred to the other Relay.
One morning, Mr. Muthu was making
arrangements for the work to be taken and was
giving instructions to his Foreman. Turner, Kali,

came and told him, ‘‘Sir, father of Fitter Sami
expired last night and we all want to go and
attend the funeral’’ and added ‘‘it is customary
for the men in the workshop to attend such
funerals and the shift incharge has to arrange a
lorry or any conveyance for the people to go to
Sami’s house, which is nearly eight km from the
plant.’’ Since Mr. Muthu joined the company,
this was the first such instance occurring and as
he had to finish some urgent work orders, he
told the worker Kali, ‘‘You all need not go to the
funeral. I can, however, permit a few of you as
representatives of Relay ‘A’ to go and offer
condolences to Sami’s family.’’ Further, he
regretted that he would not make any
arrangements for conveyance. This statement
created a turbulence among the workers and a
group of workers stopped the work and started
demanding that they be allowed to attend the
funeral or else they wanted to stop work in the
coming shifts. The Foreman hurried up to AFT,
Mr. Muthu to explain the turbulent situation on
the shop-floor.
On hearing this, Mr. Muthu told his
Foreman, ‘‘I have given you an alternative and I
have already told the urgency of work and I am

going to allocate the work as per planning
schedule. If the work is not done, I may have to
take action against you.’’ Then the group of
workers started discussing among themselves as
to what to do next. A turner came forth and said,
‘‘You are not considerate enough on human
matters and if you are still adamant, we may
prefer half-a-day wages cut as we must go and
attend the funeral. Anyhow you have to make
arrangements for our conveyance.’’ Mr. Muthu at
this instance noted that a small group, who were
usually complaining about the workload and
were murmuring, were keenly interested in the
affair. He decided to face the situation as a
matter of prestige. He issued the gate pass to
whoever wished to go, still emphasizing that he
would not arrange any conveyance. Nearly 25
per cent of the workers remained and the others
collected money from all for the funeral and
went off.
On that day, Mr. Muthu could finish only
a part of the work as planned and he had to
explain what had happened in his Relay, to his
boss.
When he came the next morning, it was
rumoured that only a few of the workers

attended the funeral and the others had gone to
the cinema theatre near the village. Mr. Muthu
got irritated by the workers’ behaviour and
started writing memos to those who had received
the gate pass the previous day. Some workers
got annoyed by this action of Mr. Muthu and
they approached the Union to intervene. The
news had spread to other divisions and there
was an air of protest at all places in the
Fertilizer Plant.
Questions :
(a) What is your view of the action taken by
Mr. Muthu ?
(b) What are the weaknesses and strong points,
as you consider, of Mr. Muthu as a
Manager ?
(c) How would you have tackled the situation, if
you were Mr. Muthu ?