Management Exam #2
Describe semistructured interviews
80% structured questions, but some time is set aside to allow the interviewer to probe into ambiguous or missing information from the structured part of the interview
When a manager gives responsibility authority to a subordinate, what does the subordinate then intern owe the manager
Accountability
What practices lead to a successful overseas adjustment for an employee's family
Adaptability screening and intercultural training
What are the advantages of Functional Departmentalization?
Allows work to be done by highly qualified specialists, lowers costs by reducing duplication, with everyone in the same department having similar work experience or training, communication and coordination are less problematic for departmental managers
What steps should me taken before firing an employee?
1) Warning 2) Time to change behavior 3) Further counsel on job preformance
In what 4 ways can training be evaluated
Reactions, learning, behavior, results
Which type of task interdependence does reengineering increase?
Reciprocal interdependence
What's another name for situational analysis?
SWOT analysis
What are the levels of organizational culture
Seen, heard, believed
General External Environmental Factors
Socio-cultural factors, economy, technology, laws/political
Describe a structured interview
Standardized interview questions are prepares ahead of time so that all applicants are asked the same job-related questions. Less of asking illegal questions and better accuracy when interviewing
How should you decide when to use decentralization and when to use centralization
Stay centralized where standardization is important and to decentralize where standardization is unimportant
What is the impact on hiring with the Civil Rights Act of 1991
Strengthened the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by providing for jury trials and punitive damages
protectionism
a government's use of trade barriers to shield domestic companies and their workers from foreign competition
strategic group
a group of companies within an industry against which top managers compare, evaluate, and benchmark strategic threats and opportunities
Quotas
a limit on the number or volume of imported products
What is Unity of Command?
a management principle that workers should report to just one boss, quicken decisions and avoids confusion
Direct foreign investment
a method of investment in which a company builds a new business or buys an existing business in a foreign country
dominant design
a new technological design or process that becomes the accepted market standard
BCG matrix
a portfolio strategy developed by the Boston Consulting Group that categorizes a corporation's businesses by growth rate and relative market share and helps managers decide how to invest corporate funds
competitive inertia
a reluctance to change strategies or competitive practices that have been successful in the past
rare resources
a resource that is not controlled or possessed by many competing firms - necessary for a competitive advantage
nonsubstitutable resources
a resource that produces value or competitive advantage and has no equivalent substitutes or replacements
government import standards
a standard ostensibly established to protect the health and safety of citizens but, in reality, is often used to restrict imports
diversification
a strategy for reducing risk by buying a variety of items (stocks or, in the case of a corporation, types of businesses) so that the failure of one stock or one business does not doom the entire portfolio
stability strategy
a strategy that focuses on improving the way in which the company sells the same products or services to the same customers
retrenchment strategy
a strategy that focuses on turning around very poor company performance by shrinking the size or scope of the business
Explain tariff and non-tariff barriers to foreign trade
a tariff is a direct tax on imported goods Nontariff barriers - nontax methods of increasing the cost or reducing the volume of imported goods. Five types of nontariff barriers: quotas, voluntary export restraints, government import standards, government subsidies, and customs valuation/classification.
compression approach to innovation
an approach to innovation that assumes that incremental innovation can be planned using a series of steps and that compressing those steps can speed innovation - Improved wit Computer aided design
What are the six components that encourage creativity
challenging work, organizational encouragement, supervisory encouragement, work group encouragement, freedom, and a lack of organizational impediments
Generational change
change based on incremental improvements to a dominant technological design such that the improved technology is fully backward compatible with the older technology
design competition
competition between old and new technologies to establish a new technological standard or dominant design
What are Multinational corporations?
corporations that own businesses in two or more countries
unrelated diversification
creating or acquiring companies in completely unrelated businesses
What are the disadvantages of Functional Departmentalization?
cross-department coordination can be difficult, leads to slower decision making and produces managers and workers with narrow experience and expertise
What are the advantages of decentralization
develops employee capabilities throughout the company and leads to faster decision making and more satisfied customers and employees.
What is Geographic Departmentalization?
organizes work and workers into separate units responsible for doing business in particular geographic areas
innovation streams
patterns of innovation over time that can create sustainable competitive advantage
What are the 5 consistent cultural dimensions across countries?
power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and short-term versus long term orientation
What are the advantages and disadvantages of local adaptation?
preferred by local managers who are charged with making the international business successful in their countries, but runs the risk of losing the cost effectiveness and productivity that result from using standardized rules and procedures throughout the world
Explain the Equal pay act of 1963
prohibits unequal pay for males and females doing substantially similar work
competitive advantage
providing greater value for customers than competitors can
What are Subjective performance measures
require that someone judge or assess a workers performance
What is the legal doctrine of wrongful discharge?
requires employers to have a job-relate reason to terminate employees
What are the two basic alternative strategies in strategic reference point theory
risk-avoiding strategy and risk-seeking strategy
What are the advantages and disadvantages of global consistency?
simplifies decisions, but runs the risk of using management procedures poorly suited to particular countries' markets, cultures, and employees
What is Standardization
solving problems by consistently applying the same rules, procedures, and processes
Coca-Cola's vitaminwater business would receive a ____________ designation from the Boston Consulting Group because it has a large share of a fast-growing market.
star
A manager might use customer service survey ratings as ___________ when determining whether his or her company has the processes it needs to develop a sustainable competitive advantage based on superior customer service.
strategic reference points
Refreezing
supporting and reinforcing new changes so that they stick
When a company's resources are valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, and nonsubstitutable, it has a __________________ .
sustainable competitive advantage
Core firms
the central companies in a strategic group
Market commonality
the degree to which two companies have overlapping products, services, or customers in multiple markets
Resource similarity
the extent to which a competitor has similar amounts and kinds of resources
What is task interdependence
the extent to which collective action is required to complete an entire piece of work
Secondary firms
the firms in a strategic group that follow strategies related to but somewhat different from those of the core firms
Core capabilities
the internal decision-making routines, problem-solving processes, and organizational cultures that determine how efficiently inputs can be turned into outputs
What is Decentralization of Authority
the location of a significant amount of authority in the lower levels of the organization
What is Centralization of Authority
the location of most authority at the upper levels of the organization
discontinuous change
the phase of a technology cycle characterized by technological substitution and design competition
incremental change
the phase of a technology cycle in which companies innovate by lowering costs and improving the functioning and performance of the dominant technological design
technological discontinuity
the phase of an innovation stream in which a scientific advance or unique combination of existing technologies creates a significant breakthrough in performance or function
change intervention
the process used to get workers and managers to change their behaviors and work practices
Direct competition
the rivalry between two companies that offer similar products and services, acknowledge each other as rivals, and act and react to each other's strategic actions
Recovery
the strategic actions taken after retrenchment to return to a growth strategy
Why are Matrix organizations difficult to manage?
they lack unity of command
voluntary export restraints
voluntarily imposed limits on the number or volume of products exported to a particular country
distinctive competence
what a company can make, do, or perform better than its competitors
Global consistency
when a multinational company has offices, manufacturing plants, and distribution facilities in different countries and runs them all using the same rules, guidelines, policies, and procedures
creative work environments
workplace cultures in which workers perceive that new ideas are welcomed, valued, and encouraged
Applicants can be asked if they are smokers. True or false?
False. 12 questions you cant ask about in an interview: Children, age, disabilities, physical characteristics, Maiden name, Citizenship, Lawsuits against past employers, Arrest records, smoking, AIDS/HIV, religion, genetic information
What is the difference between functional and dysfunctional turnover?
Functional - loss of poor preforming employees who choose to leave the organization Dysfunctional - loss of high performers who choose to leave
What are the three types of Task Interdependence?
Pooled interdependence - each task contributes to the whole independently Sequential interdependence - work must be performed in succession Reciprocal interdependence - different jobs of groups work together in a back-and-forth manner
What is External Recruiting and how is it accomplished
Process of developing a pool of qualified job applicants from out side the company; Create posts in internet job sites
Explain the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994
Prohibits discrimination against those serving in the armed forces reserve, the National Guard or other uniformed services, guarantees that civilian employees will hold and then restore civilian jobs and benefits for those who have completed uniformed service
What qualifies as age discrimination in the employment act of 1967
Prohibits discrimination in employment decisions against persons age forty and older
What is included in the Genetic information act of 2008
Prohibits discrimination on the basis if genetic information
Explain the Americans with disabilities act of 1990
Prohibits discrimination on the basis of physical or mental disabilities
Explain the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, or national origin
What is Internal Recruiting and how is it accomplished
Promoting people from within the organization; Job posting and creating a career path
Portfolio strategy
a corporate-level strategy that minimizes risk by diversifying investment among various businesses or product lines - the more businesses in which a corporation competes, the smaller its overall chances of failing
Strategic dissonance
a discrepancy between a company's intended strategy and the strategic actions managers take when implementing that strategy
What is reengineering
Changes an organization's orientation from vertical to horizontal, changes the task inter dependence. Companies do this to achieve huge improvements in performance
What are global new ventures and why are they more achievable now then in the past?
Companies founded with an active global strategy. Three trends, 1) quick reliable air travel, low-cost communication technologies, critical mass of people with extensive experience in all aspects of global business
Human Resource Information System
Computerized System for gathering, analyzing, storing, and disseminating information related to the HRM process
Specific External Environment
Customers, competitors, suppliers, Industry Specific Laws/Regulations, Advocacy Groups
what are the four kinds of adaptive strategies
Defenders - seek moderate, steady growth by offering a limited range of products and services to a well-defined set of customers Prospectors - seek fast growth by searching for new market opportunities, encouraging risk taking, and being the first to bring innovative new products to market Analyzers - are a blend of the defender and prospector strategies. (copies prospectors) Reactors - do not follow a consistent strategy. Rather than anticipating and preparing for external opportunities and threats, reactors tend to react to changes in their external environment after they occur (worst).
What 3 characteristics cause environmental uncertainty
Environmental change, resource scarcity, environmental complexity
What are the provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993?
Permits workers to take up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave for pregnancy and/or birth of a new child, adoption or foster care of a new child, illness of an immediate family member or personal medical leave
Explain the difference between a Graphic Rating Scale and a Behavioral Observation Scale
In a Behavioral Observation Scale you rate the frequency of behaviors related to the job being preformed in a graphic rating scale you rate the quality of the work preformed
What are the benefits and disadvantages to exporting
It makes the company less dependent on sales in its home market and provides a greater degree of control over research, design, and production decisions Disadvantages: exported goods are subject to tariff and nontariff barriers that can substantially increase their final cost to consumers, transportation costs can significantly increase the price of an exported product, and companies that export depend on foreign importers for product distribution.
What is the difference between job description and job specification
Job description is work centered and job specifications are worker-centered. A hybrid is the most common in job analysis
What is frame-of-reference training
Job performance raters receive training by watching a video of an employee doing work and rating their performance. They then contrast their evaluation to the evaluation of an expert to see if their rating is accurate. This process is repeated until there is no difference between the expert and the trainees
What are Objective performance measures
Measures of performance that are easily and directly counted or quantified
Explain the Central Tendency rating error
Occurs when assessors rate all workers as average or in the middle of the scale
Explain the Leniency rating error
Occurs when assessors rate all workers as performing particularly well
Explain the Halo rating error
Occurs when assessors rate all workers as preforming at the same level (good, bad, or average) in all parts of their jobs
Optimum Span of control depends on
Organizaton size, nature of organization, nature of job, Manager skills/ competencies, employee skills, type of manager/employee interaction
What is functional departmentalization
Organizing work and workers into separate units responsible for particular business functions of areas of expertise. Common in small, young companies
What is employee turnover?
The loss of employees who voluntarily choose to leave the company
Span of Control
The number of subordinates beneath any given supervisor
What is the Chain of Command?
The vertical line of authority that clarifies who reports to whom throughout the organization.
What are the 3 types of Interviews
Unstructured, structured, and semi-structured
Is there an anti-discrimination measure for pregnant women?
Yes, Pregnancy discrimination act of 1978
grand strategy
a broad corporate-level strategic plan used to achieve strategic goals and guide the strategic alternatives that managers of individual businesses or subunits may use
customs classification
a classification assigned to imported products by government officials that affects the size of the tariff and the imposition of import quotas
Unfreezing
getting the people affected by change to believe that change is needed
subsidies
government loans, grants, and tax deferments given to domestic companies to protect them from foreign competition
trade barriers
government-imposed regulations that increase the cost and restrict the number of imported goods - 2 kinds tariffs and non-tariff barriers
Google was exhibiting a _______________ when it acquired YouTube, Picasa, and Android.
growth strategy
What are the advantages to Geographic Departmentalization?
helps companies respond to the demands of different markets, reduce costs by locating unique organizational resources closer to customers
One of the four components of a sustainable competitive advantage, the _____________ _________________ resource is very hard for other firms to copy.
imperfectly imitable
Describe an unstructured interview
interviewers are free to ask applicants anything they want. Half as accurate as structured interviews at predicting which job applicants should be hired, because interviewers ask different questions
How does reengineering hurt morale and performance?
it allows a few workers to do the work formerly done by many, reengineering is simply a corporate code word for cost cutting and worker layoffs
What are the disadvantages to Geographic Departmentalization?
it can lead to duplication of resources and it can be difficult to coordinate departments that are literally thousands of miles from each other and whose managers have very limited contact with each other
What is the best way to manage turnover?
link pay directly to performance
local adaptation
modifying rules, guidelines, policies, and procedures to adapt to differences in foreign customers, governments, and regulatory agencies
What four questions are typically asked in structured interviews
•Situational questions "what would you do if ...?" - good for hiring new graduate •Behavioral questions "In previous jobs, tell me about ...?" - for experienced individuals •Background questions "Tell me about the training you received at ...?" •Job-knowledge questions "give me an example of a time when one of your patients has a severe reaction to a medication. How did you handle it?"
