CH 1 Exam Questions

Which type of system interacts with its environment?

Open

Which type of managers are concerned with creating and managing the systems that create an organization's products and services?

Operations

Whose works should you study if you want to understand the origins of the recognition of the importance of human resources and the personal welfare of workers?

Robert Owen

Which type of management perspective deals with improving the performance of individual employees?

Scientific

As a first-line manager, Payal spends a lot of time training her employees and answering questions about work-related problems. Which type of fundamental skill does Payal use to do this?

Technical

Which type of management skills are necessary to accomplish the specific kind of work done in an organization?

Technical

Why is it important for managers to study history?

The historical context can help managers avoid the mistakes of others

Rene is a manager at a medium-size hospital. She has basic familiarity with all functional areas necessary to manage the hospital. Which type of manager is she?

Administrative

The need to provide structure and direction to enable a growing group of middle managers to plan, organize, lead, and control calls for which management perspective within the new top management team?

Administrative

Which area of classical management should you study to learn more about managing the total organization?

Administrative

Who or what could a manager study to see an early example of how a staff organization was used to coordinate activities during military campaigns?

Alexander the Great

Ugar is a manager who likes change. When people become complacent, he tries to shake things up to reenergize them. Ugar is likely to see change management as:

An opportunity

Which type of management skills refer to the manager's ability to correctly recognize and define problems and opportunities?

Decision-making

What is the relationship between quality and productivity?

Improving quality tends to increase productivity because making higher-quality products generally results in less waste and rework.

What distinguishes the behavioral management perspective from earlier management theories?

It placed more emphasis on individual attitudes, behaviors, and group processes.

Aviva has mathematical models that she relies on at the start of each new project to determine how to allocate the resources within her department. Aviva is making use of _____.

management science

During her recent annual performance review, Arayla was highly rated on her ability to prioritize work, to work efficiently, and to delegate work appropriately. Which management skills does Arayla use to accomplish these things?

time management

Synergy refers to _____.

two or more subsystems working together to be more successful than working alone

Which type of manager would be responsible for supervising and coordinating the activities of operating employees?

First-line manager

Teresita has several open positions at her firm. What could Teresita's firm offer Millennial candidates to attract them to her firm?

Flexibility in work arrangements

Why is the contingency perspective different from universal perspectives?

It does not attempt to identify the one best way.

Dajhia is currently a first-line manager, and wants to move up into middle management. What job title should she look for when looking at her company's internal job postings?

Plant manager

What is a theory?

A conceptual framework for organizing knowledge and providing a blueprint for action

How can managers use knowledge of theory and history in contemporary organizations?

As the basis for new, personal theories

Which of the following is a potential drawback to the quantitative management perspective?

Assumptions may not be realistic.

In some countries, it is expected that people shake hands when they are introduced. In other cultures, the appropriate action is to bow slightly or to exchange business cards. These are examples of which type of process that vary in a global economy?

Behavioral

Which management perspective helps contemporary managers recognize the importance of employees as valuable resources instead of mere tools?

Behavioral

Manoj is very good at transmitting ideas to others, coordinating work with peers and colleagues, and keeping higher-level managers informed. In other words, Manoj excels at which type of skills?

Communication

Which skills are particularly important in the art (as opposed to the science) of management?

Communication

Nila applied for a management position in her organization, but did not get it. She was told she had not yet demonstrated the ability to think in the abstract and did not seem to grasp how all the parts of the organization fit together. Which type of management skill does Nila need to work on?

Conceptual

Avec runs an organization that is in a rapidly changing environment. Which management perspective should Avec take when planning how to respond to changes in the environment?

Contingency

Which perspective suggests that because each situation is unique, universal theories cannot be applied by organizations?

Contingency

What is often at the center of debates on ethics and social responsibility?

Corporate governance

What is the term that describes differences among people?

Diversity

What is true regarding quality as a contemporary management challenge?

Enhancing quality lowers costs.

What might occur to an organization when it does not monitor feedback from its environment and make adjustments as needed?

Entropy

Which of the following refers to a normal process leading to system decline?

Entropy

Ira is a manager at a textile company. He and his staff are focused on accounting, cash management, and investment activities. In which area of the company does Ira work?

Finance

Who was one of the earliest advocates of scientific management?

Frederick Taylor

What was Henri Fayol's contribution to the field of management?

He was the first to identify the specific managerial functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.

As a middle manager, what might Yui's job entail?

Implementing policies and plans

When suppliers and customers have a question about the organization's products, they talk with Aisha, who helps them to understand the products. Which type of skills would be especially important for Aisha in her interactions with them?

Interpersonal

What is often considered to be the most important and most challenging of all management activities?

Leading

Which field of management typically works with clients and consumers in areas such as new product development, promotion, and distribution?

Marketing

Julius just got promoted and now has the title of division head. In terms of his level in the organization, what type of manager is Julius?

Middle manager

Many managers are facing an increased work pace, less time to think through a decision, and more information to process. This can all be tied to which contemporary management challenge?

New technology

Which of the following influences patterns of work-related behavior and attitudes toward work?

Norms

Which approach in management acknowledges that human behavior is much more complex than the human relationists realized?

Organizational behavior

Neil's department was recently assigned a new project. His next task on the project is to determine how his people and other resources will be allocated to the project. At this point, which managerial function is Neil tackling?

Organizing

What is a Theory X assumption?

People prefer to be directed and to avoid responsibility.

Selecting the course of action that would most likely lead to success would be included in which management function?

Planning

When considering the basic management functions, decision making is part of which process?

Planning

Ramkumar is the head of human resources at a large firm. For the past few years, his firm has had a difficult time hiring and retaining employees. What can Ramkumar do to better attract and retain today's workers?

Provide new and different incentives.

Management science and operations management are the two branches of which management theory?

Quantitative

Supply chain management and enterprise resource planning are both management concepts that were evolved from which management perspective and use of models to solve problems?

Quantitative

Logan Chemicals has a long history of dumping waste in a local stream. Recently, it has made major efforts to reduce pollution in order to help clean up the environment. Logan Chemicals is responding to which contemporary management challenge?

Social responsibility

Whenever Jena's Juice introduces a new flavor, the company donates five cents for each unit sold to fund breast cancer research. Jena's Juice is responding to which contemporary management challenge?

Social responsibility

Lupita's company is slowly recovering from the most recent economic recession. While the recession forced her firm to make tough decisions, it also enabled her to reframe her company. What might Lupita have done during the recession that will make the company stronger in the long run?

Streamline operating procedures

Which of the following includes inputs, transformation processes, outputs, and feedback in a way that allows them to function as an interrelated set of elements?

System

Anke assumed that, like her, all of her students would want to earn the highest grades possible and that would motivate them to do their best work. She was surprised to discover that many students were happy to just "get by" with an average grade. When she meets with students, she accepts average work from students who seem less concerned with their grade, but challenges good students to do even better. Anke's experience is consistent with which view of management?

The contingency perspective

Raphael believes that a single set of rules should be applied to all employees in all situations, with no variation. Juan, on the other hand, feels that employees and situations are unique. Rules should either be written with options to apply to different situations or, ideally, they should be flexible. Juan's position is best aligned with which view of management?

The contingency perspective

Zereth recently made a lateral move in the company and now oversees a new department. She has mentioned to a friend that the management style she used in her former department is falling flat with her new staff. They do not seem to respond to the same sorts of incentives, and she is looking for new ways to motivate and encourage them. Zereth's experience is consistent with which view of management?

The contingency perspective

Paramita believes that people naturally do not like work , and as a manager, she must control, direct, coerce, and even threaten her employees to get them to work toward the organization's goals. Paramita's management style is informed by which view within the behavioral management perspective?

Theory X

Which is a pessimistic and negative view of workers consistent with the views of scientific management that claims people do not like work and try to avoid it?

Theory X

Hua believes that people view work as a natural part of their lives. As a manager, he feels that he can get the best out of his staff by creating an environment in which they will seek and accept responsibility and where they will receive personal rewards when they reach certain goals. Hua's management style is informed by which view within the behavioral management perspective?

Theory Y

What is generally true about management theories that are used to build organizations and guide them to their goals?

They are grounded in reality

Why is the planning and decision making function important to managers in an organization?

To determine how to allocate resources

Nour 's responsibilities include creating organizational goals and overall strategy for the organization. In terms of her level in the organization, what type of manager is Nour?

Top manager

Woojin often meets with government officials and executives of other organizations to shape policy and industry standards. Which level of management is Woojin?

Top manager

Management can best be defined as _____.

achieving organizational goals in an efficient and effective manner

Cora is an operations manager for a privately owned Midwestern trucking company. She spends the first day of each month reviewing the previous month's productivity levels and compares that information against monthly goals. This basic management function is known as _____.

controlling

Neil's department has come in behind schedule on its last three projects. He determined that initial specifications did not always match up with the actual demands of the project, meaning that department resources were not properly allocated and schedules could not be met. Neil introduced a project start-up procedure that would gather more information in order to verify the accuracy of the specifications before the schedule was written and the resources allocated. This scenario illustrates Neil's _____.

diagnostic skills

When the right decisions are made and implemented, the management process is considered to be _____.

effective

Many brick-and-mortar stores are facing challenges from online sales companies. According to systems theory, a primary objective of management at these traditional companies would be to keep pace with these changes in the marketplace in order to avoid _____.

entropy

The availability of natural resources and the variation in government regulation are just two of the challenges posed by _____.

globalization

Geert runs a medium-size agricultural company and is facing conditions of rapid growth and labor supply shortages. If Geert adopts the principles of behavioral management theory, he is most likely to address his immediate concerns using _____.

industrial psychology

The purchasing department at a printing business begins buying higher quality and more expensive paper. This leads to higher costs and cash flow problems identified by the finance department. Marketing notes that prices must be increased slightly, but that customer satisfaction improves, leading to more sales. According to the systems perspective, this scenario is an illustration of a subsystem with _____.

interdependence

An individual who gets along well with others at all levels in the organization is said to have good _____.

interpersonal skills

What is a characteristic of the art, rather than the science, of management?

intuition

Because operations management is less mathematical and statistically less sophisticated than management science, _____.

it can be applied more directly to managerial situations

Apoorva is known to take a very scientific approach to management. When making decision, she seems to be _____.

logical

The managerial function of controlling involves _____.

monitoring an organization's progress toward its goals

Jinhua discovered that many of his employees were deliberately working at a pace lower than their capabilities in order to get more hours. Learning from the work of Frederick W. Taylor, Jinhua implemented a piecework pay system based on output in order to eliminate _____.

soldiering

According to the systems perspective, the marketing, production, or finance functions of a company would all be considered _____ .

subsystems

DynaView produced a cartoon program that became extremely popular. DynaView went on to create toys and games based on the characters in the program, launch a breakfast cereal featuring the program's characters, and start a line of children's clothing. All of these separate divisions within DynaView benefit from the success of the others. In this situation, according to the systems perspective, DynaView is benefiting from _____.

synergy