Principles of Management

W. Edwards Deming, a key developer and strategist behind Total Quality Management (TQM), broke down the 14 points of business practice into which of the following four categories?

1. Plan; 2. Do; 3. Check; 4. Act

Which of the following BEST describes the Path-Goal Theory of Management?

A clear direction is set for employees to meet their objectives.

What transpires when there is entropy in an organization's system?

A lack of predictability

Which of the following items is a core tenet of the Total Quality Management (TQM) organizational approach to business management?

A philosophy that intends to meet and exceed customer expectations

What is Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory?

A theory that considers unique aspects of cultures and rates them on a scale for comparison.

Which item describes an explicit attempt by a company's management to focus on the customer?

Adopting a company-wide philosophy that the customer is always right

When would a manager be considered to have used coercive power in an organization?

After writing up an employee for not meeting productivity expectations

Which of the following is considered to be a motivational need according to David McClelland's Acquired Needs Theory?

All answers are correct. (Achievement, Affiliation, Power)

Which of the following illustrates an extrinsic reward?

All answers are correct. (Margaret received a raise for reaching a sales quota, Because the company is flourishing, a manager allows the employees to take a day off with pay., Philip was awarded a plaque for 25 years of service.)

Sheryl realizes that during team meetings, members never share their opinions about new and/or existing ideas. Sheryl spoke to one of her manager peers about the situation, who informed her that her group was participating in a concept known as groupthink. What advice did she give to Sheryl to help reduce the existence of groupthink in her group?

All of the answers are correct. (Clearly define all decision-making rules and processes, Appoint a devil's advocate who will challenge ideas and decisions, Support productive arguments and conflicts)

Jack is the operations manager at a local bank. What major function will he display in his management role?

All the answers are correct (Control, Lead, Plan)

Like external forces, internal forces influence organizational change. What aspect of the organization does the internal environment influence?

All the answers are correct (Employee attitudes, Organizational culture, Organizational decisions)

What is the significance of division of labor to an organizational manager?

Allows the manager to break down tasks into smaller ones

ABC company is faced with a series of lawsuit threats from customers who have been dissatisfied with a specific product. Management is worried that the firm may have to pay huge fines if they are not able to settle those disputes with customers quickly. Harry has been appointed as the leader of the management team to deal with the crisis ABC is facing. What leadership style should Harry adopt in order to most effectively handle this emergency?

Authoritarian leadership style

Which well-known theory did the Hawthorne studies pave the way for?

Behavioral management Theory

Larry was the project manager of his company assigned to build new building to house inventory. John, a member of Larry's team was required to secure machinery for the project. Which aspect of operations management was John involved in?

Capital requirements

Jack wants to use a decision tree to help him in his decision making process. Which of the following is something Jack can use a decision tree for?

Capture his thoughts

James and Marvin are two managers working for the same department in their company. James' tasks continue to change on a continuous basis, which allows him to manage only six employees at a time. Marvin, on the other hand, works with tasks that are generally fixed or hardly ever change. Marvin manages 20 employees. Which organization type best defines the type of organization where James and Marvin works?

Centralized

In the norming stage of group development, which of the following best describes the relationship between group members?

Cohesive

Brian realizes that his sales managers work very well together and they seem very arrogant about their group and their accomplishments. He also realizes that they embrace some common habits and customs that he believes is adding to their level of arrogance. Brian feels that his team is very resistant to change. What could Brian do to help him determine why his sales managers are resistant to change and help bring about change to them?

Conduct a field force analysis

Jose is in the planning step of management. What functions will a manager be required to perform during this step?

Create a detailed action plan

Company ABC set up a team of employees which comprised individuals from sales, marketing, finance, and IT department to work on improving its marketing strategy. Which type of team does this best represent for ABC?

Cross-functional

Jon is leading a group of employees from his company to develop their customer relationship management system. Since members of the team are experts in their specific fields, they can make their own decisions without needing to consult with Jon. Jon's team is an example of what type of team?

Cross-functional

Paul is having some serious issues trying to figure what is going wrong with his team that they are not meeting production goals. He came to Jen for help. Jen told Paul that he needs to know exactly what he is trying to fix. Which part of the decision making process did Jen introduce Paul to?

Define the problem

What does the organizing step of managerial function comprise of?

Delegating work

Mark has been assigned a new project and wants to use a PERT analysis to help him along the way. What does Mark need to do before he begins using PERT?

Determine the tasks that will be assigned to the project

Ryan believes that it is time for his company to expand since it has been growing so rapidly. He knows that this is a major move for his organization and wants to ensure that the company is very successful at managing this change. Ryan wants to ensure that his company creates and follows a logical sequence of steps to ensure the objectives of the change are fully accomplished. How should Ryan move on since he has already identified the need for change?

Develop change goals

In bureaucracy, what does competence imply?

Employees are promoted based on their ability to do their work.

Which of the following best represents an individual who is in the decisional role of manager?

Entrepreneur

Identify the correct order of the first three steps in the strategic management process.

Environmental scanning, strategy formation, and strategy implementation

When management suggests there will be raises and promotions available to employees who work longer hours they are using _____

Expectancy Theory.

Which of these describes factors outside of the control of the company that have the potential to influence an organization's current operations, growth, and long-term sustainability?

External environment

Which of the following is not considered turnover for a company?

Fernando is reassigned to a new position in another state

The three dimensions which affect situation favorableness are task structure, leader/member relations, and positioning power. If these three dimensions are high, situation favorableness occurs. Which of the following leadership theories embodies these three elements?

Fiedler's Contingency Theory

The economic environment impacts which of the following?

Financial stability

A type of budget that allows for changes as a business's situation changes is the _____ Budget.

Flexible

James is the assembly line manager of an auto manufacturer. He is very cautious in ensuring that he employs a meticulous approach in documenting each task in the workflow of his employees. What is James doing by taking this precise approach?

Following Frederick Taylor's work

How many managerial absolutes did Philip B. Crosby develop in his contributions to Total Quality Management (TQM), as related to quality assurance?

Four

What type of behavior would a leader with low LPC, task oriented, and situation unfavorable typically display?

Give strict directions

What significant study was conducted to discover ways for increasing employee productivity?

Hawthorne studies

Sourcing and hiring of new employees, evaluating the performance of employees, assessing training needs and providing the training are typically done by the _____ Department.

Human Resources

What is a characteristic of the task and bonus system?

Incentive program

What did Frederick Taylor observe about the shortcomings of system management practices?

Inefficiencies of workers led to low levels of productivity.

Helen's boss observes that her employees are generally engaged in a marginally restricted dialogue with each other during team meetings. What type of communication does Helen seem to be utilizing with her team?

Interpersonal

Individuals who follow the contingency school of management develop contingency plans. Contingency plans, however, are designed to address what aspect of an organization?

Issues that have a negative impact

Which of the following best describes an instance of a manager using the avoidance style of management?

Jim and Donald disagree on a project title and choose to work on the project in separate offices

What are foreign direct investment laws?

Laws that regulate how much profit can be taken out of a company and sent back to the corporate office in the United States.

Bruce Tuckman advanced a group development scheme in 1965 which comprised of four stages. Which of the following is NOT considered one of those stages?

Managing

Who pioneered the concept of transactional leadership?

Max Weber

Large organizations are generally identified as having a formal hierarchy with centralized decision making. What type of organizational structure does this represent?

Mechanistic

During the storming stage of group development, what behavior best represents members of the group?

Members ask questions about leadership, rules, and authority

What is a benefit to a manager with good human skills?

Motivating

Abraham Maslow identified the five basic needs of every human being as physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization. What did he suggest was most necessary in helping an individual fulfill those needs?

Motivation

Tom is a considered a Theory X manager. Which of the following represents his beliefs about his workers?

My workers care about no one else but themselves

Which characteristic describes a mechanistic organizational structure best?

Operate in stable environments

Larry is an employee at XYZ company. He observed that his company has a rigid chain of management where authority is channeled from top to bottom. Larry believes that his organization is a centralized organization. What other characteristic would support Larry's viewpoint concerning a centralized organization?

Operations are kept close to top management

What is an important component that helps an organization meet its objectives and serves as the glue that holds everything together?

Organizational Communication

Operations management represents a significant aspect of an organization. Which of the following is NOT an activity of operations management?

Organizing data

Allen likes to see his employees totally engaged in their work. He believes that his employees should demonstrate a high level of productivity and should be satisfied with their job. Allen constantly takes the time to show his employees that they are valuable to the team. What type of leader should best represent Allen's leadership style?

Participative

While conducting Janice's annual performance review, Rick, her supervisor, told her that if she was willing to apply herself, she could grow with the company. Rick told Janice that for the next month she should develop some personal professional development goals and direct her energy towards those goals. Which discipline of the characteristic of a learning organization was Rick making reference to in his discussion with Janice?

Personal mastery

Which example demonstrates application of the ISO 9000 'involvement of people' principle?

Placement of employees in organizational positions that best utilize their skills and talents

ABC company has been receiving complaints from their customers concerning one of their products. Customer are complaining that the product does not fully satisfy their needs. What process does ABC company need to go through in order to solve this problem?

Reengineering

According to Henry Mintzberg, what is a specific responsibility for an individual who functions in the monitor role of a business?

Researching useful information about competitors

Paul is well on his way to solving his team's issues. He has already defined the problem. Where should he go next?

Review all the factors that could stop him from actually solving the problem

Followers of a transformational leader expect the leader to personify what kind of characteristic?

Role model

Which of these is an example of the planning function of management?

Sally understands how taxes are handled in a foreign country and how it will impact her business.

When a manager is tasked with introducing the change process, he must create the guiding coalition. In order to create the guiding coalition, what should the manager do first?

Select and recruit team members

Brandon believes that he is ready to work hard so that he can reach his full potential for the team. Which of the five basic needs identified by Maslow is Brandon implying that he is ready to fulfill?

Self-actualization

Hersey-Blanchard's Model of Situational Leadership incorporates a matrix of leadership styles. Which of the following illustrates the leadership styles in the Hersey-Blanchard Leadership Style matrix?

Sell, tell, delegate, participate

Harry realized that to help his communicating skills, he needed to initiate the communication process instead of his employees. Which component of the communication process does Harry represent?

Sender

A leader may oftentimes strive to help subordinates reach their personal best, celebrate employee development, and make every effort to lead through service. These leadership traits represent what type of leader?

Servant

What impact has the Hawthorne studies had on employee motivation?

Shaped the manner in which employee motivation is accounted for

Which was an outcome of the industrial revolution?

Significant increase in production

Which is NOT a characteristic of the planning step of the managerial function?

Sketchy

What are terminal elements?

Smaller, more intricate tasks that need to be completed as part of a larger task

John wants to promote one of his employees to lead the new production team. He prefers to promote an employee with a low LPC score. Which attributes would an employee have if he or she has a low LPC score?

Someone who is effective in favorable and unfavorable situations

External forces have a significant influence on organizational change. Which of the following is an example of an external force?

Technology

Several of the Global Lighting sales staff are considered high-task, high-relationship employees on the Hersey-Blanchard's situational leadership matrix. Which of the following best describes the level of training possessed by these employees? The employees are ready, willing, and able to perform

The employees don't posses the skills or abilities required to perform, but they are confident and very eager to learn.

Jennifer has a Machiavellian style approach to management. What type of philosophy is Jennifer relaying to her subordinates?

The ends justify the means.

What did Frederick Taylor use time and motion to determine?

The length of time it would take an individual to complete an assignment when the correct movement is applied

Which is most suitable for a decentralized organization?

The person who receives a task makes the decision

Which of the following is considered necessary for employees to enjoy their jobs and to be successful?

The proper tools to achieve the goals

For what purpose would a manager of an organization use the payback analysis tool?

To decide if a solution to a problem can save money

A company that adopts an organizational approach guided by a framework of continuous and strategic product improvements, practices _____.

Total Quality Management

When a manager shows utmost respect to the cultural norms of communication in the organization, what does this represent in communication?

Understand preferred communication channels

When is it recognizable that an organization is utilizing an open system?

When the organization changes based on customer demands for change

Giving an employee a promotion would involve _____

moving an existing employee to a new position, generally with more responsibility and higher pay.

When a manager encourages an employee to work on his or her own innovative ideas within the workplace, the manager may promote _____.

organizational success.

Actual budgets _____

are not used anywhere in the world.

The main parts of a balance sheet are _____.

assets, liabilities and ownership equity

A car dealership sales manager who uses a factual approach to decision making, would most likely provide _____ to the owners to guide planning for the upcoming year.

current new and used car sales data

When employees learn what is necessary to earn a raise and perform accordingly but do not get the expected raise, the principles of the Pygmalion effect _____

do not explain the outcome.

Effective managers continually look for ways to _____ their employees.

empower

Rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group or culture are known as _____

ethics.

Weekly employee surveys will not help a company _____

evaluate the effectiveness of the training program.

The Human Resources Manager will choose internal recruiting when the company wants to _____

fill an opening with a current employee.

A manager who utilizes the Achievement-Oriented leadership style will likely focus on _____.

having high performance expectations.

Technology training at a warehouse would include teaching employees _____

how to direct computer operated equipment from terminals.

To determine appropriate bonus amounts for staff, management would not _____

prepare a budget.

The income statement is also known as the _____ statement.

profit and loss