MGT 3150: Exam One Study Guide

Name some ways you can handle conflict:

- Avoiding—maybe the problem will go away - Accommodating—do whatever you want - Forcing—you have to do it my way - Compromising—lets split the difference - Collaborating—lets cooperate to reach a win-win solution that benefits us both

Describe the differences between an entrepreneur and intrapreneur:

- Entrepreneur: sees a new opportunity for a product or service and launches a business to try and realize it. - Intrapreneur: someone inside an existing organization who sees an opportunity for a product/service and mobilizes the organization's resources to try and realize it.

What are some disadvantages to groups making decisions?

- Few people can dominate or intimidate - Satisficing—the "good enough" decision - Goal displacement—other issues may arise - Groupthink: agreeing for the sake of unanimity and thus avoid accurately assessing the decision situation—unwillingness to consider alternatives

Describe what a formal and informal group are:

- Formal group: established to do something productive for the organization—headed by a leader - Informal group: formed by people seeking friendship, has no officially appointed leader, although a leader may emerge

What are some advantages to groups making decisions?

- Greater pool of knowledge - Different perspectives - Intellectual stimulation - Better understanding of decision rationale - Deeper commitment to the decision

Why can having knowledge about decision making styles be useful?

- Helps you to understand yourself - Can help you influence other people if you know the ways in which they make decisions - Gives you an awareness of how people can take the same information and yet arrive at different decisions

Why is teamwork important?

- Increased productivity - Increased speed - Reduces costs - Improved quality - Reduced destructive internal conflict - Improved workplace

Generally describe what a mission, vision, and values statement is:

- Mission Statement: generally states an issue and how the company will fix it... it is "what we are" - Vision Statement: when they do fix it... "to be" statements - Values Statement: the morals of the company

Describe what S-M-A-R-T goals are:

- S: Specific—not fuzzy—need specific goals with numbers - M: Measurable—determine how you will measure goals - A: Attainable—goals should neither be too difficult nor too easy - R: Result-Oriented—don't measure activity, measure the result - T: Target Date—if you do not set a target date nothing will get done

Describe the differences in planning for top, middle, and 1st line management:

- TOP: plan type is strategic, plans for 1-5 years, long-term goals, typically external focus to the organization - MIDDLE: plan type is tactical, 1/2-2 years, mid-term to short-term goals, focused on the internal aspects on the organization - FIRST LINE: plan type is operational, 1 week-1 year, short-term goals, focused on internal aspects of organization

How to prevent groupthink:

- Voice honest concerns and opinions - Allow criticism - Allow other perspectives

What are some advantages of having a smaller team?

- can communicate more effectively - scheduling is easier - quality of communication is better - better interaction and morale

Why are norms followed?

- help group survive - clarify role expectations - to help individuals avoid embarrassing situations - emphasize the groups important values and identity.

Describe what the informational role of management contains:

- managers receive and communicate information 1. Monitor: aware of information out there—decide what to share 2. Disseminator: in charge of spreading the information 3. Spokesperson: talk to people, does interviews ect.

What are some disadvantages to smaller teams?

- more responsibility - fewer resources - possibly less innovation - unfair work distribution

Name some disadvantages to having a large team:

- social loafing - worse morale - less interaction

Name some advantages of having a large team:

-- more innovations/new ideas - less work per person - more resources shared

What are the 4 most valued traits in a manager?

1. Ability to motive and engage others 2. Ability to communicate 3. Work experience outside the U.S. 4. High energy levels to meet demands of global travel and a 24/7 world.

What are the 3 assumptions of the rational decision model?

1. Complete information—no uncertainty 2. Logical, unemotional analysis 3. Best decision for the organization

What are 7 things that hinder managers from making rational decisions?

1. Complexity: problems are complex 2. Time and money constraints: may not have enough time or money to gather information 3. Different cognitive capacities, values, skills, habits, and unconscious reflexes: managers aren't all the same and have personal limitations and biases 4. Imperfect information 5. Information overload 6. Different priorities 7. Conflicting goals

What are some group problem solving techniques?

1. Consensus: occurs when members express their opinions and reach agreement to support the final decision 2. Brainstorming: technique used to help groups generate multiple ideas and alternatives for solving problems 3. Delphi technique: techniques used by physically dispersed experts to generate ideas anonymously

What are the 5 steps in the strategic management process?

1. Establish the mission, vision and values statement 2. Assess the current reality 3. Formulating the grand strategy 4. Execution 5. Implementing and controlling strategy

Describe the 5 steps in the strategic planning process:

1. Establish the organizational mission and vision and values 2. Assess the current reality 3. Formulate grand strategy and strategic/ tactical/operational plans 4. Implement strategy 5. Maintain strategic control

Name and describe the 5 stages of group/team development:

1. Forming: getting oriented and getting acquainted (Why are we here? How do I fit in?). Leaders should allow time for people to become acquainted and socialize. 2. Storming: characterized by emergence of individual personalities and roles and conflicts within the group (What's my role here? What are we fighting over, who is in charge, and who does what?) Leaders should encourage members to suggest ideas, voice disagreements ect. 3. Norming: conflicts resolve, close relationships develop, and unity and harmony emerge. (Group cohesiveness). Leaders should emphasize unity and identify team goals and values 4. Performing: members concentrate on solving problems and completing the assigned tasks (How can I best perform my role Can we do the job promptly) Leaders should empower members to work on tasks. 5. Adjourning: members prepare for disbandment (What's next? Can we help team members transition out?). Leader can help ease the transition by rituals celebrating "the end" and "new beginnings"

Name and describe 3 common strategies for an organizations grand strategy:

1. Growth: involves expansion (sales, revenue, market share, ect.) 2. Stability: involves little or no significant change 3. Defensive: involves reduction in the organizational efforts—retrenchment

What are some "symptoms" of the Abilene paradox/Groupthink?

1. Invulnerability, inherent morality, and stereotyping of opposition--May think our view is right and everyone else is wrong, Us vs. them 2. Rationalization and self-censorship-- We tend to have a confirmation bias when making decisions, Self-censorship: if I'm not thinking like the group—maybe I am the one that is wrong 3. Illusions of unanimity, peer pressure, and mind guards (same as self-censorship)--Reductions of alternative ideas, Limiting other information

List the 7 management challenges:

1. Managing for a competitive advantage—staying ahead of competitors, makes your company different 2. Managing for information technology—technology is continuously evolving, need to keep up 3. Managing for diversity 4. Managing for globalization 5. Managing for ethical standards—Bernie Madoff: Ponzi scheme 6. Managing for sustainability—economic development: meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. 7. Managing for happiness and meaningfulness

What are the 3 types of organizations?

1. Profit: for making $-- example is Walmart 2. Non-profit: for offering services--- example is UTC, or the Salvation Army 3. Mutual benefit: for aiding members-- example NAM: National Association of Manufactures, and labor unions

What are some advantages to product diversification?

1. Reduced risk 2. Management efficiencies 3. Synergy: sum is greater than the parts

Name and describe 4 ineffective decision responses:

1. Relaxed avoidance: taking no action in the belief that there will be no great negative consequences. 2. Relaxed change: realizing complete inaction will have negative consequences but opts for the 1st available alternative (even if it is not great—or extremely effective) 3. Defensive avoidance: can't find a good solution and follows by (a) procrastinating, (b) passing the buck, or (c) denying the risk. 4. Panic: so frantic to get rid of the problem that one cannot deal with the situation realistically

Name and describe 3 reasons why strategic management and planning are important:

1. They provide direction and momentum: unless a plan is in place managers focus on whatever is right in front of them—"just putting out fires"—if managers get too preoccupied with the day-to-day of the organization they can lose momentum 2. They encourage new ideas: strategy innovation—ability to reinvent the basis of competition within an existing industry 3. Creates a sustainable competitive advantage: occurs when an organization can stay ahead in: Being responsive to customers, Innovation, Quality, Effectiveness

What 7 things can make it hard to make evidence based decisions?

1. Too much information 2. Not enough information 3. Evidence doesn't apply 4. People are trying to mislead you 5. You are misleading you 6. Side effects outweigh the benefits 7. Stories are more persuasive than data

Define the three levels of management:

1. Top management: make long term decisions overall direction of organization establish the objectives/policies/strategies for it. 2. Middle management: implement policies and plans of top management, supervise and coordinate the actions of the 1st line management—considered "high-touch" job because you are always essentially the middle man. 3. 1st line management/team leader: make short term operating decisions, direct daily tasks of non-management-- team leader is responsible for facilitating team activities 3. 1st line: deal with day to day operations of an organization

What are the 7 implementation principles of evidence-based decision making?

1. Treat organization as an unfinished prototype 2. No bragging just facts 3. See yourself and the organization as outsiders do 4. Evidence based decision management is not just for senior executives 5. Still need to see it 6. If all else fails slow down the process/spread of bad practices 7. Best diagnostic question—what happens when people fail?

When can a group help decision making?

1. When it increases quality: additional information may increase quality of the decision 2. When it can increase acceptance: acceptance within the organization is important—need to involve individuals whose acceptance are important 3. When it can increase development: if people can be developed through their participation, mangers may want to involve those whose development is most important

What are 2 techniques and tools that can be used to assess the current reality?

1. competitive intelligence 2. SWOT analysis

Name the 4 competitve strategies laid out by porter:

1. cost-leadership 2. differentiation 3. cost-focus 4. focused-differentiation

Name the 4 kinds of decision making styles:

1. directive 2. analytical 3. behavioral 4. conceptual

What are the 4 steps in the planning/control cycle?

1. make the plan 2. carry out the plan 3. control the direction by comparing results with the plan 4. control the direction in two of the following ways: by correcting deviations in the plan being carried out (then return to step 2), OR by improving future plans (go back to step 1).

What are the 4 major management functions? (POCL)

1. planning 2. organizing 3. controlling 4. leading

A large team generally consists of ______-_______ people.

10-16

Small teams usually consist of ____-______ members.

2-9

The __________ ___________ refers to how group-think results from agreeing with the group.

Abilene paradox

___________ __________: defines the course of action needed to achieve the stated goal.

Action Plan

__________ decision making style can be described as: considers more information and alternatives - have a _______ tolerance for ambiguity—values oriented with _________ and ___________ ___________.

Analytical; High, task and technical concerns

_____________ ______ ___________ ____________: reviewing what is working and what needs change—purpose is to maximize effectiveness and efficiency

Assessing the current reality

_________ _________: evaluates strategies businesses use on the basis of their business growth and their market share

BCG Matrix

_____________ decision making style may be described as: supportive, receptive to suggestions, shows warmth. Prefers verbal to written information. ______ tolerance for ambiguity—values oriented to _________ and ___________ ____________.

Behavioral, Low, people and social concerns

_________________ _____________: there are bounds to how rational our decisions can be

Bounded rationality

What are some typical occupations someone with a conceptual decision making style might hold?

CEO, managers

What are some typical occupations someone with an analytical decision making style might have?

CEO, managers, doctors and nurses, investment/stock analysts, PhD in sciences

______________ ______________: gaining information about your competitor's activities to anticipate their motives/moves and react appropriately.

Competitive intelligence - Places to get information: public information, advertisements, investor information, informal sources

_________ decision making style may be described as: takes a broad perspective to problem solving. Considers many options and future possibilities. _______ tolerance for ambiguity—values oriented to ____________ and __________ ____________.

Conceptual; High, people and social concerns

_____________: process in which one party perceives that its interests are being oppressed or negatively affected by another party.

Conflict

Porter's competitive strategy known as __________-_________ aims to keep low cost and target a narrow market

Cost-focus

Porter's competitive strategy known as ___________-_________ aims to keep cost low and target a wide audience (example Walmart)

Cost-leadership

Describe what an advice work team is:

Created to broaden the information base for managerial decisions-- they influence the decision, but they do not make the final decision - Committees - Review panels

What might be some typical occupations for people with directive decision making styles?

Criminal Justice field, data entry, accounting (deals with rules they must follow)

___________ ________ _________: include members from different areas within an organization, such as finance, operations, and sales

Cross functional teams

____________ _________ ___________: reflects the combination of how individuals perceived and responds to information reflected by: __________ __________: the extent to which a person focuses on either task and technical concerns or on people and social concerns when making decisions AND ____________ _____ _______________: the extent to which a person has a high need for structure or control in his or her life.

Decision making styles; Value orientation, Tolerance of ambiguity

Porter's competitive strategy known as ________________ aims to offer products that are unique/superior value—target a wide market (example Apple)

Differentiation

____________ decision making style can be described as: efficient logical practical and solving systematic in the approach to solving problems. - Has a _______ tolerance for ambiguity—value oriented with _________ and ___________ _________; Action oriented, decisive, and focused on facts

Directive, Low, task and technical concerns

____________ _____________: corporate bouncer—handle people that don't get along

Disturbance handler

___________: look for new opportunities and capitalize on them

Entrepreneur

_____________ _____________ decision making: translation of principles based on best evidence into organizational procedures—use facts not intuition; brings rationality to the decision-making process

Evidenced based

T/F: all teams/groups will follow the 5 stages of development uniformly?

False-- Some groups don't always follow "the model"—punctuated equilibrium: may be progressing and then you plateau, something will need to be done to move you along

___________ ___________, reports outside the company; ____________ is not a manager but they have a vision people follow.

Figure head, leader

Porter's competitive strategy known as __________- ________ aims to have superior products and target a narrow market (example Rolex)

Focus-differentiation

________________: specific commitment to achieve a measurable result within a stated period of time.

Goals

Define management:

Good management is defined as the pursuit of organizational goals efficiently and effectively by integrating work of people through planning, leading, organizing, and controlling.

________: two or more people freely acting individuals who share—collective norms, collective goals, and have a common identity

Groups

_____________: agreeing for the sake of unanimity and thus avoid accurately assessing the decision situation—unwillingness to consider alternatives

Groupthink

What are some typical occupations someone with a behavioral decision making style might hold?

HR, counselor

___________: making a choice without conscious thought or logical inference—comes from expertise and automated experience

Intuitive

___________ __________: fostering better relationships among people (needed to help get past the storming stage of team development)

Maintenance roles

_____________: help make compromises

Negotiator

________: general guidelines that most group or team members follow

Norms

____________ ___________: designed for a one year plan—defines how you conduct business based on the action plan. Identifies __________ __________ (examples, Revenue: how much money we make now—how much money we want to be making)

Operating Plan, clear targets

___________ __________: people at a lower level of the company—process where employees set goals, make decisions, solve problems, and make changes in the organization.

Participative management

___________ __________ is referred to as the devil's advocate, one person always argues the point being made for arguments sake.

Programmed Conflict

___________ ___________: assembled to solve a problem or complete a specific task—such as brainstorming new marketing ideas for one of the company's products

Project Team

_____________ ___________ ___________: explains how managers should make decisions- assumes that managers will make logical decisions that will be optimum in furthering the organizations interests. Also referred to as the classical model.

Rational Decision Model

The ________ decision making bias can be described as: generalizing from an anecdote

Representativness

_____________ ___________: make decisions on how to handle money

Resource allocator

Describe what a production work team is:

Responsible for performing day-to-day operations - Assembly teams - Maintenance crews - Work teams

____________: a socially determined expectation of how an individual should behave in a specific position

Roles

___-___-___-___ ___________: environmental scanning—monitoring of an organizations internal and external environments to detect early signs of opportunities and threats that may influence the firms plans. (internal SW—external OT)

S-W-O-T Analysis-- stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

__________ ________ ________: plans developed for activities that are not likely to be repeated in the future.

Single use plan

___________ ___________: plans developed for activities that occur repeatedly over a period of time (ex: putting on sporting events at UTC)

Standing plans

_____________ __________: consists of using questioning, analyzing, and following through in order to mesh strategy with reality, aligning people with goals and achieving these goals.

Strategic Execution

___________ ____________: monitoring the execution of strategy and taking corrective action if needed How can you keep track?

Strategic control; - Engage people - Keep it simple - Stay focuses - Keep moving

______________ ______________: putting strategy plans into effect-- dealing with roadblocks in the organization—seeking the right people to control systems to execute plans

Strategy implementation

_______ ______: getting tasks done (example supposed to show up for class, take notes, turn assignments in ect.)

Task roles

__________: small group of people with complementary skills and committed to: a common purpose, performance goal, approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable

Teams

__________ ________: have clear purpose that all members share; usually permanent, and members must give their complete commitment to the team's purpose for the team to succeed

Work Teams

Describe what an action work team is:

Work to accomplish tasks that require people with specialized training and high degree of coordination—generally high level of stress associated with these teams - Hospital surgery teams - Airline cockpit crews - Police SWAT teams

Describe what a project work team is:

Work to do creative problem solving, often by applying specialized knowledge of members of a cross-functional team - Task forces - Research groups

What are some soft skills managers need?

ability to motivate, inspire, and communicate

what are some conceptual skills managers need?

ability to think analytically, visualize the organization as a whole and understand how the parts work together

What are some human skills managers need?

ability to work well with other people to get things done

What are work teams 4 purposes?

advice, production, project, and action

The ___________ & _________ decision making bias can be described as: operating based on initial unrealistic data

anchoring and adjusting

The ________ decision making bias can be described as: giving more attention to most recent data

availability

What decision making concepts did Herbert Simon develop?

bounded rationality and "satisficing"

describe what a multicultural conflict is:

clashes between different groups in the global economy

The ________ decision making bias can be described as: disregarding conflicting data

confirmation

Describe the standing plan known as a rule:

designates specific required action (i.e. disciplinary action taken, if needed)

What managers need to know about groups and decision making: - Groups are less ___________—require longer to make decisions - Size of group affects decision quality: Optimal size = ____-_____ members. - ________ size groups are better - _____________ counts

efficient; 5-7, Odd; Knowledge

Describe the single use plan known as a program:

encompasses a range of projects or activates

who sets operational goals?

first line managers

The ________ decision making bias can be described as: being influenced by the presentation of data

framing

The ________ decision making bias can be described as: assuming that everything is obvious and that you knew it all along.

hindsight

describe what an intergroup conflict is:

inconsistent goals or reward systems, ambiguous jurisdictions, status difference

Describe what a personality conflict is:

interpersonal opposition based on personal dislike, disagreement, or differing styles—personality clashes, competition for scarce resources, time pressure, communication failures

What are some technical skills managers need?

job-specific knowledge needed to perform well in a specialized field

A single product strategy can be described as:

making one thing extremely well

Describe what the decisional role of management contains:

manage information to make decisions or to solve problems or to take advantage of opportunities.

Describe what the interpersonal roles of management are:

managers interact with people inside and outside their work units

Who sets tactical goals?

middle managers

The ________-________ ________ _______ reflects how managers actually make decisions.

non-rational decision model

Describe what efficiency and effectiveness mean- what story was used in class as an example of the 2?

o To be efficient means to use resources (people, money, ect.) effectively o To be effective means to achieve results, right decisions, and to execute organizational goals. o You can be efficient and not effective: recall AT&T story (efficient to not have many people sitting on customer calls- not effective at helping customers)

What are some rewards of practicing management?

o Understand how to deal with organization from the outside o Understand how to relate to superviosrs and co-workers o Understand how to manage yourself in the workplace o Experience great sense of accomplishment o Stretch your abilities o Build portfolio of successful products and services o Become a mentor o Renumeration: pay, benefits, perks

What is a functional manager responsible for?

one organizational activity

A diversification product strategy can be described as:

operating several business under one ownership that are can either be related or not related to one another

Describe the standing plan known as a policy:

outlines general response to a designated problem or situation (i.e. impaired employee)

Describe the standing plan known as a procedure:

outlines the response to a particular problem or circumstance (i.e. supervisor escorts individual to medical)

The ________ decision making bias can be described as: arrogance

overconfidence

Describe the single use plan known as a project:

plan of less scope and complexity than a program

What is a general manager responsible for?

several organizational activities

The ________ ______ decision making bias can be described as: deciding it is too costly to abandon a decision

sunk cost

Who sets strategic goals?

top managers

T/F: research has shown if you have too little conflict its unhealthy for a group (can lead to group think)—the Abilene Paradox; a moderate amount of amount of conflict is healthy for the group; too much conflict is also bad.

true

A diversification strategy known as ___________ __________ involves firms expaning into business that provide the supplies it needs to make its products or to distribute/sell its products—can control the market

vertical integration

___________ ___________: work together over time and distance via electronic media to combine efforts and achieve common goals

virtual teams