MCO 01 Solved Guess Paper 2026 Organisation Theory and Behaviour for M.Com

Sample 1 of 5 · Functions and Roles of Managers · Block 1 Unit 1 · 10 + 10 marks

Question: Explain the various functions and roles of managers. How are they useful in enhancing the efficiency of the organisation?

Last appeared: December 2025 and December 2024. Word target: 250 + 250.

Part (a) Functions of Managers · 10 marks

Functions of a manager include the assigned tasks according to the authority level as well as the job description of the position of the manager. Main functions of managers comprise seven activities:

1. Planning: defining ends and determining appropriate means; the manager anticipates the future and discovers alternative courses of action, covering vision, mission, goals and objectives.
2. Organising: determining the structure and allocation of jobs, translating plans into a structure of tasks and authority.
3. Staffing: selecting, training, promoting and retiring subordinates, the entire human resource planning activity.
4. Directing: guiding the actual performance of subordinates toward common goals, with supervising as one aspect at lower levels.
5. Communicating: transmitting ideas to others for the purpose of achieving a desired result.
6. Decision making: consciously choosing a course of action from available alternatives to achieve a desired result.
7. Controlling: measuring current performance and guiding it toward a predetermined goal, ensuring actual outcomes match planned outcomes.

Conclusion: These seven inter-linked functions enable a manager to convert organisational resources into planned results, directly raising operational efficiency.

Part (b) Roles of Managers and Their Usefulness · 10 marks

Roles indicate what a manager is expected to do as a person of conscientiousness. Henry Mintzberg identified ten roles clubbed under three broad categories.

Interpersonal roles: Leading, motivating and directing subordinates so they visualise and achieve the plan of action. Liaison, maintaining a network of interaction with outsiders who matter to the unit. Symbol or figurehead, performing duties of a legal or social nature as the symbolic head.

Informational roles: Monitoring, acting as nerve centre for receiving external and internal information. Sharing information, disseminating information among internal employees for proper execution of work. Spokesperson, sharing information about the organisation with outsiders.

Decisional roles: Taking initiative, exploring and evaluating business opportunities through entrepreneurial skill. Handling disagreement, resolving conflict and disturbances to restore confidence and a productive culture. Allocating resources, budgeting, scheduling and sanctioning resources optimally among departments. Negotiating, bargaining internally and through tripartite negotiation on rights, benefits and contracts.

Conclusion: By performing these functions and roles, managers coordinate people and resources, smooth disagreements, allocate resources optimally and communicate goals, thereby enhancing organisational efficiency.

Sample 2 of 5 · Perception Process and Influencing Factors · Block 2 Unit 6 · 10 + 10 marks

Question: Explain the process of perception. Describe the factors which influence perception with the help of suitable examples.

Last appeared: December 2025 and December 2023. Word target: 250 + 250.

Part (a) Process of Perception · 10 marks

Perception is the process through which we select, organise, and interpret input from our sensory receptors. Robbins similarly defines perception as the process by which individuals organise and interpret their sensory impressions to give meaning to their environment. The model describes four stages, understood through an input, throughput and output approach.

1. Perceptual inputs: all stimuli in the environment, that is information, objects, events and people, received by the perceiver.
2. Perceptual mechanisms (throughputs): transformation of inputs into outputs through three processes of selecting, organising and interpreting the stimuli.
3. Perceptual outputs: the resulting attitudes, opinions, feelings and values; perceptual errors may adversely affect them.
4. Pattern of behaviour: behaviour is the resultant factor, which in turn generates responses that form a fresh set of inputs.

Stages 1 and 4 are simpler to grasp. Stages 2 and 3, where selection, organisation and interpretation occur, require deeper understanding because individuals differ by personality and bias.

Part (b) Factors Influencing Perception · 10 marks

Factors in the perceiver: self-concept, attitudes, motives, interests, experience and expectations of the perceiver. For example, a person interested in a topic notices details others overlook, since we perceive according to pre-decided preferences.

Factors in the target: physical appearance, verbal and non-verbal communication, status, occupation, personal characteristics, novelty, motion, sounds, size, background and proximity of the target. A loud or moving target draws more attention.

Factors in the situation: social context, organisational role, work setting, location of the event and time. The same person may be perceived differently at a party than in an office.

Conclusion: Together these three sets of factors determine our perceptions of others; awareness of them helps managers reduce perceptual errors and judge people more accurately.

Sample 3 of 5 · Consequences of Stress · Block 3 Unit 9 · 20 marks

Question: Stress has positive and negative consequences. Negative consequences have an adverse impact on biological, psychological and behavioural systems, apart from organisational systems. Explain this statement with examples.

Last appeared: June 2025, December 2024 and June 2024. Word target: 450.

Stress is an adaptive response to an external situation that results in physical, psychological, and behavioural deviations for organisational participants. Schuler describes stress as a dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity, constraint or demand related to what he or she desires and whose outcome is perceived as uncertain and important.

Stress is not always negative. Its positive form, eustress, elevates the metabolic rate and enhances achievement motivation, raising productivity, adaptability and quality of performance. Negative stress demonstrates itself in four categories of consequences.

1. Physiological consequences. Visible forms include increased blood pressure, proneness to heart disease, cancer, sweating, dry mouth, hot and cold flashes, raised cholesterol, ulcer and arthritis. It increases the body metabolic rate, causing malfunctioning of internal glands felt as increased heartbeat, breathing rate and headache.

2. Psychological consequences. Interrelated with biological consequences and invisible, these create pressure on the brain, namely anger, anxiety, depression, nervousness, irritation, tension, boredom, aggressiveness, moodiness, hostility and poor concentration. They cause interpersonal aggression, miscommunication, lowered self-esteem and dissatisfaction.

3. Behavioural consequences. Stress produces abnormal behaviour such as changes in eating habits, sleep disorders, increased smoking, alcoholism, fidgeting and aloofness. It may lead to impulsive and aggressive behaviour and frequent interpersonal conflicts, affecting perception, attitudes and the ability to learn new skills.

4. Organisational consequences. Absenteeism, where stress related addiction makes employees abstain frequently. Turnover, where continued stress breeds frustration and prompts job changes. Decision making, where distorted perception makes executives irrational. Disturbed customer relationships, where irritation and intolerance damage the corporate image.

Conclusion: Stress has a vicious circle in which psychological, biological, behavioural and organisational consequences feed one another; while mild eustress aids performance, managing negative stress is vital for organisational health.

Sample 4 of 5 · Sources of Power and Obtaining Power · Block 4 Unit 16 · 20 marks

Question: What are the various sources of power in an organisation? Also explain the process of obtaining power in the organisation.

Last appeared: June 2024, December 2024 and December 2023. Word target: 450.

Power is the ability of one person or group to cause another person or group to do something they otherwise might not have done. French and Raven divided an individual's power into two sources, formal and informal.

Formal power comes from the position occupied in the organisation structure and has four types. Legitimate power, the power to control and use organisational resources to achieve goals. Reward power, the power to give promotion, praise and raises, valid as long as subordinates value the rewards. Coercive power, dependent on fear and the power to punish, demote, suspend or terminate. Information power, derived from access to and control over information.

Informal power is not given by the organisation and is not shown in its structure. Expert power is wielded through expertise, special skill or knowledge, increasingly important in a technological world. Referent power is based on identification with a person who has a desirable position, resources or personal traits. Charismatic power is a deep-rooted form of referent power based on followers' emotions and belief in the leader's exceptional personality.

Process of obtaining power. First, friendliness, using flattery, goodwill and friendliness with powerful people to build a power base. Second, making oneself irreplaceable, developing specialised knowledge and relationships so deep that a substitute is hard to find. Third, networking with powerful people, identifying with influential individuals of higher authority and status.

Conclusion: Power resides in both formal positions and informal expertise; by using tactics such as friendliness, indispensability and networking, individuals obtain power that, when used positively, supports the smooth functioning of the organisation.

Sample 5 of 5 · Lewin Model and Resistance to Change · Block 5 Unit 18 · 10 + 10 marks

Question: How does Lewin's three-step model explain the process of change? How can you overcome resistance to change in an organisation? Discuss with suitable examples.

Last appeared: December 2025 and June 2024. Word target: 250 + 250.

Part (a) Lewin's Three Step Model · 10 marks

The change process consists of three steps, unfreezing the status quo, movement to a new stage, and refreezing the new change to make it permanent.

1. Unfreezing: the process by which people are made to realise the need for change. Environmental pressures, declining performance or recognition of a problem speed up unfreezing; driving forces are encouraged and resisting forces discouraged. Changes introduced without unfreezing are sure to fail.
2. Changing or moving: taking action to modify the situation by changing people, tasks, structure and technology of the organisation.
3. Refreezing: making the new tasks, technologies and relations relatively permanent so they are reinforced and stabilised. Without refreezing, changes are likely to be abandoned within a short time.

For example, when a firm installs new software, employees are first convinced of its need, then trained to use it, and finally the new method becomes routine through reinforcement.

Part (b) Overcoming Resistance to Change · 10 marks

Resistance to change is an attitude or behaviour showing unwillingness to approve a change. Six ways are suggested to deal with it.

1. Education and communication: educating employees about the change before implementation, best when resistance rests on inaccurate information.
2. Participation and involvement: inviting concerned employees into decision making so they feel ownership and stand by implementation.
3. Facilitation and support: providing emotional, training and financial assistance to those facing hardships of change.
4. Negotiation and incentives: negotiating with employees and offering incentives to gain their agreement.
5. Manipulation and co-optation: influencing opinion makers through special benefits or selective information.
6. Coercion: applying direct threats or force, such as transfer or loss of promotion, when speed is essential.

Conclusion: Lewin's unfreeze, move and refreeze model explains how planned change is stabilised, while selecting the right method from education to coercion helps managers overcome organisational and individual resistance.