Managing People & Work Exam 2
short term goals
1 year
Long term goals
5 years
Which is the following is a tactical goal?
By the end of this fiscal year, we will achieve a 10% cost reduction in our office expenses.
In the Management in Action case, if Congress forces Amtrak to become a nonprofit, the organization will have to go back to which step in the planning process?
Developing a mission statement.
Kane, a manager for a large trucking company, knows that the company struggles to recruit enough CDL-certified drivers to keep the business functioning. Kane devises a new plan to identify potential drivers and pay for them to become CDL-certified. Further, Kane believes the potential drivers should be more diverse than the usual pool of applicants, so he intends to focus on recruiting women, military veterans, couples, and immigrants. If you were Kane's manager, how would you instruct him to apply the planning/control cycle?
Have Kane make the change, compare recruitment metrics after a period of time, and see if corrective action is necessary.
Which of the following satisfies the SMART goals criteria?
In the next quarter, our Tucson sales agent will increase sales by 10%.
When planning for starting your career, what can you do to stay resilient?
Know that it takes time to find a job
As explained by Welch, what should managers do to determine what their own organizations have been up to?
Look for potential changes in competitive advantage
In which of these examples is the competency of networking supporting planning
Naheem's company is establishing a new contract with a vendor that Naheem met during a trade show
SMART Goals
Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-Oriented, Target Dates
In the second core process, managers should address questions such as "Who is the competition?" and "Are the short term and long term balanced?" to better understand
The "how" of execution
The Publix chain of supermarkets has stated, "We will not knowingly disappoint you. If for any reason your purchase does not give you satisfaction, the full purchase price will be cheerfully refunded immediately upon request." This proclamation is Publix's
Value statement
VRIO
Value, Rarity, Imitability, Organization
Executives, often referred to as the "C-Suite," should focus their decision making on which of the following?
What products and services shall we offer?
You receive a memo that reads as follows: "In recent months, our customer evaluations have dropped, and our sales have decreased by 10 percent. To restore our business, we will do the following: (1) We will contact all of our customers and offer a 10 percent discount on their next purchase. (2) For the customers who spend more than $1,000 per year, we will invite them to join our Insiders' Club, which gives them discounted tickets to concerts and sporting events. (3) Effective immediately, we will begin staffing our call center 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (4) Customer-service personnel will be given more discretion in helping customers resolve problems, with minimal interference from supervisors." This memo is a(n)
action plan
halo effect
an effect in which we form a positive impression of an individual based on a single trait
virtual structure
an organization whose members are geographically apart, usually working with e-mail, collaborative computing, and other computer connections
Zene is a chef and owner of a popular restaurant. Zene frequently visits competing restaurants to observe how they are doing things. He told one of his managers, "I eat dinner at a lot of restaurants because I want to know what is going on. I am always concerned that one of our competitors will surprise us with a new service or menu item, like ours but better." In which activity is Zene engaging?
assessing current reality
organizational behavior
behavior that is dedicated to better understanding and managing people at work
Cooper Technologies is a technology company that offers many IT services in Chicago. The company's services and products include computer training, support, monitoring, repair, network design, virus removal, and software upgrades. It even sells refurbished computers. The source of Cooper Technologies' strategic position is
broad needs and many customers
After reviewing her department's results, Laurel decided that she needed to cut more costs for the department to meet its profitability goal for the year. Eliminating the unplanning advertising expenses is one way to
correct deviations in the plan being carried out
Snow Assist sells emergency safety and rescue products to ski patrols and rescue workers at prices that are below those of its competitors, which offer a larger line of more expensive products and focus on broader markets. Snow Assist is pursuing a ________ strategy.
cost-focus
Based on what you read in the Management in Action case, assume that La Croix tries to reduce its prices below competitors like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, but targets a narrow market. What type of strategy would this be?
cost-focused
To maximize profitability and competitiveness, firms must
create alignment across all levels of strategy.
A local gymnastics studio offers dance, tumbling, trampolines, and competitive cheer training for kids of all ages. To recruit students for these lessons, the studio also hosts birthday parties, afterschool care, and swim lessons. These offerings interact to
create fit among the activities
Which important aspect of goal setting helps you keep an eye on the big picture and is useful for giving yourself feedback?
deadlines
At the strategic level of planning, managers must pay attention to the environment outside the organization, be future oriented, and
deal with uncertain and competitive conditions
Operational Planning
determining how to accomplish specific tasks with available resources within the next 1-week to 1-year period; done by first-line managers
Tactical Planning
determining what contributions departments or similar work units can make with their given resources during the next 6 moths to 2 years; done by middle management
Customer divisions
divisional structures in which activities are grouped around common customers or clients
Product divisions
divisional structures in which activities are grouped around similar products or services
The top managers of One World Enterprises are meeting for the week to look at the long-term company goals and overall direction of the organization. The CEO has expressed his concern over the economy and has told his managers to look closely at the environment outside the organization before making decisions and to be future oriented. In this meeting, top managers of One World are
doing strategic planning
organizational citizenship
employee behaviors that are not directly part of employees' job descriptions - that exceed their work role requirements - such as constructive statements about the department
Farrah's Furniture sells modern desks, chairs, and other office furniture mainly to businesses and institutions. An example of Farrah's pursuing a growth strategy would be
expanding to sell home furnishings
matrix structure
fourth type of organizational structure, which combines functional and divisional chains of command in a grid so that there are two command structures - vertical and horizontal
Recently, Splendor Stay, a large hotel chain, acquired Opulent Inn, a hotel chain with 27 locations. Senior-level managers have set the strategy for rebranding the Opulent Inn locations and marketing Splendor Stay's expanded footprint. Which managers will be responsible for making tactical decisions to support this rebranding?
functional
Attainable
goals should be challenging but realistic
adhocracy culture
has an external focus and values flexibility.
clan culture
has an internal focus and values flexibility rather than stability and control
openness
how intellectual, imaginative, curious, and broad-minded someone is
dimensions of diversity
internal, external, organizational
Research on MBO shows that participative goal setting is
just as effective as when managers set the goals
When managers apply the continuous feedback loop know as the planning/control cycle, which management functions are implied?
leading and organizing
attitude
learned predisposition toward a given object
vision
long-term goal describing "what" an organization wants to become
A(n) ________ links low-level goals, such a providing free estimates within 24 hours, to higher-level goals, such as decreasing the cost of customers acquisition
means-end chain
locus of control
measure of how much people believe they control their fate through their own efforts
glass ceiling
metaphor for an invisible barrier preventing women and minorities from being promoted to top executive jobs
Cyril, who manages an ATV dealership, is determined to implement management by objectives to help
motivate his employees
Which aspect of the VRIO framework examines whether a firm has the control systems, policies, and financing needed to compete?
organization
centralization
organization structure in which important decision are made by upper managers - power is concentrated at the top
decentralization
organizational structure in which important decisions are made by middle-level and supervisory-level managers - power is delegated throughout the organization
When consuming the cheese curd bacon burger with fries served up at Buffalo Wild Wings, you would consume almost 2,000 calories. Offering this dish and similar others probably means the restaurant chain has to trade-off
positioning itself as a healthy food outlet
Which career readiness competency represents a desire to learn and improve and is desired by employers because it drives creativity and innovation
proactive learning orientation
Benchmarking
process by which a company compares its performance with that of high-performing organizations
Which managers would be at Level 2: Business-level strategy
retail unit managers
Bella Blooms is a successful business that sells a liquid spray fertilizer to farmers. The fertilizer consists of rich, organic, composted material. Recently, Natural Supply, another established fertilizer manufacturer, dramatically increased its marketing to farmers in the region that Bella Blooms views at its target market. When analyzing its industry, Bella Blooms should be concerned about the threat of
rivalry among competitors
Managers can use an operating plan to
segment strategic goals into short-term targets
In a SWOT analysis, organizational strengths are
skills and capabilities that give a company advantages in executing its strategies
All That Enterprises has a reputation for reliability and customer service, qualities that helped to build this highly respected name brand over the last 15 years. Speaking at a recent business conference, Kenan, the CEO of All That, told his audience, "We have built our reputation by changing little over the last several years, but consistently helping customers with great, caring service and a reliable product." Which type of strategy does All That Enterprises use?
stability
burnout
state of emotional, mental, and even physical exhaustion
Aanu owns several computer repair shops across northeastern Wisconsin, and she has set a goal for her company of increasing market share in all locations over the next three years. Aanu has set a
strategic goal
The move by Philip Morris International (PMI), the industry-leading tobacco company, to invest billions in creating a smoke-free future is an example of
strategy innovation
SWOT Analysis
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats
hollow structure
structure in which the organization has a central core of key functions and outsources other functions to vendors who can do them cheaper or faster
emotional intelligence
the ability to cope, to empathize with others, and to be self-motivated
scenario analysis
the creation of alternative hypothetical but equally likely future conditions.
job satisfaction
the extent to which one feels positive or negative about various aspect of one's work
emotional stability
the extent to which people feel secure and unworried about how likely they are to experience negative emotions under pressure
self-esteem
the extent to which people like or dislike themselves
tokenism
the practice of doing something symbolic to prevent criticism and give the appearance that people are being treated fairly
functional structure
the second type of organizational structure, whereby people with similar occupational specialties are put together in formal groups
stereotype
the tendency to attribute to an individual the characteristics believes are typical of the group to which that individual belongs
stress
the tension people feel when they are facing or enduring extraordinary demands, constraints, or opportunities and are uncertain about their ability to handle them effectively
Measurable
there should be some way to quantify the degree to which a goal has been reached
Google's vision
to provide access to the world's information in one click
With the holiday season approaching, Denelle reviews holiday sales from the last five years to determine how much inventory to purchase and how many employees to schedule during peak sales times. Denelle is conducting a
trend analysis
Managers who ask "does this resource allow our firm to exploit an opportunity or neutralize a threat?" are considering the resource's
value
ProFast Technologies makes and sells only one product, a high-quality server for secure cloud storage. ProFast was recently approached by Digital Territory, a large data warehouse that rents server space to commercial customers, about purchasing their company. Digital Territory is engaging in
vertical integration
underemployment
working at a job that requires less education than one has