An Organizational Behaviour Case Study

I had developed this small caselet for OB exams some two year back. Thought it'd be a good idea to share it on the blog and have feedback of the readers! Feedback may be sent at pvariya@gmail.com

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Center for Management Studies
Dharmsinh Desai University
Nadiad

Course: MBA Semester I

Subject: Organizational Behavior

Faculty Member: Pathik B. Variya

A possible solution for the case study of the OB test held on September 23, 2006

Date: September 28, 2006

Dear Students,

While the answer given here can serve as a model, you must not forget that answers to such cases are not scientific therefore one needs not necessarily agree with this. What I expect in the exam is the logic- how you correlate the theories and the case’ problem as described in the answer here.

Question:

Ajay, 23 year old, fresh MBA with HR, starts his career has a junior HR executive at Raj Manufacting House. His boss is a simple B.Com. degree holder with 4 years of handy experience. He does not like Ajay’s joining the company and therefore tortures him by different ways. He wants Ajay to resign so he almost harasses him by playing politics in background. Ajay comes to know about this. If you were a consultant, what advice would you give him? What is the reason for the boss’ negative behavior?

Answer:
1) Problems: Two problems have been clearly mentioned in the question 1)The reason for boss’ negative behaviour 2) The problem of Ajay, who is to be consulted.
2) Assumptions: Here, no information has been given about the background of boss like how he has been as a boss in the past and how has been his score of performance appraisal. Therefore, we assume that the boss has not been a successful one and he generally misbehaved with the juniors. We also assume that Ajay is a hard-working, committed and talented employee.
3) Probable reasons’ for boss’ negative response: 1) His self-image is low in his own eyes and his perception of looking-glass image in the eyes of Ajay seems to be negative. All these things indicate that his self-esteem is at the lower side right now. He seems to have a perception that this situation is existing due to Ajay and thus, he is behaving negatively. 2) He may be having a perceptual error namely Halo Effect. The MBA degree of Ajay may be its reason 3) Other perceptual errors could be also playing some role like recency or primacy. If Ajay has made a mistake recently or if Ajay’s first impression is not good in the eyes of the boss, that impression may be the reason for bad behaviour. 4) Other problems related to personality cannot be denied having an existence as a reason for boss’ negative behaviour.
4) Possible solution or advice for Ajay: First of all, Ajay should try and find out the “reality” about the boss’ real personality by enquiring about it. He should avoid building any wrong negative perception for the boss. Ajay should never leave the job immediately or should restrain from any reaction. The boss may be tasting him too! As many boss adopts this style in the beginning while dealing with an employee to control him in the long run. The boss may have his own personal problems too. Based on the findings, Ajay should decide whether to continue the job or leave it or talk to boss “directly” or go to higher authorities. Meanwhile, he should practice stress-relieving exercises!