MGT 300 E1 C1

Management is the planning, organizing, leading, and controlling of resources in order to achieve organizational goals both effectively and efficiently.

true

According to Mintzberg's typology, a manager who commits organizational resources to develop innovative goods and services is a(n) _____.

According to Henry Mintzberg, a manager who commits organizational resources to develop innovative goods and services is an entrepreneur.

The four building blocks of _____ are superior efficiency; quality; speed, flexibility, and innovation; and responsiveness to customers.

Competitive advantage is the ability of one organization to outperform its competitors because it produces desired goods or services more efficiently and effectively than they do. The four building blocks of competitive advantage are superior efficiency; quality; speed, flexibility, and innovation; and responsiveness to customers.

_____ is a management technique that involves giving employees more authority and responsibility over how they perform their work activities.

Empowerment is a management technique that involves giving employees more authority and responsibility over how they perform their work activities.

A low-cost strategy allows an organization to attract customers by selling goods of inferior quality at a very low price.

False

Efficiency is a measure of the appropriateness of the goals that managers have selected for the organization to pursue and the degree to which the organization achieves those goals.

False

Outsourcing hinders the development of new products.

False

Planning strategies is a simple and straightforward process, since it is done under circumstances when the result is known and assured.

False

Restructuring boosts the morale of employees.

False

The ability to distinguish between the cause and the effect of a problem in an organization is an important part of the technical skills of a manager.

False

Human skills are innate and cannot be learned.

False Human skills can be learned through education and training, as well as be developed through experience.

IT cannot be used to empower employees as it decreases the scope of their job responsibilities.

False IT is being increasingly used to empower employees because it expands employees' job knowledge and increases the scope of their job responsibilities.

Modern IT's ability to improve efficiency has decreased the incidence of downsizing in recent years.

False Modern IT's ability to improve efficiency has increased the amount of downsizing in recent years because IT makes it possible for fewer employees to perform a given task.

Organizations are effective when managers minimize the amount of input resources.

False Organizations are efficient when managers minimize the amount of input resources.

First-line managers are unlikely to be affected by restructuring.

False Restructuring can be done by eliminating product teams, shrinking departments, and reducing levels in the hierarchy, all of which result in the loss of large numbers of jobs of top, middle, or first-line managers, as well as nonmanagerial employees.

The importance of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling remains the same irrespective of a manager's position in the managerial hierarchy.

False The relative importance of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling—the four principal managerial tasks—to any particular manager depends on the manager's position in the managerial hierarchy.

Despite global competition and advances in information technology, the tasks and responsibilities of managers have undergone little change in recent years.

False The tasks and responsibilities of managers have been changing dramatically in recent years. Two major factors that have led to these changes are global competition and advances in information technology (IT).

Leading is the process that mangers use to select the goals for the organization.

False To perform the planning task, managers identify and select appropriate organizational goals and courses of action.

An organization's competitive advantage does not derive from departmental skills.

False Today the term core competency is often used to refer to the specific set of departmental skills, knowledge, and experience that allows one organization to outperform its competitors. In other words, departmental skills that create a core competency give an organization a competitive advantage

Abby, the CEO of Little Angel Photography, reviews the performance of her company over the last quarter to determine whether they are meeting the planned sales and profitability goals. In this instance, which managerial task is she performing?

In controlling, the task of managers is to evaluate how well an organization has achieved its goals and to take any corrective actions needed to maintain or improve performance.

Toy Town makes and sells jigsaw puzzles and strategy board games. Its products are of excellent quality, but fail to meet consumer needs. Which of the following is most likely to be true with regard to Toy Town?

It has a high level of efficiency and low level of effectiveness.

Which of the following is true of organizational performance?

It increases with an increase in efficiency and effectiveness.

Jack Sprouts Inc. is a company based in Riverdale that markets canned vegetables. In recent years, Jack Sprouts' business has declined considerably owing to a weak focus on quality. Holding the managers responsible for the declining sales figures, the CEO of Jack Sprouts decided to lay off those who lacked effectiveness and were inefficient. Who among the following is most likely to be laid off by Jack Sprouts' CEO?

Kerry, who spends lavishly on resources and is averse to taking responsibilities

_____ is the managerial task that involves managers using their power, personality, influence, persuasion, and communication skills to coordinate people and groups so their activities and efforts are in harmony

Leading

A(n) _____ is a collection of people who work together and coordinate their actions to achieve a wide variety of goals.

Organizations are collections of people who work together and coordinate their actions to achieve a wide variety of goals or desired future outcomes.

In which of the following managerial tasks are work relationships restructured to facilitate the interaction and cooperative efforts of organizational members, all of whom strive to achieve organizational goals?

Organizing Organizing is structuring working relationships so organizational members interact and cooperate to achieve organizational goals. Organizing people into departments according to the kinds of job-specific tasks they perform lays out the lines of authority and responsibility between different individuals and groups.

Melissa, the HR manager of a publishing house, has been asked to increase the level of efficiency at the workplace. She decides to restructure work relationships within the company and categorize people into departments according to the kinds of job-specific tasks they perform. Which of the following managerial tasks is Melissa performing?

Organizing is structuring working relationships so organizational members interact and cooperate to achieve organizational goals. Organizing people into departments according to the kinds of job-specific tasks they perform lays out the lines of authority and responsibility between different individuals and groups.

_____ involves contracting with another company, usually in a low-cost country abroad, to have it perform a work activity the organization previously performed itself, such as manufacturing, marketing, or customer service.

Outsourcing Outsourcing involves contracting with another company, usually in a low-cost country abroad, to have it perform a work activity the organization previously performed itself, such as manufacturing, marketing, or customer service.

Marietta is the product manager at Fireflies Ltd., a company that designs and manufactures clothes and fashion accessories. Noticing the rising popularity of rhinestone jewelry and the fact that only a handful of stores actually stocked it, she decided to take advantage of the latent demand in the market. Marietta knew that she was taking a risk by committing organizational resources to pursuing this idea, but was confident about the merit of her decision. In deciding the allocation of resources for attaining her goals, which managerial task can Marietta be said to be performing?

Planning

Owing to financial problems in the organization, the top management of an investment bank decided to reduce the number of middle managers by 10 percent. This is an example of _____.

Restructuring Restructuring involves simplifying, shrinking, or downsizing an organization's operations to lower operating costs.

Bob was recently promoted to the position of manager of the engineering division in his company because of his knowledge and his ability to perform all the functions required in his field. In this instance, Bob was promoted because of his _____ skill.

Technical Technical skills are the job-specific skills required to perform a particular type of work or occupation at a high level

Which of the following is a true of middle managers?

They make specific decisions about the production of goods and services. Supervising the first-line managers are middle managers, responsible for finding the best way to organize human and other resources to achieve organizational goals. Middle managers make thousands of specific decisions about the production of goods and services.

Which of the following is true of first-line managers?

They work in all departments or functions of an organization.

A low-cost strategy is a way of obtaining customers by making decisions that allow an organization to produce goods or services more cheaply than its competitors so it can charge lower prices than they do.

True

An organization's resources include assets such as people and their skills, know-how, and experience; machinery; raw materials; computers and information technology; and patents, financial capital, and loyal customers and employees.

True

Effectiveness is a measure of the appropriateness of the goals that managers have selected for the organization to pursue and the degree to which the organization achieves those goals.

True

Employees involved in TQM are often organized into quality control teams and are responsible for finding new and better ways to perform their jobs; they also must monitor and evaluate the quality of the goods they produce.

True

Outsourcing increases efficiency because it lowers operating costs, freeing up money and resources that can be used in more effective ways—for example, to develop new products.

True

Planning strategy is complex and difficult, especially because planning is done under uncertainty when the result is unknown so that either success or failure is a possible outcome of the planning process.

True

Restructuring can produce some powerful negative outcomes. It can reduce the morale of remaining employees, who worry about their own job security.

True

Strategies are a cluster of decisions concerning what organizational goals to pursue, what actions to take, and how to use resources to achieve these goals.

True

The ability to distinguish between the cause and the effect of a problem in an organization is an important part of the conceptual skills of a manager.

True

Managers affect society directly with their decisions regarding the use of resources.

True Because managers decide how to use many of a society's most valuable resources—its skilled employees, raw materials like oil and land, computers and information systems, and financial assets—they directly impact the well-being of a society and the people in it.

Top managers are responsible for the performance of all departments.

True Top managers are responsible for the performance of all departments. They have cross-departmental responsibility.

_____ is the creation of a new vision for a struggling company using a new approach to planning and organizing to make better use of a company's resources and allow it to survive and eventually prosper.

Turnaround management: Turnaround management is the creation of a new vision for a struggling company using a new approach to planning and organizing to make better use of a company's resources and allow it to survive and eventually prosper.

A company with a high level of efficiency and effectiveness is most likely to produce:

a product that customers want at a quality and price they can afford.

The ability to analyze and diagnose a situation and to distinguish between cause and effect is a:

conceptual skill. Conceptual skills are demonstrated in the general ability to analyze and diagnose a situation and to distinguish between cause and effect.

When a manager informs employees about changes taking place in the external and internal environments that will affect them and the organization she plays the role of a(n) _____ according to Mintzberg.

disseminator According to Mintzberg, a manager who plays the role of a disseminator, informs employees about changes taking place in the external and internal environments that will affect them and the organization and communicates to employees the organization's vision and purpose.

Following an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the CEO of an American petroleum company took the responsibility for correcting the environmental damages caused by his company. According to Mintzberg's typology, in doing so, he is performing the role of a _____.

disturbance handler According to Mintzberg's typology, a disturbance handler moves quickly to take corrective action to deal with unexpected problems facing the organization from the external environment, such as a crisis like an oil spill, or from the internal environment, such as producing faulty goods or services.

The measure of how productively an organization uses its resources to achieve a goal is known as _____.

efficiency A measure of how well or how productively resources are used to achieve a goal is known as efficiency. Organizations are efficient when managers minimize the amount of input resources.

James, the manager of Andy's Candy, a popular confectioner in Illinois, is in charge of outlining future organizational goals to employees at company meetings and emphasizing the ethical guidelines which employees are expected to follow at work. According to Mintzberg, he is performing the role of a _____.

figurehead A manager who demonstrates the role of a figurehead outlines future organizational goals to employees at company meetings, opens a new corporate headquarters building, and states the organization's ethical guidelines and the principles of behavior employees are to follow in their dealings with customers and suppliers.

Supervisors are also referred to as _____.

first line managers First-line managers are responsible for the daily supervision of the nonmanagerial employees who perform the specific activities necessary to produce goods and services.

_____ involves encouraging all employees to perform at a high level to help the organization achieve its vision and goals.

leading, managers articulate a clear organizational vision for the organization's members to accomplish, and they energize and enable employees so everyone understands the part he or she plays in achieving organizational goals. Leadership revolves around encouraging all employees to perform at a high level to help the organization achieve its vision and goals.

SkyGen, an airlines company, appointed an engineer to be the link between the company's R&D department and the government contractor who is sponsoring the designing and prototyping of a new fighter airplane. According to Mintzberg, the engineer appointed by SkyGen to be the link between the company's R&D department and the government contractor is playing the role of a _____.

liaison According to Mintzberg, in the role of a liaison, a manager establishes alliances between different organizations to share resources to produce new goods and services.

Emma is a highly efficient manager. This implies that she:

minimizes the amount of input resources without compromising quality.

According to Mintzberg's typology, a manager who evaluates the performance of other managers in different tasks and takes corrective action to improve their performance is a _____.

monitor Henry Mintzberg described a manager who evaluates the performance of other managers in different tasks and takes corrective action to improve their performance as a monitor.

According to Mintzberg's typology, a manager who establishes agreements with other organizations about pooling company resources while working on joint projects is a(n) _____.

negotiator According to Henry Mintzberg, a manager who works with other organizations to establish agreements to pool resources to work on joint projects is a negotiator.

In an interview with a television channel, the Public Relations manager of KP Oil explained what his company intended to do to tackle the threat to marine life caused by an oil spill in the Pacific Ocean. The oil spill was caused by a tanker ship accident carrying crude oil for the company. According to Mintzberg, the PR manager of KP Oil is playing the role of a _____.

spokesperson According to Mintzberg, a spokesperson gives a speech to inform the local community about the organization's future intentions.