Chapter-7-Directing 

(a)

Explanation: Once the planning is done, organisation structure is designed and various people are fitted into that organisation structure. In this way, the company is ready to start work. People are given orders and instructions to conduct their jobs. This activity of ordering and instructing people is called directing function of management. Directing means moving into action.

(c)

Explanation: Directing function of management involves supervising people at work, issuing orders and instructions and making changes in them so they best fit the actual situation.

(a)

Explanation: Motivated employees perform their tasks with dedication and zeal. They develop a proud feeling about their jobs. In this way, they provide stability to the organisation.

(c)

Explanation: Maslow devised five types of needs, viz. physiological, safety, social, esteem or ego and self-actualisation needs.

b

Explanation: The objective of giving incentives to the employees is to increase production. The production can be increased when employees work harder. Motivation is the driving force that helps the employees to work harder.

(a)

Explanation: Appreciation is a non-financial incentive because it cannot be measured in monetary terms. It is a source of motivation because it induces the employees to perform better in their jobs.

(c)

Explanation: Decoding means deriving meaning from the information given in the message sent by the sender to the receiver or receivers.

(b)

Explanation: Through upward communication, subordinates send their work reports and suggestions to their seniors in the organisation hierarchy. Upward communication helps the managers locate the difficulties in operations and removing them on the basis of information received from subordinates.

(c)

Explanation: Supervision helps in minimising the wastage of time because the misuse of time is checked and corrected by the supervisor at the earliest. Effective supervision helps in checking whether the work being done is as per the time schedule or not and making corrections.

(a)

Explanation: It’s a big drawback of informal communication that it may create rumors. Rumors are distorted facts of information. They can demotivate employees if they carry negative information, e.g., the information about retrenchment or stiffening of the terms of employment.

(c)

Explanation: Motivation reduces cost because it induces the employees to devote their best efforts to achieve higher performance. When quality of goods improves, wastages are minimized, and thus cost is minimised.

(c)

Explanation: In formal communication, the source of information is clear and can be located easily. Formal communication is generally done in writing and it works as evidence.

(d)

Explanation: Directing function starts the actual work at the work floor. In direction, employees are guided to perform in the attainment of organisational goals.

(a)

Explanation: It is one of the functions of the supervisor to send weekly or monthly reports regarding the performance of their workers. The supervisor also informs the upper management about the suggestions and grievances of the workers.

(c)

Explanation: Oral communication is suitable for emergency situations because it is fast and the information can be transferred within seconds to enable the required action to be taken instantly. Written communication can aggravate problems in emergency situations because the recipient may know about the adverse situation after it has actually occurred.

(d)

Explanation: These needs are ego and esteem needs. These needs of an employee can be satisfied by an employer by giving rewards and recognition to an employee.

(c)

Explanation: Bonus is given to employees when they perform better than a particular level. This is a financial incentive because it is given in money.

(c)

Explanation: It is difficult to trace the source of informal communication. It is also difficult to ascertain the path through which it travels. If the informal communication circulates wrong information, the people through whom it passes may deny knowing the source of that information.

(d)

Explanation: After hiring people in the organisation as per staffing process, the next step is to instruct and suggest them the way of doing their jobs in the office.

(c)

Explanation: Abraham H Maslow developed need hierarchy theory. He divided human needs in five categories in order of their priority, viz. physiological, safety, social, esteem or ego and self-actualisation needs.

(c)

Explanation: Informal communication develops itself by the interaction of the employees. There is no role of official efforts and official chain of command in creating informal organisation. People come together in informal organisation to share their feelings and commonalities.

(c)

Explanation: In the directing function of management, a manager makes a balance between personal goals of the employees and the overall organisational goals. A manager insists his subordinates in achieving the organisational goals and convinces them that their personal goals and organisational goals are interrelated and will be achieved simultaneously.

(c)

Explanation: Inducing people to work better by placing rewards and recognition for better performers is called positive motivation. This is based on the positive assumption about human behaviour. This is also called “Theory Y” of motivation.

(b)

Explanation: Letters are the means of written communication as they transfer information in written form.

(c)

Explanation: The activity of supervision has been ignored in Ambition Pvt Ltd. In supervision, the employees are given instructions and orders as to how they are supposed to perform their jobs.

(d)

Explanation: People communicate verbally in informal communication. When the same information is transferred verbally from one person to another, it gets distorted after a certain time due to convenient additions and deletions of facts by the persons transferring this kind of information.

(a)

Explanation: It is the responsibility of the supervisor to ensure that the workers know the right way of producing goods such that there is no accident and the goods produced are of the standard quality.

(d)

Explanation: Getting employees to perform better by threatening them with penalties is called negative motivation. It is called negative motivation because this implies a negative approach towards human behaviour and their intentions towards work. This is also called “Theory X” of motivation.

(c)

Explanation: Oral communication means interacting orally. This is a method of communication.

(b)

Explanation: Motivation means inducing workers to outperform their past performances. Through motivation, employees are influenced to perform better.

(a)

Explanation: This is upward communication because the information is passed from lower position to upper position in the organisational hierarchy. Upward communication includes work summaries, performance reports, suggestions, grievances and feedback from employees to their managers.

(b)

Explanation: Telephone is a means of oral communication because people interact on it verbally.

(b)

Explanation: Job enrichment is a kind of non-financial incentive. Job enrichment motivates employees because it helps them learn new and difficult things, which will ultimately help them to grow in the organisation.

(b)

Explanation: It is difficult to maintain secrecy in written communication. Written communication can be leaked orally in informal groups or through informal communication.

(c)

Explanation: In formal communication, a message is normally written and it deals with the official information. Written facts cannot be distorted. If official information is distorted, it is easy to locate and take action against the person responsible for its distortion.

(d)

Explanation: These are some of the barriers of communication. Status barrier says that a higher-level manager may not listen carefully to someone who is junior to him in the hierarchy. Language barrier says that the communication may not be conveyed correctly if sender and receiver do not speak a common language. Intention barrier says that the communication may not give correct information, if the receiver does not want to listen to the sender of the information. Perceptual barrier says that the sender may listen to the part of message that interests him and ignore the rest. Channel distortion means several people speaking at the same time that makes it difficult to understand the message.

(a)

Explanation: One of the functions of a supervisor is to inform the subordinates about the sequence in which an activity has to be performed and the respective time to be taken in performing them.

(a)

Explanation: Types of communication mean the nature of its contents whether official or non-official. Formal communication deals with official information and informal communication deals with both official and non-official information. Formal communication is generally written but it can be oral also in emergency situations. Informal communication is generally oral but it can be written also in the cases when clarity and originality of information is to be maintained.

(c)

Explanation: E-mails provide written information, which is provided in written communication.

(d)

Explanation: These are types of non-financial incentives as they do not involve any monetary payment to employees. They involve recognising the employees as a valuable resource to organisation and making them feel that the organisation cares for them.

(c)

Explanation: It is called chain pattern as each member is attached to the other, thus forming a chain.

(d)

Explanation: It is easier to maintain secrecy in oral communication because it cannot be leaked or verified.

(d)

Explanation: Downward communication means passing on information from a higher level in organisation hierarchy to a lower level in hierarchy. Policies, procedures and programmes of the management pass to the middle and lower level of management through downward communication.

(b)

Explanation: Sharing information in writing is called written communication because there is a proof of record in black and white.

(a)

Explanation: Safety needs refers to the need of having security from adverse conditions. An organisation can fulfill these needs of the employees by giving them job security and retirement benefits.

(b)

Explanation: In the absence of supervision, employees may deviate from the standard procedures of production. In this way, they may produce poor quality goods. If this is supervised at the earliest, employees are corrected at the right time and they start to perform in the desired manner.

(d)

Explanation: Formal communication has to pass through the formal channel of authority. Following the line of authority may take longer time for the information to reach its destination because it has to pass through many executives in its way.

(a)

Explanation: It is the responsibility of the supervisor to make constant efforts to improve the working conditions of the employees. The supervisor makes various suggestions to middle and upper management to improve the working conditions of the employees so that their morale and spirits remain high.

(d)

Explanation: Communication involves written, verbal and non-verbal sharing of information between two or more persons. Non-verbal communication means sharing the information through gestures.

(d)

Explanation: Written communication is suitable for long messages because in oral communication, some facts may be forgotten. In written messages, the receiver has ample time to read the whole message and understand it.

(b)

Explanation: These needs are the social needs of a person. Organising can satisfy these needs of employees by encouraging teamwork and strengthening the informal organisation.

(d)

Explanation: Direction is the function of management that materialises planning. Planning, organising and staffing are the preparatory functions of management but the actual work starts with the directing function of management.

(a)

Explanation: Written communication is taken more seriously because it serves as a record, if the recipient does not act upon it.

(c)

Explanation: Informal communication is also called grapevine because its origin and path cannot be easily located.

(a)

Explanation: In oral communication, information is transferred verbally so the receiver may not take it seriously. One of the main limitation of oral communication is there is no record of it.

(c)

Explanation: Passing the information through proper channels of the organisation structure is called formal communication.

(d)

Explanation: Job security fulfills the safety needs of the employees. Satisfying needs of the employees helps in motivating them. This is a type of non-financial incentive because this does not result in monetary expenditure for the organisation.

(d)

Explanation: In horizontal communication, different departmental heads or executives of same level meet and share information. This is called horizontal communication because the positions of the sender and the receiver of the information in this case do not share a senior-junior relationship. They are equally ranked. The example of horizontal communication is the meeting between production manager and purchase manager to discuss how much raw material should be purchased so that the production does not face shortage or excess of raw material.

(d)

Explanation: Informal communication doesn’t travel by formal channel of command and communication. It is verbal and verbal information reaches its destination quickly through telephone or face-to-face contact. Formal communication is normally in written form and it takes time for the written document to reach its destination.

(c)

Explanation: These are the principles of communication. Clarity means the message should be clear and not ambiguous. Completeness means the message should provide complete information to the receiver. Brevity means the message should be concise. Timeliness mean that the information should reach the receiver within the prescribed time.

(b)

Explanation: It is easy to clarify complicated matter if the communication is oral. For oral communication involves two-way interaction, which helps to clarify doubts instantly.

(d)

Explanation: These are the basic needs for the survival of any human being so they are called physiological needs.

(c)

Explanation: Communication process is complete when the receiver conveys the sender his feedback on the message, which he received from the sender.

(d)

Explanation: These are a part of formal information passed through superiors to subordinates or vice versa. Formal channel of communication is used to pass on the order and instructions to subordinates. Subordinates use this channel of communication to pass on reports, suggestions and feedbacks to their superiors.

(a)

Explanation: This is a type of financial incentive because Mr Avinash has been rewarded for his extra contribution to the organisation in terms of money.

(d)

Explanation: In formal communication, sender may conceal the facts for which he thinks he would be criticised. They may hide their mistakes in the communication.

(c)

Explanation: Encoding means translating information and facts into a message.

(c)

Explanation: Self-actualisation needs are related to the goals of an individual. Goals keep changing after being achieved. An organisation can satisfy these needs of an employee by giving them challenging jobs.

(b)

Explanation: Leadership means inspiring people towards a common goal, so that they make efforts in the desired direction wholeheartedly.

(b)

Explanation: Formal communication flows through the systematic channel of scalar chain. It states in a very clear-cut manner as to who is to receive the information.

(c)

Explanation: These three executives of different positions and departments are indulging in informal communication. Informal communication means sharing viewpoints and feelings with each other. It is also right to say that they are a part of informal organisation.

(a)

Explanation: In diagonal communication, two persons of different designations and from different departments interact with each other. For example, sales manager may ask production executive to change the design of some products as per customer’s requirements. Diagonal communication breaches one principle of management, which is unity of command.

(b)

Explanation: In formal communication, it is easy to locate the source of information because it is written. It provides clarity of the content, the sender and the receiver.

(d)

Explanation: This is a type of non-financial incentive because this is a motivation that does not involve monetary payment to the employee. This kind of incentive fulfils the social needs of recognition of an employee.

(d)

Explanation: Motivating people is a part of directing function of management. Motivation means inducing people to perform better. Leadership means leading and persuading people to achieve organisational goals so that the goals are accomplished in time and with quality.

Exp: Directing means giving instructions and guiding people.

Exp: planning is not a part of Directing.

Exp: It acts as a link between the workers and management.

Exp: William G Scout states the motivation as the process of stimulating people to action to accomplish desired goals.

Exp: Motivation process is based on Human Needs.

Exp: Maslow published the theory of motivation in a classic paper in 1943.

Exp: Hunger is the basic psychological need.

Exp: Pension Plan is the safety need.

Exp: Self-respect is an esteem need.

Exp: All of the above are the example of financial incentives.

Exp: Status is an example of non-financial incentives.

Exp: Job security is an example of non-financial incentives.

Exp: Bonus is an example of financial incentives.

Exp: Pension, PF etc are the examples of retirement benefits.

Exp: Aziz Premji is concerned with Wipro.

Exp: NRN Murthy started Infosys in 1981.

Exp: A leader should have attractive personality.

Exp: Encoding is the process of Converting message into communication symbols.

Exp: Grapewine is also known as informal communication.

Exp: Sometimes people evaluate the message before the sender completes his message.

Exp: Informal Communication is also known as grapevine.

Exp: Decoding is the process of converting encoded symbols of the sender.

Exp: Communication is the process of exchange of Ideas, Views, Facts and feelings.

Exp: The encoded message is transmitted through a path called media.

Exp: Noise is an obstruction or hindrance to communication.

Exp: Upward communication refers to the flow of communication from subordinate to superior.

Exp: Informal communication spreads throughout the organisation.

Exp: In wheel communication all subordinate under one superior communicate through him.