Ch. 1: The Management Process Today

Organizational structure (outcome of organizing)

A formal system of task and reporting relationships that coordinate and motivates organizational members so they work together to achieve organizational goals.

Organizational performance

A measure of how efficiently and effectively a manager uses resources to satisfy customers and achieve organizational goals. Increases in direct proportion to increases in efficiency and effectiveness.

Low-cost strategy

A strategy used for obtaining customers by making decisions that allow an organization to produce goods or services more cheaply than its competitors so it can charge lower prices than they do.

Competitive advantage

Ability of one org. to outperform other org.'s because it produces desired goods/services more efficiently and effectively than they do.

How do organizations differentiate their managers?

1) According to level/rank in the organization's hierarchy of authority -first-line managers -middle managers -top managers 2) According to type of skill

What are the four major challenges managers face in today's world?

1) Building a competitive advantage 2) Maintaining ethical standards 3) Managing a diverse workforce 4) Utilizing new information systems and technologies

Levels and responsibilities of top managers

1) CEO: Most senior and important manager to which all other top managers report to. Must build effective top management team. 2) Chief Operating Officer: Company's top manager *CEO & COO responsible for developing good working relationships among the top managers of various departments.

What are the three steps involved in planning?

1) Decide which goals the organization will pursue. 2) Decide what strategies to adopt to attain those goals. 3) Decide how to allocate organizational resources to pursue the strategies that attain those goals.

What are the four building blocks of competitive advantage?

1) Efficiency (reduction in quantity of resources used to produce goods or services) 2) Quality (through TQM) 3) Innovation (decentralization or work activities and rewards for risk-taking) 4) Responsiveness to customers (vital for service organizations. Many countries are moving toward a more service-based economy)

Which 2 major factors have led to recent changes in the tasks and responsibilities of managers?

1) Global competition -Has increased outsourcing 2) Advance in information technology -Makes it possible for fewer employees to perform a particular work task by increasing each person's ability to process info and make decisions more quickly and accurately.

List and define the four principal managerial tasks.

1) Planning: Choosing appropriate organizational goals and courses of action/developing strategies to best achieve those goals and maximize performance. 2) Organizing: Establish task and authority relationships that allow people to work together to achieve organizational goals. 3) Leading: Motivate, coordinate, and energize individuals and groups to work together to achieve organizational goals. 4) Controlling: Establish accurate measuring and monitoring systems to evaluate how well the organization has achieved its goals.

Top management team

A group composed of the CEO, the COO and the vice presidents of the most important departments of a company.

Self-managed team

A group of employees who assume responsibility for organizing, controlling, and supervising their own activities and monitoring the quality of the goods and services they provide. Facilitated by the efficiency and autonomy granted to employees by IT.

Department

A group of managers and employees who work together because they possess similar skills or use the same knowledge, tools, or techniques to perform their jobs. All 3 levels of management exist w/in a department.

Efficiency

A measure of how productively resources are used to achieve a goal.

Effectiveness

A measure of the appropriateness of the goals an organization is pursuing and the degree to which the organization achieves those goals.

Leading

Articulating a clear vision and energizing and enabling organizational members so they understand the part they play in achieving organizational goals. Produces a highly committed and motivated workforce.

How does the prevalence of each of the four principal management tasks differ according to the manager's position in the managerial hierarchy?

As managers ascend the hierarchy they dedicate more time to planning/organizing resources to maintain and improve organizational performance.

What are resources of a company?

Assets such as people and their skills, know-how, and experience; machinery; raw materials; computers and information technology; and patents, financial capital, and loyal customers and employees.

Organizations

Collections of people who work together and coordinate their actions to achieve a wide variety of goals or desired future outcomes.

Outsourcing

Contracting with another company, usually in a low-cost country abroad, to have it perform a work activity the organization previously performed itself (such as manufacturing, marketing, or customer service)

Restructuring

Downsizing an organization's operations to lower-cost operations by eliminating the jobs or a large number of top, middle, and first-line managers and nonmanagerial employees. Used to utilize IT and increase efficiency and effectiveness of organizations.

Top manager

Establishes organizational goals, decides how departments should interact, and monitors the performance of middle managers. Have cross-departmental responsibility (responsible for performance of all departments).

Controlling

Evaluating how well an organization is achieving its goals and taking action to maintain or improve performance. Provides the ability to accurately measure performance and regulate efficiency and effectiveness of the organization.

Empowerment

Management technique that involves giving employees more authority and responsibility over how they perform their work activities.

Conceptual skills

Managerial skill that is the ability to analyze and diagnose a situation and to distinguish between the cause and effect and is developed through formal education and training. Top managers require best conceptual skills.

Human skills

Managerial skill that is the general ability to understand, alter, lead and control the behavior of other individuals and groups. Thorough and direct feedback helps managers develop human skills.

Technical skills

Managerial skills that are the job-specific knowledge and techniques required to perform an organizational role.

Global Organization

Org's that operate and compete in more than one country. Rise of global organizations has pressured organizations to identify better ways to use their resources and improve performance.

Top Quality Management (TQM)

Quality-enhancing techniques that involve organizing employees into quality control teams responsible for finding new & better ways to perform their jobs and monitoring/evaluating the quality of the goods they produce.

What techniques have managers recently begun using to increase efficiency and effectiveness of an organization and its employees?

Restructuring, outsourcing, empowerment, and self-managed teams.

Organizing

Structuring working relationships so organizational members interact and cooperate to achieve organizational goals.

Middle manager

Supervises first-line managers and is responsible for finding the best way to use resources to achieve organizational goals.

Turnaround management

The creation of a new vision for a struggling company based on a new approach to planning and organizing to make better use of a company's resources and allow it to survive and prosper.

Strategy

The outcome of planning that is a cluster of decisions about what goals to pursue, what actions to take, and how to use resources to achieve goals.

Management

The planning, organizing, leading, and controlling of human and other resources to achieve organizational goals efficiently and effectively.

Innovation

The process of developing new/improved goods & services or developing better ways to produce/provide them. Typically occurs in small groups or teams when management decentralizes control or work activities to team members and creates an organizational culture that rewards risk taking.

Core competency

The specific set of departmental skills, knowledge, and experience that allows one organization to outperform another/gives an org. a competitive advantage.

What do all managers have in common?

They all work in organizations and are responsible for supervising and maximizing the use of a company's resources in order to achieve company goals.

First-line managers (supervisors)

responsible for the daily supervision of non-managerial employees.