Chapter directing: Directing Application Questions | business studies Class 12 CBSE

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Chapter directing: Directing Application Questions | business studies Class 12 CBSE | ByteNotes.in

Application Question

Medium difficulty • Concept in a practical situation

Medium

Question 1

Applied Concept

Raghav is a production manager at a textile firm. He clearly plans the workflow, assigns tasks to each worker and sets up the machinery efficiently. However, production targets are still not being met. His colleague suggests that the problem lies in his directing approach. Identify two elements of directing that Raghav is likely neglecting and explain why they are essential.

Raghav is likely neglecting motivation: although he plans and organises well, workers may not be putting in their best effort if they lack the drive to do so. Effective motivation through incentives — financial (bonus, productivity-linked wages) or non-financial (recognition, career advancement) — is essential to stimulate workers to work voluntarily towards production targets.
Raghav is also neglecting supervision: while assigning tasks is part of organising, supervising means continuously overseeing whether work is being performed as per targets, providing guidance when workers face difficulties and ensuring optimum utilisation of resources on the shop floor.
Together, without motivation and supervision, even the best organisational structure fails to convert plans into performance. Directing integrates individual efforts with organisational goals, and only by motivating and supervising workers actively can Raghav bridge the gap between planning and actual production achievement.

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Application Question

Medium difficulty • Concept in a practical situation

Medium

Question 2

Applied Concept

Meenakshi manages a team of 10 software developers at a tech startup. She tells each developer individually what to do without any team meetings. Two senior developers also give instructions to the junior developers at times. As a result, junior developers are confused about priorities. Identify the principle of directing being violated and explain its significance.

The principle of unity of command is being violated. This principle states that each person in the organisation should receive instructions from one superior only, to avoid confusion, conflict and disorder.
In Meenakshi's team, junior developers receive instructions from both Meenakshi and the senior developers. This creates conflicting priorities — the juniors do not know whose instructions to follow first, leading to confusion, inefficiency and potential interpersonal conflicts.
Adherence to unity of command ensures clear lines of authority and responsibility. If Meenakshi is the designated manager, all task instructions must flow through her alone. Senior developers should not issue direct instructions to juniors without Meenakshi's authorisation, as doing so undermines the chain of command and disrupts effective directing.

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Application Question

Medium difficulty • Concept in a practical situation

Medium

Question 3

Applied Concept

Suresh works in the accounts department of a company. He has been with the company for 10 years and is highly skilled, but lately seems disengaged and unmotivated. His manager finds that his basic salary needs and job security needs are well met, but he rarely gets any appreciation for his contributions. Using Maslow's Need Hierarchy Theory, identify the unfulfilled need level and suggest an appropriate incentive.

According to Maslow's Need Hierarchy Theory, since Suresh's physiological needs (good salary) and safety needs (job security) are already met, and he is highly skilled and experienced, his unfulfilled needs are likely at the esteem level — the need for self-respect, recognition, status and acknowledgment of his contributions.
The appropriate incentive is an employee recognition programme — for example, publicly congratulating Suresh for his contributions, displaying his achievements on the notice board, awarding him a certificate of excellence or rewarding his valuable suggestions. These non-financial incentives directly address the esteem need.
Maslow's theory teaches that a satisfied need no longer motivates; since lower-order needs are met, only addressing the higher esteem need will re-motivate Suresh. If esteem needs are subsequently met too, his manager should consider providing challenging work or greater responsibility to fulfil his self-actualisation needs in the future.

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Application Question

Medium difficulty • Concept in a practical situation

Medium

Question 4

Applied Concept

GreenLeaf Pvt. Ltd. offers its employees a share in the company's annual profits in addition to regular salary. It also provides company shares at below-market price to its senior managers. Identify and explain the financial incentives being used by GreenLeaf. How do these incentives benefit the organisation?

GreenLeaf is using two financial incentives: (1) Profit sharing — employees receive a share in the organisation's profits, which motivates them to work harder to improve performance and contribute to higher profits; and (2) Co-partnership or stock options — senior managers are offered company shares at below-market price, creating a feeling of ownership.
Profit sharing aligns employee interests with organisational profitability: employees who share in profits are directly motivated to improve productivity, reduce wastage and contribute to organisational success since their personal income benefits from it.
Co-partnership through stock options (as practised by Infosys) creates a sense of ownership among senior managers, making them think and act like owners rather than just employees. This encourages long-term commitment, retention of talent and dedication to the growth and profitability of the organisation, benefiting GreenLeaf strategically.

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Application Question

Medium difficulty • Concept in a practical situation

Medium

Question 5

Applied Concept

A reputed organisation, StarPath Pvt. Ltd., provides free education to children of its employees, medical aid facilities and housing at subsidised rates. Which category of incentive is being used? Identify the specific incentive and name two more incentives of the same category.

StarPath Pvt. Ltd. is using financial incentives, specifically perquisites (fringe benefits). Perquisites are non-salary financial benefits offered to employees such as car allowance, housing, medical aid and education for children, which help motivate employees and managers.
Two more financial incentives of the same category are: (1) Retirement benefits — such as provident fund, pension and gratuity that provide financial security after retirement, acting as motivators while the employee is in service; and (2) Bonus — an incentive offered over and above regular wages or salary to reward performance.
Perquisites and other financial incentives are particularly effective in addressing the physiological and safety needs of employees, making the organisation attractive to join, stay in and perform well. They enhance the overall compensation package beyond the basic salary.

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Application Question

Hard difficulty • Concept in a practical situation

Hard

Question 6

Applied Concept

Aman is the CEO of a growing IT company. He always consults his team before making decisions, encourages everyone to share their opinions and believes that people perform best when they set their own objectives. However, in a recent cybersecurity crisis, he had to act immediately without consulting anyone. Identify the leadership style Aman normally follows and explain whether his emergency action contradicts this style.

Aman normally follows the democratic or participative leadership style. A democratic leader develops action plans and makes decisions in consultation with subordinates, encourages participation in decision-making and respects others' opinions. This is consistent with Aman's normal behaviour of consulting the team and encouraging shared objective-setting.
Aman's emergency action does not contradict his democratic style. The chapter explicitly states that a leader may choose to exercise a combination of styles depending on the situation — even a democratic leader may have to take his own unilateral decision in an emergency situation.
This situational flexibility is a sign of effective leadership: rigidly adhering to one style regardless of circumstances would be poor leadership. By switching to an authoritative decision-making mode during the cybersecurity crisis and then reverting to democratic participation, Aman demonstrates adaptive and mature leadership appropriate to the demands of each situation.

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Application Question

Medium difficulty • Concept in a practical situation

Medium

Question 7

Applied Concept

In a pharmaceutical company, the production department head sends a message to the quality control department asking to expedite testing so that the production schedule is not delayed. Identify the type and direction of communication taking place and explain its significance.

This is formal communication of the horizontal or lateral type. Horizontal communication takes place between one division and another at the same level in the organisation — in this case, between the production department head and the quality control department, both being at the same managerial level.
Horizontal communication is significant for coordination: it enables departments to coordinate their activities without routing every message through higher management, saving time and improving operational efficiency. It helps departments align their schedules and resolve interdepartmental issues directly.
Without effective horizontal communication, departments would operate in silos — production would not know quality control's timeline and vice versa — leading to delays, duplication and conflict. Such lateral communication thus acts as the basis of interdepartmental coordination and smooth functioning of the enterprise.

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Application Question

Hard difficulty • Concept in a practical situation

Hard

Question 8

Applied Concept

Priya, a manager, overhears employees in the cafeteria discussing a rumour that the company is planning to lay off 30% of the workforce next month. She knows this is false. As a manager, how should she deal with this situation, and what does it reveal about the nature of informal communication?

Priya should address this promptly by using formal communication channels — an official memo, notice or team meeting — to clarify that there are no planned layoffs. She should also use informal channels intelligently: by casually reassuring trusted employees who can spread the correct information through the grapevine, she can counteract the false rumour quickly.
This situation reveals key characteristics of informal (grapevine) communication: it spreads rapidly through the organisation without regard for authority levels, is usually unrecorded and very difficult to trace to its source, tends to be distorted and can generate rumours that are not authentic.
An intelligent manager like Priya must learn to manage informal communication rather than ignore it. The grapevine can be useful for sensing employee concerns and spreading quick information, but its negative aspects (rumours, distortion, anxiety) must be minimised through timely official communication and transparency.

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Application Question

Hard difficulty • Concept in a practical situation

Hard

Question 9

Applied Concept

With reference to the principle of 'harmony of objectives' in directing, explain how a manager of a garment factory can resolve the conflict between workers demanding higher wages and management's expectation of higher productivity.

The principle of harmony of objectives states that directing must provide harmony between individual objectives (employees seeking attractive salary) and organisational objectives (management expecting higher productivity and profits), by convincing employees that these are complementary rather than conflicting.
The manager can demonstrate this harmony by implementing productivity-linked wage incentives — tying wage increases directly to individual or group productivity improvements. This way, when workers produce more, they earn more, simultaneously achieving both higher wages (individual objective) and higher productivity (organisational objective).
Additionally, the manager can introduce profit sharing, where a portion of increased profits from higher productivity is distributed to workers. This creates a shared stake in organisational success and changes the workers' perspective from adversarial to collaborative, as they realise that their productivity directly benefits their own earnings.

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Application Question

Medium difficulty • Concept in a practical situation

Medium

Question 10

Applied Concept

Rohit, a senior engineer, has been placed in charge of a team of highly qualified and experienced specialists who are capable of managing their own work with minimal oversight. Which leadership style should Rohit adopt? Justify your answer with reference to the characteristics of that style.

Rohit should adopt the laissez-faire or free-rein leadership style. This style is best suited for teams with highly qualified, skilled and self-motivated members who are capable of setting their own objectives and determining the methods to achieve them — which exactly describes his team of experienced specialists.
Under this style, followers are given a high degree of independence to formulate their own objectives and ways to achieve them; the group members work on their own tasks and resolve issues themselves. The leader (Rohit) would be there only to support the team and supply required information to complete assigned tasks.
The subordinates also assume responsibility for work performed under this style. For a team of experienced specialists, excessive supervision would be counterproductive and demoralising. Laissez-faire leadership empowers such teams to use their expertise fully, promotes innovation and maintains high morale by respecting their professional autonomy.

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Chapter sections

Chapter directing: Directing | Application Questions

A reputed organisation, StarPath Pvt. Ltd., provides free education to children of its employees, medical aid facilities and housing at subsidised rates. Which category of incentive is being used? Identify the specific incentive and name two more incentives of the same category.

In a pharmaceutical company, the production department head sends a message to the quality control department asking to expedite testing so that the production schedule is not delayed. Identify the type and direction of communication taking place and explain its significance.

Priya, a manager, overhears employees in the cafeteria discussing a rumour that the company is planning to lay off 30% of the workforce next month. She knows this is false. As a manager, how should she deal with this situation, and what does it reveal about the nature of informal communication?

With reference to the principle of 'harmony of objectives' in directing, explain how a manager of a garment factory can resolve the conflict between workers demanding higher wages and management's expectation of higher productivity.

Rohit, a senior engineer, has been placed in charge of a team of highly qualified and experienced specialists who are capable of managing their own work with minimal oversight. Which leadership style should Rohit adopt? Justify your answer with reference to the characteristics of that style.

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