BMGT 1327 Exam 2 Review

"Improving people's lives by providing gas and electric services in a sustainable way -- affordable, reliable and clean" is an example of

a mission statement.

Which of the following characteristics relates to quantum change?

A large-scale planned change in how the firm operates

Which of the following characteristics relates to the nominal group technique?

A process that involves the use of a highly structured meeting agenda and restricts discussion or interpersonal communication during the decision making process

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a strategy?

A relatively permanent statement of mission based on constancies and stabilities in the environment

Which of the following characteristics relates to strategic management?

All the processes an organization undertakes to develop and implement its strategic plan

What is the congruence model of change?

An outgrowth of the systems approach to organizational theory, emphasizes the interrelationships between the various parts of an organization and how change in one part will cause reactive changes in other parts

What name is given to a prescriptive approach--asserting that managers are logical, rational individuals who make decisions that are in the best interests of the organization--that outlines how managers should make decisions?

Classical model of decision making

In the academic world, deans will often appoint troublesome faculty members to advisory committees. This practice usually makes use of what two techniques to reduce resistance to change?

Co-optation and participation

When a manager is under extreme pressure of time to implement a change, he or she will sometimes resort to the use of what tactic?

Coercion

When a CEO describes the company's future in the succinct slogan "anywhere, anytime," what device is he or she using to facilitate change?

Communicating a vision

What term describes a person's faith that his or her decisions are reliable and good?

Confidence

Which of the following is NOT an example of an internal force that may affect an organization?

Customers

What are non-programmed decisions?

Decisions made in response to situations that are unique, relatively unstructured, undefined, and/or of major consequence to the organization

What name is given to a business strategy in which the strategic business unit offers a unique good or service to a customer at a premium price?

Differentiation

Which of the following is NOT a step in the nominal group decision process?

Each idea is rank ordered by the group leader.

Which of the following is NOT an assumption of the classical model of decision making?

Emotion and stress will affect the decision making process.

Which of the following refers to the tendency to persist with a failing course of action?

Escalation of commitment

What are conglomerates?

Firms that pursue unrelated diversification strategies

Which of the following is NOT normally considered a disadvantage of group over individual decision making?

Groups generally take less time to make a decision.

The administrative model of decision making is a descriptive approach based on the work of Nobel Prize winning economist

Herbert Simon.

Which of the following refers to the act of introducing a new product, method, process, or approach?

Innovation

What focuses on changing the nature of how tasks are performed and often entails job rotation, job enrichment, and/or job enlargement?

Job redesign

The comprehensive model of planned change idea that it is necessary to prepare people for change is very similar to

Lewin's unfreezing step

In the administrative model of decision making, which of the following is NOT a characteristic of satisficing?

Managers will allow for the fact that stress and emotion inevitably affect their judgment.

Which of the following is NOT likely to lead to a successful organizational development intervention?

Mandating the intervention by the board of directors

Which of the following refers to a definition of an organization's fundamental purpose and its basic philosophy?

Mission

What term is used to describe a formal written declaration of the organization's mission that often includes the firm's philosophy, its primary products and markets, the intended geographic scope, and the nature of the relationships between the firm, its stakeholders, and society?

Mission statement

What term describes a transition period during which the behaviors of the organization or department are shifted to a new level?

Moving

A decision to build a new plant, acquire another company, create a new position, enter into a strategic alliance, invest in enhancing operations, or develop a new product is a type of decision.

Non-programmed

What term is based on the idea that certain individuals or groups will be able to influence others to achieve their goals?

Political model of decision making

What term describes a technique that allows managers to visualize their businesses as a set or portfolio using certain common criteria, such as profitability or growth potential?

Portfolio analysis

What stabilizes the organization at a new state of behavioral equilibrium?

Refreezing

What name is given to the evaluation of the organization's internal strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats associated with the business's external environment?

SWOT analysis

Which of the following refers to the decision maker's decision to choose the first alternative that appears to resolve the problem satisfactorily?

Satisficing

What name is given to those businesses that have high market shares and operate in industries experiencing major growth?

Stars

Which of the following characteristics relates to a business-level strategy?

The area of responsibility usually assigned to the divisional-level managers

Which of the following characteristics relates to bounded rationality?

The idea that people have limits to their rationality

What is meant by intuition?

The immediate comprehension that so

What is meant by corporate strategy?

The scope and resource deployment components of strategy for the enterprise as a whole

Which of the following involves a consultant who facilitates conflict resolution between two individuals?

Third-party peacemaking

According to the Boston Consulting Group, what are question marks?

Those businesses that are viewed positively in the sense that they are located in attractive, fast-growing markets, but for which there is a question as to their ability to compete, given their low market share

An organization will develop and use feedback mechanisms, such as surveys and consultant interviews, to ensure that changes are happening as planned when it is managing what phase of the change process?

Transition

If the decision making process fails, which of the following questions would normally NOT be asked to determine why it failed?

Were enough alternatives generated and considered?

In plain language, diversification is

acquiring other businesses.

Even when the most thorough evaluation of alternatives has been done, decision makers may end up

assigning a probability of success to each alternative.

The other side of disastrous escalation of commitment is

bailing out of a course of action too soon.

Perhaps the key aspect of or element in the congruence model of organizational change is that changes in one part of the system

can cause radical changes in another part.

When Sallie Mae, the largest student loan provider in the United States, broke up into two businesses—one to service government-backed student loans and one to focus on private student loans—it

changed its structure and design.

The fact that the Washington Post Company no longer publishes The Washington Post and has even changed its name is an example of

changing strategy.

Common reasons for resistance to change include all of the following EXCEPT

full disclosure of the proposed change.

One of the major advantages of the newer GE matrix for business portfolio assessment is that it

gives organizations a basis for plotting strategy.

In answer to the question, "Do groups or individuals make better decisions?" we can say

it depends on several factors, such as the type of task and the ability of the group members.

At even the largest and most affluent corporation, the strategic management process begins with

limited resources.

As it relates to decision making, uncertainty may be said to be the condition that exists when

little or no reliable information is available.

When an organization deliberately structures operations and behaviors in anticipation of environmental forces, it is engaging in

planned change.

Generally, if the company can reliably assume that the organization and the external environment will remain relatively stable and similar to that of the recent past,

planning is much easier.

Large-scale planned change that involves significantly altering how the firm operates is called

quantum change.

When total quality management teams eventually become part of an organization's standard operating procedures, we have an example of Lewin's phase of

refreezing.

When an organization sets out to evaluate a strategy that it has implemented, it must often rely on

short-term indicators.

What is meant by grid OD?

six-phase organizational intervention that enhance personal management style, team functioning, intergroup problem solving, overall organizational functioning, and the ability of the organization to continually improve how it solves its own problems, resolves conflicts, and makes decisions

All of the following are steps in the planning process

state goals, assess the current situation, implement the plan.

Intermediate goals that are more specific and that are usually written by and directed to middle-level managers are

tactical goals.

The key aspect of model is that system elements, both inputs and processes, interact with one another such that changes in one part of the system can cause radical changes in another part of the system.

the congruence

Strategic planning differs from general planning in that it focuses on

the external environment and long-term goals.

Generally speaking, the more confident a person is

the greater his or her willingness to take risks.

A basic idea in the comprehensive model is that the change process begins with

the recognition of a need for change.

In stating a goal, the volume of sales or the extent of management training to be accomplished is

the target to be achieved.

All of the following describe managers with a directive style of decision making EXCEPT

they prefer to take their time analyzing data and examining different alternatives completely before making a decision.

One of the justified criticisms of the classical model of decision making is that it is

too unrealistic and time consuming to be applied to real situations.

A large performance gap that results in an organization initiating a change is an example of Lewin's phase of

unfreezing.

The effectiveness of group decision making can be enhanced by

using an appropriate group decision making technique and by how effectively the group capitalizes on the advantages and minimizes the disadvantages of group decision making.

The first step in strategic planning is

determining the mission and strategic goals.

MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company has doubled its wind energy capacity by installing windmills and high-tech batteries to make it a "cleaner" utility company. In high-tech renewable energy, this company has a

distinctive competence.

When a manager persists in a failing course of action and discounts negative information, he or she is engaging in

escalation of commitment.

When a company fails to achieve its intended performance, it can use the strategic control process as a means of

feedback to help understand deficiencies.