MS10 Organisational Design, Development and Change December 2005

MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME
Term-End Examination

December, 2005

MS10 : ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE

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

Note : (i) There are two Sections A and B.
(ii) Section A has two sets : Set I is meant for the students who have registered for MS-10 prior to July, 2004, i.e., upto January, 2004 Set II is meant for the students who have registered for MS-10 for July, 2004 semester onwards.
(iii) Attempt any four questions from Section A. All questions carry 15 marks each.
(iv) Section B is compulsory for all and carries 40 marks

SECTION A

SET I (Pre-Revised)

1. Describe centralisation and decentralisation of organisational structures with their merits and demerits. Cite suitable examples from organisational context.

2. Discuss the notion of organisational change and it's influence on organisational effectiveness. Describe it's implications for organisational design.

3. Discuss the implications of quality of worklife in Indian context. Describe how social and cultural conditions affect the quality of working life.

4. Discuss any two models of organisation development andcite suitable case examples.

5. Write short notes on any three of the following :
(i) Institution building
(ii) Role of a change agent
(iii) Questionnaire as a diagnostic tool
(iv) Socio-Technical approach to work design
(v) Mechanistic vs. Organic systems

SECTION A

SET II (Revised)

1. Explain the factors which are responsible for effective job design and describe any two approaches to job design.

2. Discuss any two significant interventions which are essential for managing change.

3. Define organisational diagnosis. Describe its purpose and discuss the techniques used for organisational analysis in brief.

4. Describe Olmosk's change strategy model and critically analyse its implications.

5. Write short notes on any three of the following :
(i) Quality of work life
(ii) Institution building
(iii) Task force
(iv) Inverted pyramid structure
(v) Job rotation

SECTION B

6. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end :

Mr. Anand occupies No. 2 position in the Corporate Planning Department of multi-product company having a turnover of more than Rs. 900 crores and operating in a high technology (hi-tech) industry. For the last five years, Anand has been associated with strategic planning of the company and recently he has been deputed to a task force to reorganise the company to cope up with the changing technology and environment.

At the last meeting of the Board of Directors of the company, the members expressed their concern about the falling competitive position of the company in the industry. The main reason cited by the Chief Executive was the outdated organisation structure which has not undergone any change for the last 10 years though the size, technology and environment of the company have changed tremendously. It was on the advice of the Chief Executive that the Board of Directors decided to set up a task force for the company's reorganisation.

At the first meeting of the task force, Anand, who is an expert in planning, convinced the other members to adopt the following procedure :
(i) Determine exactly what type of structure the company has at present.
(ii) Determine the type of environment the company faces now and the weaknesses of the present structure.
(iii) Forecast the environmental changes in the future and the type of technology to be used by the company.
(iv) Design the organisation structure to meet the future challenges.

It was discovered that the company is currently structured along classical lines and the company is operating in a highly dynamic environment. The environment in future is likely to be more uncertain because of fast changes in technology and requirements of customers and competition by MNCS. The task force came to the conclusion that the structural design must be responsive to change and if this is not done, the company's survival in the market would be made more difficult.

Questions :

(a) How far do you agree with the procedure adopted by the task force ?

(b) Explain how the system and contingency approaches can contribute to the analysis of this case.

(c) What type of organisation design should the task force recommend ? Explain its broad features.