MGT 101 Final

Carla's job includes leading seminars about corporate compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Which of the following statements about the ADA would be accurate for Carla to make?

"The ADA requires that employers make any possible accommodations to enable people with disabilities to effectively perform their jobs."

From the information given below, calculate the organization's current ratio. Total Liabilities = $750,000; Current Liabilities = $220,000; Total Assets = $700,000; Current Assets = $176,000

0.80

When Julie started as customer service manager at a call center six months ago, she instituted a new policy insisting that no more than two group members could be off the phones at any one time. To that end she wrote a schedule that staggered break and lunch times throughout the day. At first, her team demonstrated total compliance, but lately she has noticed that group members are breaking the rule and gathering in larger groups at lunch time. Despite repeatedly disciplining her subordinates, the behavior continues. Based on what you know about conformity and deviance, which of the following actions best ensures that Julie's team regains its efficiency and competitive advantage?

After asking her team about their actions and learning that they miss chatting as a group over lunch, she should revise her policy to allow larger groups to congregate provided there are at least four people manning the phones at all times.

Zoe is a low-level employee who is friends with several co-workers, does not worry about paying the rent or buying food, and knows that her position in the company is necessary and that her managers do not want her to leave. Considering this, which of the following notes would she most likely place in her company's suggestion box?

Crack the glass ceiling by promoting more women to upper management jobs.

Ricardo, the CEO of Sunflower Organics, hires a consultant, Saadia, to analyze his production process. Ricardo has been using the same production process for the nearly twenty years he's been in business. His employees are essentially specialists, with each well-trained in performing one specific task or set of tasks. Saadia notes that, because of this, there is a high level of employee boredom, leading to turnover, and when someone is out sick, there is no one able to take over their duties. She suggests he switch to a self-managed team model for his production-line employees. After a few months, what does Ricardo most likely observe about the results of this switch?

Efficiency is better than ever; team members feel empowered and work better and faster as a result.

Lisa, one of the employees at a small factory, says that she should be paid as much as her coworker Jonathan. Lisa and Jonathan have the same job title, but Jonathan has been with the company six months longer. Lisa is white, and Jonathan is African American. Both of them are in their late 40s. Under which federal law might Lisa bring a claim of discrimination?

Equal Pay Act

Santiago has taken a new job as the general manager at Durwood Industries, which designs and manufactures custom cabinets. He is replacing Evan, who recently retired. Santiago has already set a company-wide goal of increasing efficiency and reducing waste. Unfortunately, Santiago has inherited a heavily bureaucratic work culture governed by byzantine rules. Evan mainly managed by actively overseeing his employees, but from the employee's lack of motivation, Santiago can tell that this approach is no longer working. Based on what you know about behavior control, what solution should Santiago implement to increase employee engagement and productivity?

He should have floor managers and employees jointly set goals that describe what employees can personally do to reduce waste and then periodically check in with them to monitor their progress.

Which of the following is true of the planning process in an organization with an innovative culture?

It encourages lower-level managers to participate in the process.

For the last decade, KayJay Toys has been using an overseas factory to make their hard plastic toys. However, the quality of the products has been in decline for the last several years. In addition to using cheaper materials, the factory uses an assembly process that is very quick but often results in uneven quality, with retailers returning 5 out of every 100 units as detective. The decreased quality is beginning to negatively impact KayJay's bottom line. What is KayJay's best course of action in order to save money and increase their profits?

KayJay should switch to a different factory that uses better materials and processes, improving quality.

Though they are all Americans, the members of the design team—Bethany, Rajiv, Nguyen, and Chantelle—all come from different cultures, and this sometimes causes misunderstandings. Which of the following examples demonstrates the best and more efficient way for the team to avoid such misunderstandings when communicating with each other?

Nguyen restates in his own words what he thinks Chantelle has said.

From the 1850s until the 1960s, the only real management information system was the organizational hierarchy. Which of the following best describes this system?

Reports went up the management chain, then decisions were made at the top and relayed back down the chain to employees.

In which of the following situations do you think it would be most challenging for a manager to measure employee outputs or behavior?

The sales team at a real estate company is cold-calling prospective clients.

Juan just hired his friend, Warren, to manage a team of union welders in an automotive factory. Juan worked with Warren before in a small, privately-owned welding shop. In the welding shop, Warren was the first shift superintendent, where he modestly demonstrated that he knew more about welding than anyone in the region, and he always came up with brilliant solutions. Warren knew his ideas were good, he owned up to his mistakes when he made them, and his workers successfully followed his lead, making him the most productive leader the welding shop had ever employed. However, only a month after hiring his friend, Juan is disappointed to learn that Warren is failing as a manager in the automotive factory. Warren does his job the same way he always has, but he keeps failing to follow the complex bureaucratic procedures in the factory, he repeatedly breaks the agreement between management and the union, and his workers do not listen to him. Which of the following is most likely causing these issues?

Warren's ability to lead depends upon the situation.

Kat is the CEO of a media company called Fast Forward, Inc. She wants the company to have a core competency that enables it to become an innovator in its field. Considering this, which of the following would Kat most likely authorize?

a plan to research the development of miniature video cameras that are affordable and have top-end picture resolution

FinePrint, Inc., is a major book publisher in the United States. However, the future of book sales is unpredictable, thereby making FinePrint's position precarious. Which of the following should the CEO of FinePrint do in order to provide the greatest stability for the company?

acquire a cosmetics company, an auto parts company, and a baked goods company

Kevin Plank at Under Armor has ________, meaning that he believes he can make a difference.

an internal locus of control

You own a company that produces jewelry with attractive, popular designs but uses resources that makes the product too expensive for most potential buyers. Which of the following would you do to increase efficiency?

arrange a deal with the supplier to lower the cost of the resources

How might a service organization best increase the quality of its products or services?

by following up after purchase with a personal phone call

A firm that has not traditionally been a competitor of EcoPro suddenly creates a new type of product that makes EcoPro products obsolete. This is an example of

competitors in the task environment.

Caring Touch, an assisted-living facility, conducts friendly competitions between teams and rewards them with bagels every Friday morning. The main purpose of these games is to promote togetherness in the organization. This effort by the management of Caring Touch best describes

consideration.

Kareem is the new owner of a major league baseball team. Over the last several years, the team has consistently had a losing record and, as a result, attendance is slumping. Kareem is currently evaluating potential solutions, including revamping the affiliated minor league team, moving the team to a new city, and hiring all new coaching staff. Kareem's next step is to

decide that revamping the minor league team is better than moving the team to a new city or hiring new coaches.

Fiona scored extremely well on a variety of standardized tests, and her college grades were perfect. Ed, the human resources director for M-Solutions Group, said she aced all of his screening tests and was perhaps the most intelligent applicant he had ever encountered. Given what he currently knows about Fiona, Ed feels she would probably be most useful to M-Solutions in a position

developing solutions to complex problems.

Callista is a manager at ThrillSeeker, Ltd., a company that makes amusement park rides. She has decided that she would like to create value by purchasing one of the companies that produces the materials ThrillSeeker needs to make its rides. She has already chosen a team of people and assigned them the responsibility to making sure the purchase happens. What should she do next?

devise a plan on how to purchase the plastic supplier.

To enhance the interaction between members of a brainstorming group, a manager should

encourage members to "piggyback."

At SureFit, Inc., a company that manufactures steel gaskets, most of the employees belong to a union. Recently, many employees have been complaining about the pay discrepancy between the top managers and lower-level employees. To address this situation, the union would most likely want to

enter into collective bargaining with SureFit's managers to correct the pay structure.

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, expects employees to be creative, work hard, dress informally, and personalize their offices. This is an example of how

founders influence their organizations' values and norms.

A company based in India performs the routine data entry tasks for a Texas-based insurer. This arrangement is an example of

global outsourcing.

Which of the following will typically lead to making the highest profits?

higher prices and lower costs

Although Darren's company has many skilled, bright employees, they seem to lack enthusiasm for their work. Which of the following should Darren implement to solve this problem?

hire a charismatic manager who strongly believes in the company and knows how to convey this belief to others

All About Town is a chain of clothiers with locations in malls around the country. It maintains records on the average customer traffic at each location month by month, as well as sales at each facility, net profits for each, and so on. This type of recordkeeping is an example of a(n) ______ system.

information technology

Barbara is the dean of the College of Business. She enjoys the pace of her work and the feeling of accomplishment she gets when she is able to initiate a new program to help students. She also appreciates her attractive salary, which allows her to travel abroad on her vacations. Barbara is

intrinsically and extrinsically motivated.

The kitchen workers at Joe's Coffee Shop and Bakery report directly to Zara, the kitchen manager. Zara is a ________ manager.

line

George is an order taker at a restaurant; Audrey is a sales executive who is given the authority to choose the prospective customers she will visit on personal sales calls. Audrey has

more autonomy.

The greater the level of uncertainty in the organization's environment, the

more likely managers are to design a structure and a culture that are flexible.

Ms. Chen manages a clothing store. Her boss, the district manager, suggests that she fire competent employees who are old or unattractive because "they aren't good ambassadors for our brand." Ms. Chen tells her boss, "I'm sorry, but I can't do as you ask. If anyone found out that we did this, it would damage the company's reputation. The average shopper wouldn't want to do business with us." Which ethical rule is Ms. Chen applying?

practical

Fatima is the manager of the tennis division of a large sporting goods company. An employee named Anika shows great promise but seems to lack the confidence to share her creative ideas. Based on what you know about promoting creativity, which of the following actions should Fatima take?

praise Anika for her square-shaped tennis racquet idea and allow her to think of more ideas without any hands-on supervision

DigiFun, Inc., has long held the position as the premier video game company in the world. However, recently its position has been slipping. The company's games have become somewhat stale, while competitors have fresher, more innovative games that have sold well. As the head of human resources for DigiFun, Prim wants to figure out why her company's performance has declined. The veteran game designers for the company, which helped to bring it to prominence, have either retired or been lured to other companies. The new crop of designers has not contributed as many fresh ideas, even though they are well educated in their field and have kept up with the latest technical advances. Also, they do not seem to be motivated to do great work. Prim realizes she can effectively and efficiently help DigiFun regain its dominant position by

requiring potential hires to complete a series of tests to gauge their ability to innovate and devising a new bonus structure that gives the person who originates an idea a share of the resulting profits.

Jayden Johnson, a production manager at AKC, has successfully developed a cost-effective nebulizer that has made a lasting contribution to the firm. Which of the following terminal values most likely helped Jayden develop this product?

sense of accomplishment

Angela took over as manager of a group of warehouse order-pickers about a month ago. While the employees' performance is satisfactory, she has noticed that the group seems to squash any new ideas about how they might do their work more effectively. What should Angela do to increase tolerance for deviance?

set up an incentive system for employees' suggestions about procedure changes

The difference between a blog and a social networking site is that

social networking sites enable every user to be a potential sender and receiver of information, while blogs are more limited.

Senior management of a restaurant chain decides to cut the workforce by 15 percent. Which of these groups is most likely to respond positively to this news?

stockholders

Maria, a middle manager, enjoys talking over work situations with Daniel, her subordinate, who is a first-line supervisor. However, she notices that Daniel frequently brings problems to her that he expects her to solve, rather than solving them himself. Since Daniel has been a supervisor for a significant length of time, he should be more independent in his actions. Based on what you know about operant conditioning theory, what should Maria do?

stop acting interested in the problems Daniel brings to her and make her responses brief

Marco is the vice president of an athletic apparel company that sells clothing for bicyclists. Recently, the company has identified problems of cost control in all of its offices. Marco formed a team composed of the sales managers of all the four regions, along with some staff members from the company's informational technology and administration departments, to study the problem and make recommendations over a four-month period. This team is an example of a

task force.

Mi Jin is writing a newspaper article about the day-to-day running of a baseball team. For this report, she interviews people who do a wide variety of jobs. Which of the following jobs would Mi Jin describe in her article as showing technical skill?

the batting instructor giving tips to a struggling player

Cheng-En has just completed a study for his company, NewElectronics, Inc., which produces wireless earbuds. This study focuses on the major threats to NewElectronics. Cheng-En has found that his company has one major rival, MagicSounds, Inc., which has developed impressive brand loyalty. Cheng-En's company uses a specific type of metal that only a few suppliers offer. However, NewElectronics's earbuds would still be affordable for many customers. Furthermore, Cheng-En does not see any products that can be used in place of New Electronics earbuds. Based on what you know about Michael Porter's five forces model, which of the following would Cheng-En claim is the greatest threat to NewElectronics?

the high price of the metal used to make the earbuds

A supplier's bargaining position is strong when

the input is vital to the organization.

You are the manager of human resources for OpenSpaces, Inc., a land survey company that often surveys rugged, mountainous terrain. Your company has an opening for a land surveyor. For this job, a candidate needs a college degree in surveying. However, you also want to find out if candidates have certain qualities that will help them excel at the job. The position requires extensive math, good communication skills, and stamina. Considering all of these elements, you focus on ________________ to determine which candidate to hire.

the interview process, paper-and-pencil ability tests, and physical ability tests

Antonella owns a company that produces organic chips called Earth Chips, Inc. She wants to create a competitive advantage for Earth Chips by using quality. With this goal in mind, which of the following would she be most likely to support?

the production of tasty quinoa chips that use pure olive oil and are reasonably priced

The goal of job enlargement is to increase

the range of tasks and thus reduce boredom.

Barry is an analyst for Sunshine Groves and Cannery, which sells canned fruit products. One of his jobs is to keep track of weather reports, with a particular focus on predicted tropical storms and hurricanes, because the management at Sunshine Fruit particularly needs ______ information.

timely