MCO 01 Organisation Theory and Behaviour Solved Question Paper June 2026 for IGNOU M.Com

Question 1

Q1. What are the barriers to accurate perception ? How can these barriers be removed ? (20 marks)

Answer

Introduction. Perception is the process by which a person selects, organises and interprets information from the environment to give it meaning. Two employees can watch the same meeting and walk out with opposite views of what happened. In an organisation, decisions on hiring, appraisal, promotion and discipline all rest on how managers perceive people, so errors in perception turn directly into unfair or costly decisions.

Barriers to Accurate Perception

The main barriers discussed in organisational behaviour are as follows.

1. Selective perception. People notice only what fits their interests, background or expectations and filter out the rest. A sales head may see every problem as a sales problem, while a finance head reads the same situation as a cost problem.
2. Halo effect. One strong trait colours the judgement of the whole person. A trainee who speaks fluent English may be rated high on analysis and teamwork too, even when there is no evidence for it. The reverse, where one weak trait drags everything down, is sometimes called the horns effect.
3. Stereotyping. Judging someone on the basis of the group they belong to, such as age, gender, region or caste, instead of their own conduct. "Older staff cannot learn new software" is a typical workplace stereotype.
4. Projection. Assuming others think and feel the way we do. A manager who loves overtime may assume the whole team is happy to stay late and miss signs of burnout.
5. Contrast effect. Evaluation is influenced by who came just before. An average candidate looks excellent after two poor interviews and weak after a brilliant one.
6. First impression and recency errors. Early information (first impression) or only the latest events (recency) dominate the overall judgement. An appraisal based on the last month ignores eleven months of work.
7. Perceptual defence. People block out information that is threatening or uncomfortable. A team leader may refuse to see that a favourite project is failing.
8. Attribution errors. Under the fundamental attribution error, we blame other people's failures on their personality and underrate the situation. Under the self-serving bias, we credit our own success to ability and blame our failures on luck or circumstances.
9. Self-fulfilling prophecy. A manager's expectation shapes how they treat a subordinate, and that treatment then produces the very behaviour expected. Low expectations get low effort.
10. Characteristics of the perceiver and the situation. Mood, motives, past experience and attitudes of the perceiver, plus time pressure, noise or the setting, can all distort what is seen.

How These Barriers Can Be Removed

Perceptual errors cannot be wiped out completely because they come from the way the human mind simplifies information. They can, however, be reduced sharply through the following measures.

1. Know yourself. Self-awareness is the first step. A manager who knows their own biases, likes and dislikes can consciously check them before judging others.
2. Gather more and better information. Base judgements on facts from several sources rather than a single incident. 360-degree feedback, work records and multiple interviewers reduce halo and first-impression errors.
3. Delay the judgement. Avoid snap decisions. Taking time before forming a view lowers the weight of first impressions and mood.
4. Use structured tools. Structured interviews, behaviourally anchored rating scales and written appraisal criteria force the evaluator to look at defined behaviours instead of general feelings.
5. Check attributions. Before blaming a person, ask whether the situation (workload, tools, unclear instructions) caused the problem. Ask how the same result would be explained if it were your own.
6. Empathy and two-way communication. Seeing the situation from the other person's side, and asking them directly, corrects projection and stereotyping. Regular feedback lets employees correct a wrong impression early.
7. Diversity exposure and training. Working with people of different backgrounds and attending perception or unconscious-bias training breaks stereotypes over time.
8. Set fair expectations. Managers who hold positive but realistic expectations of all subordinates use the self-fulfilling prophecy in a useful direction.

Conclusion. Barriers such as selective perception, halo effect, stereotyping, projection and attribution errors distort how managers see people and events. Since organisational decisions depend on these perceptions, managers must build self-awareness, gather fuller information, use structured methods and communicate openly. Perceptual skill is a trainable managerial skill, and organisations that develop it make fairer and more accurate decisions.

Question 2

Q2. What is team building ? Explain different approaches of team building. Do you think that these approaches are helpful in the process of team building ? (20 marks)

Answer

Meaning of team building. A team is a small group of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose and hold themselves jointly accountable for results. Team building is a planned process of improving how such a group works together, by clarifying goals, roles, relationships and the way problems are solved. It is one of the most widely used organisational development (OD) interventions.

Team building is needed because a group does not become effective just by being put together. Teams usually pass through stages described by Bruce Tuckman (1965): forming, storming, norming and performing, with adjourning added later with Mary Ann Jensen (1977). Team building helps a group move through the storming stage quickly and reach performing.

Objectives of Team Building

• Set clear, shared goals and priorities for the team.
• Clarify each member's role and responsibilities.
• Improve trust, openness and communication between members.
• Develop the team's ability to identify and solve its own problems.

Approaches to Team Building

Richard Beckhard identified four main approaches, each focusing on a different cause of poor team performance.

1. Goal-setting approach. The team meets to agree on its objectives, targets and priorities. Members discuss what the team exists to achieve and how success will be measured. This works best when the team is new or when members are pulling in different directions. Example: a newly formed product launch team agreeing on launch date, sales target and budget.
2. Interpersonal (relationship) approach. The focus is on improving trust, openness and communication. With the help of a facilitator, members share how they see each other and resolve hidden conflicts. Sensitivity training and feedback sessions are common tools. It suits teams where personal friction is blocking work.
3. Role-clarification (role analysis) approach. Each member's role is defined and discussed openly: what they are expected to do, what others expect from them and where roles overlap. This removes role ambiguity and role conflict. Example: in a branch office where both the operations head and the accounts head think they approve vendor payments.
4. Problem-solving approach. The team works on real task problems, learning to identify issues, collect data, generate options and act on them together. Skills built here stay with the team long after the session. It is usually combined with the other three approaches.

Some writers also describe the managerial grid approach, based on Blake and Mouton's grid, where the team assesses its concern for people and for production and works towards a 9,9 team management style.

Are These Approaches Helpful?

Yes, these approaches are clearly helpful, though their success depends on how they are used.

• They target the real problem. A team failing because of unclear goals needs the goal-setting approach, not a trust exercise. Having four distinct approaches lets the organisation diagnose and treat the actual cause.
• They improve performance and morale together. Clear goals and roles raise output, while better relationships raise satisfaction and reduce conflict and turnover.
• They build lasting capability. The problem-solving approach teaches the team to fix future problems on its own.
• They support change. Teams that trust each other accept new systems and restructuring more easily.

There are limitations too. Team building takes time and money, and results can fade if it is a one-off workshop. The interpersonal approach can open old wounds if the facilitator is not skilled. If top management does not support the team, or if reward systems pay only individual performance, the gains will not last.

Conclusion. Team building is a planned effort to turn a group into an effective team. The goal-setting, interpersonal, role-clarification and problem-solving approaches each address a different weakness, and used together after proper diagnosis they are highly helpful. Their success depends on management support, skilled facilitation, team-based rewards and follow-up over time.