Directing Class 12 Notes: CBSE Business Studies Chapter 7

Directing

Directing is the process in which a superior provides instructions, guidance, and counselling to their subordinate to motivate and lead them to the achievement of objectives.

Characteristics of Directing

• Initiates Action: Directing initiates action through instructions supervision and motivation to achieve goals.

• All Pervasive: Directing takes place in every organisation, and at every level of management.

• Continuous Process: Directing is a continuous process and takes place throughout the life of an organisation.

• Flows Downward: Directing flows downward from superior to subordinate.

Importance of Directing

• Initiates Action: Directing helps to initiate action towards the attainment of the desired objective.

• Integrates Efforts: It integrates individual efforts as a group effort to achieve organisational objectives.

• Provide Leadership and Motivation: Directing motivates and provides effective leadership to employees to realise their full potential.

• Bring Changes: Directing introduces changes in the organisation through proper communication, motivation, and leadership.

• Maintain Stability: Balance and stability in the organisation could be maintained through effective directing.

Principles of Directing

1. Maximum Individual Contribution: Through effective directing a manager must help the employee to realise his full potential, and contribute maximum towards the achievement of organisational goals.

2. Harmony of Objectives: Through effective directing, managers must provide harmony between employees’ objectives and organisational objectives.

3. Unity of Command: Employees must get instructions and direction from one superior for effective directing.

4. Appropriateness of Direction Technique: A manager must choose different direction tools according to the situation for effective direction.

5. Managerial Communication: Communication should be under the subordinate need for effective direction.

6. Use of Informal Organisation: For effective direction, managers should use the informal organisation to build cordial relationships with subordinates.

7. Follow Through: The manager must review the employee’s performance for effective directing.

Elements of Direction

These are grouped into four categories:

• Supervision

• Motivation

• Leadership

• Communication

Supervision

• Supervision involves overseeing and guiding the efforts of human and other resources to accomplish the desired objectives.

• It means overseeing what is being done by subordinates and giving instructions to ensure the optimum utilisation of resources and achievement of work targets.

Importance of Supervision

• The supervisor maintains friendly relationships with workers.

• Connects management plans and ideas to workers and represents workers' grievances and problems to management.

• Helps to maintain unity amongst workers.

• Giving instructions and motivating workers helps in the achievement of targets.

• Provides training to the workers and builds them as an efficient and skilled team of workers.

• Helps in bringing out the untapped energies of employees and builds up high morale.

• Suggests ways and means to develop new skills.

Motivation

A simulator is used by managers to make people act in the desired way to achieve organisational goals. 

The Related terms in motivation are:

• Motive: It is the inner state of an individual that directs his behaviour towards a goal.

• Motivation: It is the process of stimulating people into action.

• Motivators: These are The techniques used for motivating people.

Features of Motivation

1. Motivation is an Internal Feeling: It is the urge or desire to satisfy needs or wants which influences human behaviour.

2. Motivation Produces Goal-directed Behaviour: All actions are directed to achieve specific goals.

3. Motivation May be Positive or Negative: Positive motivators are like high salaries that influence constructively while negative motivators are like punishments that inculcate fear in the employees.

4. Motivation is a Complex Process: It involves dealing with people of different types and expectations.

Motivation Process

Unsatisfied need

↓

Tension

↓

Drives

↓

Search behaviour

↓

Satisfied need

↓

Reduction of tension

1. Unsatisfied Want: The motivation process begins with an individual's unsatisfied need.

2. Tension: As the desire becomes unsatisfied, frustration builds up in the individual's mind.

3. Motives/Drives: Frustration motivates the individual to seek out alternatives to meet his needs.

4. Search Behaviour: He selects one of several options and begins acting under it.

5. Satisfied Needs: After some time, he evaluates whether or not his need has been met.

6. Reduced Tension: Once the need is met, the individual's frustration and tension are relieved.

Example: Assume a person wishes to advance in his or her career. This makes him uneasy, and he begins to look for other ways to advance in his career. He may consider working harder and improving his performance. After consistently working hard, he may receive recognition and a promotion, which will finally satisfy his desire and alleviate his frustration.

Importance of Motivation

1. Improves Performance: It satisfies employees’ needs resulting in a higher level of performance and contributing towards organisational goals.

2. Develops a Positive Attitude: Motivation techniques eliminate negativity and create a desire to realise maximum potential.

3. Reduces Employee Turnover: A satisfied employee prefers to remain loyal to the organisation leading to a lesser number of people quitting the organisation.

4. Reduces Absenteeism: Motivation helps to make the workplace a source of pleasure and provides the workers with a pleasant experience resulting in an increased level of commitment from employees towards work.

5. Brings Change Smoothly: A motivated staff accepts changes with much lesser resistance.

Maslow's Need Hierarchy Theory of Motivation

This theory was given by Abraham Maslow in 1943 and is based on human needs.

Assumptions

• Satisfaction of needs influences people's behaviour.

• Needs are in hierarchical order.

• Once the need is satisfied only, the next higher need can motivate individuals.

• Satisfaction with lower-level needs motivates them to move to the next level of need.

Hierarchy of needs

According to Maslow's need hierarchy theory, employee needs and wants can be categorised as a hierarchy of five needs:

1. Basic Physiological Needs: These include basic needs like hunger, thirst, shelter, sleep, etc.

2. Safety/ Security Needs: These include needs for security and protection like job security, etc.

3. Affiliation/ Social/ Belonging Needs: These include needs like affection, a sense of belongingness, friendship, etc.

4. Esteem Needs: These include needs like self-respect, autonomy, status, recognition, etc.

5. Self Actualization Needs: It includes needs that drive to realise a dream.

Financial and Non-Financial Incentives

1. Incentives are the means to satisfy an employee's needs and motives. These can be:

2. Financial

3. Non-Financial

Financial Incentives

Incentives offered to employees are either in direct monetary form or can be valued in monetary terms.

Types of Financial Incentives

1. Pay and Allowances: These include salary, dearness allowance, and other allowances paid to employees.

2. Productivity-linked Wage Incentives: Wages paid at different rates to increase productivity.

3. Bonus: Incentive offered above the wages or salary.

4. Profit Sharing: Providing a fixed percentage of profit to employees.

5. Co-partnership/ Stock Option: Shares offered to employees at a price that is lower than the market price.

6. Retirement Benefits:  Benefits offered after retirement such as provident fund, pension, etc.

7. Perquisites: Benefits over and above the salary offered such as car allowance, housing, medical aid, etc.

Non-Financial Incentives

Incentives are given to provide psychological and emotional satisfaction rather than monetary satisfaction.

Types of Non-Financial Incentives

1. Status: It is the level of authority, responsibility, and recognition an employee commands in the organisation.

2. Organisational Climate: Characteristics influencing an individual's behaviour such as individual autonomy, reward orientation, consideration to employees, etc.

3. Career Advancement Opportunity: Opportunities for growth and development in the organisation to a higher level.

4. Job Enrichment: It refers to a variety of work offered to challenge the knowledge and skills of highly motivated employees.

5. Employee Recognition Programs: It involves recognising and appreciating the contribution of employees in public.

6. Job Security: It refers to the certainty and stability offered in a job about future income and work.

7. Employee Participation:  Involvement of employees in the decision-making process, seeking their advice or suggestions.

8. Employee Empowerment: Opportunities provided to employees to make decisions independently and perform jobs assigned to them.

Leadership

Leadership is the process of influencing the behaviour of people in such a way that they voluntarily work toward the achievement of organisational objectives.

Features of Leadership

• An individual can influence others.

• It tries to transform the behaviour of the subordinates.

• It indicates the interpersonal relationship between the leader and followers.

• It is exercised to achieve organisational goals.

• It is a continuous process.

Importance of Leadership

• It influences people's behaviour to have a positive attitude.

• It provides opportunities for subordinates to fulfil their needs and wants and build confidence.

• It helps employees understand the need for changes and introduction of changes smoothly.

• It clarifies and eliminates conflicts effectively through healthy discussions.

• It trains and develops employees to handle managerial work.

Communication

It is the process of exchange of information between two or more people to create a common understanding.

Elements of the Communication Process

1. Sender: The person who conveys his thoughts or ideas.

2. Message: Content intended to be communicated.

3. Encoding: Process of converting a message into communication.

4. Media: Path through which an encoded message is transmitted to the receiver.

5. Decoding: It is the process of converting the encoded message into a readable format.

6. Receiver: The person who receives a communication message from the sender.

7. Feedback: It refers to the information or suggestions provided by the receiver to the sender in context to the communication or message he received.

8. Noise: The hindrances and obstruction to communication.

Importance of Communication

• Coordination: Aligns efforts.

• Decision-making: Provides essential information.

• Efficiency: Enhances performance.

• Morale: Boosts employee motivation.

The process of communication within an organisation may be 

1. Formal

2. Informal.

Formal Communication

• It flows through official channels designed in the organisation chart to communicate official information between employees.

• Formal communication is classified as:

1. Vertical Communication: It is the formal two-way communication between superior and subordinate and the communication flows upward or downward.

2. Horizontal Communication: It is the formal two-way communication between employees working at the same level of authority.

Formal Communication Networks

• Single chain: Communication flows from the superior to his immediate subordinate.

• Wheel: The superior acts as a hub of information and all subordinates communicate through the superior only.

• Circular: Employees communicate with his or her adjoining people.

• Free Flow: All employees are free to communicate with each other without any restrictions.

• Inverted V: An employee communicates with his or her immediate superior but may also communicate with his/her superior’s superior.

Informal Communication

• Communication between employees who are not officially related to each other is called informal communication, this type of communication may flow in any direction thus it is also called 'grapevine'.

• Informal communication spreads information rapidly and sometimes generates rumours.

Grapevine Network

Grapevine communication, also known as informal communication, is a communication that develops as a result of social interaction among employees and spreads without following the formal communication path. The types of grapevine communication networks are as follows.

• Single Strand Network: An employee communicates with other employees in sequence. That is, one person communicates with another, who then communicates with yet another. Hence, information is passed through a line of persons.

• Gossip Network: In a gossip network, one person spreads information to a large number of people. An employee communicates with all on a selective basis. Such as gossip about the new employee who recently joined the organisation etc.

• Probability Network: In a probability network, an individual shares information with other people at random. That is, the individual is unconcerned about who he shares the information with.

• Cluster Network: Information in this network is first shared between two people who trust each other. One of them then passes the information on to another, who then passes it on to another, and so the information spreads.

Barriers to Communication

1. Semantic: Misunderstandings due to language or symbols.

2. Psychological: Bias, lack of attention, or distrust.

3. Organisational: Policies, rules, or complex structures.

4. Personal: Fear, lack of confidence, or unwillingness.

Improving Communication Effectiveness

• Clarify ideas.

• Tailor communication to the receiver.

• Encourage feedback.

• Regular follow-ups.

• Be a good listener.

Important Topics of Class 12 Chapter 7 Directing

Learnings of Class 12  Chapter 7 of Business Studies

• Understanding the role and significance of directing in management.

• Learning the key characteristics and principles that make directing effective.

• Exploring the elements of direction, including supervision, motivation, leadership, and communication.

• Gaining insights into various leadership styles and their impact on employee performance.

• Identifying the barriers to effective communication and strategies to overcome them.

Importance of Revision Notes for Class 12 (Business Studies) Chapter 7

• Summarises Key Points: Condenses important concepts for quick review.

• Saves Time: Provides a fast way to revise before exams.

• Highlights Essentials: Focuses on crucial topics and definitions like Excretion in plants and animals.

• Improves Memory: Helps in better retention of information.

• Enhances Exam Prep: Targets weak areas for more effective study.

• Clarifies Concepts: Simplifies complex ideas for easier understanding.

• Includes Visuals: Uses diagrams and charts for better grasp as explained for blood circulation in the Human body.

• Boosts Confidence: Prepares students thoroughly for exams.

Tips for Learning the Class 12  Chapter 7 Directing

1. Focus on core processes with illustrations and examples.

2. Draw and label diagrams for clarity.

3. Create summaries of each process.

4. Connect concepts to everyday examples.

5. Solve past exam questions to test understanding.

6. Explain concepts to others to reinforce learning.

7. Revisit material frequently to retain information.

8. Utilise platforms like Vedantu for additional support.

Conclusion

Directing is an essential function in the management of the workforce toward the achievement of organisational goals. By understanding and applying the principles of directing, managers can effectively lead, motivate, and communicate with their teams. The chapter highlights the importance of good leadership, effective communication, and the right motivational techniques in creating a productive and harmonious workplace. These concepts are vital for students to grasp as they form the foundation for successful management practices.

Related Study Materials for Class 12 Chapter 7 Directing

Revision Notes Links for Class 12 Business Studies

Important Study Materials for Class 12 Business Studies