OCTAPACE benchmark values

There is a benchmark attached with the OCTAPACE values. I would like to share that with you all.

There is a high and low value obtained as a general scale for all the industries.

Dimensions _ High _ Low

Openness_ 17 _13

Confrontation _ 17 _13

Trust _ 17 _13

Authenticity _ 14 _10

Proactivity _ 17 _13

Autonomy _ 16 _11

Collaboration _ 17 _13

Experimentation _ 16 _ 11

OCTAPACE CALCULATIONS

What can we do with the OCTAPACE questionnaire?
With the large amount of data generated from the survey, what are the useful information we can get?
All these questions will arise. Aggregate score and comparison can be made batween different sections. I have used the questionnaire in and out. Hence u can very well clear ur doubts on OCTAPACE Calculations with me.

Wanna join google group without gmail id?

Wanna join google groups without gmail id?
Here is a short cut:

http://groups.google.com/group/GroupName/boxsubscribe?email=myid

Enter your Google group name and your email-id in the above link which I have shown in bold italics.

Emotional Labour - How to appraise it?

We could have witnessed receptionists shimmering with a radiant smile always!!! I have wondered on the plastic smile fixed in certain faces. The service industry workers throw us a positive vibration with their expressive welcome!!! All those are forms of their emotional labour. Many wonder if such emotional labour cud b appraised quantitatively. I think it is possible. Have u ever come across a situation where u met with an inconvenience, but still managed not to complain? Hope everyone of us would have done that at some point of time in our life!!! Reason? We might have got some soft corner with the person who got us such inconvenience. What makes us hav such positive feel with an unknown person? The positive emotional feel is mostly because of the positive expression they pour on us. Their smile, welcome, poise attitude, etc.,
Hence the complaints we get against the service industry workers do play a major role in understanding the emotional labour of the workers.
Wud blog more on emotional labour.

Questionnaire development

Hi,
v hav always learnt in MBA that our questionnaire must b neutral.
It must not evoke any feeling of bias.
but i'm in a process of implementing a new HR practice in an organization.
I feel, I must come out with a questionnaire which has more +ve questions towards the new HR pratice than the -ve ones, 4 the simple reason that my employees should hav a +ve feel rather than -ve feel towards the new HR practice.
say for ex.,
i l have some questions in this format:
write 5 if u strongly disagree,
4 if u agree
3 if u r neutral
2 if u disagree and
1 if u strongly disagree

1. KM helps me to save my time
2. KM helpd me to generate new nowledge
3. KM helps me to renew my knowledge
4.
.
.
.
10. KM helps me.....(bla bla bla)

and very few qs like
1. I feel I need to allocate some time 4 KM in my busy schedule

Here i'l c to t that the negative qs do not evoke a negative feel toward KM. So i'l choose for words which r milder.

Wud continue more on this.

OCTAPACE questionnaire

It is a famous questionnaire used to measure the organizational ethos. This questionnaire is proposed by Dr. Udai Pareek. This questionnaire is of great help to me while doing my project on "Implementation of Knowledge Management" in ISRO-SAC. This is tested to have .89 split half reliability and validity is tested to be good.

The OCTAPACE profile is a 40-item instrument that gives the profile of organisation's ethos in eight values. These values are openness, confrontation, trust, authenticity, proaction, autonomy, collaboration and experimentation. The instrument contains two parts. In part I, values are stated in items 1 to 24 (three statements of each of the eight values), and the respondent is required to check (on a 4-point scale) how much each item is valued in his organisation. Part 2 contains sixteen statements on beliefs, two each for eight values, and the respondent checks (on a 4-point scale) how widely each of them is shared in the organisation.
In addition to checking the items on the extent of their importance or sharing in the organisation, the respondent can also check how much they should be valued, or how much the beliefs are useful. Thus both present as well as desired and ideal profiles can be obtained.
SCORING
To make scoring easier, an answer sheet is provided. From the key (appended), the items marked with an asterisk are first reversed so that 4 becomes 1, 3 becomes 2, 2 becomes 3 and 1 becomes 4. This makes all items unidirectional. The rows are then added. The eight rows represent the eight aspects (octapace) in the same order. The scores on each aspect range from 5 to 20. In a group, participants can themselves score their completed answer sheets.
Openness: 1, 9, 17, 25*, 33
Confrontation: 2, 10, 18, 26*, 34
Trust: 3, 11, 19, 27, 35*
Authenticity: 4, 12*, 20, 28*, 36
Proaction: 5, 13, 21, 29, 37
Autonomy: 6, 14*, 22*, 30*, 38
Collaboration: 7, 15, 23*, 31*, 39
Experimentation: 8, 16, 24, 32, 40*

Have a look at the questionnaire:

Write 4 if it is highly valued;

3 if it is given a fairly high value;

2 if it given fairly low value;

1 if it is given very low value.

1. ______ Free interaction amongst employees, each respecting other’s feelings, competence and sense of judgment.
2. ______ Facing and not shying away from problems.
3. ______ Offering moral support and help to employees and colleagues in crises.
4. ______ Congruity between feelings and expressed behavior.
5. ______ Preventive actions on most matters.
6. ______ Employees taking independent action relating to their jobs.
7. ______ Team work and team spirit.
8. ______Employees trying out innovative ways of solving problems.
9. ______ Genuine sharing of information, feelings, and thoughts in meetings.
10. ______ Going deeper rather than doing surface-level analysis of interpersonal problems.
11. ______ Interpersonal contact and support amongst employees.
12. ______ Tactfulness, smartness and even a little manipulation to get things done.
13. ______ Seniors encouraging their subordinates to think about their development and take action in that direction.
14. ______ Close supervision of, and directing employees on, action.
15. ______ Accepting and appreciating help offered by others.
16. ______ Encouraging employees to take a fresh look at how things are done.
17. ______ Free discussion and communication between seniors and subordinates.
18. ______ Facing challenges inherent in the work situation.
19. ______ Confiding in seniors without fear of their misusing trust.
20. ______ Owning up mistakes made.
21. ______ Considering both positive and negative aspects before taking action.
22. ______ Obeying and checking with seniors rather than acting on one’s own.
23. ______ Performing immediate tasks rather than being concerned about large organizational goals.
24. ______ Making genuine attempts to change behavior on the basis of feedback received.

For statements 25 to 40, write 4 if it is highly valued;

3 if it is given a fairly high value;

2 if it given fairly low value;

1 if it is given very low value.

25. ______ Effective managers put a lid on their feelings.
26. ______ Pass the buck tactfully when there is a problem.
27. ______ Trust begets trust.
28. ______ Telling a polite lie is preferable to telling the unpleasant truth.
29. ______ Prevention is better than cure.
30. ______ Freedom to employees breeds indiscipline.
31. ______ Usually emphasis on team work dilutes individual accountability.
32. ______ Thinking out and doing new things tones up organizational vitality.
33. ______ Free and frank communication between various levels helps in solving problems.
34. ______ Surfacing problems is not enough; we should find the solutions.
35. ______ when the chips are down you have to fend for yourself.
36. ______ People are what they seem to be.
37. ______ A stitch in time saves nine.
38. ______ A good way to motivate employees is to give them autonomy to plan their work.
39. ______ Employees involvement in developing organizational mission and goals contributes to productivity.
40. ______ In today’s competitive situation consolidation and stability are more important than experimentation.

Implementation of Knowledge Management in ISRO-Space Application Centre - Title of my project!!!

I'm doing my summer training at ISRO-Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad.
Here I am recruited for my training as a HR. Feels good to be a HR but facing a lot of challenges!!!
Ofcourse, tats how a HR's life goes ;)
I like this saying, "An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered" - G. K. Chesterton
This is the first HR practice that is getting implemeted in Space Application Centre of ISRO as far as I know. So there is a great need for managing the change!!!
I have got acquaintance with Prof. Mr Pestonjee, retd. IIM Prof., while preparing questionnaire for my survey regarding the organizational ethos, KM awareness, Knowledge Sharing culture, etc.,
I have become good at testing a questionnaire ( :)!!! ) for its reliability and validity.
Knowledge Management is an emerging HR practice which is yet in search of a good definition for itself. I remember my Prof Mr. David Jawahar telling in class that we restrict the growth of any term by giving it a definition. Hope KM has not yet attained such maturity to bottle it in a definition.
Happy to work in such a new feild in such an esteemed organization.

Have used OCTAPACE questionnaire also for my survey!!!
Would share my slides regarding Knowledge Management soon in this blog!!!
Till then stay tuned!!!

Which is the best institute for CAT preparation?

Hope guys n gals wud now hav started checkin out for good institutes for CAT preparation!!! Good... Better late than never!!! So what could be the best institute?
Time? IMS? Have even heard of CAT'S eye!!! I got coaching from Dream Chasers!!!
Every institute has got its own flaw as well as fun!!!
U can hav a collaborative effort, which can bring u wonderful results!!!
I secured 97.6 percentile in CAT'08. I knew where i fell.
In my experience I feel that a single institute can not give u all tat u need 4 CAT(Ofcourse I hav seen ppl entering IIMs without getting coaching 4m any institutes. But exceptions are not examples, rite?).
So It is better if you read through materials 4m different institutes!!!
Do not go behind a single institute n cut a pretty sorry figure at the end of CAT results!!!
Stay tuned!!! Will come out with more CAT related stuffs!!!

Karyarambeshu sarveshu,ya japthavyam thaduchatham?

Sarveshu Kaaleshu sarva deseshu,
Aasesha karyeshu thada eswareswara,
Sarvai swaroopai bhagwan anadhiman,
Mamasthu mangalya vivrudhaye hari.
-Maangalya Sthavam