MGMT 309 - FINAL EXAM

what is human resource management?

- (HRM) set of organizational activities directed at attracting, developing, and maintaining an effective workforce Strategic Importance: - people who make up an organization are critical for effectiveness and competitiveness - growing importance stems from increased legal complexities, recognizing that human resources are a valuable means for improving productivity, and the awareness of costs associated with poor HRM Legal Environment: - number of laws that regulate HRM especially in areas of equal employment opportunity, compensation and benefits, labor relations, and occupational safety and health Social Change: - organizations are using more temporary workers, dual-career partners/families are getting more common, employment-at-will is becoming a larger issue (companies can fire an employee for whatever reason they want), and discussions over minimum wage are various social changes affecting how organizations interact with their employees

what is Barnard's Theory of Management?

- Chester Barnard, top manager, wrote "The Functions of the Executive" - a major theory about the acceptance of authority - suggests that subordinates weigh the legitimacy of a supervisor's directives and then decide whether to accept them - an order is accepted if the subordinate understands it, is able to comply with it, and views it as appropriate (2.2)

what are the various types of communication?

- Communication: process of transmitting information from one person to another - Communication Network: pattern through which the members of a group communicate - Grapevine: informal communication network among people in an organization - Interpersonal: Oral (spoken words), Nonverbal (facial expressions), and Written (words written down) - Organizational: Vertical (flows up and down an organization, usually between managers and their subordinates, may involve several different levels) and Horizontal (flows laterally within an organization, involves colleagues and peers at the same level of the organization)

management step 4

- Controlling: monitoring organizational progress toward goal attainment - managers must monitor progress to ensure that it is performing in such a way as to arrive at its "destination" at the appointed time - controlling ensures the effectiveness and efficiency needed for successful management, but weak controls can seriously cost an organization

what is organizational decision making?

- Decision Making: act of choosing one alternative from among a set of alternatives - Decision-Making Process: recognizing and defining the nature of a decision situation, identifying alternatives, choosing the "best" one (most effective), and putting it into practice - many different types and steps to follow, but overall organizational decision making is made by a team or group rather than an individual

3. Decisional Roles

- Entrepreneur: voluntary initiator of change (manager has a creative idea but has to "sell" it to other skeptical managers in the company) - Disturbance Handler: initiated not by the manager but by other individuals or a group, handling problems such as strikes, copyright infringements, or problems in public relations and corporate images - Resource Allocator: manager decides how resources are distributed and with whom he or she will work most closely (allocating budget among projects) - Negotiator: manager enters into negotiations with other groups or organizations as a representative of the company, but can also be internal (an agreement with a consultant) - the manager's informational roles typically lead to these roles which relate primarily to making decisions

1. Interpersonal Roles

- Figurehead: more ceremonial and symbolic than substantive (attending ribbon-cutting ceremonies) - Leader: formally or informally shows subordinates how to do things and how to perform under pressure (hiring and training employees) - Liaison: serving as a coordinator or link among people, groups, or organizations (someone keeping another company informed about their plans) - three roles inherent in the senior manager's job which involve dealing with other people

what is the GANTT Chart?

- Henry Gantt, one of the earliest advocates of scientific management - developed techniques for improving worker output - essentially a means of scheduling work and can be generated for each worker or for an entire complex project

what is Theory X and Theory Y?

- Human Relations Movement: argued that workers respond primarily to the social context of the workplace (by Abraham Maslow and Douglas McGregor) - McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y model best represent the essence of the human relations movement - Theory X and Theory Y reflect two extreme belief sets that different managers have about their workers - McGregor believed Theory Y to be a more appropriate philosophy for managers to use (2.3)

what are the various organizational environments?

- Internal: the conditions and forces within an organization (inside layer) - owners, board of directors, employees, physical environment, culture - External: everything outside an organization's boundaries that might affect it - two types are: 1. Task (middle layer): competitors, customers, suppliers, strategic partners, regulators 2. General (outside layer): technological, economic, sociocultural, political-legal, and international dimensions (3.2 & 3.3)

what are group needs?

- Interpersonal Attraction: people are attracted to one another, increased by pure proximity and similar attitudes, personalities, or shared life experiences - Group Activities: activities of the group appeal to an individual (ex: run club) - Group Goals: individuals join a group because they subscribe to its goals (ex: fundraisers) - Need Satisfaction: satisfy the need for affiliation - Instrumental Benefits: membership is seen as necessary to provide other benefits to the individual (ex: joining a networking club)

management step 3

- Leading: set of processes used to get members of the organization to work together to further the interests of the organization - considered to be the most important and most challenging function

2. Informational Roles

- Monitor: one who actively seeks information that may be of value; manager questions subordinates, is receptive to unsolicited information, and attempts to be as well informed as possible - Disseminator: transmitting relevant information back to others in the workplace - Spokesperson: focuses on external communication, formally relays information to people outside the unit or organization - three roles which carry out the interpersonal roles, placing a manager at a strategic point to gather and disseminate information - when Monitor and Disseminator are viewed together, the manager emerges as a vital link in the organization's chain of communication

what are group norms?

- Norms: standards of behavior that the group or team accepts for and expects of its members - define the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behavior - can make things easier or harder on workers - Norm Conformity: always different between groups and sometimes even within groups (18.2)

what is an organizational contribution of an employee?

- Organizational Citizenship: behavior of individuals that makes a positive overall contribution to an organization - willing to make contributions to the organization beyond the strict description of their job

what is organizational stability?

- Organizational Life Cycle: progression of organizations evolving as they grow and mature - birth, to youth, to midlife, and finally to maturity - which is a period of stability - an organization structured in its procedures and processes, knowing what direction its headed with plans to achieve its goals

management step 2

- Organizing: determining how activities and resources are to be grouped - once a manager has set goals and developed a workable plan, organizing is necessary to carry out the plan

what is perception management?

- Perception: set of processes by which an individual becomes aware of and interprets information about the environment - Selective Perception: process of screening out information that we are uncomfortable with or that contradicts our beliefs - Stereotyping: process of categorizing or labeling people on the basis of a single attribute

how do we use organizational ranking for appraisal?

- Performance Appraisal: of how well an employee is doing his or her job - two appraisal methods are Objective and Judgmental - judgmental methods include ranking and rating techniques, the most common way to measure performance - Ranking: compares employees directly with one another and orders them from best to worst, but has many drawbacks

what is a planned change vs a reactive change?

- Planned: change that is designed and implemented in an orderly and timely fashion in anticipation of future events - always preferred to reactive - for example, a new CEO is hired and he decides to make a major change - Reactive: a piecemeal response to circumstances as they develop - may be rushed, leaving potential for poorly conceived and executed change - for example, COVID-19 hitting and companies having no contingency plans in place - approaching change from a planned perspective is reinforced by the frequency of organization change - extremely effective to anticipate forces urging change and plan ahead to deal with them

management step 1

- Planning: setting an organization's goals and deciding how best to achieve them - decision making: part of the planning process that involves selecting a course of action from a set of alternatives - the organization's goals and plans help managers know how to allocate their time and resources

what are the types of decisions we typically make in management?

- Programmed: a decision that is fairly structured or recurs with some frequency (or both) - includes most decisions about basic operating systems and procedures and standard organizational transactions - Non-programmed: a decision that is relatively unstructured and occurs much less often than a programmed decision - includes most decisions involving strategy and organization designs about new facilities, new products, labor contracts, legal issues, etc.

what is a socialized team?

- Socialization: generalized norm conformity that occurs as a person makes the transition from being an outsider to being an insider in the organization - as the newcomer adopts new norms of an organization, they are being socialized into the organizational culture - some companies do it y force, others leave it to happenstance (18.1)

what are the various types of organizational strategy?

- Strategic Alliance: a cooperative arrangement between two or more firms for mutual gain - Joint Venture: a special type of strategic alliance in which the partners share in the ownership of an operation on an equity basis - Importing: bringing a good, service, or capital into the home country from abroad - Exporting: ^ opposite - Licensing: arrangement where one company allows another to use its brand name, trademark, technology, patent, copyright, or other assets in exchange for a royalty based on sales - Direct Investment: when a firm started in one country builds or purchases operating facilities in another country

what is an employment test? ***dig deep on this***

- Tests of ability, skill, aptitude, and knowledge that are relevant to the job are usually the best predictors of job success, as long as they are administered and scored consistently - all candidates should have the same directions, time, and testing environment - Tests of general intelligence or personality are occasionally used as well - Predictive Validation: collecting test scores of employees and correlating them with actual job performance - Content Validation: collecting data to learn what the job needs and developing tests to measure applicant's abilities of those needs - Application Forms, Resumes, Interviews, Assessment Centers (content-valid simulation of a job) - Polygraph tests, drug tests, physical exams, general background checks

what is impression management?

- a direct and intentional effort by someone to enhance his or her image in the eyes of others; a subtle form of political behavior - people engage in this to further their own careers, boost their self-esteem, and acquire more power and control - people try to manage how others perceive them through their appearance and associating themselves with only successful people and projects - can be taken too far and create unrealistic expectations around someone

what's a strategic plan?

- a general plan outlining decisions of resource allocation, priorities, and action steps necessary to reach strategic goals - made by the board of directors and top management with a time horizon - address questions of scope, resource deployment, competitive advantage, and synergy

task groups

- a group created by the organization to accomplish a relatively narrow range of purposes within a stated or implied time horizon - specifies group membership and assigns a relatively narrow set of goals, with a specified or implied time horizon - Team: a special form of task group

functional groups

- a permanent group created by the organization to accomplish a number of organizational purposes with an unspecified time horizon - after current goals are accomplished, new ones are created

... Theory X

- a pessimistic and negative view of workers consistent with the views of scientific management Assumptions: - people do not like work and try to avoid it - people do not like work, so managers have to control, direct, coerce, and threaten employees to get them to work toward organizational goals - people prefer to be directed, to avoid responsibility, and to want security; they have little ambition

whats a tactical plan?

- a plan aimed at achieving tactical goals, developed to implement parts of a strategic plan - involve upper and middle management, with a shorter time horizon and more specific focus - concerned with getting things done, rather than deciding what to do

... Theory Y

- a positive view of workers, represents the assumptions that human relation advocates make Assumptions: - people do not naturally dislike work; work is a natural part of their lives - people are internally motivated to reach objectives to which they are committed - people are committed to goals to the degree that they receive personal rewards when they reach their objectives - people will both seek and accept responsibility under favorable conditions - people have the capacity to be innovative in solving organizational problems - people are bright, but under most organizational conditions their potential is underutilized

what is a mission statement?

- a statement of an organization's fundamental, unique purpose that sets a business apart from other firms of its type and identifies the scope of the business's operations in product and market terms - helps managers make decisions and direct resources in clear and specific ways

what is job enlargement?

- alternative approach to job specialization - involves giving employees more and a wider range of tasks to perform, which presumably reduces the level of job dissatisfaction - based on the assumption that doing the same basic task over and over again is the primary cause of job dissatisfaction - disadvantages include training costs increase, unions have argued that pay should increase, and work remains boring and routine still

what is job enrichment?

- alternative approach to job specialization - involves increasing both the number of tasks the worker does and the control the worker has over the job to improve employee motivation - to implement, managers remove some controls from the job, delegate more authority to employees, and structure the work to increase subordinates' sense of responsibility - assign new and challenging tasks, increasing employees' opportunity for growth and advancement, but has room for disadvantages

what is job rotation?

- alternative approach to job specialization - involves systematically moving employees from one job to another - jobs do not change, but workers move from job to job - has not been successful in enhancing employee motivation or satisfaction - used to increase flexibility and lower costs, because these workers can move to new jobs based on demand

what is productivity?

- an economic measure of efficiency that summarizes what is produced relative to resources used to produce it - often assessed at different levels and in different forms - primary determinate of an organization's level of profitability and ability to survive, as well as people's standard of living in an area - improve by improving operations and increasing employee involvement

what is organizational development?

- an effort that is planned, organization-wide, and managed from the top - intended to increase organizational effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the organization's process, using behavioral science knowledge - diagnostic activities, team building, survey feedback, education, intergroup activities, third-party peacemaking, techno-structural activities, process consultation, life and career planning, coaching and counseling, planning and goal setting are all techniques used for this

what is organizational change?

- any substantive modification to some part of the organization - can involve any part of an organization such as work schedules, span of management, technology, etc. - may have effects extending beyond the actual area where the change is implemented - external forces for change derive from organization's general and task environments - internal forces derive from inside the organization (their strategy changes then change occurs)

what is leadership?

- as a Process, the use of non-coercive influence to shape the group's or organization's goals, motivate behavior toward the achievement of those goals, and help define group or organizational culture - as a Property, the set of characteristics attributed to individuals who are perceived to be leaders - Leaders: people who influence the behaviors of others without having to rely on coercion, people whom others accept as leaders

natural environment

- companies are socially responsible in their release of pollutants and general treatment of the environment - companies must develop economically feasible ways to lessen their impact on climate change and promote sustainable business practices (4.3)

what are values?

- contribute to ethical standards and outlined by firms' Code of Ethics - beliefs and principles people and organizations believe are important to them in the way they live and work - like morals, but individual and personal

informal or interest groups

- created by its member for purposes that may or may not be relevant to those of the organization - unspecified time horizon, can be positive or negative but always a strong force

what are the various levels of management?

- differentiation of managers into three basic categories 1. Top 2. Middle 3. First-line (1.3)

what is administrative management?

- focuses on managing the total organization (whereas scientific focuses only on the jobs of individual employees) - primary contributors: Henri Fayol, Lyndall Urwick, Max Weber, Chester Barnard (2.2)

what is Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act?

- forbids discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, or national origin in all areas of the employment relationship - intent is to ensure that employment decisions are made on the basis of a person's qualifications rather than on the basis of personal biases - has reduced direct (won't hire woman for "male jobs") and indirect (using employment reading and writing tests) forms of discrimination

what is a board of directors? what do they do?

- governing body elected by a corporations stockholders and charged with overseeing the general management of the firm to ensure that it is being run in a way that best serves the stockholders' interests - they perform a general oversight function but usually don't get actively involved in how the company is run - recent business scandals have pushed for them to get more involved - Corporate Governance: who is responsible and accountable for governing the actions of a business (3.3)

what is a group?

- group: consists of two or ore people who interact regularly to accomplish a common purpose or goal - basis for much of the work that gets done, and evolve both inside and outside normal structural boundaries of an organization - three basic kinds of groups: functional, informal or interest, and task groups

what is labor relations?

- human resource management - National Labor Relations Act/Wagner Act: passed in 1935 to set up procedures for employees to vote on whether to have a union - National Labor Relations Board: established by this act to enforce its provisions - Labor-Management Relations Act/Taft-Hartley Act: limits union power and specifies management rights during a union-organizing campaign

hygiene factors

- influencing the dissatisfaction continuum, related to work environment - include supervisors, working conditions, interpersonal relations, pay and security, company policies and administration

motivation factors

- influencing the satisfaction continuum, related to work content - include achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement and growth

what are the various manager roles?

- managers generally play ten different roles that fall into these three categories 1. Interpersonal 2. Informational 3. Decisional (1.4)

what is resistance to change?

- managers need to understand the resistance that often accompanies change - uncertainty, threatened self-interests, feelings of loss, and different people's perceptions are all common reasons for resistance to change - participating in the change, educating and open communication, facilitation procedures (announcing changes in advance), and force-field analysis (forces for change outweigh those against it) are all techniques that help overcome this resistance

what is ethics?

- one's personal beliefs about whether a behavior, action, or decision is right or wrong - people have ethics, but organizations do not - ethical behavior varies between people and social norms - people are influenced in their childhood, by peers they interact with daily, by important events in their lives, religious beliefs, values and morals (4.1 & 4.2)

general social welfare

- organizations should promote the general welfare of society, as well as treating constituents and the environment responsibly - some believe organizations should act even more broadly to correct the political inequities in our world (4.3)

what is the psychological contract?

- overall set of expectations held by an individual with respect to what he or she will contribute to the organization and what the organization will provide in return - similar in some ways to a standard legal contract, but less formal and well defined - individual makes contributions such as effort, skills, ability, time, etc. that satisfy various needs, expectations, etc. of an organization - in return, the organization provides inducements to the individual such as pay and career opportunities - is a continuous contract that has to be upheld by both parties to keep a satisfied relationship

what is merit pay?

- pay awarded to employees on the basis of the relative value of their contributions to the organization - the greater contributions employees make to an organization, the higher pay they are given - Merit pay plan: compensation plan that formally bases at least some meaningful portion of compensation on merit, often seen through annual salary increases

organizational stakeholders

- person or organization who is directly affected by the practices of an organization and has a stake in its performance - include customers, employees, and investors, etc. - organizations try to address their needs and expectations, treating everyone fairly

referent power

- personal power that accrues to someone based on identification, imitation, loyalty, or charisma - is abstract, compared to legitimate, reward, and coercive which are concrete - followers may identify with this person in their personalities, background, attitudes, etc. and take steps to be just like them

expert power

- personal power that accrues to someone based on the information or expertise they possess - more important the information and the fewer people who have access to it, the more expert power someone has - people who are both leaders and managers tend to have a lot

legitimate power

- power granted through the organizational hierarchy and defined by the organization to be accorded to people occupying particular positions - essentially the same as authority in the workplace, all managers have it over their subordinates, but not everyone complies to it

what is informational justice? (organizational??)

- refers to the perceived fairness of information used to arrive at decisions - even if an individual doesn't agree with a decision, they will see that it was made in an ethical manner because it was based on accurate information and appropriately processed (and vice versa) (4.1)

what is punishment and avoidance?

- reinforcement theory: approach to motivation that argues that behavior that results in rewarding consequences is likely to be repeated, whereas behavior that results in punishing consequences is less likely to be repeated - Punishment: used to WEAKEN undesired behaviors by using negative outcomes or unpleasant consequences when the behavior is performed - Avoidance: used to STRENGTHEN behavior by avoiding unpleasant consequences that would result if the behavior were not performed

what is infrastructure?

- schools, hospitals, power plants, railroads, highways, ports, comm systems, airfields, and commercial distribution systems of a country - an important aspect of the economic environment of relevance to international management and trade - directly linked to a company's economic environment (5.3)

what is organizational structure?

- set of elements that can be used to configure an organization - deciding how best to group organizational activities and resources - six building blocks: designing, grouping, establishing reporting relationships between, distributing authority among, coordinating activities among, and differentiating among job positions

Top Managers

- small group of executives who manage the overall organization - includes president, vice president, and CEO - they create the organization's goals, overall strategy, and operating policies - officially represent the organization to the external environment by meeting with gov't officials, executives of other companies, etc. - a complex and varied job, working long hours but getting paid well - make decisions about such activities as acquiring other companies, investing in research and development, entering or abandoning various markets, and building new plants and office facilities

what is the Two-Factor Theory of Motivation?

- suggests that people's satisfaction and dissatisfaction are influenced by two independent sets of factors: Motivation and Hygiene - Herzberg's study identified two different dimensions: one ranging from satisfaction to no satisfaction, and the other from dissatisfaction to no dissatisfaction - result of this theory is predicted to be higher levels of satisfaction and motivation

First-line Managers

- supervise and coordinate the activities of operating employees - include supervisors, coordinators, and office managers - often employees who enter management from the ranks of operating personnel - typically spend most of their time supervising the work of subordinates - may handle routine administrative duties like day-to-day operations, hiring staff, assembly-line supervisors, etc.

what is quantitative management?

- the Quantitative Management Perspective applies quantitative techniques to management - focuses on decision making, economic effectiveness, mathematical models, and the use of computers - two branches: Management Science (the development of mathematical models, equations, and similar representations of reality) and Operations Management (helping the organization produce its products or services more efficiently - applied more directly) (2.4)

what is power?

- the ability to affect the behavior of others, goes along with leadership - one can have power without actually using it - five kinds of power: Legitimate, Reward, Coercive, Referent, and Expert Methods to Using Power: - Legitimate Request: manager is ranked higher than subordinate, most common - Instrumental Compliance: subordinate complies to receive rewards from manager - Rational Persuasion: manager convinces subordinate that it is in their best interest - Personal Identification: uses referent power and consciously becomes a model for the subordinate - Inspirational Appeal: manager induces a subordinate to do something for a set of higher ideals or values - Information Distortion: withhold or distorting information to influence a subordinate's behavior, risky and unethical use of power

what is job specialization?

- the degree to which the overall task of the organization is broken down and divided into smaller component parts - an extension of organizational growth, evolved from "division of labor" Benefits: - workers become proficient at singular tasks - time between tasks decreases - develop specialized equipment for each task - can find a new worker at a low cost Consequences: - workers may become bored and dissatisfied - offers workers no challenge or stimulation, leading to quality of the work suffering

what is job design?

- the determination of a person's work-related responsibilities - starts from determining the level of desired job specialization - might define areas of decision-making, identify goals and expectations, etc.

Middle Managers

- the largest group of managers in most organizations - includes plant manager, operations manager, and division head - responsible primarily for implementing the policies and plans developed by Top Managers, as well as supervising and coordinating the activities of lower-level managers - recently, middle managers are getting paid less and decreasing in numbers, but those who remain have an even more important role in determining how successful the organization will be - they are necessary to bridge the upper and lower levels of an organization, implementing the strategies developed

what is diversification?

- the number of different businesses that an organization is engaged in and the extent to which these businesses are related to one another - the most important strategic issue at the corporate level - three strategy types 1. Single-Product: organization makes just one product and sells it in a single geographic market 2. Related: organization operates in several businesses that are linked together 3. Unrelated: organization operates multiple businesses that are not associated with each other

how do we design organizational systems?

- the overall set of structural elements and the relationships among those elements used to manage the total organization - optimal design for any organization depends on the situational factors - Core Technology: transform inputs into outputs - Environment: stable (mechanistic) vs unstable (organic) - Organizational Size: number of employees - Life Cycle: birth, youth, midlife, maturity

coercive power

- the power to force compliance by means of psychological, emotional, or physical threat - common examples are verbal or written reprimands, disciplinary layoffs, fines, etc. - used to have power and get things done, but can provoke hostility and resentment

reward power

- the power to give or withhold rewards such as salary increases, bonuses, promotions, praise, recognition, and interesting job assignments - the greater the number and value of rewards a manager controls over it's subordinates, the greater their reward power is

what is attribution?

- the process of observing behavior and attributing causes to it - closely linked to perception of ourselves or others - we form attributions around consensus (other people in the same situation), consistency (different time), and distinctiveness (different situation)

what is competition?

- the rivalry between two or more organizations, products, consumers, etc. - quality is the most competitive point in businesses

what is motivation?

- the set of forces that cause people to behave in certain ways - significant as a determinant of performance and its intangible nature - employee motivation in the workplace is their desire to do the job, finding need deficiencies and meeting those needs

what is social responsibility?

- the set of obligations an organization has to protect and enhance the societal context in which it functions - organizations exercise their social responsibility toward three areas including Stakeholders, the Natural Environment, and Social Welfare (4.5)

what is operations management?

- the total set of managerial activities used by an organization to transform resource inputs into products, services, or both - at the core of what organizations do as they add value and create products and services - concerned with helping the organization more efficiently produce its products or services - techniques include inventory management, linear programming, queuing theory, break-even analysis, and simulation

what is quality?

- the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs - quality is both an absolute and relative concept, being vital to a company's success or failure - eight dimensions that determine quality include: performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics, and perceived quality - Malcolm Baldrige Award: given annually to firms that achieve major changes in their quality - is competitive, related to productivity, and lowers costs - Total Quality Management: pervasive approach to managing quality

what is cross-training?

- training employees to perform a number of different jobs - increases the flexibility of an organization's workforce and employee involvement - allows firms to function with fewer workers, more participation enhances quality and boosts productivity - firms must reward workers for learning new skills and using them proficiently - however, unions resist such programs because it threatens job security and reduces a person's identification with one skill

what is an inducement?

- what an organization provides to an individual - occurs when a manager offers to give something to someone else in return for that person's support - one of four basic forms of political behavior, used to gain and keep power

what is scope?

- when applied to strategy, it specifies the range of markets in which an organization will compete - conglomerates: compete in dozens or hundreds of markets - large scope

what is a compressed work schedule?

- working a full 40-hour week in fewer than the traditional five days - one form of alternative work arrangements, intended to enhance employee motivation and performance by giving them greater flexibility in how and when they work - one problem with this variation is when employees put to much time in one day, they tend to get tired and perform at a lower level as the day goes on

what are the various types of business strategy? (such as immersion strategy, etc.)

1. Differentiation: a strategy where an organization seeks to distinguish itself from competitors through the quality of its products or services (such as designer brands) 2. Overall Cost Leadership: strategy where an organization tries to gain a competitive advantage by reducing its costs below the costs of competing firms (manufacturing at low costs and high amount) 3. Focus: strategy in which an organization concentrates on a specific regional market, product line, or group of buyers (may utilize one of the previous strategies as well)

what are the types of resources?

1. Physical: inventory management, quality and equipment control 2. Human: selection and placement, training and development, performance appraisal and compensation - sometime employee behavior as well 3. Information: sales, marketing and financial forecasting, environmental analysis, PR, and production scheduling 4. Financial: debt and cash management, receivables collected and bills paid, most important resource* (1.1)

what are the various functions of management?

1. Planning and Decision Making 2. Organizing: 3. Leading 4. Controlling - most managers engage in more than one activity at a time, often moving between them in unpredictable ways (1.2)

productivity in depth

Levels: - aggregate: total level achieved by a country - industry: achieved by all the firms in a particular industry - company: achieved by an individual company - unit and individual: achieved by a unit within an organization and attained by a single person Total Factor Productivity = Outputs/Inputs - overall indicator of how well an organization uses all of its resources to create products and services Partial Productivity Ratios: Labor Productivity = Outputs/Direct Labor - provides more specific insights into how changing different resource inputs can affect productivity

what are organizational goals?

Purspose: - provide guidance and importance to employees - effective goal setting = good planning = future goal setting - source of motivation for everyone - provide an effective mechanism for evaluation and control - many different kinds of goals that vary by level (customer, store, etc.), area (operations, production, etc.), and time frame - Strategic: set by and for top management of the organization, general issues - Tactical: set by and for middle managers, operationalize actions to achieve strategic goals - Operational: set by and for lower-level managers, short-term issues associated with tactical goals