Management MindTap Questions

Project progress needs to be reviewed at preestablished times during development called_________

milestones

When a new technology is introduced, performance improvements occur very rapidly.

False

three steps to behavioral or attitudinal change occur in the following order:

1.Unfreezing, when people become aware of a need to change and stop doing what they have been doing in the past 2.Change, when people try out new behaviors or acquire new skills 3.Refreezing, when people establish new behaviors as habits

Occasionally, planning can lead to several drawbacks. Which of the following are pitfalls to planning? Check all that apply.

Top-level managers can become detached, planning for things they don't understand Planning can create a false sense of certainty

3. Companies that use a focus strategy have narrow buyer groups.

True

Once technology reaches the top of the S-curve, it takes a radical change to produce significant performance improvements.

True

__________________ is the most difficult kind of diversification to make successful in the long run.

Unrelated diversification

The best decision-making technique to use for teams that do not meet face-to-face is:

the Delphi technique. (method of systematically gathering judgments of experts to reach a decision on an issue or idea.)

Decision making steps:

1. Define Problem 2. Identify the decision criteria 3. Weigh the decision criteria 4. Generate alternative courses of action 5. Evaluate each alternative 6. Compute the optimal decision

Identify the order in which the planning steps are usually taken.

1. Set goals 2. Develop commitment to goals 3. Develop an effective action plan 4. Track progress toward goal achievement 5. Maintain flexibility

Advantages of group decision making

Better decisions generally emerge. Enhanced communication of the decision may result. More acceptance of the final decision is likely. More alternatives are likely to be generated. More information and knowledge are available.

When conducting a SWOT analysis, budgets, ratios, and sales reports can be used to identify:

Company strengths and weaknesses

Disadvantages of group decision making

Equality bias, which causes individuals to treat all group members as equally competent. The process takes longer than individual decision making, so it is costlier. One person may dominate the group. Groupthink may occur.

1. Businesses that do not adopt a differentiation, low-cost leadership, or focus strategy tend to be more successful than businesses that do adopt these strategies.

False

2. Employee abilities to create innovative products are critical for companies that adopt a low-cost leadership strategy.

False

New versions of Microsoft's Office products, such as Word and PowerPoint, allow users to read documents produced in older versions of the products. This is an example of:

Generational change (A generational change occurs when incremental improvements are made to a dominant technological design such that the improved version of the technology is fully backward compatible with the older version.)

Which type of encouragement? Although the designers at 2K Sports all have different backgrounds and education, they are committed to producing the best possible video games.

Group work

Firm-level strategies ask:

How should we compete against a particular firm?

Which type of plan? We are known for our operating efficiency and for reducing insurance costs for our customers.

Mission Statement

Which type of plan? Each human resource employee will use advertisements and personal networking to attract at least 10 qualified applicants per open position.

Operational

Which type of encouragement? At 3M, employees can spend 15% of their time working on creative projects of their choice. Post-It notes and Scotch tape were developed during employees' 15% time.

Organizational

Which type of plan? We will eliminate redundancies throughout the corporation to decrease our overall expenses by 20%.

Strategic

Which type of encouragement? At McDonald's, executives support the chefs that create new menu items in the test kitchen by allowing them to live-test the new items in a few locations.

Supervisory

Which type of plan? The Human Resource Division will reduce the overall cost of fulfilling employment requisitions by eliminating the use of outside recruiting agencies.

Tactical

An action plan contains which of the following elements needed to meet a goal? Check all that apply.

They contain the specific steps that will be taken to achieve the goal (how), the people who will be involved in goal attainment (who), and the time period in which the goal is expected to be finished (when). Action plans do not typically contain a philosophy or goal alternatives.

Next, you and Matt discuss some of the problems that can occur in the various phases in the decision-making process. For example, when generating alternative courses of action, Matt should be careful:

To generate new ideas, instead of considering only tried and true solutions

Companies use technology cycles and innovation streams for which of the following purposes? Check all that apply.

To protect themselves from strategic threats To respond to environmental change To create a competitive advantage

According to John Kotter, managers make the following mistakes when trying to achieve organizational change:

UNFREEZING 1. Not establishing a great enough sense of urgency 2. Not creating a powerful enough guiding coalition CHANGE 3. Lacking a vision 4. Undercommunicating the vision by a factor of 10 5. Not removing obstacles to the new vision 6. Not systematically planning for and creating short-term wins REFREEZING 7. Declaring victory too soon 8. Not anchoring changes in the corporation's culture

One of the four components of a sustainable competitive advantage, _____ resource is impossible or extremely costly or difficult for other firms to duplicate.

an imperfectly imitable

You have decided to start a new exercise program. When you wake up on the first morning of your program and put on your sneakers to go for a run instead of rolling over and going back to sleep, you are in the________part of the change process.

change

When determining whether or not two firms are direct competitors, one can consider the level of __________ and_______________________ .

market commonality; resource similarity

When a company purchases another business that does something similar to what the purchasing company does, the purchasing company is using a strategy of____________diversification .

related diversification

The marketing and sales departments at a local newspaper had conflicting goals, which prevented both teams from being successful. Management decided to set complementary goals for both teams. This is an example of:

removal of impediments. (Removing impediments like internal conflict and power struggles, rigid management structures, and a conservative bias toward the status quo can increase creativity. Creating complementary goals and removing the conflicting goals helped the marketing and sales teams.)