MGT Review - Chapter 1, 2, 3 Questions

Define administrative management and briefly discuss two major contributions from Max Weber and Henri Fayol.

Administrative management is the study of how to create an organizational structure and control system that leads to high efficiency and effectiveness. Max Weber developed the theory of bureaucracy based on 5 principles ((a formal system of organization and administration designed to ensure efficiency and effectiveness)). Henri Fayol developed the model of management, containing 14 principles, that he believed essential to increase the efficiency of the management process.

Differentiate between an open and a closed system.

An open system is one that takes in resources from its external environment and converts them into goods and services that are then sent back to that environment for purchase by customers. A closed system is one that is self-contained and not affected by changes occurring in its external environment.

Explain the "organic structure". Why is it important for companies like Google and Apple to operate with organic structures?

An organic structure is an organizational structure in which authority is decentralized to middle and first-line managers and tasks and roles are left ambiguous to encourage employees to cooperate and respond quickly to the unexpected. It is important for companies like Google and Apple to operate with organic structures because its organizational structure is unstable and constantly changing.

What are the building blocks of competitive advantage? Why is obtaining a competitive advantage an important to managers?

Competitive advantage is the ability of one organization to outperform its competitors because it produces goods/services more efficiently and effectively. The building blocks of competitive advantage are efficiency, quality, speed, flexibility, innovation, and responsiveness to customers. Obtaining a competitive advantage is important to managers so they can remain at the top of the competitive business environment.

Discuss the relationship between "efficiency" and "effectiveness" and identify real organizations you think are, or are not, efficient and/or effective.

Efficiency is defined as a measure of how productively resources are used to achieve a goal. Effectiveness is a measure of the appropriateness of set goals selected by managers and the degree to which the organization achieves those goals. A measure of how efficiently and effectively managers use available resources and achieve goals is called organizational performance. Effective managers are those who choose the right organizational goals to pursue and have the skills to utilize resources efficiently.

10. Define the two major trends of empowerment and self-managed work teams, and give a realistic business example of each of these.

Empowerment is a technique that gives employees more authority and responsibility over how they perform their work activities. A self-managed team is a group of employees who assume collective responsibility for organizing, controlling, and supervising their own work activities. Self-managed teams find ways to accomplish a task more quickly and efficiently. They assume many tasks and responsibilities previously performed by first-line managers.

Identify and briefly define the three major types of managerial skills that managers need.

1. Conceptual skills: the general ability to analyze and diagnose a situation and to distinguish between cause and effect. 2. Human skills: the general ability to understand, alter, lead, and control the behavior of other individuals and groups. 3. Technical skills: job-specific skills required to perform a particular type of work or occupation at a high level.

Discuss the importance of a manager having technical skills.

It is important for managers to have technical skills because managers and employees with likewise technical skills are grouped into a specific, specialized departments within a company. It is a manager's responsibility to monitor, train, and supervise employees so their job-specific skills and expertise increase.

Explain what organizational rites are. What are the different types? Give examples.

Organizational rites are formal events that recognize incidents of importance to the organization as a whole and to specific employees. Rites of passage determine how individuals enter, advance within, and leave the organization. Rites of integration build and reinforce common bonds among organizational members (office party). Rites of enhancement let organizations publicly recognize and reward employees' contributions and thus strengthen their commitment to organizational values (award dinners). Reinforce values and norms.

Discuss how scientific management brought many workers more hardship than gain and a distrust of managers.

Scientific management led to an increase in worker performance but managers began requiring that they do more work for the same pay. Workers learned that performance increases often meant fewer jobs and a greater threat of being laid off. Workers often withheld the true potential efficiency of a work system to protect their interests.

Researchers frequently refer to the "Big Five" personality traits. Discuss any three of these traits and explain the advantages and disadvantages of each of them in terms of helping or hurting the effectiveness of a manager.

1. Extraversion: the tendency to experience positive emotions and moods and to feel good about oneself and the rest of the world. Being high on extraversion may be an asset for managers whose jobs entail high levels of social interaction. If a manager is low on extraversion, he/she may give off the wrong impression. 2. Negative Affectivity: the tendency to experience negative emotions and moods, feel distressed, and be critical of oneself and others. An advantage of a manager high negative affectivity could be that their critical approach inspires both the manager and others to improve their performance. A disadvantage would be working with a manager who is always in a bad mood. 3. Agreeableness: the tendency to get along well with other people. An advantage of a manager high on agreeableness is that they are easy to get along with and they are pleasant people to work with. A disadvantage of a manager low on agreeableness is that they may be somewhat distrustful of others, unsympathetic, and uncooperative.

Identify three levels of management and explain the basic responsibilities of each.

1. First-line managers: Responsible for the daily supervision of non-managerial employees. 2. Middle managers: Responsible for finding the best way to organize human and other resources to achieve organizational goals. 3. Top managers: Responsible for the performance of all departments. Establishes organizational goals, decides how departments should interact, and monitors performance of middle managers.

Managers have very different points of view about how much control they have over what happens to them on the job and in their personal lives. Discuss the two major forces of control that can affect a manager and explain the advantages and disadvantages of each of them in terms of their possible impact on the effectiveness of the manager.

1. Internal locus of control: the tendency to locate responsibility for one's fate within oneself. A benefit of an internal locus of control is that it helps ensure ethical behavior and decision making in an organization because people feel accountable and responsible for their actions. A disadvantage of a manager with too much of an internal locus of control would be feeling like the fate of the whole company rests on their shoulders. This would add a lot of stress to the job. 2. External locus of control: the tendency to locate responsibility for one's fate in outside forces and to believe one's own behavior has little impact on outcomes. If a manager had an external locus of control, they would not be doing their job to full potential.

Discuss the four principal managerial tasks. For each, give a realistic business example of how a manager performs this task.

1. Planning: Managers identify and select appropriate organizational goals and courses of action. Example- Michael Dell decided his goal was to sell an inexpensive PC that beat competitor's prices. His strategy was to bypass expensive computer stores and sell PCs directly to customers. He allocated limited funds by only hiring 3 people. 2. Organizing: Structuring working relationships so organizational members interact and cooperate to achieve organizational goals. Outcome=organizational structure=formal system of task and reporting relationships that work together to achieve organizational goals. Example- As Dell's company grew, he created more complex forms of organizational structure to help achieve its goals. 3. Leading: Managers articulate a clear vision and energize and enable organizational members so they understand the role they play in achieving organizational goals. Managers must coordinate people and groups so their activities and efforts are in harmony. Example- Michael Dell used a hands-on leadership approach, which has resulted in a hardworking, committed workforce. 4. Controlling: Managers evaluate how well an organization has achieved its goals and takes any corrective actions needed to maintain or improve performance. Example- At the start of his company, Michael Dell had trouble establishing effective control systems because his company was growing so rapidly and lacked experienced managers. To solve this, Dell hired hundreds of experienced managers from other companies to establish an effective control system. RESULT: By 2000, Dell was able to make PCs for over 10% less than its competitors.

Explain how culture influences the way managers perform their four main functions: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.

1. Planning: Top managers with an innovative culture are likely to encourage lower-level managers to participate in planning processes and develop a flexible approach to planning. Top managers with conservative values are likely to emphasize formal top-down planning (example: formal review process). 2. Organizing: Managers with an innovative culture are likely to try to create an organic structure. Managers in a conservative culture are likely to create a well-defined hierarchy of authority and establish clear reporting relationships. 3. Leading: In an innovative culture, managers are likely to lead by example, encouraging employees to take risks and experiments. Managers in a conservative culture are likely to use management by objectives and to constantly monitor employees progress, overseeing their every move. 4. Controlling: Managers in innovative cultures encourage taking risks and creativity and are more concerned with long-term goals and performance than the short-term targets. Conservative managers often set specific, difficult goals, frequently monitor progress, and develop a strict set of rules.

Identify and describe the three steps in the planning process.

1. decide which goals to pursue 2. decide what strategies to adopt 3. decide how to allocate organizational resources

Define bureaucracy and identify the five principles that a bureaucratic system of administration is based on.

A bureaucracy is a formal system of organization and administration designed to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. 5 Principles: 1. A manager's formal authority derives from the position he/she holds in the organization 2. People should occupy positions because of their performance, not social standing/personal contacts 3. The extent of each person's formal authority and task responsibilities, and its relationship to other positions in an organization, should be clearly specified 4. Authority can be exercised effectively when positions are arranged hierarchically, so employees know whom to report to and who reports to them 5. Managers must create a well-defined system of rules, standard operating procedures, and norms so they can effectively control behavior within an organization

Explain the ASA Model. How does it help explain the formation of organizational cultures?

Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) framework: a model that explains how personality may influence organizational culture. When founders/managers hire employees, they tend to be attracted to and choose employees whose personalities are similar to their own because these employees are more likely to stay with the organization. As a result, people in the organization have similar personalities, and the dominant personality profile of organizational members determines and shapes organizational culture.

Define job satisfaction and discuss why it is so important for managers to be satisfied with their jobs.

Job satisfaction is the collection of feelings and beliefs that managers have about their current jobs. It is important for managers to be satisfied with their jobs because satisfied managers are more likely to go the extra mile for their organization. Another reason managerial satisfaction is important is because satisfied managers are less likely too quit, avoiding turnover.

Define management science theory and identify and explain the branches of management science.

Management science theory is an approach that uses rigorous quantitative techniques to help managers make maximum use of organizational resources. 1. Quantitative management: uses mathematical techniques to help managers make better decisions. 2. Operations management: a set of techniques used to analyze any aspect of an organization's production system to increase efficiency. 3. Total quality management (TQM): analyzes an organization's input, conversion, and output activities to increase product quality. 4. Management information systems (MISs): gives managers information (internal and external) that is vital for effective decision making.

"Restructuring" is a popular management technique in recent business experience within the United States. Define this term. Discuss both its positive and negative effects on the business that is restructured.

Restructuring involves simplifying, shrinking, or downsizing an organization's operations to lower operating costs. A negative outcome of restructuring is that employees complain they are overworked and an increasing number of customers complain that they are receiving poor service. A positive outcome is outsourcing. Outsourcing involves contracting with another company to have it perform an activity the organization previously performed itself. Outsourcing increases efficiency because it lowers operating costs and frees money and resources that can be used in more effective ways.

Define scientific management and discuss any two of these four principles and explain how each of them could be applied to workers in an automobile assembly line. What are the benefits of studying management?

Scientific management is the systematic study of relationships between people and tasks for the purpose of redesigning the work process to increase efficiency. In principle 1, you must study the way workers perform their tasks and experiment with ways of improving how tasks are performed. Once you identify the best method to perform a task, you must record the procedure using written rules and standard operating procedures. Benefits of studying management are huge cost savings and dramatic output increases that occur in large, organized work settings.

Differentiate between terminal and instrumental values. How do they contribute to the organizational culture?

Terminal value: signify what organization and employees are trying to accomplish. Often lead to the formation of norms (informal rules of conduct). Instrumental values: guide the ways in which the organization and its members achieve organizational goals. Managers determine and shape organizational culture through the kinds of values and norms they promote.

Discuss the management contributions of the Gilbreths.

The Gilbreths goal was to maximize the efficiency of individual tasks so that gains across tasks would add up to enormous savings of time and effort. The Gilbreths also studied how physical characteristics of the workplace contribute to job stress that often leads to fatique and poor performance. They isolated factors that result in worker fatigue, such as lighting, heating, the color of walls, and the design of tools and machines.

The Hawthorne studies had a great impact on the early study of management theory. Discuss these studies in terms of how they were designed and in terms of the results which were helpful to developing a better understanding of how managers should behave in the workplace.

The Hawthorne studies began as an attempt to investigate how characteristics of the work setting affected worker fatigue and performance by systematically measuring worker productivity at various levels of illumination. Confused, they found that regardless of the level of illumination, productivity increased. The presence of researchers affected the results because the workers enjoyed the attention of being a test subject. What resulted from this was the Hawthorne effect: the finding that a manager's behavior or leadership approach can affect workers' level of performance. From this emerged the human relations movement, which advocates that supervisors be behaviorally trained to manage in ways that elicits cooperation and increases productivity.

Managers who accept the assumptions of McGregor's Theory X are likely to design a very different work situation than managers who accept the assumptions of Theory Y. Discuss how managers who are committed to Theory X assumptions are likely to organize their work environment in terms of their relationships with their subordinates.

Theory X is a set of negative assumptions about workers that leads to the conclusion that a manager's task is to supervise workers closely and control their behavior. Managers who are committed to Theory X design and shape the work setting to maximize their control over workers' behaviors and minimize workers' control over the pace of work using a system of rewards and punishments.

What are the benefits of studying management?

Three Benefits: 1. Resources are valuable and scarce. The more efficiently and effectively organizations use their resources, the greater the well-being and prosperity of people in that society. 2. Management teaches people not yet in positions of authority how to lead coworkers, solve conflicts, and achieve team goals, leading to an increase in performance. 3. A job that pays well and provides an interesting and satisfying career. Salaries increase rapidly as people move up the organizational hierarchy.