Directing Class 12 Notes CBSE Business Studies Chapter 7 (Free PDF Download)

Directing

Directing is the process in which a superior provides instructions, guidance and counselling to its subordinate so as to motivate and lead them for the successful 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 organization, and at every level of management.

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

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

Importance of Directing

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

• Integrates efforts: It integrates individual efforts as group effort to achieve organizational objectives.

• Provide leadership and motivation; Directing motivates and provides effective leadership to employees to realise their full potential.

• Brings changes: Directing introduces changes in the organization through proper communication, motivation and leadership.

• Maintain stability: Balance and stability in the organization 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 organizational goals.

2. Harmony of objectives: Through effective directing, managers must provide harmony between employee’s individual objectives and organizational 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 in accordance with subordinate need for effective direction.

6. Use of informal organization: For effective direction managers should use informal organization for building cordial relationships with subordinates.

7. Leadership: A manager must possess good leadership qualities to influence subordinates.

8. Follow through: Manager must review 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 with an objective to accomplish the desired objectives. 

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

Importance of Supervision

• 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.

• By giving instructions and motivating workers helps in achievement of targets.

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

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

• Suggests ways and means to develop new skills.

Motivation

A stimulator used by managers to make people act in a desired way to achieve organizational goals. 

The Related terms in motivation are:

• Motive: It is the inner state of an individual which 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 behavior.

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 inculcates 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 behavior 

↓

Satisfied need 

↓

Reduction of tension

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

2. Tension: As the desire goes 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 in accordance with it.

5. Satisfied Needs: After a period of 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 bettering 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 employee’s needs resulting in higher level of performance contributing towards organizational goals.

2. Develops a positive attitude: Motivation techniques eliminate negativity and create a desire to realize maximum potential.

3. Reduces employee turnover: A satisfied employee prefers to remain loyal to the organization leading to a lesser number of people quitting the organization.

4. Reduces absenteeism: Motivation helps to make the workplace a source of pleasure and provides the workers with a pleasant experience resulting in 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 need is satisfied only, the next higher need can motivate individuals.

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

Hierarchy of needs

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

1. Basic Physiological Needs: It includes basic needs like hunger, thirst, shelter, sleep, etc.

2. Safety/ Security Needs: It includes needs of security and protection like job security, etc.

3. Affiliation/ Social/ Belonging Needs: It includes needs like affection, sense of belongingness, friendship, etc.

4. Esteem Needs: It includes needs like self respect autonomy, status, recognition, etc.

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

 Financial and Non Financial Incentives

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

• Financial

• Non-Financial

Financial Incentives

Incentives offered to employees which 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 which 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 which 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 organization.

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

3. Career advancement opportunity: Opportunities of growth and development in the organization to the 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 programmes: 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 take 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 towards the achievement of organizational objectives.

Features of Leadership

• It is the ability of an individual to influence others.

• It tries to transform the behaviour of the subordinates.

• It indicates interpersonal relationship between leader and followers.

• It is exercised to achieve organizational goals.

• It is a continuous process.

Importance of Leadership

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

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

• It helps employees in understanding 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.

Qualities of a Good Leader

1. Physical features:  Should be fit and presentable with positive energy.

2. Knowledge: Should have required knowledge and competence.

3. Integrity: Must possess a high level of integrity and honesty.

4. Initiative: Should grab opportunity and use it to the advantage of organization.

5. Communication skills: Must possess skill to communicate and convince people effectively.

6. Motivation skills: Should motivate the individuals to improve their performance.

7. Self confidence: Should have a high level of confidence to handle difficult situations.

8. Decisiveness: Should be decisive and remain firm on decisions.

9. Social skills: Should be social and friendly with his colleagues and subordinates.

Leadership Styles

1. Autocratic leadership: in this style of leadership, a leader takes all the decisions on his own and gives orders to his or her subordinate to implement them.

2. Democratic leadership: In this style of leadership a leader takes decisions after consulting with subordinates and encourages them to participate in decision making.

3. Laissez faire leader: In this style of leadership a leader gives freedom to his subordinate to take decisions and execute work assigned to them and the leader acts as observer or guide.

Communication

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

Elements of Communication Process

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

2. Message: Content intended to be communicated.

3. Encoding: Process of converting 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 in 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

1. Basis of coordination: Acts as a basis to coordinate their efforts of employees by explaining organizational goals.

2. Smooth working of an enterprise: It makes interaction among all individuals possible helping smooth and unrestricted working of an enterprise.

3. Basis of decision making: Communication acts as a medium for providing information needed for decision making.

4. Increases managerial efficiency: Helps managers to convey important information to subordinates to enable them to perform with efficiency.

5. Cooperation and industrial peace: The two way communication promotes cooperation and mutual understanding between the management and workers.

6. Effective leadership: Effective communication enables a manager to lead and influence his or her subordinate.

7. Boosts morale and provides motivation: Managers understand and satisfy employees' needs and motives by effective communication.

Formal and Informal Communication

• The process of communication within an organization may be 

• Formal or 

• Informal.

Formal communication

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

• Formal communication is classified as:

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

• 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 superior to his immediate subordinate.

• Wheel: 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'.

• The informal communication spreads information rapidly and sometimes generates rumors.

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 organization 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

A. Semantic Barriers: 

Problems and obstructions in the encoding and decoding of messages into words or impressions.

Reasons of semantic barriers are:

• Badly expressed message: It involves the message with inadequate vocabulary, use of wrong words, omission of important words, or framing the message improperly, etc., that may distort the understanding and readability of the message.

• Symbols with different meanings: Words with multiple meanings may change the intended meaning of the message, such as idol and idle, the word value having two meanings(price and importance), deer and dear.

• Faulty translations: Incorrect translations may change the meaning of the message. For example, the meaning of certain words may change in a translation of an instruction from English to Hindi.

• Unclarified assumptions: Sender and receiver may follow different assumptions while understanding the message resulting in different understanding of the message.

• Technical jargon: Meaning of a message may not be clear if technical words are used in the communication with the workers who may not be familiar. For example the word drawings have separate meanings for a commerce person and a person from non-commerce background.

• Body language and gesture decoding: Mismatch between body movement or gestures may convey wrong meaning. As in your face expression reveals anger, while your hand movements reveal otherwise. 

B. Psychological Barriers: 

Sender or receiver's state of mind may influence the meaning of the message.

Reasons of psychological barriers are:

• Premature evaluation: Judgemental or biased nature of the receiver may result in premature evaluation.  For example the listener/receiver may assume in advance that his boss is going to shout at him, this may lead to biasness in listening.

• Lack of attention: Sender's or receiver’s pre-occupation of mind with other thoughts may result in ineffective communication.

• Loss by transmission and poor retention: Passing of messages through various levels of communication and poor retention may result in transmission of inaccurate information.

• Distrust: Distrust between sender or receiver may distort information.

C. Organizational Barriers: 

Organizational authority relationships, rules and regulations, may result in communication barriers.

Reasons of organizational barriers are:

• Organizational policy: Policies may not support free flow of communication.

• Rules and regulations: Strict rules and regulations may result in delay of information, such as following a certain path for communication etc.

• Status: A status conscious manager, hampering the effectiveness of communication between him and his subordinates.

• Complexity in organizational structure: organization with too many levels may result in delay or distort of communication due to several filter points.

• Organizational facilities: Improper facilities may affect free flow of communication and may create problems. A free and effective flow of communication requires the presence of certain organizational facilities such as social gatherings, complaint boxes, and transparency in operations, etc. The absence of such facilities hinders the flow of information

D. Personal Barriers: 

These barriers arise due to the personal factors on the part of both, the sender and the receiver which may affect effective communication.

Reasons of personal barriers are:

• Fear of challenge to authority: Superior may not share any information with the subordinates that may affect his authority.

• Lack of confidence of superior on his subordinates: Sometimes superiors aren’t confident enough about their subordinates, and hence he may not welcome any take suggestions or opinions given by the subordinates.

• Unwillingness to communicate: Subordinates unwillingness to communicate with their superiors may lead to ineffective communication.

• Lack of proper incentives: Lack of incentives may discourage employees from taking initiative or sharing information.

Measures to Improve Communication Effectiveness

• Clarify the ideas before communication: Superiors must have a clear and detailed understanding of the message before it is communicated to the subordinates.

• Communicate according to the needs of the receiver: Sender must consider receiver's education, knowledge and understanding level while communicating message.

• Consult others before communicating: Superiors must involve subordinates while taking decisions and making plans for effective communication.

• Be aware of languages, tone and content of message: Sender must use proper language and tone while transmitting message to the receiver.

• Convey things of help and value to listeners: Sender must consider the interests and needs of the receiver while transmitting messages. 

• Ensure proper feedback: Feedback from receiver ensures that the message is received or understood with the same intended meaning.

• Communicate for present as well as future: Superiors must communicate with the subordinates about the present and future goals of the organization.

• Follow ups: Regular follow ups and reviews make communication effective.

• Be a good listener: Communicator must be a patient and attentive listening to understand the receiver’s problem related to understanding and implementing message

Class 12 Business Studies Chapter 7 Revision Notes: Summary

In this chapter, you will study the different characteristics of directing. You will learn what comprises directing and what an owner of a business should do. It can also be followed by any person holding a responsible position. The study of this chapter is absolutely important for those who are willing to work someday with a big company. Learning managerial and directing skills from the early phase of professional life is quite beneficial for all. To learn this chapter better, you will find Class 12 Business Studies Revision Notes Solution Chapter 7 very convenient. Let us check what you will find in these revision notes on directing.

These revision notes begin with the description of ‘directing’. Its characteristics are properly explained one after the other in an organized way. Every characteristic of directing has been explained with examples so that you can correlate it with real-life situations. The NCERT solutions Chapter 7 Class 12 Business Studies Revision Notes will help you grab the concepts better and will also help you understand how to answer a question in the exams. After explaining the features and traits of directing, you will then proceed to the next section where you will study the importance of directing in a business organization. You will find out how important it is to direct a team and start working on a plan. As per Class 12 Business Studies Directing Revision Notes, directing initiates the action as planned. It integrates the employees together. In fact, the efforts of all team members will be consolidated to give a fruitful output during and at the end of a task. It is important to direct a team to motivate them. A director will have to supervise, as well as, monitor a team’s performance on a regular basis. It is the responsibility of the director to stabilize the operations and bring balance to the organization.

On proceeding further, the Class 12 Revision Notes Chapter 7 will describe the principles followed while directing a team of employees. It will describe how a director needs to bring harmony and everyone in the team is accountable to report to the head/boss/director. In fact, every employee will move in the direction as guided by the director. Follow the Business Studies Class 12 Chapter 7 Revision Notes to find more principles that make directing more effective. Here you will learn how communication, motivation, leadership skills, and supervision can yield surprising results when incorporated into a directing process.

What are the Benefits of Referring to Vedantu’s Revision Notes for Class 12 CBSE Business Studies Chapter 7 - Directing

• Provides quick, clear summaries of key concepts.

• Simplifies complex topics for better understanding.

• Efficient tool for last-minute exam prep.

• Enhances retention of crucial information.

• Supports effective exam preparation with key points and tips.

• Saves time by consolidating information.

• Prioritizes important topics and questions.

• Offers practical examples for real-world connections.

• Boosts student confidence for exams.

Conclusion

For an enhanced comprehension of this subject, NCERT - Class 12 Chapter 7 “Directing” thoughtfully prepared by experienced educators at Vedantu is your invaluable companion. These notes break down the complexities of Directing into easily digestible sections, helping you grasp new concepts and navigate through questions effortlessly quickly in the last minute as well. By immersing yourself in these notes, you not only prepare for your studies more efficiently but also develop a profound understanding of the subject matter.

Chapter-wise Revision Notes on Class 12 Business Studies  

• Chapter 1 - Nature and Significance of Management Notes

• Chapter 2 - Principles of Management Notes

• Chapter 3 - Business Environment Notes

• Chapter 4 - Planning Notes

• Chapter 5 - Organising Notes

• Chapter 6 - Staffing Notes

• Chapter 8 - Controlling Notes

• Chapter 9 - Financial Management Notes

• Chapter 10 - Financial Markets Notes

• Chapter 11 - Marketing Notes

• Chapter 12 - Consumer Protection Notes

• Chapter 13 - Entrepreneurship Development Notes

Class 12 Subject-wise Revision Notes

• Class 12 Maths Revision Notes

• Class 12 Physics Revision Notes

• Class 12 Chemistry Revision Notes

• Class 12 Biology Revision Notes

• Class 12 Business Studies Revision Notes

• Class 12 Economics Revision Notes

Subject-wise Solutions for Class 12

• NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Maths

• NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics

• NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Chemistry

• NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology

• NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English

• NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Business Studies

• NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Economics

• NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Accountancy