Comm Ch. 7

knowledge management

Finding the right information, keeping the information a readily accessible place, and making the information known to everyone in the firm.

enabling

Giving workers the education and tools they need to make decisions.

top management

Highest level of management, consisting of the president and other key company executives who develop strategic plans.

contingency planning

The process of preparing alternative courses of action the may be used if the primary plans don't achieve the organization's objectives.

planning

A management function that includes anticipating trends and determining the best strategies and tactics to achieve organizational goals and objectives.

organizing

A management function that includes designing the structure of the organization and creating conditions and systems in which everyone and everything works together to achieve the organization's goals and objectives.

staffing

A management function that includes hiring, motivating, and retaining the best people available to accomplish the company's objectives.

controlling

A management function that involves establishing clear standards to determine whether or not an organization is progressing toward its goals and objectives, rewarding people for doing a good job, and taking corrective action if they are not.

SWOT analysis

A planning tool used to analyze an organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

organization chart

A visual device that shows relationships among people and divides the organization's work; it shows who reports to whom.

vision

An encompassing explanation of why the organization exists and where it's trying to head.

mission statement

An outline of the fundamental purposes of an organization.

leading

Creating a vision for the organization and guiding, training, coaching, and motivating others to work effectively to achieve the organization's goals and objectives.

external customers

Dealers, who buy products to sell to others, and ultimate customers (or end users), who buy products for their own personal use.

participative (democratic) leadership

Leadership style that consists of managers and employees working together to make decisions.

free-rein leadership

Leadership style that involves managers setting objectives and employees being relatively free to do whatever it takes to accomplish those objectives.

autocratic leadership

Leadership style the involves making managerial decisions without consulting others.

PMI

Listing all the pluses for a solution in one column, all the minuses in another, and the implications in a third column.

human relations skills

Skills that involve communication and motivation; they enable managers to work through and with people.

technical skills

Skills that involve the ability to perform tasks in a specific discipline or department.

conceptual skills

Skills that involve the ability to picture the organization as a whole and the relationship among its various parts.

objectives

Specific, short-term statements detailing how to achieve the organization's goals.

goals

The broad, long-term accomplishments an organization wishes to attain.

decision making

Choosing among two or more alternatives.

internal customers

Individuals and units within the firm the receive services from other individuals or units.

supervisory management

Managers who are directly responsible for supervising workers and evaluating their daily performance.

middle management

The level of management that includes general managers, division managers, and branch and plant managers who are responsible for tactical planning and controlling.

transparency

The presentation of a company's facts and figures in a way that is clear and apparent to all stakeholders.

Strategic Planning

The process of determining the major goals of the organization and the policies and strategies for obtaining and using resources to achieve those goals.

tactical planning

The process of developing detailed, short-term statements about what is to be done, who is to do it, and how it is to be done.

operational planning

The process of setting work standards and schedules necessary to implement the company's tactical objectives.

problem solving

The process of solving the everyday problems that occur. Problem solving is less formal than decision making and usually calls for quicker action.

brainstorming

Coming up with as many solutions to a problem as possible in a short period of time with no censoring of ideas.

management

The process used to accomplish organizational goals through planning, organizing, leading, and controlling people and other resources.