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Summer 2014

MBA Semester 1

MB0038: MANAGEMENT PROCESS AND ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR


Q1. What do you mean by Span of Control? Differentiate between narrow span of
control and wide span of control. Describe the factors that influence the span of
control.

The term span of control indicates the number of employees or managers who work under
one head.

When a very few people report to a head and a chain is made that way upward, then it is
called narrow span. Thus in a narrow span, a department may have three or four sections,
under each section head, there could be another two or three sub section and under each
sub section there could be nine or ten employees. In a wide span there may be 20, 30, or
more subordinates under one head.

Table : Advantages and Disadvantages of Narrow Span and Wide Span



Narrow Span Wide Span
Advantages Disadvantages Advantages Disadvantages
Close supervision




Close control


Faster
communication
Superiors tend to get
too much involved in
the work of
subordinates

Many levels of
management

High cost Excessive
distance between top
and bottom level
Forced to delegate




Clear policies must
be made

Subordinates must
be carefully selected
Overloaded superiors
may become
decision bottlenecks


Danger of superior
loss of control

Requires high quality
managers

There is some optimal limit to the number of subordinate a manager can have. But
considering the communication and control in mind, usually we say that the number should
be within a range of seven to ten. This however depends on the nature of the industry and
technology level. In a computerised environment, it is possible to have even 40 to 50 people

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undergone head. More the number of subordinates under one head, flatter the organisation
becomes. But keeping the factors that influence the span of control, a balance has to be
struck.

Factors that influence the span of control

The time that a manager gets to spend with the subordinate is the fundamental factor. Based
on this, several sub factors emerge and are discussed below.

Training Wide span demands high level of training while in narrow span, one can manage
with less.

Task definition and delegation Wide span demands clear task definition and delegation
while this can be much less in a narrow span.

Well defined plans and repetitive process If the business has these, a wide span is
viable, if not a narrow span is preferred.

Verifiable objectives Wide span demands verifiable objectives and this is much less in
narrow span.

Speed of change When the speed of change is high, a wide span may not be practical
from a communication perspective but may not be practical if such changes need close
control.

Organisation structure, written and oral communication When this is of a higher order,
wide span can work well.

Effective interaction and meeting Wide span demands both more than narrow span.

Specialists When there are a greater number of specialists at the upper level, a wide span
is preferable. If the number of specialists is more at the lower level, then a narrow span can
work better.

Task simplicity If the task is simple, a wide span is viable.


Q2. Define the term controlling. What are the pre-requisites of effective control?

Controlling can be defined as measuring and correcting of performance to achieve the
organisational goals. According to Brech, Controlling is a systematic exercise which is
called as a process of checking actual performance against the standards or plans with a
view to ensure adequate progress and also recording such experience as is gained as a
contribution to possible future needs.



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Prerequisites of Effective Control

All managers like to have controls because without them their plans would go awry. Let us
now study the pre-requisites to have an effective control system.

Tailoring controls to plans and positions A control is exercised on an activity or a group
of activities. It follows that what control is good for a position may not be relevant for another
e.g., the Vice President of marketing and the Vice President of operations cannot have the
same controls though both maybe based on a financial control system.

Tailoring controls to individual manager Controls have to be adjusted to the individual
managers capability also. If someone does not understand a control, he/she will not trust it
or use it as a result of which it will become dysfunctional.

Designing point to the exceptions at critical point If a control has to be effective, it
must control the exception and that too at the critical point. For example, the critical point in
home delivery of a birthday cake is the time and accuracy of writing the name.

Objectivity of controls Many management actions are subjective, but when controls are
created, they must be objective, accurate, and must suit a standard. While this may be
relatively easy in machine related systems and financial related indicator, we have to be
careful when we have to relate it to the intangible areas.

Flexibility Controls must be flexible to include the changed plans, unforeseen
circumstances, or outright failure.

Fitting to the organisational culture Imagine putting tight control over Sambhavi whose
culture is family-like and open with the freedom to experiment. The control will most certainly
affect the culture which to begin with is the competitive advantage of Sambhavi. Therefore, it
must fit the culture. If you have a tight and bureaucratic system, a lose control will also not
work.

Economy of controls Controls must be worth their costs. Creating controls which are
excessively expensive is counter-productive. For example, we cannot have the same
controls in an aircraft and a car.



Q3. Define the term personality. Describe Cattells Personality Factor Model.

Q4. Discuss the contemporary theories of motivation.

Q5. What are the factors that affect group behaviour?



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Q6. Define the term leadership. Write a brief note on Contingency Theories of
Leadership.

Remaining answers are available in the full assignments.


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