Principles of Management- Exam #1

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

An agreement among the Mexican, Canadian, & U.S. governments in which barriers to trade have been eliminated

Problem

An obstacle that makes it difficult to achieve a desired goal or purpose

Organizational Change

Any alteration of people, structure, or technology in an organization

Stakeholders

Any constituencies in the organization's environment that are affected by an organization's decisions & actions

Values

Basic convictions about what is right and wrong

Effectiveness

Doing the right things, or completing activities so that organizational goals are attained

Efficiency

Doing things right, or getting the most output from the least amount of inputs

Whistle-blower

Individuals who raise ethical concerns or issues to others

Technical Skills

Job-specific knowledge & techniques needed to proficiently perform work tasks

Stereotyping

Judging a person based on a perception of a group to which that person belongs

Organizing

Management function that involves arranging & structuring work to accomplish the organization's goals

Controlling

Management function that involves monitoring, comparing, & correcting work performance

Planning

Management function that involves setting goals, establishing strategies for achieving those goals, & developing plans to integrate & coordinate activities

Leading

Management function that involves working with & through people to accomplish organizational goals

Top Managers

Managers at or near the upper levels of the organization structure who are responsible for making organization-wide decisions & establishing the goals & plans that affect the entire organization

First-line Managers

Managers at the lowest level of management who manage the work of nonmanagerial employees

Middle Managers

Managers between the lowest level & top levels of the organization who manage the work of the first-line managers

Green Management

Managers consider the impact of their organization on the natural environment

Strong Cultures

Organizational cultures in which the key values are intensely held & widely shared

Ethics

Principles, values, & beliefs that define what is right & wrong behavior

Unstructured Problems

Problems that are new or unusual & for which information is ambiguous or incomplete

Ethnicity

Social traits (such as cultural background or allegiance) that are shared by a human population

Change Agent

Someone who acts as a catalyst & assumes the responsibility for managing the change process

Manager

Someone who coordinates & oversees the work of other people so that organizational goals can be accomplished

Structured Problems

Straightforward, familiar, & easily defined problems

Innovation

Taking creative ideas & turning them into useful products or work methods

Creativity

The ability to combine ideas in a unique way or to make unusual associations between ideas

Conceptual Skills

The ability to think & to conceptualize about abstract & complex situations

Human Skills

The ability to work well with other people individually & in a group

Stress

The adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure placed on them from extraordinary demands, constraints, or opportunities

Race

The biological heritage (including skin color & associated traits) that people use to identify themselves

Division of Labor (Job Specialization)

The breakdown of jobs into narrow & repetitive tasks

Ethnocentric Attitude

The parochialistic belief that the best work approaches & practices are those of the home country

Organizational Culture

The shared values, principles, traditions, & ways of doing things that influence the way organizational members act

Organizational Behavior (OB)

The study of the actions of people at work

Omnipotent View of Management

The view that managers are directly responsible for an organization's success or failure

Symbolic View of Management

The view that much of an organization's success or failure is due to external forces outside managers' control

Polycentric Attitude

The view that the managers in the host country know the best work approaches & practices for running their business

Workforce Diversity

The ways in which people in an organization are different from & similar to one another

External Environment

Those factors & forces outside the organization that affect its performance

Nonprogrammed Decisions

Unique & nonrecurring decisions that require a custom-made solution

Social Obligation

When a firm engages in social actions because of its obligation to meet certain economic & legal responsibilities

Social Responsiveness

When a firm engages in social actions in response to some popular social need

Social Responsibility

A business's intention, beyond its legal & economic obligations, to do the right things & act in ways that are good for society

Decision

A choice among two or more alternatives

Workplace Spirituality

A culture when organizational values promote a sense of purpose through meaningful work that takes place in the context of community

Organization

A deliberate arrangement of people to accomplish some specific purpose

Locus of Control

A personality attribute that measures the degree to which people believe they control their own fate

Programmed Decision

A repetitive decision that can be handled by a routine approach

Euro

A single common European currency

Uncertainty

A situation in which a decision maker has neither certainty nor reasonable probability estimates available

Risk

A situation in which the decision maker is able to estimate the likelihood of certain outcomes

Bias

A tendency or preference toward a particular perspective or ideology

European Union (EU)

A union of 27 European nations created as a unified economic & trade entity

Decision Criteria

Criteria that define what's important or relevant to resolving a problem

Principles of Management

Fundamental rules of management that could be applied in all organizational situations & taught in schools