Management Ch 8

________ refers to gathering information about competitors that allows managers to anticipate competitors' actions rather than merely react to them

Competitor intelligence

Which of the following is true of competitor intelligence as a means of environmental scanning?

Competitor intelligence is ethical if competitor-related information is collected from sources accessible and available to the public

Which of the following is true of the impact of formal planning on organizational performance?

Formal planning is associated with positive financial results.

________ is a process of setting mutually-agreed upon goals and using those goals to evaluate employee performance

Management by objectives

Which aspect of planning refers to documents that outline how results are to be achieved?

Plans

Which of the following is the first step in MBO?

The organization's overall objectives and strategies are formulated.

How can managers effectively plan when the external environment is continually changing?

They should be ready to change directions if environmental conditions warrant.

Which of the following is true of the traditional approach to planning

This approach makes managerial planning thorough, systematic, and coordinated

Long-term plans are defined as those with a time frame beyond ________.

Three Years

Considering the characteristics of well-written goals, which of the following would be a well-written goal for the above scenario?

To invoice merchandise worth $ 200,000, every month, for the next three years.

Which of the following statements is true regarding an organization's goals?

Using a single goal such as profit may result in unethical behaviors by employees.

An organization's mission states that it "is committed to reducing its environmental footprint"; but its facilities do not comply with statutory environmental regulations. This is an instance of how ________.

an organizations stated goals need not be its real goals

The effect of planning on managers is that it forces them to ________.

anticipate and respond to change

Organizational plans can be classified on the basis of all of the following characteristics, except on the basis of their ________.

attainability

A manager's analysis of the external environment can be improved by ________, which involves screening information to detect emerging trends

environmental scanning

Which of the following factors has contributed to the decline in the number of years used to define short-term and long-term plans?

environmental uncertainty

An organization is in the process of goal setting. It has finished reviewing the organization's mission. What should it do next?

evaluate available resources

The commitment concept says that plans should ________.

extend far enough to meet those commitments made when the plans were developed

Goals are different from plans because ________.

goals are desired outcomes, and plans describe how those outcomes will be accomplished

Strategic plans are usually ________.

long term, directional, and single use

A ________ is an integrated network of goals in which the accomplishment of goals at one level serves as the means for achieving the goals, or ends, at the next level.

means-ends chain

A ________ is a broad statement of an organization's purpose that provides an overall guide to what organizational members think is important

mission

Which of the following is the last step in goal setting?

review results and whether goals are being met

When uncertainty is high, plans should be ________ and ________.

specific; flexible

When making editorial decisions for his newspaper, Robert Downs mostly picks issues that are in line with his political beliefs and those that his advertisers approve of. For instance, he recently chose not to publish a story about how a large local manufacturer, one of the paper's biggest advertisers, was flouting environmental regulations. This indicates that ________.

the company's stated goals are not its real goals

In ________, goals set by top managers flow down through the organization and become subgoals for each organizational area.

traditional goal setting

An organization's ________ goals are official statements of what an organization says, and what it wants its stakeholders to believe its goals are.

stated

Robert Downs is in the process of setting up a small community newspaper in his home town of Corning, New York. As a first step, he sets the following goal for his company: "To be a champion for free speech and for the development of the community." This goal is to appear clearly on top of every page of the newspaper. The above goal constitutes the ________ goal of the company

strategic

Most company's goals can be classified as either ________ or ________.

strategic; financial

Imagine that you are the owner of a small company that sells corporate gifts through an online store. You employ about 20 people. However, business has slowed down in recent months and you realize that the organization must move in a different direction if it is to survive. You have reset some of the company's overall goals and want to develop a plan to achieve those goals. You are anticipating the business environment to be volatile for next few years. Considering the above information, it can be determined that your plan must be ________, ________, and ________.

strategic; specific; flexible

What plans are preferable when uncertainty is high in the business environment?

Directional plans

The ________ Act makes it a crime in the United States to engage in stealth of a trade secret.

Economic Espionage

Directional plans are clearly defined and leave no room for interpretation.

False

In the management by objectives (MBO) process of goal setting, goals are not well-defined, giving managers and employees more flexibility to respond to changing conditions

False

Most businesses have only the single goal of making profits.

False

Planning is concerned with how objectives are to be accomplished, not what is to be accomplished

False

Several research studies have conclusively proven that planning organizations always outperform nonplanning organizations

False

Strategic goals focus exclusively on the financial performance of the organization

False

The first step in goal setting is to evaluate available resources

False

The number of years used to define short-term and long-term plans has increased considerably because of the greater environmental certainty businesses have today.

False

Absence of planning does not inhibit the ability of departments and individuals to work together or organizations to move.

Fasle

The statement that each store should have sales equal to or greater than $100 per square foot per day is an example of

Financial goal

Downs wants to formulate a plan that lays out general guidelines for his employees and leaves room for interpretation. Which of the following types of plans would best suit his requirement?

directional

Which of the following reflects the way goals are set in an MBO program?

Apart from being used to ensure that employees are doing what they are supposed to be doing, goals are used as a motivating tool for employees.

________ involves the theft of proprietary materials or trade secrets by any means.

Corporate espionage

________ plans are plans that are clearly defined and leave no room for interpretation

Specific

Top executives are mainly involved in ________ planning

Strategic

When uncertainty is high and managers must be flexible in order to respond to unexpected changes, directional plans are preferable.

True

Which of the following is one of the problems associated with traditional goal setting?

Transition of strategic goals into departmental, team, and individual goals is difficult

As managers plan, they develop both goals and plans

True

Dynamic environments require a flatter organizational hierarchy in order to plan effectively.

True

Planning provides direction to managers and nonmanagers alike.

True

Short-term plans are those covering one year or less

True

The standard procedure to be followed by the human resources department of a company when initiating disciplinary action against an employee is an example of a standing plan.

True

Which of the following is one of the reasons why managers should plan?

When work activities are coordinated around plans, inefficiencies become obvious

Which of the following is an example of a standing plan?

a fire escape policy establishing practices to be followed in an emergency

Which of the following is the best indicator of an organization's real goals?

organizational members' actions

Which of the following is one of the elements of a management by objectives (MBO) program?

participative decision making

When is the traditional top-down approach to planning most likely to be effective?

when plans are developed that can actually be used by organizational members