AEB 3133 Exam 3 (Modules 5 & 6) Spring 23

Which of the following would be likely to include all three forms of organizational communication?

A daily staff meeting

If you were a manager in charge of a group that had high cohesiveness but very low performance norms, what would you do?

A manager would want to do something that would change the low performance norms to high performance norms. A manager might talk to the employees about the importance of high performance norms or the manager might institute some type of goal-setting process where employees set higher performance norms (planning and controlling process).

Food safety refers to

All of them are involved in food safety

Assuring food safety is the responsibility of

All of them are responsible for food safety

Which of the following is a step in operations planning?

All of these ae steps in operations planning.

Which of the following were identified in the text as contemporary perspectives on leadership?

All of these are contemporary perspectives.

Process control charts:

All of these are correct.

Which of the following is a difference between management and leadership?

All of these are correct.

With respect to control systems, participation and Management By Objectives

Are techniques for overcoming resistance to controls

"Timely," as the term relates to control means

As needed

If you want to increase the probability that a behavior will recur, which of the following types of reinforcement will get the desired results?

Avoidance and positive reinforcement

Written pages, face-to-face discussion, and airwaves are examples of

Communication channels

Your management information system provides managers with weekly data concerning deviations from standards in each department. Which step in the control process does this represent?

Comparison of performance to standards

Researchers at Ohio State used what term to describe the leadership behavior that is similar to employee-centered behavior?

Consideration behavior.

What is the difference between "communication" and "effective communication"?

Consistency of meaning

What is control, and why is it important to organizations?

Control is the process of monitoring and adjusting organizational activities toward goal attainment. Companies need control to be able to respond to environmental changes, to deal with organizational complexity, and to prevent compounding effects of errors.

What is the principal issue in organizing for operations?

Deciding where operations management fits into the structure/design of the organization.

Briefly describe the characteristics of effective controls.

Effective control has five attributes: integration, objectivity, accuracy, timeliness, and flexibility. Integration means that the control system must fit into the overall organizational system. Objectivity means that everyone who is affected by the control system must be able to understand it. Accuracy means that the control system must be reporting correct information that is pertinent to the company's goals. Timeliness means that the information provided by the control system must be available when it can be used. Information that arrives too late is of no value. Finally, flexibility means that the control system must be able to accommodate adjustments and change and should not be applied rigidly.

Briefly describe the four characteristics of an effective organizational reward system.

Effective reward systems tend to have four characteristics: They must satisfy basic needs, be comparable to those used elsewhere, be distributed equitably, and be multifaceted.

How the person actually behaves in a group is the _______ role.

Enacted

Giving prestigious job titles (if not carried to extremes) would be one way to satisfy people's need for

Esteem

What need is evidenced by the fact that people buy life and health insurance and deposit money in savings accounts?

Existence

Joe decides that a promotion is likely because he has achieved the highest level of performance in his group. However, he does not want the promotion because he views it as a source of stress and additional demands on his life. If Joe requests a transfer to avoid the promotion, which theory best explains his behavior?

Expectancy

When classifying controls on the basis of the resources involved, we find that one class of resources is related to the control of all other resource classes as well. Which resource class overlaps all other classes?

Financial

During which stage of group development do the members try out various forms of behavior in an attempt to test the water and see what will be acceptable in the group?

Forming

Which of the following is characteristic of a task group?

Has a stated or implied time horizon.

One area of control in agribusiness is food safety. Many companies have implemented a HACCP management program. What is HACCP stands for, please also define HACCP briefly.

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) program, is a systematic preventive approach to food safety from biological, chemical, and physical hazards in production processes that can cause the finished product to be unsafe and designs measures to reduce these risks to a safe level. HACCP attempts to avoid hazards rather than attempting to inspect finished products for the effects of those hazards

Which of the following combinations of group performance norms and cohesiveness is best from the manager's point of view?

High cohesiveness/high norms

Which of the following forms of organizational communication is very useful for coordinating the efforts of interdependent units in an organization?

Horizontal

Which historical approach to motivation suggests that people really want to make a difference in the places they work and expect an opportunity to show what they can do?

Human Resources

Robin joined an informal group at work because the other members had interests and attitudes similar to her own. Which reason is this for joining a group?

Interpersonal attraction

Which of the following is true as regards Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

It is an extension of Materials Requirements Planning (MRP).

Briefly differentiate between leadership and management.

Leadership and management are different. Managers are more likely to emphasize planning and budgeting while leaders tend to focus more on direction. Managers tend to think in terms of organizing and staffing while leaders seem more concerned with communication and cooperation. Managers tend to focus on problem solving and control whereas leaders emphasize motivation.

Briefly describe the trait approach to the study of leadership. Why was it abandoned, and where did the study of leadership go from there?

Leadership traits are those characteristics of leaders that set them apart from followers. Unfortunately, no one has ever established that any single set of traits can reliably distinguish leaders from nonleaders in a wide variety of situations.

Using the classification scheme in the text, motivation is part of the management function of

Leading

What score does Fiedler use to determine leader style?

Least-preferred coworker.

Identify and define several basic personality attributes relevant to organizations. Do you remember the DISC personality style?

Locus of control is the degree to which a person believes that his behavior has a direct impact on his consequences. Authoritarianism is the extent to which a person believes that power and status differences are appropriate within organizations. Dogmatism is the rigidity of a person's beliefs and her openness to other viewpoints. Self-esteem is the extent to which an individual believes that he is a worthwhile and deserving person. Risk propensity is the degree to which an individual is willing to take chances and make risky decisions. DISC, Four basic styles - styles of personality, communication, listening, decision-making, and evaluating others. Dominant, Influencing, Steady, Conscientious;

A plant manager determines that 240 steel wire casings as well as component nuts, bolts, wires, and screws are needed to make 240 products during the next six weeks and that production is to be spaced evenly throughout the period. That manager is involved in what process?

Materials Requirements Planning.

Which of the following is a leader behavior model?

Michigan studies

How important do you think money is in motivation? Explain why?

Most students will probably think that money is a very important motivator. Some students may point out that how important money is depends on how much money the employee already has. Other students may point out that money may be important as a motivator because it can represent recognition and status.

Brief define motivation. Compare the three historical perspectives to motivation: the traditional, the human relations and the human resources approach.

Motivation is the set of processes that determine behavioral choices. The three basic historical perspectives through which motivational theory has passed are the traditional view, the human relations view, and the human resource view. The traditional view of motivation was that people work only for economic reasons. The human relations view argued that if people were satisfied with their work, they would produce more. The human resources view suggests that people are actually resources that can benefit organizations and that managers should maintain and develop them like other assets for maximum productivity

Anything that interferes with the communication process is called

Noise

The standards of behavior a group accepts for its members are called

Norms

Identify and briefly discuss three barriers to communication.

Of the many different kinds of barriers to effective communication: sender barriers (a) Inconsistency occurs when a person sends conflicting messages. (b) The credibility of an individual is questioned when the person is considered unreliable. (c) There is reluctance to communicate when the news is bad or unpleasant. receiver barriers (d) Predispositions are already having your mind made up about what a speaker is saying. (e) Overload occurs when the sender is transmitting too much information for the receiver to process adequately. sender and receiver barriers (f) Semantics refers to the different meanings for words; the sender and the receiver may attach a different meaning to a word(s). (g) Status is the level and prestige within an organization. (h) Power differences refer to the degree of authority within an organization.

Identify and briefly discuss the four major areas that operations control must deal with.

Operations control involves four areas that must be carefully controlled: Inventory Control, which represent a major investment for an organization; Quality Control, which insures the inputs and outputs of the organization meet desired levels of quality. Scheduling Control, which involves having the right things arrive and depart from the organization at the right time; Cost control, which deals with the expenses the organization incurs in conducting its business.

The total set of managerial activities an organization uses to create its products or services is called

Operations management

Define Operations Planning, and briefly discuss the four basic steps.

Operations planning relates to the day-to-day, ongoing activities of operations management. Operations planning involves the four basic steps including: The first step in operations planning is to select a planning horizon. The second step is that the manager then estimates demand for that period. The third step in operations planning is to com pare projected demand with current capacity for each meaningful block of time. The last step in operations planning is to adjust capacity to demand.

To the extent possible, standards used for control purposes should be derived from

Organizational goals

Which of the following is true regarding quality control?

Quality control systems usually parallel inventory control systems.

Briefly describe the stages associated with the development of groups.

Regardless of why a group is formed, it normally goes through a four-stage developmental process consisting of forming, norming, storming, and performing. At the forming stage, members get acquainted and begin to test which behaviors are acceptable. At the storming stage, members begin to pull apart as they disagree over what needs to be done and how best to do it. In the norming stage, conflicts are resolved and group norms and group roles are developed. In the performing stage, the group moves toward accomplishing its goals.

What is organizational control?

Regulation of organizational activities to facilitate goal attainment

Which of the following motivational perspectives says that people will repeat those behaviors that bring desirable consequences and avoid those that fail to bring desirable consequences or that bring aversive consequences?

Reinforcement theory

Which sector of the United States was responsible for most of the GNP and the majority of new jobs created in the mid-1980s?

Service

Which step in the control system is likely to be the most difficult to carry out, in your opinion? Why?

Setting standards is particularly difficult when the standards must be qualitative. Knowing whether standards are fair is also difficult. Evaluation and adjustment is often the step that meets with the most resistance, particularly when some action that employees consider punitive is taken to correct a deviation in performance.

A company has surplus cash to invest, so it fully investigates available investment opportunities to determine which will give the best return. What type of operations control does this action represent?

Steering

Are some forms of operations control (inventory control, quality control, scheduling control, and cost control) more important for some businesses than for others? Support your answer with examples.

Students' answers may vary. The possible forms of control that students should identify are inventory control, quality control, scheduling control, and cost control. Some examples would be that inventory control would be more important to a business that has a lot of money tied up in its inventory, such as an automobile manufacturer, and cost control would be more important to a business that is trying to reduce its losses. Answer: Inventory control is going to be important for a company with lots of assets and a large supply chain (this would be a firm that produces cars as there are many raw materials that have to be in the same place at the same time). Quality control is going to be very important for a food service company as consumers want high-quality food, a consumer will be less likely to buy that food product if it isn't high quality. Scheduling control is going to be important for a logistics company like Amazon that deals with lots of moving parts that have to get where they need to go in a timely fashion. Cost control is important to a company that may not have large margins on its products and needs to work to keep costs down in order to stay afloat. Cost controls would also be important to a company that is generally in a fairly rough position.

The leadership framework we have discussed, include power, traits, behavior, and situations. In you opinion, which leadership style will you follow in the future?

Students' answers may vary. leadership is a complex phenomenon rather than a simple one and that all approaches to leadership have merit and should be seen as complementary rather than contradictory. An integrate framework include diverse models may work better. Answer: I think the model I will use is the participation model as I feel like it has the most holistic approach and allows for the input of new ideas and aspects that just one person may not have thought about. I think that I will also try to use all the aspects of leadership if possible, especially if I see specific situations where different methods would be beneficial.

Have you ever been involved in a group decision-making process? If so, did you find its advantages or disadvantages?

Students' experiences will vary. Some students will have participated in such a process in the classes where they were assigned to a group for a class project. Advantages and disadvantages could vary as well. Answer: I have participated in group decision-making processes. I would say I saw the advantages of the process as I know my opinion is not always the best and having more eyes and ears on an idea will only lead to more benefit than negativity. Additionally, in a group setting, someone is bound to forget something so by having multiple working on one idea/project/decision you are able to look at aspects that you may not have otherwise thought about. The main disadvantage for me was the time it took to actually complete one decision (since it took longer to accomplish).

Which of the following combinations of group types is formed by the organization?

Task and functional

When an organization assigns you to a group for a specific length of time to accomplish a specific goal, you are a member of a/an

Task group

What are the advantages and disadvantages of group decision making? What is the groupthink phenomenon?

The advantages of group decision making are: (a) More information is available to the group than to one individual. (b) A group is more likely than an individual to generate more alternatives. (c) Acceptance of the decision will probably be greater than it would be if an individual made the decision alone. (d) Groups tend to make better decisions than individuals. The disadvantages of group decision making are: (a) Groups take longer to reach a decision. (b) The group may try too hard to reach a decision. (c) A single individual may dominate the group process. (d) The group may succumb to groupthink. Groupthink is what happens when group members become so interested in maintaining cohesiveness and good feelings toward one another that the group's original goals become lost. The group makes decisions that protect its members as individuals and the group as a whole rather than decisions that are in the best interests of the overall organization

What are the eight key operations decisions managers must make?

The eight key operations decisions managers must make are decisions about the product/service line, capacity, the planning system, the organization of the operations function, human resources, technology, facilities, and controls (including inventory, quality, scheduling, cost controls).

What are the five basic need levels in Maslow's hierarchy of needs?

The five basic needs are self-actualization, esteem needs, social needs, security needs, and physiological needs.

List and define the five types of power. In your opinion, which power might motivate subordinates? Why?

The five basic types of power are: legitimate, reward, coercive, expert, and referent. Legitimate power is the power the organization creates and conveys. Reward power is the power to grant and withhold various kinds of rewards. Coercive power is the power to force compliance through psychological, emotional, or physical threat. Expert power is based on knowledge and expertise. Referent power is based on personal identification, imitation, and charisma.

Identify and define the three basic types of groups？

The three basic types of groups are the functional group, the task group, and the informal group. The functional group is created by the organization to accomplish a range of goals with an indefinite time period. A task group is created by the organization to accomplish a limited number of goals within a stated or implied time. An informal group or interest group is created by the members of the organization for purposes that may or may not be related to the organization and has an unspecified time period.

What are the four basic types of reinforcement?

There are four basic kinds of reinforcement: positive reinforcement, avoidance, extinction, and punishment. Positive reinforcement is a reward that follows desired behavior, increasing the chances it will be repeated. Avoidance behavior is aimed at avoiding negative consequences. In extinction, nothing happens following a behavior; the behavior is ignored. Punishment, on the other hand, means that the behavior results in an undesirable consequence.

Discuss each of the steps in establishing a control system.

There are four basic steps to establishing a control system: setting standards, assessing performance, comparing performance with standards, and evaluating and adjusting. The standards should be derived from and consistent with the goals of the organization. Assessing performance is not always easy, particularly if the standards are not objective and measurable, but it must always be done. Comparing performance against the standard will also be easy in some cases and difficult in others. In terms of evaluation and adjustment, three actions may be appropriate: to keep things the same, to correct the deviation, or to change the standard.

What is the relationship between operations management and organizational strategy?

There is a reciprocal relationship between the two so that each affects the other.

identify and briefly discuss three important ways to overcome communication barriers.

Things that managers can do to overcome the barriers: Sender a) The sender can be sensitive to the receiver's position. (b) The sender should solicit feedback. (c) Managers should be aware of language and its meaning. (d) The sender should always attempt to maintain credibility. Receiver (e) The receiver should work on being a good listener. (f) The receiver should attempt to be sensitive to the sender's perspective. Both sender and receiver (g) Both the sender and the receiver should follow up the communication. (h) Both parties should regulate information flows by working to prevent overload and being careful about the speed of the communication, that is, not too fast.

Which of the following represents the first organized attempt to study leadership?

Trait studies

Define operations management, and briefly describe its primary focus.

We define operations management as the total set of managerial activities an organization uses to transform resource inputs into products and services. Organizations consist of four basic parts: inputs, transformation processes, outputs, and feedback. The concern of operations management is primarily with the transformation processes.

In contrast to Fiedler's theory, path-goal theory assumes that leaders

can change their leadership style to fit the demands of a particular situation.

Which form of power is least likely to result in commitment on the part of subordinates.

coercive.

An advantage of group decision making is

diversity of members' backgrounds.

The theory that says motivation is a function of how much we want something and how likely we think we are of getting it is

expectancy theory.

Group members on the assembly line in a factory want new employees to accept their norms for production levels. This is known as the _________ role.

expected

The most important idea for managers to remember from equity theory is that

for rewards to motivate employees, employees must perceive them as being fair.

Technology decisions:

involve both capital and labor intensive considerations.

With respect to control systems, participation

is a technique for overcoming resistance to controls

If a manager gives a subordinate a job to do and the subordinate does it because it is within the normal boundaries of his job, the manager has used

legitimate power.

Which of the following sender techniques for improving communication is probably most important?

providing channels for feedback

The basic assumption of situational approaches to leadership is that

the appropriate leader style will vary from one set of circumstances to another.

The most basic method of managing employee motivation is

the reward system