Management Midterm

Dean lives in Silver Spring, MD. His 15-year-old car has broken down, and he thinks he needs a new car. He remembers that the first step of the rational decision-making process is "define the problem." What should he consider?

Dean should consider all his transportation options, such as the Metrorail, Uber, or taxis, not just getting a new car.

One graphic representation of the tasks required over the course of a project is called a

Gantt chart

Taylor's Four Principles of Scientific Management included which of the following?

Heartily cooperate with the men to ensure all the work is done in accordance with the science that has been developed.

Many companies are organized along functional lines. In these companies, accountants report to a senior accountant; salespeople report to an executive of sales. These companies follow which organization design thinker from 100 years ago, who said activities that are similar should be the responsibility of one person?

Henri Fayol

The threat of new entrants in Porter's Five Forces analysis is often the most important force affecting an industry. In the food truck industry, for example, it is easy for new firms to enter and compete. The food truck industry would benefit if there were ________, such as required and restricted licenses.

barriers to entry

An important implication of prospect theory is that the way people subjectively frame an outcome affects their decision. Narrow framing is when people evaluate new gambles in isolation, ignoring other relevant risks. This is an example of

bounded rationality

Principles from the ________ school of management were originally designed to prevent favoritism and incompetence.

bureaucratic

Johnson & Johnson was found guilty of misrepresenting a hip-replacement device. Executives knew there was a problem with the device but continued selling it for years. Better attention to Johnson & Johnson's ________ might have saved the company from litigation and penalties.

code of ethics

Financial strength can be a competitive advantage. In the Great Recession, General Motors went bankrupt, but Ford had acquired long-term financing beforehand that carried it through the downturn. This insight is part of

competitive analysis

Kelly has experience and knows there is only one way to run her business—full steam ahead! Dr. Kelly will struggle with the planning cycle that recommends

considering alternatives

Kelly is a pediatrician who opened her own office three years ago. She took a goal-setting class and created seven goals for her organization and managers. This first step in her planning cycle is called

defining objectives

Analytics that try to understand and describe what has taken place are ________. The analyst attempts to explain what the data reveals about the events that have occurred, the relationships between different events and market forces, and why the numbers are what they are.

descriptive

Bureaucratic Management looked at how large organizations with layers of management could operate in an

efficient, rational manner

E-commerce creates a great deal of data on how consumers interact with a website. L.L.Bean keeps records that show how quickly consumers make decisions, how many alternatives they explore, and whether they stop without completing a purchase. When a manager sees an issue and proposes a solution, the company can easily test the solution. This is an example of

evidence-based decision-making

Apple's current vision statement was introduced by CEO Tim Cook, who stated, "We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products." This is part of the ________ role of managers.

informational

A motivation for scientific management, which uses time and motion studies and work standardizations, is to:

make manual labor run more efficiently

Managers encourage, support, and foster talented employees. The managers who focus in this area are

middle managers

Google has unusual work teams. Each team is 3 to 4 people who work independently of other teams, but each team posts weekly to a company blog about what they are doing. Google's management has chosen an unusual

organizational structure

Criticism of Taylor's Scientific Management sparked a new movement called Humanistic Management. This movement shifted management emphasis to

people and work relationships

Kahneman and Tversky used experiments to examine how people actually make decisions about risk. The researchers found a multi-step process with editing and evaluating phases. People showed a strong preference to avoid losses, much more than probability or expected value would suggest. Their name for this process is

prospect theory

The Gilbreth's research provided many important principles that were later incorporated into

quality assurance and quality control programs

Natalie, a location scout, has been very busy with work and noticed her cell phone is breaking down. She likes her old Pamsung phone but needs to get one that has faster network abilities, is not more than two hundred dollars, has international roaming capabilities, and is water-resistant if possible. She thinks maybe the latest Phonei would work, but then she realizes the most important criteria are water resistance and international roaming. After visiting five stores and spending countless hours online researching the various phones, she evaluates her options and decides to go with the Yons Aperix Z3v. She buys the phone and sets out to find her latest movie location. What decision model did Natalie use to pick her new phone?

rational decision-making model

In order to understand the competitive structure of an industry, analysts use Michael Porter's Five Forces model. Porter's model includes all of the following EXCEPT:

strategic partnerships, research and development

SWOT analysis stands for:

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats

Taylor and Gantt were the management consultants of their day. Workers were concerned the increased efficiency would mean less work and less pay. Gantt proposed to mitigate this concern with

the task and bonus pay plan

If group members have a legitimate opportunity to participate in the decision-making process,

they will be far more likely to support the decision

Managers pay careful attention to the external environment of the organization: the economy, proposals for laws that would affect profits, stakeholder demands, and consumer and public relations. The managers most involved in these activities are

top managers

Google has a flatter organization chart than most large companies. Engineers talk to each other across the organization. But Google still has the basic levels of management, including

top, middle, and first-level management and team leaders

In the resource view of strategy, VRIO stands for:

valuable, rare, inimitable, and organized

A company wishes to convince customers that its product or service provides more value to them than a competitor's product or service. That is, it offers a

value proposition

The Gilbreths both belonged to the classical school of management, which emphasized increasing

worker productivity by scientific analysis

What are distinct advantages of group decision making?

Decisions can be drawn from a larger number of individual perspectives and experiences.

People are not motivated when they do not have clear goals and do not know what is expected of them. ________ reduces uncertainty and indicates what everyone is expected to accomplish.

Planning

Henri Fayol was a mining engineer in the 1800s and later the head of a large mining firm. His experience led him to formulate principles for organization, including what he called

Scalar chain: An unbroken chain of command extends from the top to the bottom of the organization.

________ decides how best to attain a company's mission and vision through the coordinated efforts to achieve specific goals and objectives.

Strategic management

________ look at each budget as if it were brand new and require managers to justify each of the budgeted items. This process ensures that budgets are closely tied to the latest organizational goals.

Zero-based budgets

When customers perceive the product differentiation as valuable, they will prefer to purchase the business's product over a competitor's products. This is called

a competitive advantage

When you can break a decision down into stages or decision nodes with branches representing possible outcomes, which tool can you use to help you visualize your options?

a decision tree

Bharti Airtel is the largest cellular provider in India, with more than 300 million customers as of 2014. It also supplies broadband and telephone services, as well as many other telecommunications services to both domestic and corporate customers. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone have an on/off relationship. Vodafone owned a 5.6% stake in the Airtel business, until it sold it back to Airtel and invested in Airtel's rival, Hutchison Essar. Knowledge and technology previously available to Airtel moved into the hands of one of its competitors. In a SWOT analysis, this point represents ________

a threat

Bharti Airtel is the largest cellular provider in India, with more than 300 million customers as of 2014. It also supplies broadband and telephone services, as well as many other telecommunications services to both domestic and corporate customers. Until a few years ago Airtel did not own its own towers, which was a particular strength of some of its competitors, such as Hutchison Essar. Towers are important if your company wishes to provide wide coverage nationally. In a SWOT analysis, this point would be ________.

a weakness

In a decision tree with costs or net income and probabilities, each path of decisions and outcomes can be summarized in

an expected value

Although it may seem straightforward, the management process is complex. The management functions include:

applying and distributing organizational resources effectively

Max Weber believed a structured organization, a bureaucracy, would be the most logical and efficient. One of his rules was that

authority and responsibilities are clearly defined for each position

Max Weber believed that management should be separate from ownership and managers should be protected from arbitrary dismissal. These are aspects of his rule called

career orientation

Walmart has exceptional logistics, but in 2014, Walmart was criticized for unusual shortages. Customers complained, saying they could not buy the product if it was not on the shelves. Management failed to

control the inventory process

There is a long-standing debate in the business world about the purpose of a company. Milton Friedman, a famous economist, argued that the only responsibility of company is to increase profits within the rules. But this leads to excesses like dumping pollutants that damage the community. One way to temper the profit goal is an explicit statement of

corporate values

Identifying the target customer and asking about customer demographics (age, income, location, gender, politics, etc.) is part of

customer analysis

The five components of industry environment are

customers, competitors, suppliers, regulations, and advocacy groups

Planning activities provide an opportunity for input from the departments and people affected. Some organizations establish planning committees that intentionally include people from ________ backgrounds to bring ________ perspectives into the planning process.

diverse, new

Uber has an algorithm for setting prices. It increases prices during periods of high demand in part to attract more drivers to participate. Recently, the company is experimenting with route-based pricing. Some routes will pay more. Uber is using

evidence-based decision making

Controlling may be the most important management function. The control process is also described as

feedback loops

Looking to the past and incorrectly believing you can predict the future based on past knowledge or understanding is the definition of:

hindsight bias

A robust competitive analysis will allow you to focus on those companies that will compete for customers

in your target market

Mary Parker Follett has been called the "mother of modern management." Her ideas anticipated employment relationships that are more common today than in the 1920s. She focused on the

informal and lateral processes within an organization

Managers must motivate employees, negotiate salaries, and encourage employees toward innovation and creativity. Sheryl Sandberg, now COO of Facebook, is great at encouraging fellow employees, but this is usually the ________ role of middle management.

interpersonal

Nokia transitions caused disruptions in its labor force. New skills were needed and old skills were less important. Managers needed to motivate employees to adapt to the changes. Managers needed to be

leaders

Google's motto is "Don't be evil." When the company neglects this to make more money, consumers are quick to criticize. Management has neglected its function of

leading

Boeing is planning a new aircraft. Customers want more fuel efficiency without sacrificing any features of the current models. To make improvements, Boeing will need several years to develop new methods and tools. Their plans are

long term

Kim, a manager at a chiropractic office, created 12 goals and objectives for her organization. Each objective is linked to a specific report, and she has reports of those measures from the past three years. However, she has no marketing goal or patient referral projections for the future. This is an example of:

measuring the past and not planning for future growth

Management can be approached as either

people or a process

Management activities are often grouped into four categories. These are

planning, organizing, leading, and controlling

Management as a process means

planning, organizing, leading, and controlling resources and people to meet organizational goals

Research shows that when actions are coordinated and focused on specific outcomes, they are much more effective. The primary mechanism for coordinating and focusing staff is

plans, which can direct everyone's actions toward desired outcomes

Companies need consistency in their HR practices to avoid charges of discrimination. Senior management usually approves broad guidelines for HR activities, like hiring and firing, performance appraisals, promotions, and discipline. These are

policies

The general environment analysis considers broad societal dimensions influencing the industry or firms within it. The general environment areas include

political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal

If current trends are projected to continue in the future, decision makers will have access to rich insight. This work of projecting future trends is known as

predictive analytics

Mintzberg classified management decision roles into four types. These include

resource allocator, disturbance handler, and negotiator

Experts disagree how quickly self-driving cars will arrive in showrooms or how many customers will want them. Managers at General Motors must choose a path where GM does reasonably well in all scenarios. This is called

robust decision making

For most of our decisions, we do not try to optimize the decision but simply make a good decision and move on. This is called

satisficing

Senior management has written some policies about hiring new employees. This allows middle management to make decisions without constantly going back and asking permission. These plans are

standing plans

Strategic management's first function is deciding how to compete. The second function is to make sure

that the people in the organization support the strategy

Scientific management engendered workers' fears that all but an elite few would soon be out of work. The humanistic approach focused on

the effects of group dynamics on efficiency and productivity

Procedures are steps to be followed in established and repeated operations. An investment advisor should write procedures for

the proper method for wiring funds to JP Morgan bank

What does "death by planning" mean?

Planning can delay or prevent action.

The advantage of ________ plan is that it can be very specific in how it addresses the needs of a particular situation.

a single-use