Managing People and Work Exam 3
________ is an organization in which managers enable subordinates to think creatively in order to maximize the potential for organizational learning.
A learning organization
________ is the duration over which a plan is intended to be applied or endured.
A time horizon
______ is the first step in implementing a strategy.
Allocating responsibility for implementation to the appropriate individuals or groups
_____ can be interpreted in multiple and often conflicting ways.
Ambiguous information
_____ refers to customers' preference for the products of organizations currently in the task environment.
Brand loyalty
Which of the following statements supports the fact that Candlewick Inc. operates in a task environment with a high barrier to entry?
Candlewick Inc. is able to sell its products easily, even though they are overpriced.
Superior Power is a new company in the electrical industry, and the company has shown success and is building a strong reputation. What impact will this company have on the other companies in the electrical industry?
Competition will increase and prices and profits will decrease.
_____ is a corporate-level strategy that emphasizes reinvesting a company's profits in strengthening its competitive position in its current industry.
Concentration on a single industry
Which of the following is a guideline to promoting individual creativity in an organization?
Creativity results when employees have an opportunity to experiment.
______ are individuals and groups that buy the goods and services an organization produces.
Customers
_________ is the process that managers use to deal with opportunities and threats by analyzing the options and making determinations, or decisions, about specific organizational goals and courses of actions.
Decision making
_____ is a critical analysis of a preferred alternative, defending unpopular or opposing alternatives for the sake of argument.
Devil's advocacy
_____ is a critical analysis of two preferred alternatives in order to find an even better alternative for the organization to adopt.
Dialectical inquiry
_____ raises costs and forces companies to raise the prices of their products.
Differentiation
_______ are individuals who notice opportunities and decide how to mobilize the resources necessary to produce new and improved goods and services.
Entrepreneurs
Which of the following statements about simultaneously pursuing both a low-cost strategy and a differentiation strategy is true?
Extremely well managed companies may be able to keep low costs and differentiate their products.
_____ capital flows through the processes of overseas investment, credit, lending, and aid.
Financial
In what way does the task environment differ from the general environment?
Forces in the task environment have a more immediate and direct effect on managers than forces in the general environment.
________ is selling to a foreign organization the rights to use a brand name and operating know-how in return for a lump-sum payment and a share of the profits.
Franchising
_____ strategy is a plan of action to improve the ability of each of an organization's functions to perform its task-specific activities in ways that add value to an organization's goods and services.
Functional-level
Which of the following is the result of globalization?
Globalization weakens cultural barriers and reduces dissimilarities between nations.
Which of the following is true about a nominal group technique?
Group members write down their ideas then share their thoughts with the group.
_____ occurs when individuals in a team strive for agreement among themselves rather than assessing information accurately.
Groupthink
Clara belongs to a society which values assertiveness, performance, competition, and results. Her society also encourages freedom of expression and personal success, but makes few provisions for the welfare of the weak. According to Hofstede's model of national culture, which of the following is true about her society?
Her society has an achievement orientation and is high on individualism.
Max belongs to a society which is rigid and skeptical about people whose behaviors or beliefs differ from the norm. His society also values warm, personal relationships over success and performance. According to Hofstede's model of national culture, which of the following is true about his society?
His society is high on uncertainty avoidance and has a nurturing orientation.
_____ is the final step in implementing strategy.
Holding specific individuals or groups responsible for the attainment of corporate, divisional, and functional goals
Which of the following is true about choosing among alternative solutions?
Identifying all relevant information doesn't mean that a manager has complete information.
Which of the following is true about decision making?
In order to implement the chosen alternative, many subsequent and related decisions must be made.
_____ is the term given to employees who engage in entrepreneurial activity and who are an important source of organizational creativity.
Intrapreneurs
Which of the following is true about the general environment?
It includes the wide-ranging global, technological, sociocultural, and political forces that affect organizations.
Holly belongs to a culture which values the subordination of individuals to the group. The national culture also values personal stability and living for the present. Which of the following, according to Hofstede, is true about Holly's culture?
It is high on collectivism and has a short-term orientation.
Which of the following is true about political capital?
It is the flow of power and influence around the world using diplomacy, persuasion, aggression, and force of arms.
Which of the following is true about the task environment?
It is the set of forces that originate with global suppliers, distributors, customers, and competitors.
Which of the following is a guideline for managers to improve their decision-making abilities?
List the criteria that are being used to assess and evaluate alternatives and evaluate if the factors are appropriate
Which of the following is an advantage of group decision making?
Managers can draw on the combined skills, competencies, and accumulated knowledge of group members.
Which of the following is an assumption made by the classical model?
Managers have access to all the information they need.
According to the administrative model of decision making, why wouldn't managers be able to arrive at the optimum decision even if they had unlimited ability to evaluate information?
Managers would not have complete information.
_____ are norms that are considered to be of central importance to the functioning of society and to social life, the violation of which brings serious retribution.
Mores
Which of the following, according to Hofstede, is characteristic of societies with high power distance?
The gap between the rich and poor is very large.
_____ is the decision-making method in which group members write down ideas and solutions, read their suggestions to the whole group, and discuss and then rank the alternatives.
Nominal group technique
________ decisions are nonroutine decisions made in response to novel situations in business.
Nonprogrammed
_____ are unwritten, informal codes of conduct that shape the behavior of people toward one another and are held important by most members of society.
Norms
_____ is the process through which managers seek to improve employees' desire and ability to make decisions that raise organizational effectiveness.
Organizational learning
Which of the following is true about a learning organization?
Organizations need to encourage employees to develop and use complex mental models.
_______ forces are outcomes of the changes in the laws and regulations of a society.
Political
_____ results from the tendency to make decisions based on preexisting beliefs even though evidence suggests that those beliefs are wrong.
Prior hypothesis bias
_____ refers to the loss of productivity in brainstorming sessions due to the unstructured nature of brainstorming.
Production blocking
_____ results from the tendency to have an incorrect view because of a bad experience with a single event or episode.
Representativeness bias
_____ is present when managers know the possible outcomes of a particular course of action and can assign probabilities to them.
Risk
_____ are essential because they enable managers to make midcourse corrections when the plan is no longer suitable for the current conditions.
Rolling plans
A group of managers analyze both the internal strengths and weaknesses of their organization as well as the opportunities and threats of the external environment. What type of analysis is this?
SWOT analysis
_____ is the traditional system of relationships established between people and groups in a society.
Social structure
_____ are used in situations in which programmed decision making is appropriate.
Standing plans
_______ are mistakes in decision making that some managers make repeatedly.
Systematic errors
_____ are outcomes of changes in the skills and equipment managers use to design, produce, or distribute goods and services.
Technological forces
What benefits does the global environment offer organizations?
The global environment provides organizations with several opportunities to increase efficiency and effectiveness.
According to an organization's SWOT analysis, which of the following would be a potential strength?
The organization has the ability to manage strategic change.
Which of the following statements supports the fact that Toy Track operates in a task environment with a low barrier to entry?
The task environment within which Toy Truck operates is easy to enter.
In what way is the task environment similar to the general environment?
They are both a set of forces and conditions that operate beyond an organization's boundaries.
Which of the following is true about mores?
They are many difference in mores from one society to another.
Which of the following is true about folkways?
They are the norms upon which fundamental laws are based.
Which of the following is true about regional trade agreements?
They expose companies based in one member country to increased competition from companies in other member countries.
Which of the following is a reason why managers fail to generate creative solutions?
They find it difficult to view problems from a fresh perspective.
According to Hofstede, which of the following is true about countries with a long-term orientation?
They have a high rate of per capita savings.
Which of the following is an advantage of the establishment of free-trade agreements?
They provide manufacturing organizations with opportunities to reduce production costs.
Based on decades of research by Kahenman and Tversky, which of the following is true about the confidence managers (and all people) have regarding their intuition and reasoned judgments?
They tend to be overconfident about their intuition and judgments.
Which of the following is true about values?
Values are abstract concepts invested with emotional significance.
Which of the following is an example of a supplier?
a bank or financial institution
Shannon works for an e-commerce company. Her manager asked her to update the company's global website. To improve the company's global presence, the most important element Ella should focus on is
a global design template.
Which of the following is an example of individualism values?
a high regard for individual entrepreneurs
According to Hofstede, collectivist societies
adhere to the principle that people should be judged by their contribution to the group.
Which of the following is a reason for incomplete information?
ambiguity
Which of the following is a value of nurturing orientation?
assertiveness
Walmart has used its power as a distributor to control the frequency of payments to a supplier
based on the timeline for a supplier's inventory to move off the shelves at Walmart stores.
According to March and Simon, humans are limited in their ability to interpret, process, and act on information. When the number of suitable alternatives are greater than what a manager can evaluate, Marc and Simon refer to this as
bounded rationality.
A(n) _____ strategy indicates how a division intends to compete against its rivals in an industry.
business-level
There has been a rapid increase in the percentage of the population of a third-world nation switching to cellular technology in recent years. A major multinational telecommunication services company decides to take advantage of this change and plans to set up an industry in the country with the intention of dominating the country's telecommunication market. This is an example of a _______ strategy.
corporate-level
Jeremy has a personal library with over 5,000 novels of various genres, most of them bought from Benison's Book House. He is an example of a Benison Book House's
customer
Which of the following factors played an important role in speeding up globalization?
declining barriers to trade and investment that eased the flow of capital throughout the world
To determine an organization's missions and goals, managers must first
define its business.
A decline in the number of young people joining the workforce and an increase in the number of active employees who are postponing retirement are examples of _____ forces in the general environment.
demographic
Which of the following forces are outcomes of changes in or changing attitudes toward the characteristics of a population?
demographic
In large organizations the functional level of management is also known as the _____ of management.
departmental level
Two separate groups of managers are given a problem to solve, and then each group presents its proposed solution to top management in an attempt to determine the best course of action. This process is called
dialectical inquiry.
An organization attempting to succeed by distinguishing its products from those of the competition is most likely to use a(n)
differentiation strategy.
Amethyst, an Italian house of high fashion, designs and creates luxury items like jewelry and hair accessories. It sells its merchandise only through Fiesta, a multinational retail store. Fiesta acts as Amethyst's
distributor
Inflation is an example of a(n) _____ force in an organization's environment.
economic
Corey has been looking at several alternative locations for his new facility and performs a cost-benefit analysis in order to determine the net financial payoff of each location. Which criterion of decision making is Corey focusing on?
economic feasibility
Steven, a marketing manager, wants to budget the advertising for a new product launch. He is trying to determine the amount of money that the company can afford to spend on advertising. Which criterion of decision making is he focusing on?
economic feasibility
Leo wants to improve the costs for his business, so he chooses to buy inputs in bulk and manufacture products in larger quantities. This is an example of
economies of scale.
The reason skunkworks are separated from the normal operation of an organization is to
encourage them to devote all of their attention to developing new products.
Intrapreneurial managers who leave their current organizations because of a lack of opportunity and start their own companies are known as
entrepreneurs.
Having committed large amounts of manpower and money to his landscaping business, Tony continues to keep the business running despite incurring heavy losses. What is the source of Tony's cognitive bias?
escalating commitment
Which of the following is a source of bias that can adversely affect the way managers make decisions?
escalating commitment
According to the HSBC survey, the United States ranked 16 out of 39 countries overall because of poor scores on
experience and family.
Which method of international expansion causes the least amount of risk?
exporting
According to Henri Fayol, an effective plan should have four qualities, namely, unity, continuity, accuracy, and
flexibility.
In pursuing a _____ strategy, managers aim to make their organization the lowest-cost company serving a few segments of the overall market.
focused low-cost strategy
A toy manufacturing company which previously sold its products through a popular toy and juvenile-product retailer decides to enter the retail industry, quickly establishing several retail outlets exclusively for its products. The toy manufacturing company is engaging in
forward vertical integration.
Typically ______-level goals and strategies require intermediate- and short-term plans.
functional
The SUV division of a major automobile corporation decides to release a new model a month ahead of its stated release and notifies all the departments associated with the division. The departmental managers must alter their _____ plan to accommodate the earlier release date.
functional-level
Apple Inc. contracts with companies in Taiwan to make inputs such as the chips, batteries, and LCD displays that power its digital devices at lower costs. This strategy is an example of
global outsourcing.
Most electronic goods have the option of changing the operating language. This is done by manufacturers so that the same electronic device can be supplied and marketed around the world. The manufacturers in this case are applying a(n)
global strategy.
Scott is part of a production team that has researched and chosen a new process to improve the quality of a product. Scott finds information that counters the claims of the production team. However, Scott decides to ignore the new-found evidence and support the team's decision. Scott is being adversely influenced by
groupthink
Which of the following is a characteristic of an entrepreneur?
have a high need for achievement
Lobo belongs to a society which values the subordination of the individual to the group and discourages individual expressions of thought. Inequality in the power and well-being of people is believed to be due to differences in their physical and intellectual capabilities, and heritage. According to Hofstede's model of national culture, Lobo's society is
high on power distance and low on individualism.
After defining new corporate strategies to accomplish the organization's mission and goals, managers face the challenge of
implementing the strategies.
Managers must rely on their ______ to make the best decision when faced with uncertainty and ambiguity.
intuition and judgment
A supplier's bargaining position is especially strong when the input supplied
is a fundamental component of the organization's product.
The last step in the managerial decision-making process is
learning from feedback.
Building a(n) _____ is not easy and it requires that managers change their management assumptions radically.
learning organization
Allowing a foreign organization to take charge of manufacturing and distributing a product in its country or world region in return for a negotiated fee is referred to as
licensing
Greg belongs to a society which makes very few distinctions between people and groups. This is reflected in his company, Sonata DCM, the managers of which represent several different classes and cultures. The society to which he belongs is
low on social stratification.
In pursuing a _____ strategy, managers focus on driving the company's costs down below the costs of its industry rivals.
low-cost
A furniture company is trying to keep the costs of the company low by switching its suppliers and ordering materials in larger quantities to reduce overall costs. The company is employing a
low-cost strategy.
A(n) _____ broadly defines an organization's purpose—what it is seeking to achieve from its activities—identifies what is unique or important about its products to its employees and customers, and also distinguishes or differentiates the organization in some ways from its competitors.
mission statement
Which of the following can be defined as the set of values and the norms of behavior which are approved or sanctioned by a particular society?
national culture
Jordan, the manager of JT's Tasty Treats, has to decide whether to introduce a new frozen dessert that has never been sold previously. What type of decision would this represent?
nonprogrammed
Wash Ur Car, which operates five car washes, has to decide whether or not it should invest in the latest drying equipment. What type of decision does this represent for the organization?
nonprogrammed
In the classical model of decision making, the most appropriate decision possible in light of what is believed to be the most desirable consequences for the organization is known as the ____________ decision.
optimum
In his five principles for creating a learning organization, Peter Senge says managers should empower their employees and allow them to experiment, create, and explore what they want. Peter refers to this as
personal mastery.
A standing plan that acts as a general guide to action, or a(n)______, applies to the employees of an organization.
policy
An organization that is not presently in a task environment but has the resources to enter if it so chooses is called a
potential competitor.
Dale, a manager, is assessing possible alternative solutions of a problem. Dale attempts to determine whether a possible alternative will threaten other company projects. Which criterion of decision making is Dale focusing on?
practicality
John, an operations manager, has chosen an alternative way to solve a problem he is faced with. Now John must decide whether the company has the capabilities and resources required to implement the alternative. Which criterion of decision making is he focusing on?
practicality
Raul, the president of Bank Missouri, is attempting to determine whether the bank has both the capability and the resources to open a branch facility in a new location. Which criterion of decision making is Raul focusing on?
practicality
The classical model specifies how decisions should be made. In other words it is
prescriptive.
Barbara, a school superintendent, hires an additional teacher whenever the student enrollment in a grade goes beyond 35. This can be classified as a(n) _____ decision.
programmed
Based on guidelines established by the accounting manager, Jaime, the accounts payable clerk, makes payments to vendors in order to maximize discounts. What type of decision does this represent?
programmed
Maria, a supervisor at a petrochemical plant, asks the plant superintendent to hire an additional worker whenever overtime hours for the previous month increase by more than 15 percent over the headcount. What type of decision is this?
programmed
When paper supplies reach a minimum level, Ethan makes a call to the supplier to order more paper. What type of decision does this represent?
programmed decision
During the last several months at FSE Inc., workers' overtime hours have increased by more than 15%. Based on managers' decisions in the past, James Calloway, a top manager at FSE Inc. decided to hire additional staff. This is an example of
programmed decision making.
The aim of tariffs is to
protect domestic industries and jobs.
Entering a new business or industry to create a competitive advantage in one or more of an organization's existing divisions or businesses is called
related diversification strategy.
Li sees that several of his employees have creative talent. Which of the following should Li do to promote individual creativity?
reward the employees who come up with creative ideas
Which of the following is potentially the most threatening force that managers must deal with in the task environment?
rivalry between competitors
Because of the hostile external environment, AKY Consulting treats its multiyear corporate-level plan as a _____ plan in order to maintain flexibility without losing sight of the need to plan for the long term.
rolling
Programmed decision making is a(n) ______ process.
routine
A firm has a formal, written guide regarding its zero-tolerance attitude toward sexual harassment and the consequences of its violation. By definition, this is a _____ of the firm.
rule
Heuristics are
rules of thumb that simplify decision making.
Eileen, a college professor, has to pick a textbook for an upcoming course. She has just enough time to review a few books from the many choices available. She settles for one of the books, even though the best book might be a book that she hasn't yet reviewed. What is this process called?
satisficing
Managers use _____ to analyze how to respond effectively to multiple forecasts of future conditions.
scenario planning
As the managers plan for the future, they want to be able to handle unexpected circumstances. They are developing backup plans with alternative courses of action in case conditions change. This is an example of
scenario planning.
Which of the following is an accurate description of satisficing?
searching for and choosing acceptable or satisfactory ways to respond to problems and opportunities rather than trying to make the optimal decision
Jean is the CEO of Creative Tribune, an advertising firm in Winchester. Many distinctions exist between the different classes of people in her society. Most of the top managers in her organization, for example, come from the upper classes. This implies that society in Winchester has a high degree of
social stratification.
Nadine belongs to an egalitarian society, one in which few distinctions are made between individuals and groups. Her society is low on
social stratification.
Which of the following is an example of a folkway?
societal conventions that concern gender-appropriate clothing
Which of the following is an example of a more?
societal taboos which censure murder, theft, and incest
Policies, rules, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) are all types of _____ plans.
standing
Employees tend to be motivated and perform better if they are taken in by the vision of the top managers of their organizations. It therefore becomes essential for top managers to develop a strong sense of
strategic leadership.
A(n) _____ is a group of related managerial decisions and actions to help an organization achieve one of its goals.
strategy
Which of the following is an example of collectivism values?
subordination of the individual to the goals of the group
Jay's Furniture Factory gets its raw material from the local timber yard. The timber yard acts as Jay's
supplier
Companies that provide other organizations with input resources are known as
suppliers
Unlike previous generations, salespeople today can work from home offices, communicate with colleagues in different parts of the world almost instantly, and commute electronically to work. This flexibility is due to changes in
technological forces.
Which of the following contributed to the lowering of barriers of distance and culture that affected global organizations?
the advancements of communication and transportation technology
The more difficult it is to enter the task environment
the easier it is to keep prices high.
The Republic of Karibo has been losing capital steadily over the last five years. As a result of this
the standard of living has fallen.
The pharmaceutical industry is extremely dynamic. A company that releases a product to the general public with the intention of keeping prices high may see quick competition arising from other products made from different compounds that perform the same functions as the company's product. According to the five forces model, this type of threat is called
the threat of substitute products.
In performing a SWOT analysis, a furniture company realized that the number of competing firms in its industry was increasing. The company would classify this as a(n)
threat
When _____ exists, managers are working blind.
uncertainty
When the probabilities of alternative outcomes cannot be determined and future outcomes are unknown, there exists
uncertainty
Cameo Ltd., a record label company, subsequently entered the airline industry to expand business. This example of a record label company entering the airline industry is an example of
unrelated diversification.
According to Hofstede, individualist societies
value personal freedom, personal success, and self-expression.
All of the following are principal forms of capital that flow between countries except
virtual capital.
Which of the following is a value of nurturing orientation?
warm personal friendships
Nokia has established production operations in foreign countries to sell its phones in those regions. The production operations perform as separate entities without any local direct involvement. These production operations are _____ of Nokia.
wholly owned foreign subsidiaries
The method of international expansion which presents managers with many threats and is the most expensive due to the high level of foreign investment is the method of international expansion through
wholly owned foreign subsidiaries.
