eChapters

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Objective:To understand the concept of perception and its role in communication.

Description: Human body receives stimuli through various sensory organs and the brain processes these stimuli and assigns meanings leading to a reaction. This process of organizing, identifying and interpreting of sensory stimuli leading to an understanding of the environment is called perception.

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Objective: To prepare a non-projected audio-visual aid (folder).

Description: Folder is a single thick sheet of paper, which is usually folded once or twice. Folder contains essential information about a place, event, etc. which is printed on a good quality paper. A folder is prepared as and when needed and is distributed free of cost.

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Objective: To understand shot sizes in a video production.

Overview: Shot, in video production refers to one continuous recording by the camera. It comprises of a series of frames (still images) and There are 24 frames in one second. A shot includes eeverything recorded between switching on and switching off the record button on the camera. It can contain movement of both camera and talent.

In simple words, Organisational Behaviour is the study of Individuals and Group behaviour within an organisation and indicates how these interactions affect an organization's performance toward its goals. It also examines the impact of various factors on behaviour within an organization and help in understanding and predicting organisational life.

Organizational Behaviour is a 'Specialised Stream' drawing inputs from multiple academic domains such as psychology, sociology, political science, anthropology, science, economics, and technology to name a few.

What is Case Analysis?

Case analysis is basically a real life problem-based learning method. It requires the readers to become active participant in the process and apply their analytical skills including critical skills, reflections, ability to inter-relate multiple aspects of the situations and issues, apply divergent and convergent perspectives in order to identify most feasible solution under constraints and limitations.

How to go about Analysing Case?

Every case and anecdotes have certain core and peripheral issues. Identifying critical incidence is very important to clearly understand the context and problem. Therefore, the participants need to be very active and involved when reading and analysing the cases and anecdotes. The goal is to follow a structured and logically organized format for analyzing every aspect of the case.

Introduction

After working for more than 10 years in set of private companies, Mr. A K Aggarwal joined a very large government organisation, ITN Ltd (ITNL) (refer to Exhibit 1). He, along with other two freshly recruited MBA graduates, was posted to a project location in the remote district of India after a brief stint at ITNL's corporate office. The top management posted them with a lot of expectation to implement one of the most critical projects of the company. In the first few weeks only, he observed a tussle between the field team and project manager Mr. Amaresh Sharma. This tussle was impeding the project progress. Being new in the organisation, Mr Aggarwal was hesitant to approach any body and was clueless about how to handle the situation. This was also a new situation for Mr. Sharma in his 20 years of ITNL career and he was facing difficulty in breaking this logjam.

Expectation from Work and Career

Millennials do not distinguish work from life; for them, both work and life blend into a single entity, and therefore, they do not seek a balance between them unlike previous generations (Meister and Willyerd, 2010). This is precisely why they seek work that has a strong focus on personal fulfilment. Their perception of work is that it is a source of opportunities to strike friendships, learn new skills, and associate with a larger purpose. They derive job satisfaction from this singular sense of purpose - they are also the most socially conscious generation since the 1960s. This social consciousness lends them a sense of validation of their purpose - they wish to see their work making the necessary social impact.

Background

Alpha Partners is a large professional services partnership firm comprising over 180,000 professionals with presence in more than 156 countries around the world. It primarily deals in three main businesses - Statutory Audit of listed companies, Taxation Services (both corporate and individuals& Advisory services to leading private companies and governments around the world.

In India, the company has a total of approximately 20000 employees and partners divided between two broad entities - Alpha Partners India (AI) and Alpha Partners Global Services (AGS). AI is the primary client service firm in India and is engaged in professional services to clients in the Indian geography. AGS, on the other hand is a joint venture between Alpha Partners firms in U.S, U.K. and India - all three holding equal shares of AGS

Introduction

BOGL had set up its wholly owned subsidiary company Bikas Oil Inc. (BOI), Moscow, Russia. Mr. Atanu Saxena and Mr. Samish Batra were recently selected for being deputed to BOI. Being a foreign location, this posting was considered as monetarily rewarding and good for career growth of employees. Subsidiaries of other oil and gas companies were also present in Moscow as this location was considered as the oil and gas business hub of Russia.

"Unseasonal thundershowers," remarked Mr. Ritesh Prasad, as he peered out of the windows at the overcast sky and the storm raging outside - the landscape outside was no different than the one raging inside AXYZ ltd, a family-owned, logistics firm. Mr. Ritesh Prasad, or RP as he was popularly known, had been the CHRO at AXYZ for a decade now. He was a personal favourite of Mr. Pulkit Sahni, the founder-owner of AXYZ, and was quite popular with all levels of hierarchy, because of his genial disposition and general sense of empathy towards the firm's workforce.

Introduction

Mr. Ramesh Gupta was transferred from a well established business division to an emerging division of one of the largest companies of India, TN Limited (TNL) (refer Exhibit-1). Mr. Gupta had more than 30 years of work experience in TNL when he joined this new division. The division was primarily into acquisition and management of oil and gas assets in India and abroad. Recently the company had acquired a very large asset in North America. To manage this asset, a Houston, USA based subsidiary of TNL named as BM Limited (BML) was created (refer Exhibit-2). Considering scale of business and complexity involved, the company decided to post some of its brightest officers there. Through competitive and transparent process of selection, three officers viz.

Context

Value Services Incis (VSI) incorporated and headquartered in New York, USA and with presence in 14 countries across the globe. With a total of 14000 employees globally, about 23% of their workforce is based in India in their offices across Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. Their India headquarters is in Mumbai.

The company's business is primarily in research services. They pride themselves in providing high quality and in-depth research output across all domains, industries and geographies. They serve 40% of the fortune 500 companies as their clients and by 2020, they aim to cover 70% of the list

Background

GMPK is a large professional services partnership firm comprising over 155,000 professionals with presence in more than 156 countries, providing Audit, Tax & Advisory services to some leading companies and governments around the world. In India, the company has two entities with a total of approximately 20000 employees and partners.

For the last four years, GMPK has ranked as an 'Ideal Employer' on a global index of the world's most attractive employers. The index is based on the opinions of close to 130,000 students from renowned academic institutions across many economies, including the United States, China, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and India. GMPK provides its employees with award-winning diversity initiatives and a formal mentoring program.

Sambit Sharma, Chairman, CTN Limited (CTNL) received a letter from the Chairperson of 3^rd Pay Revision Committee (PRC) for Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) of India. The letter inter alia sought feedback on existing Performance Management System (PMS) at CTNL and suggestion for its continuity or modification, if any. In past also, CTNL's suggestions on various human resources (HR) matters had been valued by the Committee and many of those suggestions were retained in their final recommendations to the Government of India. Mr. Sharma, off late, had heard many stories, both positive as well as negative, about the PMS within CTNL and was therefore contemplating to thoroughly review the system. He marked the letter to Ratish Agarwal, Director (HR), CTNL to take necessary action.

A responsibly behaving organization creates a positive impact on society and its operating environment. Globally, there is a rising demand and expectation of people from organizations to act in manners that result into shared value and prosperity. This calls for bringing a major change in the current approach of organizations and their human resources.

Three frameworks could be popularly referred to when we intend to discuss responsible behaviour of an organization. These approaches have been highlighted considering practical significance and ability to fundamentally change the ground rules of organizational day to day working. This includes.

Society

Human societies are intricate networks of individuals engaged in continuous social interaction within a shared geographical or social space, typically under the governance of the same political authority and cultural norms. These societies are characterized by complex patterns of social relations, cultural practices, and institutional structures, collectively shaping the fabric of human existence. Social sciences often reveal underlying stratification and dominance patterns within these societies. Collaborative in nature, societies offer collective benefits that transcend individual gains, facilitating opportunities that would otherwise remain inaccessible. Within a society, subcultures may emerge, governed by their distinct norms and values, coexisting within the broader societal framework. Structurally, societies encompass economic social, industrial, and cultural infrastructures, comprising diverse individuals yet forming a cohesive entity. The term “society” traces its origins to the Latin word “societas,” signifying friendly or civil interaction among parties. It encompasses the entirety of humanity, acknowledging the interdependence and interactions among individuals.

A social group is commonly conceptualized as an entity comprising two or more individuals engaged in reciprocal communication, characterized by shared traits and possessing a collective sense of unity. Within the framework of the social identity tradition, researchers delineate groups as entities whose members self-identify as part of the collective. Social groups exhibit diversity in terms of size and typologies. For instance, an individual’s initial social interactions occur within the familial context, where interactions with immediate family members, notably the mother, serve as primary points of contact. Subsequently, as the individual progresses through developmental stages, engagement with peers and neighbors expands the social sphere, constituting another significant social group. Further social group affiliations emerge during formal education, as the individual integrates into student cohorts within educational institutions. Over time, the individual assumes diverse roles within broader societal contexts, contributing to the fabric of community and national citizenship. The diagrammatic representation of an individual’s interaction with his/her social group is as under.

Social stratification refers to the hierarchical arrangement of individuals or groups within a society based on various factors such as wealth, power, education, and social status. It involves categorizing people into different layers or strata, each with its own level of privilege, opportunities, and restrictions.

Social stratification, as defined by Lundberg (1968), pertains to the categorization of a population into distinct layers, each characterized by relative homogeneity and marked differences in privileges, restrictions, rewards, and obligations. Cuber (1954) further elucidates this concept, describing social stratification as a pattern of superimposed categories of differential privilege. The movement of individuals or groups across different strata within society is termed social mobility. Social stratification manifests in various forms, with the caste system and class system being two major types. Societies exhibit stratification based on factors such as sex, age, and occupation.

Extension education serves as a catalyst for altering the behavioral complexities within rural communities. This behavioral shift is intricately intertwined with cultural determinants, thereby necessitating extension workers to possess a profound understanding of rural cultural dynamics. Culture, delineated as learned behavior organized into patterns and disseminated among society members, constitutes a foundational concept in sociology, elucidating the regularities observed in human actions. Unlike its colloquial interpretation, which often limits culture to refined expressions such as art and music, sociological discourse expands the scope to encompass the entirety of learned behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and social norms characteristic of a specific group.

Values denote the subjective significance or preferences accorded to objects, concepts, or experiences within an individual’s cognitive framework. The concept of value encompasses entities or outcomes that are desired or selected by individuals. Social values, as expounded by Green (1964), represent enduring cognitive and affective constructs pertaining to objects, ideas, or individuals within a societal context. These values are often abstract in nature and may operate at a subconscious level, embodying implicit assumptions regarding what is deemed morally and socially significant. As articulated by Young (1959), social values encapsulate abstract and subconscious beliefs regarding notions of righteousness and importance within a communal framework.